Three Views of Reality
and Human Potential:
Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Saints, Part 2

by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Practical Spirituality Series, Book 8
102 pages
Publication Date: February 2001
ISBN: 0717305430

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Taken together, all the great wisdom traditions around the world and throughout history offer a wide variety of views on (and experiences of ) the nature of the Greater Reality and human potential in the context of the Greater Reality. In this book, we make sense of and compare the differing views. We place particular emphasis on the views of materialism, esoteric spirituality, and exoteric religion.

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Excerpt

About the author

Materialism, the view that what you see (or hear, or touch, or taste, or smell) is what you get (or all that is real), is seen to have many limitations, including its tendency to insist on reducing everything to its own materialistic terms; and its inability to adequately account for human consciousness and hence, human death.

Esoteric spirituality deepens human potential by acknowledging the Greater Reality, and providing the means for experientially embracing It. We briefly touch on four different dimensions of the greater Reality — psycho-physical, Spiritual, Transcendental, and Divine — and we will elaborate upon these dimensions, their Realization, and the means for Realizing them, in Books 9 and 10.

Exoteric religion is understood to derive from an originally esoteric source (such as a great Spiritual Master or a shaman). The practitioner of a legitimate exoteric religion — one that is still in touch with its esoteric roots — engages disciplines aimed at bringing him or her to full human maturity, in preparation for taking up the esoteric practices of his or her tradition. When an exoteric religion loses touch with its esoteric roots (e.g., by being “re-shaped” for the sake of political and social survival), it can devolve into an illegitimate exoteric religion that may be socially and politically influential, but is spiritually bankrupt.

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You may also be interested in these related titles:

• Appreciating the DIFFERENCES Among Religions, Paths, and Saints
  • Part 1: Beyond Spiritual Correctness
  • Part 3: The Sacred Earth — Realization of the Magical, Psycho-Physical Dimensions
  • Part 4: Heaven — Realization of the Spiritual Dimension
  • Part 5: Beyond Heaven and Earth — Realization of the Ultimate Dimension