Arlette Poland
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Is G_d following or leading? Both/And!
By Dr. Arlette Poland
Whitehead was ambiguous about time in many ways. It was not totally clear in his explanations about the creator deity whether that deity was the lure in our future or the nudge from our past. Many have argued for one or the other answer. Some have answered that issue with ..
Can Prehension Lead to Truth?
By Arlette Poland
The actual occasion, as it is becoming actual, prehends information from the past. It determines what to eliminate or keep or ignore. It is as if the occasion matches the energy of the past and thus decides what to accept or not into its becoming. It is like an emotional resp..
Process Thoughts as A Truth Story: The reality of connection is the meeting place of Truth
By Arlette Poland
Hasidism (an Orthodox form of Judaism) has many stories all of which not only draw on the past but also and more importantly on the opportunity for learning how to live the teaching about connection and care. Many of the stories teach of the yetzer ha’rah and the yetzer ha’tov..
Process Thought as Source for Ethics
By Dr. Arlette Poland
In Judaism, community and ethical behavior go hand in hand. We are told that our community is our life and our life is best when it is ethical. To be ethical, of course, involves following the mitzvoth (commandments/good deeds). Added to that, however, is the underlying re..
L’Chaim: To Life and Impermanence
by Dr. Arlette Poland
There is a continuousness about existence that Whitehead recognized. One event, life, thing even memory flows into another. First there is this and then there is that. If there is no this, as we say in Buddhism, then there is no that. Simple. Not easy – but simple, yes. S..
The Meaning of Making Meaning and Time
By Dr. Arlette Poland
Humans make meaning. That is what we do. We decide if we like a color, a person, an object, a country – or not. We make meaning by our words and deeds. Meaning comes from our thoughts. Feelings follow thoughts and thoughts make meaning. The meaning of our making meaning i..
Relation Is: Ethics Must Follow as Care and Connection
By Arlette Poland
Whitehead taught us that everything that ever was is somehow part of everything that is becoming and then that event that becomes will be part of the next things that are becoming. The activity that leaves out one or another of the past is actually a process: the process of be..
Is the Mitzvah of Memory Possible in Whitehead’s Process Model?
By Dr. Arlette Poland
Judaism is nothing if it is not its history. That is what I teach my students. One of the first things they hear and likely one of the main things they remember: Jewish history. All of the experience of the history of the Jews is in every prayer, every service, every line ..
The Power of the Subjective Form: Feelings as Perceptive Devices for Care and Connection
by Dr. Arlette Poland
Whitehead teaches us that perception involves several layers of activity. Neuroscience has recently proven his concepts to be accurate. The most simple of examples is our eyesight. Our eyes are not really what see the world. It is the brain that really ‘sees.’ Our eyes per..
Prehension and Friendliness: Creative, Dynamic Peace
By Dr. Arlette Poland
Whitehead coined the term prehension. In his opus, Process and Reality, starting at page 19, he begins to unfold what prehension means in his complex and thorough biological model of existence and becoming. Prehension has two aspects that can be understood as subjective an..