Absolutization - The Source of Dogma, Repression, and Conflict - Robert M. Ellis
Conclusion: Criteria for a Middle Way
Absolutization - The Source of Dogma, Repression, and Conflict - Robert M. Ellis
Robert M. Ellis [+]
Middle Way Society
Robert M. Ellis is author of a range of interdisciplinary books on Middle Way Philosophy, both within and beyond Buddhism. These have included The Buddha’s Middle Way: Experiential Judgement in His Life and Teaching (Equinox Publishing, 2019) and Archetypes in Religion and Beyond: A Practical Theory of Human Integration and Inspiration (Equinox Publishing, 2022). He is also founder of the Middle Way Society and of Tirylan House Retreat Centre in Wales.
Description
A connected response of this kind is needed to absolutization to avoid seeding new absolutizations whenever we respond to existing ones. Any such connected response is the Middle Way, because it avoids either acceptance or rejection of idealized beliefs in our response. The four criteria give general philosophical parameters for identifying the Middle Way, but do not give guidance for practising it. The five principles of the Middle Way that are the subject of the next book in this series – scepticism, provisionality, incrementality, agnosticism and integration – provide a basis for practice that addresses the overall conditions created by absolutization.