Pragmatic Idealism and MEMEME

     In exploring the multi-faceted arena of epistemology, Dr. Shepherd explicates a system of truth-testing he calls Pragmatic Idealism, based on his reading of Charles Fillmore and other mystical Christian thinkers.  He notes that Idealism is the belief that everything in the world has its origins in spirit, and that idealists are supremely optimistic about the nature of reality.
 
Positing a somewhat radically practical approach to an epistemology of theology and its study, Dr. Shepherd writes:

 “[William] James would never push his system this far, but could we say that true religious ideas are those which demonstrate good results in the real world?... True religious ideas are those which demonstrate good results in the real world.  Religious ideas which are demonstrated true by existential reality have inner-personal validity. You prove them true when they work for you.”

 

I won’t quibble of the use of the term “religious” although I think what may be meant is “spiritual.”  I think that spiritual principles trump religious beliefs or ideas in that they are the underpinning universal Truths that are filtered through religions.  It’s much easier to beat up on the notion of “good results” as applied through that filter- surely the priests of the Inquisition fully knew and felt that they were having “good results” by ridding the world of apostates and sinners just as radical Muslim terrorists know they are having “good results” by eliminating enemies of [their verson of] Islam.

 

 

Come on- really?  Am I misunderstanding here?  If the filtered Truth of an ideal spiritual principle is passed through a lens that is completely subjective in nature then the lens becomes the all-powerful determinant of “good results.”  If I want to hurt people I can justify it 1. Existentially- yeah it works for me and is cleansing for them; 2. Comparatively- yep my radical buddies all agree that it’s fine to hurt others to advance our philosophy; 3. Holistically- violence promotes spiritual growth by rearranging the beliefs of the afflicted to conform with my Truth; 4. Christologically- Jesus deployed violence in clearing the Temple of those pesky money changers.  I shall embark on my campaign of knocking Truth into people’s heads immediately. :)