SUMMARY OF THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELIGION

(Here is a collection of important aspects of this book. There will be more than the four Sections shown here, when I am finished with this summary.)

Arlen Wolpert

System Dynamist and Independent Scholar

Draft of July 31,2009

Section 1: A practical application for the General Theory of Religion: Curing Mental Illness throughout the World by means of a Collaboration between Science and Religion.

Here is the outline of an open collaboration between System Dynamicists, who have been studying my system dynamics-based General Theory of Religion (GTR), and the talented and versatile scientists now working in the field of Genomics at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard:

1. The Broad Institute believes the application of the most advanced genomic tools will solve the problem of what is causing mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Once the genomic cause is known for each illness, the Broad Institute believes conceiving and developing novel, more effective treatments for such illnesses can finally be accomplished. The Broad Institute is now involved in a 10 year, $500 million project along these lines.
2. The GTR's scientific position is that most mental illnesses begin their development at the moment when the abreaction or release of a trauma has led to panic and a nervous breakdown. When the panic and nervous breakdown occur the abreaction process or the release of the trauma ceases, usually during the unsuccessful releasing process of the first set of cramped, antagonistic heart muscles. However - and this is very important - if there is no panic and nervous breakdown during the abreaction of the trauma, the entire release of the trauma will be successfully completed and mental illness will not develop. The GTR's position is that the primary purpose of a religion is to religiously prepare children of that particular religion, in case those children are traumatized in the future. Specifically, the GTR's position is that the aim of a religion is to prepare those children so they will be able to deal with the beginning signs of panic that will be present when the trauma is eventually beginning to be released. In short, the primary purpose of a religion is to avoid the panic and the nervous breakdown, associated with the eventual release or abreaction of a trauma. If the children's religious preparedness has been done effectively, no panic and nervous breakdown will occur. As a result, there will be no mental illness among the devotees of that religion. Therefore, if a study of a person's genomics shows a tendency toward - for example - schizophrenia, this form of mental illness will only begin to develop in that person after panic and a nervous breakdown occurs. Note carefully: the GTR's position is that a religiously prepared child will eventually be prepared to deal with the release of a trauma later in his or her life: He or she will be able to keep the panic and nervous breakdown from occurring. This has been carefully described in Key #1 of the Introduction to the GTR, where I reveal how I was able to avoid panic and a nervous breakdown at the age of 30 during the abreaction or release of my childhood trauma. That childhood trauma occurred when I was a child of 9 or 10 years old. I was religiously prepared, mainly by my mother and father and by Sunday school. The critical years were between the ages of about 1 through 15 years old.Therefore, I believe a careful study of religious preparedness is the most important and the most central phenomenon for scientists and religious leaders to study. Collaborating scientists conducting such a study might include some of the talented and versatile scientists at the Broad Institute and some system dynamicists who are now studying and becoming interested in my internet presentation of my General Theory of Religion analysis. The main idea here is that if the panic and nervous breakdown do occur during the abreaction, then - and only then - will the results of the Broad Institute's genomics approach - described above - come into play. Here is another important point: the GTR is finding that the primary purpose of a religion is very similar for most of the religions existing throughout the world (see Key #2 and Key #3 just below). Therefore, the results of the collaboration between system dynamicists, who are studying, analyzing, and publishing about a great variety of complex systems, and the versatile scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who are focused on the use of Genomics to cure mental illness, could begin a very interesting long term project: A project that may eventually wipe out mental illness throughout the world, but only in conjunction with local religions throughout the world.

In the modern era, it is so critical that leaders of the government, the industrial community, the business community, the scientific community, the pharmaceutical industry, the universities, the psychiatric community, and the religious communities learn to work together. I believe such cultural teamwork would bring about healthy, vibrant societies throughout the world: Societies as free as possible from those mental illnesses that result from the panic and nervous breakdown associated with the release or abreaction of a trauma.

Key #2: A Brief Introduction to the General Theory of Religion.

Table I, below, gives the 14 stages of my 53 month religious crisis. The details of Table I give the reader a brief and concise base for understanding the similarities of religions and for understanding the deep concept of a general theory of religion.

Please notice that Purgation is listed at Stage 11 and Mystical Union is listed at Stage 12 of the Judeo-Christian terminology. The Hindu terminology uses the term Overcoming Samskaras for the experience of Purgation and uses the term Samadhi for the experience of Mystical Union, etc.

Key #3: Why a Culture Cannot Survive without Religion.

(Why has religious belief survived throughout the whole history of mankind?)

• During the time when primitive tribes were spreading throughout the world, the quality and effectiveness of the religions of those primitive tribes were forced to develop. That was because of the competitive nature of that migration. The competition between tribes during that expansion or migration caused religions to develop or evolve to the point where a religious scenario, such as the scenario described in Section E of Key #1 when I had to 'walk the plank', enabled tribesmen to survive the abreaction or release of a tribesman's past battlefield trauma. Because of the competition, religion was gradually forced to develop or evolve to the point where tribal culture had the ability to teach religious preparedness to tribal children and youth. Later this religious preparedness was available to adult warriors. As children, they had learned to use prayer, religious belief, and imagination. This kept battlefield traumatized tribesman safe from the panic that could come at any time during the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma. This kind of religion was able to instill religious preparedness and the feeling of closeness to the Divine during the childhood period of the future warrior. Eventually, religious preparedness is what was needed in order for the tribal warrior to walk the plank during the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma.
• I base the above conjecture on my particular case of not panicking during my purgation experience. My experience of successfully walking the plank indicated to me that my religious preparedness saved me from panic, from a nervous breakdown, and - eventually - from some form of psychosis, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. In my case, my experience of successfully walking the plank revealed to me that - without the blessed Lord to save me - a nervous breakdown and psychosis would have followed the panic during the, very dangerous, spontaneous abreaction or release of my childhood trauma.
• Therefore, the above example of successfully walking the plank illustrates the reason why religious preparedness deepened in tribes to become central to tribal culture: Religious preparedness and religious belief became critical for the survival of a primitive tribe. A primitive tribe could not survive or come out the winner in competition with neighboring tribes, if too many of its tribesmen had become mentally ill after panicking during a non-religious abreaction of a previous battlefield trauma. Recall that my experience of walking the plank indicates that when a person's trauma starts to be abreacted or released without religious preparedness on the part of the traumatized person, panic and a nervous breakdown are likely. Imagine a rich primitive tribe with a religion whose spiritual power had slowly become lax or weakened or undermined. Such a tribe would eventually have many mentally ill tribesmen idly hanging around the tribal village accompanied by their caretakers. Then, a starving desperate, but religious, neighboring tribe - sneeking around the bushes and watching such a tribe - will get enough courage to attack and destroy that tribe and take over its territory.
• As time went by, religious story-telling, religious scenarios, and other techniques were used by those migrating religions. Eventually, religious preparedness grew more and more effective in some of the tribes. Only those tribes eventually survived. Those surviving tribes were the seeds of the surviving religions now existing around the world.
• Summary: Religious belief, prayer, and imagination can be used to enable the warrior to survive the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma. (Note: A few of the former traumatized warriors may be conditioned by the successful abreaction or release of trauma to emerge from the abreaction, spiritually charged and ready to fight at an inspired level.)
• It is very important for the reader to penetrate toward the insight that using religious preparedness, religious belief, prayer, and imagination can save the traumatized warrior or traumatized tribesman from panic, a nervous breakdown, and mental illness, while that abreaction or release of his trauma is going on. As a result, the warrior will come through the release of the trauma in one piece. Please note that religion's most recent competitor or rival - the combined community of psychiatrists, psychologists, and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies - has no way of stopping panic and a nervous breakdown from occuring during the abreaction of a trauma.
• Now, going beyond my conjectures on the value of religious preparedness for the survival of a primitive tribe, I will state that I believe religious preparedness, religious belief, prayer, and imagination are critical for the survival of a modern culture or a modern civilization. Because of my scientific analysis of my religious experience, I hold the position that the above ideas carry over into the modern era, making prayer, imagination, and religious belief a very effective way to avoid panic, a nervous breakdown, and possible psychosis resulting from the abreaction of trauma.
• At this point I need to state that the psychiatric community in its present form, and the pharmaceutical industry associated with it, make a lot of money dealing with mental illnesses that result from a trauma that has been unsuccessfully abreacted in a non-religious way. It appears that eliminating religion would be very good for the financial condition of psychiatrists and for the profits of corporations in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, purchases of antidepressant drugs and antipsychotic drugs are the third and fourth highest category of pharmaceuticals sold in the USA. Their total sales were $20.7 billion in 2004 (Wall Street Journal, 7/27/05, D1) and growing. If there were to be a revival of the legendary skills of religion in a culture, it would eventually reduce the demand for psychiatrists and, perhaps, cause the psychiatrist's income to drop sharply. It would also reduce the profits of the pharmaceutical industry.

Section 2: How I have used the Transcendental Feedback Phenomenology (TFP) methodology to solve or realize Husserl's quest for a scientifically rigorous psychology and a scientifically rigorous psychiatry. My illustrative example is focused on the release or abreaction of my childhood trauma and its relationship to my religious experience of purgation culminating in mystical union.

A brief presentation of my TFP analysis of core consciousness during my experience of purgation

1. Where did the ten hour religious experience of purgation originate?
2. Under what conditions did my subjective or deep inner experience become labeled as a ten hour religious experience of purgation?
3. How was it possible for my religious experience of purgation to proceed all the way to its ten-hour completion and then culminate in the great experience of mystical union - despite purgation's intense PsychicStress, Fear, and Anxiety?

However, it is very important to be aware that during the releasing process of a trauma the trauma's associated psychic stress, fear, and anxiety are usually too much to bear for the experiencer. He or she usually panics, has a nervous breakdown, and then develops some sort of mental illness. Therefore, in order for the experiencer to be able to deal with that psychic stress, fear, and anxiety associated with the release of a trauma, the experiencer must use prayer, religious preparedness, etc. Such activity is the Primary Purpose of Religion. That is, my blessed prayers and religious preparedness enabled me to bear the anxiety, fear, and psychic stress without panicking, having a nervous breakdown, etc. This allowed me to go through the emotional crisis and arrive at a complete abreaction or release of my trauma. Because I used prayers, etc, throughout the ten-hour release of my trauma and because the experience was rooted deeply in my heart, my spontaneous religious response has dominated my memory of the abreaction or release of my trauma.

In my particular case, my cramped or paralyzed heart muscles spontaneously went through the process of releasing themselves. The dynamics of my releasing heart muscles drove the dynamic data of my core consciousness phenomena. That dynamic data of core consciousness was then immediately and permanently stored in my long term memory (LTM) at the time of that abreaction or release. The data of core consciousness being stored in my LTM was about the dynamics of my core consciousness during the entire ten hour purgation experience, including the core consciousness data about the state of openness of my heart. (Please note: Because my cramped or paralyzed heart muscles were spontaneously releasing themselves one by one, it naturally caused the state of my cramped up heart to begin to return to its full or open or natural position: Therefore, my heart was opening.)

Twenty two years later, in 1984 when I was 52 years old, I began the system dynamics-based analysis. The first thing I delved into was the dynamic core consciousness data for my ten hour experience of purgation. Immanuel Kant would have called that dynamic core consciousness data, associated with purgation and stored in my LTM, the dynamic phenomena of purgation. Also, he would have called the estimated 12 pairs of cramped or paralyzed, antagonistic muscles in my heart, that were - one by one - being spontaneously abreacted or released, the dynamic noumena.

I will now present how I was able to get the answer to question #1:

Getting the answer to Question #1: Identifying the dynamic noumena or the dynamic physical objects or the origin of the purgation experience.
(This also happens to be the scientific solution to Chalmers' hard problem [CHP] for the case of my deep ten-hour religious experience of purgation.)

Though Kant (1724-1804), Franz Brentano (1838-1917), Paul Natorp (1854-1924), the Marburg School of Neokantianism (1870-1920), Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945), Aron Gurwitsch (1901-1973), and others (see Holzhey 2005) studied such phenomena deeply, they were unable to transcendentally ground phenomena in a scientific way, because science was not advanced enough in the 18th, 19th, and the first half of the 20th century. The solving of CHP could only have been attained after the first half of the 20th century, because it was only after World War II that the two critical breakthroughs in science, required for solving CHP, occurred:

1. The publication of the powerful System Dynamics (SD) methodology (Forrester 1961, 1968b).
2. The invention of computers for implementing the SD methodology, particularly implementing the solution to sets of simultaneous nonlinear differential equations.

SD is the underlying analytical tool of the three step Transcendental Feedback Phenomenological (TFP) methodology (For a short introduction to these three steps see the next paragraph. Later, you can also study Chapter 5 or Section I in Chapter 6.) Using the three steps of the SD-based TFP methodology, I am able to mathematically analyze my first person core consciousness data residing in my LTM. In that analysis, shown in Section II in Chapter 6, the SD-based TFP methodology scientifically structures the data for purgation in a very compatible way: As a multiloop nonlinear feedback system (MNFS). The reason the TFP methodology is compatible with biological phenomena is because the MNFS structure is the same structure as the entire neurophysiological system. The neurophysiological system underlies and drives core consciousness.

Here is a short introduction to the three steps of the SD-based TFP methodology. The methodology is illustrated by showing how it is used for analyzing core consciousness during purgation:

• Step I: Use the causal loop method or technique (Richardson 1981, Sterman 2000) to organize or structure the core consciousness data in my long term memory (LTM) in the form of a causal loop diagram, which is somewhat similar to a feedback system. Although the causal loop method is very helpful to the analyst during the early stage of the analysis of core consciousness during purgation, the causal loop method is not associated or linked with mathematics. As a result, the causal loop diagram cannot be detailed and structured in such a way that it can be used to model and simulate core consciousness during purgation. Ultimately, the analyst must formally structure core consciousness during purgation and transcendentally ground that structure. In order to accomplish this the analyst must proceed to the use of Forrester's system dynamics (SD) methods in Steps II and III, below.
• Step II: Use Forrester's first book on the SD methodology (Forrester 1961) to take the various causal loop diagrams generated for purgation in Step I and convert them into a mathematical, SD-based, flow diagram for core consciousness during purgation. That flow diagram for purgation is shown in Figure 2. The SD flow diagram for purgation and its mathematical model enabled me to simulate core consciousness during purgation. For example, after a ten year analysis (from 1984 to 1994) my 38 variable SD flow diagram for purgation - shown in Figure 2 - and its associated mathematical model were able to simulate all 38 core consciousness variables associated with the ten hour experience of purgation. This was done by iteratively and patiently adjusting either the preliminary mathematical model or the structure of the SD flow diagram, as I strived to eventually match the various simulations with the dynamic core consciousness data in my LTM. This ten year analysis was a labor of love.
• Step III: Use Forrester's second book on the SD methodology (Forrester 1968b) to transcendentally ground the phenomena for purgation. To transcendentally ground the phenomena means to identify the noumena or the material objects in my neurophysiological system driving the phenomena. Note that those phenomena had already been organized into an accurate, SD-based, flow diagram in Step II. That accurate flow diagram is shown in Figure 2. Now, here is how Step III, transcendental grounding, works: By studying the contents of Forrester's second book, the analyst determines that the flow diagram in Figure 2 is structured as a second-order negative feedback system (SONFS). Once this task has been accomplished, the analyst knows that the dynamics of the noumena he is searching for is structured as a SONFS, because the dynamic noumena are driving the dynamic phenomena, shown in Figure 2. For example, a promising candidate for the noumena for the case of purgation is pairs of cramped or paralyzed antagonistic muscles (probably heart muscles) that are being released or abreacted, because it is well known that the dynamics of such muscles operate as a SONFS.

My analysis of core consciousness during purgation began in 1984 and has continued steadily right up to the present time. The key breakthrough was Step III, above. It occurred in 2007. The list of nine items below gives the sequence of scientific tasks I have been performing since 1984, together with the collection of observations and insights that I became aware of during that analytical period. Basically, I used Steps I, II, and III of the SD-based TFP methodology to analyze the core consciousness data in my LTM. Please note that all the core consciousness data for purgation, residing in my LTM, is associated with or driven by the dynamic noumena. That core consciousness data was dynamic. It varied - moment by moment - during my ten hour experience of purgation.

In summary, here is how this SD-based TFP methodology was used to solve CHP for the case of core consciousness during purgation: I first focused on my core consciousness data, associated with my deep ten hour religious experience of purgation. It resided in my LTM. I then use Steps I and II of the TFP methodology to analyze that data. (For details of this formalized analysis and construction of the purgation feedback system, see Section I and Section II of Chapter 6. The results of this scientific task are summarized in item 1 of the nine item list below. Then, by focusing on Step III, I obtained the results summarized in items 2 thru 9 of the list below. In those items my SD-based TFP analysis of core consciousness during my experience of purgation identifies the probable dynamic physical objects or transcendental objects or noumena that are the origins or driving forces of my core consciousness during purgation. This comprehensive analysis of purgation illustrates how the SD-based TFP methodology was able to solve CHP for my deep inner experience of purgation.

1. In Steps I and II the SD-based TFP methodology was used to construct the 38 variable SD flow diagram and its associated mathematical model. This construction used the core consciousness data collected in my LTM during my experience of purgation (see Figure 2 and its derivation in Sections I and II of Chapter 6). The flow diagram in Figure 2 was completed in 1994.
2. Then, in 2007 I began to use perhaps the most critical and most important step, Step III. First the Step III technique found that the flow diagram for core consciousness during purgation, developed in item 1 above and shown in Figure 2, is a second-order negative feedback system (SONFS). Once the order of the flow diagram or feedback system is identified, the dynamic characteristic of the noumena is also identified.
3. Then, to determine the noumena driving the phenomena, I needed to search through all the dynamic physical objects within my neurophysiological system and find those dynamic objects that operate as a SONFS. At this particular early period in my search I have found only one promising candidate: Any set of dynamic antagonistic muscles operates as a SONFS.
4. During my 10 hour experience of purgation I sensed or observed that the dynamics of purgation was being experienced mainly in my heart. Therefore, if the promising candidate is antagonistic muscles, they must be heart muscles.
5. The great stress, fear, and anxiety - accompanying the releasing process of each set of antagonistic heart muscles - indicated that those muscles had been cramped or paralyzed prior to the estimated 72 minute period when the spontaneous releasing of the cramped or paralyzed heart muscles occurred. That estimated 72 minute period occurred between the estimated 545 minute mark and the estimated 617 minute mark (see Figure 1 in Section II.B of Chapter 6).
6. During the Step II analysis (which is located just after the Introduction in Section II of Chapter 6), I sensed or estimated that there were about a dozen or so pairs of cramped antagonistic heart muscles released during purgation.
7. Therefore, the dynamic noumena - that drove my dynamic core consciousness phenomena during purgation as a SONFS - was probably releasing a dozen or so pairs of cramped or paralyzed, antagonistic, heart muscles over an estimated 72 minute period.
8. I then asked myself what had caused the cramping or paralyzation in my heart muscles. I then remembered I had a childhood trauma when I was 9 or 10 years old: The trauma had probably caused the cramping or paralyzation.
9. Therefore, the origin or driving force of the purgation experience was probably the abreaction or release of the effects of my childhood trauma.

Additional information associated with the above summary of my solution to CHP for the case of purgation:

1. Determining the precise location in my heart of the cramped, antagonistic heart muscles. This is a very difficult "easy problem" (see Chalmers' statement about the easy problems of consciousness at the end of the summary in Chapter 6).
2. Determining the neurobiological correlates of consciousness (NCC) during purgation. This is also a very difficult "easy problem." (see the statements on CHP by Crick, Koch, and Searle at the end of this summary). These difficult "easy problems" are available for analysis only after the CHP breakthrough for purgation has been precisely solved (see item 1 just above). Once item 1 has been solved, the neuroscientists and cardiovascular experts need to neurophysiologically link the dynamic sets of cramped, antagonistic heart muscles with the dynamic core consciousness going on during the experience of purgation. (My early conjecture is that the key to this linkage is understanding the operation of the experiencer's somatosensory system. It looks to me like that system extends all the way from (1)the cramped heart muscles that are being released to (2)the postcentral gyrus in the experiencer's cerebral cortex. The location of the latter part of the somatosensory system is probably where the dynamic core consciousness associated with purgation had been generated during the release of my trauma.)
3. The method for testing the scientific validity of my SD-based, FP analysis of purgation is shown in Chapter 6, Section II.B, item 11.

Section 3: Comparison of the two competing analytical methodologies being used in the field of Phenomenology: Method I is my Transcendental Feedback Phenomenology (TFP) methodology, developed between 1984 and 2008. Method II is Edmund Husserl's Transcendental Phenomenology (TP) methodology, developed between 1901 and 1938.
(Draft of January 16,2009)

1. Introduction to Method I:
   

   During the 24 years from 1984 to 2008 I have been absorbed in the following project: Developing the TFP methodology, while at the same time using TFP to deeply understand my dynamic, deep, ten hour, subjective, religious experience of purgation.
   (Purgation culminates in the great, 4 to 7 second, experience of mystical union. However, in this book my experience during mystical union will not be part of the illustrative example. By the way, I am calling this classical, two stage, dynamic, religious experience: PMU.)
   

   After the religious experience of purgation occurred in April 1962, the data for the dynamic core consciousness system associated with purgation has been residing permanently in my long term memory (LTM). That is the data that I am using, as I apply the Transcendental Feedback Phenomenological (TFP) methodology to scientifically analyzed the dynamics of my core consciousness system associated with my ten hour religious experience of purgation. That dynamic religious experience of purgation occurred spontaneously when I was 30 years old.
   

   TFP uses the system dynamics (SD) methodology (Forrester 1961) to formally and mathematically and scientifically analyze my core consciousness system, which is also called my phenomena system.
   

   Here is a brief summary of the strategy of my TFP methodology, as it goes about analyzing the dynamics of my core consciousness system, permanently residing in my long term memory (LTM). Please keep in mind that the data for the dynamics of my core consciousness system during purgation occurred in April 1962. At that time the data began to permanently reside in my LTM. Then, my TFP analysis of that data occurred during the analytical period between 1984 and 1994.

   • Scientifically analyze the dynamics of my core consciousness system during purgation, which is the same as the dynamics of my phenomena system during purgation, using Steps I and II of the TFP methodology.
   • Transcendentally ground the TFP analysis of my core consciousness or phenomena system in the physical objects or noumena in my neurophysiological system. Step III of the TFP methodology is used here.
2. Here is a more detailed presentation on how this project goal was accomplished: First, I used the unformalized Step I, the SD-based causal loop diagram technique, to begin exploring the dynamic core consciousness data in my LTM. After becoming familiar with the data, using Step I, I then used the formalized Step II, the basic SD technique itself, to mathematically model or structure core consciousness during purgation. Step II structured purgation's core consciousness system as a multiloop nonlinear feedback system. This structure has the same form as the standard structure of the entire neurophysiological system. The resulting mathematical model and its structure then enabled me to simulate my core consciousness system during purgation. These simulations describe my experience of purgation. The model of my core consciousness system during purgation is called the phenomena for the experience of purgation. Then, I began using Step III of the TFP methodology: With it I performed the eidetic reduction according to the TFP methodology. I transcendentally grounded the dynamic core consciousness system or dynamic phenomena in my noumena. The noumena is the name for the set of dynamic physical objects, located in my neurophysiological system, that were driving the dynamic core consciousness or the dynamic phenomena. (see Forrester 1968b) The Step III analysis found that my dynamic experience of purgation originated from or was grounded in the spontaneous release of about a dozen sets of cramped antagonistic heart muscles.
3. The three-steps of the TFP methodology are roughly the same as the steps used in Husserl's Transcendental Phenomenological (TP) methodology, developed between 1901 and 1938. However, I am finding that Steps II and III of the TFP methodology gives TFP a much more subtle mathematical formalization and, as a result, gives the TFP methodology the power to scientifically determine the dynamic physical noumena that was driving the dynamic phenomena or core consciousness during my experience of purgation. In order to accomplish such an analysis, the TFP methodology goes far beyond Husserl's TP methodology. Among other subtle techniques associated with the TFP methodology, TFP incorporates feedback system techniques and incorporates the use of a computer, capable of solving sets of simultaneous nonlinear differential equations.
4. Summarizing: The first two steps of the TFP methodology enabled me to model and simulate the dynamic core consciousness data or phenomena data during my experience of purgation, moment by moment, over its ten hour length. The key to this kind of analysis is the data for my experience of purgation was permanently stored in my LTM and, as a result, was always available to me. These moment by moment simulations were able to describe the dynamics of core consciousness during my religious experience of purgation. Then, Step III of the TFP methodology performed the eidetic reduction according to the TFP methodology: I transcendentally grounded the model of my religious experience by locating purgation's origin in my neurophysiological system: Specifically, I found that the dynamic phenomena, which is the dynamic core consciousness data during purgation, was driven by the release or abreaction of about a dozen sets of cramped antagonistic heart muscles. Those sets of heart muscles had become cramped during my childhood trauma when I was 9 or 10 years old. During the 20 or 21 years between the childhood trauma and the release of the trauma at 30 years of age, my trauma was becoming ripe for release until it made its spontaneous release at 30.

1. First, we need to identify Husserl's best English presentation of his TP methodology. It is generally accepted that Husserl best presentation in English was meant for the Fourteenth Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, it was generally thought that Salmon, the man who made the original translation from German to English, did not do a good job. The leaders of the Phenomenology community in the English speaking world decided to correct this situation. A new translator was hired and a revised translation was made. This new translator was Richard E. Palmer. Palmer's translation was accepted by those leaders. The resulting publications, associated with Palmer's revised translation, can be found at the following two links: Husserl 1971 or McCormick 1981. At the present time I am going to present here only the first paragraph of Palmers revised translation of Husserl's single paragraph Introduction to his TP methodology: It is shown below in quotation marks.
2. Now, I will begin to explain how my three-step, TFP methodology fits into Husserl's scientific aim for his Transcendental Phenomenological (TP) methodology. I have placed three footnote numbers in Husserl's first paragraph. That first paragraph gives Husserl's Introduction to his presentation. It is shown below in quotation marks. These three numbers will then lead the reader to my three footnotes. I believe the reader will find from those footnotes that Husserl's methodology needs to be more scientific. Because of the lack of scientific formalization in his Transcendental Phenomenology (TP) methodology, Husserl tried until the end of his life in 1938 to scientifically develop his TP methodology. However, even though Husserl was an outstanding mathematician, he did not succeed. The reason he did not succeed was (1) Forrester's system dynamics (SD) methodology had not been developed and published until 1961 and (2) computers for solving sets of simultaneous nonlinear differential equation had not been developed until World War II, or shortly thereafter.
3. Here is Palmer's revised translation of the single paragraph Introduction to Husserl's genuine summary of his TP methodology. It is followed by my footnotes:

   • "The term 'phenomenology' designates two things: a new kind of descriptive method which made a breakthrough in philosophy at the turn of the [1901] century(1), and an a priori science derived from it (2); a science which is intended to supply the basic instrument (Organon) for a rigorous scientific philosophy and, in its consequent application, to make possible a methodical reform of all the sciences. Together with this philosophical phenomenology, but not yet separated from it, however, there also came into being a new psychological discipline parallel to it in method and content: the a priori pure or "phenomenological" psychology, which raises the reformational claim to being the basic methodological foundation on which alone a scientifically rigorous empirical psychology can be established(3). An outline of this psychological phenomenology, standing nearer to our natural thinking, is well suited to serve as a preliminary step that will lead up to an understanding of philosophical phenomenology."

   • Footnotes:
     (1) Both Steps I and II of the formalized, SD-based, TFP methodology are able to scientifically and mathematically refine and replace Husserl's descriptive method.
     (2) Step III of the TFP methodology scientifically refines Husserl's a priori science. The scientifically refined a priori science of the TFP methodology is capable of performing an eidetic reduction or transcendentally grounding the core consciousness system or phenomena system in Figure 2, by identifying the dynamic objects or noumena in the experiencer's neurophysiological system that is driving the phenomena. For my illustrative example of PMU, Step III of the TFP methodology found that purgation has its origin in or is grounded in the release of about a dozen sets of cramped or paralyzed, antagonistic, heart muscles.
     (3) See my ten hour, moment by moment, analysis of the release of my childhood trauma at Key #5 of the Introduction to the GTR or at Chapter 6. Then, see how Step III of the TFP methodology is able to perform the eidetic reduction or transcendentally ground the experience of purgation in my neurophysiological system. This indicates that TFP has realized Husserl's quest or aim for a scientifically rigorous empirical psychology.

4. Here is Salmon's single paragraph Introduction to Husserl's TP methodology: It is very misleading:

   "Phenomenology denotes a new, descriptive, philosophical method, which, since the concluding years of the last century, has established (1) an a priori psychological discipline, able to provide the only secure basis on which a strong empirical psychology can be built, and (2) a universal philosophy, which can supply an organum for the methodical revision of all the sciences."

The reason Husserl's TP methodology is now somewhat obsolete is as follows:

1. Forrester's system dynamics (SD) methodology had not been developed and published until 1961. Husserl died in 1938.
2. Computers for solving sets of simultaneous nonlinear differential equation had not been developed until World War II, or shortly thereafter.

Section 4: The two paths taken by my mind in dealing with my religious experience: Doxa and Episteme.

1. When I began experiencing the release of my trauma at 30 years of age, my focus was on avoiding panic and a nervous breakdown. By trying to avoid panic and a nervous breakdown during the release of my trauma, I was engaged with the Primary Purpose of Religion. For this task religion uses doxa. Doxa, in this case, is an imaginative method that is sometimes used successfully to deal with a deep threat to one's life. In my case doxa was focused on my fear, stress, and anxiety associated with the release of my cramped heart muscles during the abreaction or release of my childhood trauma.
2. Later, when I began to work toward scientifically establishing the General Theory of Religion at the age of 52, I began using episteme. Episteme, in this case, is the use of a formalized scientific method to obtain the scientific truth about my religious experience.

• What are the definitions of doxa and episteme?

  "Doxa is a term used in connection with seeming, the immediate awareness of or direct acquaintance with objects in contrast with episteme (knowledge). For Plato, doxa is not only opinion, but also the faculty or capacity to produce opinion. It is the state of mind of the non-philosopher (the lover of opinion, philo-doxos), and its object is the perceptible world of becoming, which is both to be and not to be, and things that are copies of the Forms. In contrast, episteme is not only knowledge as a consequence of cognition, but also the faculty to produce knowledge. It is a state of mind of the philosopher (the lover of wisdom, philo-sophos), and its object is the world of the Forms itself, which really is. The distinction is discussed in detail in the Republic Book V, and is essential for Plato's separation of the world of the Forms from the sensible world. It has had a lasting influence on Western metaphysics and epistemology."

  "We clearly agree that doxa is different from knowledge." Plato, Republic

• What are the definitions of doxastic state and doxastic theory?

  "A doxastic state refers to one's belief. Doxastic theory claims that epistemic justification is only a function of such a state. We can determine what to believe on the basis of the overall beliefs we possess, without needing to take into account anything else, including perceptual states. Both foundationalism and coherentism are doxastic theories.This theory is thus opposed to non-doxastic theory, which claims that in order to justify one's beliefs it is not enough to examine the beliefs themselves. Rather we must refer to the cognitive process of belief-forming and belief preserving. Non-doxastic theory is divided into internalism, which suggests that justification is a function of one's internal states, and externalism, which argues that justification must involve factors that are external to one's consciousness."

  "Doxastic theories take the justifiability of a belief to be a function exclusively of what else one believes." Pollock and Cruz, Contemporary Theories of Knowledge

  What are the definitions of doxastic virtue and epistemic virtue? ....(I am looking into this.....)

It is important that scientists and intellectuals, particularly those interested in the field of mental illness, humble themselves a bit when dealing with the concept of doxa: During the release or abreaction of a trauma; or during wartime battle in defense of one's country; or during great stress, fear, and anxiety: doxa is a very important player in the Primary Purpose of Religion.

Path I: The Path of Religious Doxa:

• Let us assume I had not used my religious belief during the abreaction or release of my trauma. Then, the stress, fear, and anxiety - which rapidly builds up during the oncoming release of the first of the 12 sets of cramped or paralyzed heart muscles - would have been too much for me. I would not have been able to 'walk the plank' during the releasing process of the first set of cramped, antagonistic heart muscles. I would have panicked during the rising anxiety of the oncoming release of the first set and would have had a nervous breakdown. Here is what I think would have eventually happened to me. I would have ended up:
  1. With my trauma not released or only partially released.
  2. With a damaged neurophysiological system stemming from the panic and nervous breakdown.
  3. With the eventual development of a psychosis.
• Instead, here is how I dealt with the abreaction or release in a religious way:
  
  1. First, I need to tell you about my simple religious preparedness:
     • My precious mother: My Jewish mother's sincere and simple mentioning of God during my early childhood, which led to my simple childhood prayers to God.
     • Sunday School: My simple Reform Jewish religious training in Sunday school from the age of 5 to about 15 years of age. Here is one of the things I was taught in a serious way: the concept of sin and Judgement Day. But the Rabbi didn't overburden us on this kind of thing. We had fun drawing religious pictures with crayons, etc.
     • Community and History: The time I went with my parents and close relatives to the Synagogue during the High Holy Days of September 1945 when I was 13 years old. It was about a month after the end of World War II and the news was just coming in about the Holocaust. Many of the leaders of the Jewish community of Minneapolis were there. Everyone seemed serious. My uncle pointed out the owner of the great Minneapolis Lakers basketball team. I didn't know the owner was Jewish, but he was right there in the Synagogue Auditorium. He seemed serious, too.
     • The critical religious link to my Jewish ancestors: When I was somewhere between 7 and 15 years old, my father took me up a flight of stairs to an area above the auditorium at the Synagogue and showed me the sacred Everlasting Light. Just below the Light was a plaque with the name of my revered grandfather, who died when I was about three or four years old. My grandfather had escaped from being forced into the Cossack army by fleeing Lithuania at 16 years of age. He then got on a ship and came to the US seeking freedom. Trained as a tailor, he began his life in the US by picking up rags off the streets of New York and then washing, sewing, ironing, and selling them.
  2. Now, it's seventeen years after the end of World War II. It's 1962 and I am 30 years old: When the first knot or lead heart muscle of the trauma began the process of releasing itself and my stress, fear, and anxiety began to build up, I got scared: Am I gonna die? What's happening? I did not know what to do! But I was deeply prepared: With no other options open to me I, instinctively, began to use my simple prayers, my simple Jewish religious belief, and my imagination in a very spontaneous and natural way. Although it wasn't easy for me to deal with purgation, I believe the above religious preparedness was the decisive factor enabling me to 'walk the plank' (see this link for more detail on walking the plank). So, here is what happened during my successful 'walking of the plank:'

     After the first 9 hours of purgation, particularly after experiencing the preliminary peak in PsychicStress between the 150-240 minute marks shown in Figure 1, I knew I was dealing with an opening heart that was stymied by a knot. However, as the first knot began its release process - around 3 or 4 minutes before the 555 minute mark in Figure 1 - the stress, fear, and anxiety started to mount. It was clear that the situation was getting dangerous.
     (This is where I believe panic and a nervous breakdown would have occurred, if I had not already begun to use my religious preparedness and had begun to pray and to generate the religious scenario.)

     The intensity of my anxiety was on the rise during the oncoming release of the first knot. Using my religious preparedness, my first step was to use my imagination and my religious belief to associate the knot with a particular sin in my life and I asked the blessed Lord - now taking on the role of a Judge in the scenario - for forgiveness of that sin. My religious belief told me that, if the Judge were to accept my plea, the sin would be forgiven and the knot would then be released. But, there was no release! At that point, using my imagination, I felt the wise, unwavering, and manly Judge was not releasing the knot yet, because He wanted to make sure I was really serious about asking for forgiveness of that sin. But during this delay I noticed my stress, fear, and anxiety were increasing rapidly. My situation was getting desperate. Time was running out: It looked like I would not be able to 'walk the plank.'

     (With time running out, something deep within me made its move:)

     Then, out of nowhere, my imagination stepped forward and countered my dangerously rising fears and anxiety. My imagination spoke to all the parts of my Being that were assembled about, and said: "The Judge is not playing around. He is deadly serious and He wants to know if I am serious! He can see through my half-hearted attempts at prayer."

     Then, all the assembled parts of my Being - as one man - assessed the Judge and said: 'I like that kind of a guy! No nonsense. Finally, I found a guy who was serious. He had a much greater standard for integrity and trueness than I had ever had.' Now, as my state of mind rose to extreme desperation, I began to pray in earnest. I prayed in a way that I had never prayed before: I prayed with all my heart and soul. Then, the Judge, calmly standing back and carefully assessing the situation, decided that forgiveness of my sin was justified and, in a very detached way, He allowed the knot to be released at the 555 minute mark.

     (There were more knots to be dealt with: A total of about a dozen knots had to be released before the abreaction was completed.)

     Because of the integrity and equinimity with which the Judge conducted the examination during the release of the first knot, I knew He had things under control. In addition, I slowly developed admiration and respect for the Lord in the role of a Judge: I was in good hands. More importantly, I now knew that despite His aloofness and detachment He wanted me on his side. I began to recognize He was a very rare kind of guy: A serious, no nonsense, straight shooting, type of Judge. He was able to penetrate straight into my very heart and soul. (That was where my manhood was bravely waiting for its liberation.)

     Then my heart began to open further and I encountered the next knot. During the tenth hour the above scenario - with many variations - went on relentlessly for about a dozen knots. Yes, the tenth hour was about fear, anxiety, release, and the liberation of my manhood that occurred during this abreaction or release of my childhood trauma. However, the tenth hour was also about a series of intense, serious, earnest, and sacred pledges or promises, made knot by knot in the presence of God (God always watches over or supervises the activities of the Judge and the person who is being judged.).

     In this way - by using my imagination, my prayers, and my religious belief - I was able to walk the plank. This very dangerous process had the potential to either result in panic, a nervous breakdown, and psychosis or result in the release of the cramped or paralyzed heart muscles and convert that release into the intense, profound, and sacred religious experience of purgation culminating in mystical union.

     If I had not called upon the Divine and used my imagination, my prayers, and my religious belief, I would have had a nervous breakdown. Instead, with the Lord at my side I had walked the plank!

     I had the great experience of purgation culminating in mystical union (PMU) while, simultaneously, my trauma was being completely released. With the Lord at my side, I had walked the plank:

Yea,
Though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me;

from Psalm 23 of the Bible or the Old Testament

Path II: The Religious Path of Episteme:

This book presents yet another approach to interpreting that great experience: The approach of Episteme. For the first time, ever - the approach is a formalized, presuppositionless, scientific approach: It uses the powerful Forrester-style system dynamics (SD) methodology to model, simulate, and transcendentally ground the data of my core consciousness during purgation. This data has been located or stored in my long term memory (LTM), ever since 1962.

The SD analytical methodology can be applied to analyze and comprehend almost any kind of system, but when the analyst applies SD to scientifically model, simulate, and transcendentally ground his own dynamic core consciousness system that was operating during a deep experience, such as his core consciousness system operating during his 1962 religious experience of purgation, the analyst is using a very complex, subtle, and unique kind of application of the SD analytical methodology. As a result, I have given a special name for that kind of application of the SD analytical methodology: I call it Transcendental Feedback Phenomenology (TFP).

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