This page presents short explanations for concepts that appear in Bren's books, or explanations of how he sometimes uses familiar words in strange ways (which after all is a philosopher's perogative). As new books are published, new words will be added to the database. For a full treatment of the meaning of these terms, and the arguments in which they feature, it's best to read the books. :-)

Immensity

An event, experience, occasion, or situation in human life which (1) is universal; is experienced by everyone, at some part of her life; (2) surprising, unexpected, strange, or unfamiliar; (3) appears to be beyond any one person's ability to understand or control; (4) has the properties of greatness, timelessness, and authority; (5) calls one's life into question; (6) initiates a search for self-knowledge.

Flappery

Fashionable nonsense; trivialities that are passed off as wisdom; lyrics from pop music or movies that are treated as philosophical truths; meaningless time-wasting talk, especially the sort which will gain the speaker popularity among superficial people.

Global Animism

The theory that life on earth is united by a pool of flowing energy; based on principles of the Gaia Hypothesis, Deep Ecology, and some aspects of aboriginal thinking.

The Heroic Virtues

1. The virtues described in the literature and mythology of heroic (pre-classical, bronze-age, iron-age) European societies, such as the Celts, the Greeks (of the time of Homer), Germanic and Scandinavian people, Baltic people, and so on.

2. Courage, Generosity, Friendship.

The Classical Virtues

1. The virtues described by Plato and Aristotle as necessary for the good life.

2. Courage, Temperance, Prudence, Justice.

The Seven Grandfathers

1. The virtues and character-values described in Aboriginal culture, particularly among the First Nations of the Eastern Woodlands (Ontario, Quebec, and northern New England states). There are usually seven in number, but there is no "canonical" list.

2. Wisdom, Truth, Humility, Bravery, Honesty, Love, and Respect (as listed for me by several of the traditional Elders I consulted).

Also known as: the Grandfather Teachings.

The Civic Virtues

Virtues described in the Stoic philosophy of certain Roman Empire philosophers, such as Cicero and Marcus Aurelius; normally similar to the Classical Virtues, although with an emphasis on public service and on loyalty to the state.

Religious (as opposed to spiritual)

Pertaining to institutions, and institutional spiritual activities.

Giganormous

Even better than Gigantic and Enormous.

Energy

That which enables work or change in the world to occur; that which underlies organic functions in a living body; that which is shared between any two or more beings whose lives are intertwined.

Spirit

You didn't really think I would define "spirit" in a glossary, did you?

Presence

The here-ness and now-ness of being; that which is asserted and/or revealed by the word of being.

The Word, the Word of Being

Yes.

The Great Silence

...

Utilitarianism

1. The school of thought in ethics which holds that outcomes, consequences, and results are what matters most, to the exclusion of other considerations. Typically, the theory is stated as the claim that the ethical thing to do is that which produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people, or the greatest net result of benefit over harm.

2. In other philosophical matters, the school of thought which holds that things must be practical and useful in order to be meaningful; rejects the prospect that some things can be intrinsically or inherently meaningful; may also reject theory-making in general (notwithstanding that Utilitarianism itself has a theoretical foundation).

3. A variant called "Negative Utilitarianism" emphasises the reduction of harm, instead of the maximization of benefit.

Phenomenology

The discipline in modern philosophy which studies consciousness, founded by Edmund Husserl.

Misercorpism

Any attitude, world-view, practice, or philosophical theory which disparages or downgrades the signifigance of the body, of of embodied life generally; or which places special privilege for the mind or the spirit or other disembodied and immaterial reality above and beyond the body. Examples include religious doctrines which call for fasting, celibacy, or corporeal punishment; psychological conditions such as eating disorders; certain forms of elective cosmetic surgery; certain punitive forms of exercise or diets; and so on.