FindPerspective

Research & Development Journal

By Rosie Mossey

“If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the

structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Albert Einstien

Exploring the Brief

Exploring the Brief

Does secular society need spiritual guidance?

Over reliance on unnecessary pharmaceuticals as the answer to mental health issues.

Mental health issues are complex, with the decline of religion/belief system, what crutch does society now have?

Are Brands the New Religion?

People buy products for their spiritual potential

E.g. Buying cars that can go 150mph in 0.01 seconds even though the average owner will never go this speed , MP3s with unfillable memory etc.

People buy into the ideologies of brands, not just the oroducts. Becoming loyal to them. They can create cult like followers.

E.g. Cult of Mac

Brands use biblical jargon and godlike analogies sell their products

E.g. GHD ‘hair gospel’ campaign

Understanding neurology and what happens in your brain can give some substance back to ‘spirituality’ away from God.

“When people experience joy and awe and love, they say there’s something incredible going on inside them, and it must have been put there by some higher being. In the English language, ‘God’ is what we’ve chosen to call these feelings.”

- George E. Vaillant

Redefining spirituality as a holistic experience, not a religious one. John Locke - describes the mind as ‘that conscious thinking thing’. We have an “empty” mind, a tabula rasa, which is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all our ideas.

The brain is part of the body, the mind is not.

Scri

ptur

eEx

plan

ator

y Ambiguous

Literature

Religious art has attached meaning and purpose, telling a clear story with clear narrative. Aimed to remind people of love/fear/hate etc. Where as secular society, has a more ambiguous approach, this is good for some, but leaves the majority confused about what to think.

Religious scripture and non-religious literature are closely linked. They both are pieces of text that have embedded meaning. Literature has the powerful means to tell the same moral and inspirational tales that the bible is supposed to.

Religon v' s

Secular Society

Religions have been successful at communicating and connecting large groups of people, what are the similarities and how can we learn form them?

LectureSerm

on

Inst

itut

ion Isolated

People who are concerned with questioning the meaning of life (spirituality) in secular society are the poets, artists and filmmakers. Tending to be working under a solo vision, within ‘cottage industries’ Religions operate in institutions, easier to convey messages.

Religions employ powerful speakers to deliver convincing talks as inspiration. They are easily accessible. Secular society doesn’t have this readily available resource

Current Embodiments of Non-Religious Spirituality

Current Embodiments of Non-Religious Spirituality

Books and Other Sources of Inspiration

Books and Other Sources of Inspiration

Matthew Arnold Robert Kegan

Donald Winnicott

Slavoj Zizek

Richard Dawkins

“liberal education should help to inspire in us “a love of our neighbour, a desire for clearing human confusion and for diminishing human misery.”

In The Evolving Self, a model containing 6 “equilibrium stages”: the incorporative stage, the impulsive stage, the imperial stage, the interpersonal stage, the institutional stage, and the inter-individual stage. The object of each stage is the subject of the preceding stage.The subject of the incorporative stage are reflexes, and it has no object. The subjects of the impulsive stage are the individual’s impulses and perceptions, and its objects are the reflexes. The subject of the imperial stage are the individual’s needs, interests, and desires, and its objects are the individual’s impulses and perceptions. The subject of the interpersonal stage are interpersonal relationships and mutuality, and its objects are the individual’s needs, interests, and desires. The subject of the institutional stage are the individual’s authorship, identity, and ideology, and its objects are interpersonal relationships and mutuality. The subject of the inter-individual stage is “the interpenetrability of self-systems”, and its objects are the individual’s authorship, identity, and ideology.

“Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real.”

“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point…”

“Ideology is a certain unique experience of the universe and your place in it, to put it in standard terms, which serves the production of the existing power relations and blah blah blah”

Theorists of Influence

David Hume

Anthony Giddens

Ted Hughes

Herbert Simon

Daniel DennettHermann Hesse

“Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries”

The individual’s biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing ‘story’ about the self.”

Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world. It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a good way. A form of meditation, some form of communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.

Technology may create a condition, but the questions are what do we do about ourselves. We better understand ourselves pretty clearly and we better find ways to like ourselves.

I think many people are terribly afraid of being demoted by the Darwinian scheme from the role of authors and creators in their own right into being just places where things happen in the universe.

In each individual the spirit is made flesh, in each one the whole of creation suffers, in each one a Savior is crucified.

Idea Development and Exploration

Idea Development and Exploration

Test - Challenge people to symbolise themselves. Results were not great, people dont lke being asked difficult questions. They seemed embarassed.

Note: Cannot make people think or relfect on themselves in an obvious way.

Andii Bowsher University Chaplin

Interview

“I have an open door to all faiths and beliefs. Not

many non-religous people approach my door, but

welcome everybody”

“People dont seem aware that

the university has designated quiet

zones.”

carefully considered questions that force deep thought and reflection

Design Your Own Religion...A tactile object, and symbol for non-believers.

START

FINNISH

Individual and customized. A visual reminder of the self. A means of katharsis...

Initial Ideas

Poetry/stories/Art - inspiring pieces that cause self reflection and momentary stillness from everyday life.

Benches Escape from the high street

Computer Labs For the things you cant search online for.

PhoneboothsReviving the connections inside...

Think Tanks...Everyday opportunities and 21st century teachings.

The AppActivated individually, opens up opportunities for the person to be lead to a special destination. A with a certain character/perspective that provokes thought and reflection.

Find Perspective

Find Perspective