INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 596 Amsterdam, January 8th, 2015 THE GURU QUESTION - A Detailed Response to "Appreciative Reader" - DAVID LANE I think each of us are (at some of our best moments) working scientists in the sense that we observe certain phenomena and try our best to figure out why it is so. We come up with all sorts of hypotheses and then if we are honest in our inquiry we test out our guesses against other ideas and the one that is (relatively) best at explaining the data we tend to accept, even if only tentatively. Thus when it comes to meditation and spirituality, each one of us has to engage in the experiment and then decide (avoiding as best as possible group think and theological tethering) how to interpret what arises, hopefully keeping open minded to alternative viewpoints. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/lane104.html TOWARDS A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MÂDHYAMAKA 'ABSOLUTE' - Through an investigation into its misunderstanding in the field of Transpersonal Psychology - JOHN ABRAMSON This dissertation identifies a substantial opposition among many Buddhist scholars to the authenticity of an Absolute interpretation of reality in Mâdhyamaka. Its thesis is that this opposition is profoundly mistaken, but not in the sense that an Absolute interpretation of reality is correct and a non-Absolute interpretation is incorrect. An account of reality in Mâdhyamaka is articulated that argues not only are both interpretations correct but, despite their apparent contradiction, they can be presented as mutually compatible. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/abramson3.html