As the subheading states, rethinking philosophy, culture, and religion. If I understand thinkers such as William James, Alfred North Whitehead, Herny Bergson, Gottfried Liebniz and Gilles Deleuze correctly, or at least in their trajectory, all of life is a process, about relations, relationality. Thus, every category of our existence comes into question since the world around us (and by world I mean the virtual world that begins with economics, capitalism, etc) is based on a substance based metaphysic.

The systems that are established and “make the world turn” are not the systems we use in our more concrete lives, and by concrete lives, I mean the real lives we live in our most intimate of spaces. Each system (philosophy, religion, economics, sociology, etc.) tries to generalize and, at the same time, tries to contain a “perfect dictionary” of how to describe the way the world works. But we cannot contain all the ideas applicable to experience because each new experience breaks down prior ideas as containing all of experience.¹ Process forces and enforces a new analysis of experience, thus creating a whole new world of possibilities. Complexity at its greatest. Thus what needs to be done is to neither marginalize nor alienate other experiences, but learn from them, grow, and expand on the ideas. There can never be a general set of ideas so as to cover the basis of all experience, thus the categories of philosophy, religion, economics, etc., will burst at their seams. They, too, need to be rethought, expounded upon, and expanded. The rethinking I am doing is to break from this notion that humanity has a firm grasp of all ideas surrounding us. I believe that the enlightenment agenda has failed. The idea I am hoping to get at and instill is the novelty of ideas. This falls in line with Gilles Deleuze in his work on What Is Philosophy? as well as in Whitehead’s Modes of Thought. I will quote Whitehead here:

The use of philosophy is to maintain an active novelty of fundamental ideas illuminating the social system. It reverses the slow descent of accepted thought towards the inactive commonplace. If you like to phrase it so, philosophy is mystical. For mysticism is direct insight into depths as yet unspoken. But the purpose of philosophy is to rationalize mysticism: not by explaining it away, but by the introduction of novel verbal charactertizations, rationally coordinated.

Philosophy is akin to poetry, and both of them seek to express that ultimate good sense which we term civilization. In each case there is reference to form beyond the direct meanings of words. Poetry allies itself to metre, philosophy to mathematic pattern.²

The goal for both Whitehead and Deleuze in philosophy are the maintenance of ideas, and not in the argument If/then P (logic), but rather in the formation of possibilities that utilize the truth of logic for lure for feeling, thus the use of mysticism, poetry to express “civilization.” It goes beyond the fact to value, to get lost in that which lures us.

I use philosophy as a center for discussing the other two facets, culture and religion. If philosophy undergoes change, then it will be of interest as to how religion changes in light of the philosophical work of process and poststructuralist thought.

who i am

I was born and raised in Queensbridge projects in New York. I am the son of two parents who worked very hard to care for their three children. I am the spouse of a wonderful woman who is on this journey with me. I am father to three energetic and inquisitive boys.

My fascination with philosophy and religion comes from its effectiveness to shape lives; It also shapes the larger issues, such as marriage in the U.S., the notion of family, sexuality, the economy, education, etc. That is why I study philosophy and religion and am lured toward process and continental thought’s move toward differentiation and harmony (Whitehead, Faber, Keller, and Deleuze for the most part). It opens up and makes known the dysfunctions of current society; it flips it on its head.

All in all, this blog will be a space for my thoughts and ideas of how I see the world, how I have been shaped by past actual occasions, and how I prehend them to form the present and future.

Welcome to processimagining.com!