God and the Self
Insights from Major Thinkers in the Western Philosophical Tradition
by
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Summary: God, the Self and the Imagination
IN BOOK 2, WE have examined the manner in which God and the self are conceptualized and understood from the perspective of major thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition. The historical contexts in which the philosophers lived and the convergence of their views offer insights into how and why changes in these concepts occurred. Philosophical adversaries critiqued theological claims, postulations, and theoretical positions that were considered to have negative effects on individuals and in societies. Charges of erroneous notions, fictitious beliefs, and faulty assertions were not unusual. The philosophers featured in this work argued that deceptive beliefs and distorted thinking about God hinder the realization of self-responsibility and personal development, which ultimately stifled social responsibility and communal development. In their efforts to help human beings self-actualize and realize their inherent genius, the philosophers in this book masterfully used imagination to invigorate their thoughts to make transcendental leaps back and forth between two alternative worlds, in order to overcome the burden of discontinuity, duality, and separateness
(Norton 1968). The philosophers employed imagination to bind distinct and disconnected ideas, feelings, and sensations into unified concepts of God and self. They envisioned “what [was] absent, unreal or even absurd, and so [imagination] appears to grant [them] almost unlimited conceptual powers” (Beaney 2016, 49). According to the Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind, Aristotle first introduced the concept of imagination into philosophy. The term ‘imagination’ has Latin roots in the word imaginatio. (Thomas 2004) While the definitions of imagination are nuanced and many, this work defines imagination as “the capacity that underpins our ability to simulate perspectives that differ from the one available to us through experience” (Liao and Gendler 2011, 79). All the philosophers in this book utilized their imaginations and constructively integrated imagination and creativity into their works allowing us to relish in their thoughts and the implications of their thinking and understanding. When thinking about current events and historical developments, these thinkers posited that the imagination is freer than knowledge and memory (Norton 1968, 404). The philosophers in this work demonstrated the powerful role of the imagination in unifying distinct percepts or “a loose collection of atomic particles (whether ‘ideas’ or ‘sensation’) which are simple, self-identical and presumably indubitable” (403). These particles are bound together as “conceptual and proposition unities … in our knowledge … [and] imagination is the glue” (403–404).
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About the Book
“The principles found in the material presented in this book, delivered to me by Dr. Lucas, made so much sense to me at a critical juncture in my career. My plight was having achieved in my career, but not having believed in the ‘self’, though strongly believing in God as I was taught. Understanding the balance, the partnership described in this book, took me to another level. I believe it can do the same for any reader!”
~Dr. Wally R. Smith
Professor of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University
In God and the Self, author D. Pulane Lucas explores the dynamic and complex notions of God and the self from a number of philosophical perspectives, highlighting the evolving nature of discourse about the self. Opening with an examination of freedom, guilt and the moral law, this three-part volume examines the work of Kant, Coleridge, and Nietzsche before analyzing the views and influences of Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Schleiermacher on conceptions of God and the self. A final section on self-awareness investigates the self from the pragmatic perspective and draws upon the works of William James and George Herbert Mead, with each essay in the volume examining a fundamental way of conceptualizing and understanding the self with a historical and theoretical perspective.
Human beings are endowed with the abilities to self-reflect, imagine, and create. These capabilities have contributed to ancient and modern thinkers’ desires for deeper understandings of humanity, universal laws, and omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient beings. Exploring complex notions of God and the self can enhance cognitive flexibility and promote a more in-depth understanding of the self. With self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-empowerment, and self-appreciation, we can value our self-worth and reawaken the genius in each of us so that we can gain greater control of our thoughts, actions, and lives.
About the Author
D. Pulane Lucas holds a PhD in public policy and administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, a master of arts degree from Harvard University, a master of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Dr. Lucas advocates cognitive flexibility as an approach to idea generation, problem solving, and personal well-being. She is a consultant in research, proposal writing, and program evaluation, and her research interests focus on organizational change, disruptive innovation theory, and public and health policy. Dr. Lucas teaches in the School of Business at Reynolds Community College, Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Lucas is married to Rev. Dr. Frederick A. Lucas Jr., and she is the mother of Stanley and Fredericka.