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Paul Carus (German: [paʊl ˈkaːʁʊs]; 18 July 1852 – 11 February 1919) was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion^[1] and philosopher.^[2]

Life and education

Carus was born in Ilsenburg, Germany, and educated at the universities of Strassburg (then Germany, now France) and Tübingen, Germany. After obtaining his PhD from Tübingen in 1876^[3] he served in the army and then taught school. He had been raised in a pious and orthodox Protestant home, but gradually moved away from this tradition.^[4]

He left Bismarck‘s Imperial Germany for the United States, “because of his liberal views”.^[5] After he emigrated to the USA (in 1884) he lived in Chicago, and in LaSalle, Illinois. Paul Carus married Edward C. Hegeler‘s daughter, engineer Mary Hegeler (Marie) and the couple later moved into the Hegeler Carus Mansion, built by her father. They had seven children, the firstborn, Robert died at birth, but Edward (b. 1890), Gustave (b. 1892), Paula (b. 1894), Elisabeth or “Libby” (b. 1896), Herman (b. 1899), and Alwin (b. 1901) all lived long lives.^[6] Mary ran the family business, Matthiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company and the Open Court business and later took on the editorial role after Carus’ death, alongside their daughter Elizabeth.^[7]

Career

In the United States, Carus briefly edited a German-language journal and wrote several articles for the Index, the Free Religious Association organ.^[1]

Soon after, he became the first managing editor of the Open Court Publishing Company, founded in 1887 by his father-in-law.^[5] The goals of Open Court were to provide a forum for the discussion of philosophy, science, and religion, and to make philosophical classics widely available by making them affordable.^[6]

He also acted as the editor for two periodicals published by the company, The Open Court and The Monist.^[3][8]

He was introduced to Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of American Pragmatism, by Judge Francis C. Russell of Chicago. Carus stayed abreast of Peirce’s work and would eventually publish a number of his articles.^[9]

During his lifetime, Carus published 75 books and 1500 articles,^[10] mostly through Open Court Publishing Company. He wrote books and articles on history, politics, philosophy, religion, logic, mathematics, anthropology, science, and social issues of his day. In addition, Carus corresponded with many of the greatest minds of the late 19th and early 20th century, sending and receiving letters from Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Booker T. Washington, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ernst Mach, Ernst Haeckel, John Dewey, and many more.

Carus’s world view and philosophy

Carus considered himself a theologian rather than philosopher. He referred to himself as “an atheist who loved God”.^[11][12]

Carus is proposed to be a pioneer in the promotion of interfaith dialogue. He explored the relationship of science and religion, and was instrumental in introducing Eastern traditions and ideas to the West.^[5] He was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the West,^[4] sponsoring Buddhist translation work of D.T. Suzuki, and fostering a lifelong working friendship with Buddhist Master, Soyen Shaku. Carus’ interest in Asian religions seems to have intensified after he attended the World’s Parliament of Religions (in 1893).

For years afterwards, Carus was a strong sympathizer of Buddhist ideas, but stopped short of committing fully to this, or any other, religion. Instead, he ceaselessly promoted his own rational concept which he called the “Religion of Science.” Carus had a selective approach and he believed that religions evolve over time. After a battle for survival, he expected a “cosmic religion of universal truth” to emerge from the ashes of traditional beliefs.^[4]

Carus proposed his own philosophy similar to panpsychism known as ‘panbiotism’, which he defined as “everything is fraught with life; it contains life; it has the ability to live.”^[13]

Religion of Science

Carus was a follower of Benedictus de Spinoza; he was of the opinion that Western thought had fallen into error early in its development in accepting the distinctions between body and mind and the material and the spiritual. (Kant’s phenomenal and noumenal realms of knowledge; Christianity’s views of the soul and the body, and the natural and the supernatural). Carus rejected such dualisms, and wanted science to reestablish the unity of knowledge.^[14] The philosophical result he labeled Monism.^[1]

His version of monism is more closely associated with a kind of pantheism, although it was occasionally identified with positivism.^[12] He regarded every law of nature as a part of God’s being. Carus held that God was the name for a cosmic order comprising “all that which is the bread of our spiritual life.” He held the concept of a personal God as untenable. He acknowledged Jesus Christ as a redeemer, but not as the only one, for he believed that other religious founders were equally endowed with similar qualities.^[12]

His beliefs attempted to steer a middle course between idealistic metaphysics and materialism. He differed with metaphysicians because they “reified” words and treated them as if they were realities, and he objected to materialism because it ignored or overlooked the importance of form. Carus emphasized form by conceiving of the divinity as a cosmic order. He objected to any monism which sought the unity of the world, not in the unity of truth, but in the oneness of a logical assumption of ideas. He referred to such concepts as henism, not monism.^[12]

Carus held that truth was independent of time, human desire, and human action. Therefore, science was not a human invention, but a human revelation which needed to be apprehended; discovery meant apprehension; it was the result or manifestation of the cosmic order in which all truths were ultimately harmonious.^[12]

Criticisms of Carus’ ideas

It is claimed that Carus was dismissed by Orientalists and philosophers alike because of his failure to comply with the rules of either discipline.^[15]

Legacy

The legacy of Paul Carus is honored through the efforts of the Hegeler Carus Foundation, the Carus Lectures at the American Philosophical Association (APA), and the Paul Carus Award for Interreligious Understanding^[16] by the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR). Mary Hegeler Carus and their daughter Elizabeth Carus took on the editorial role after Carus’ death.^[7]

(Image from travel-challenges.com)

A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg

Everyone likes going places. One might call it a vacation, another a holiday, and some just call it escaping the inbox. But what if your travel plans were dictated by the _literal_ meaning of the word? Here’s what your itinerary would look like, etymologically speaking:

• journey: A day trip (from French jour: day). About 20 miles max in those days
• travel: Torture (Latin trepaliare: to torture). Because travel in those days wasn’t exactly a trip to Disneyland
• holiday: Perhaps a pilgrimage, because holiday is, literally, holy day. Well, you could worship the sun
• pilgrimage: A foreign trip (Latin peregrinus: foreign)
• visit: Go see a place (Latin videre: to see). So if you attend a concert, would that be an audit? (Latin audire: to hear)
• trip: Dancing in the backyard (Old French triper: to hop, skip, leap, dance)
• vacation: Vacate the home? Also, the wallet? (Latin vacare: to be empty)
• tour: Spinning in circles? (Greek tornos: lathe)

Good thing etymology isn’t destiny. A word is not limited to its roots or what it meant originally.

This week we’re taking you on a, well, let’s call it a jaunt (origin unknown). We’ll explore places, far and wide, that have become metaphors in the English language. Such words are also called toponyms, from Greek topo- (place) + -nym (name).

What are your favorite places to visit, whether down the road or across the globe? Do you have a location that you return to again and again? Why? Tell us via our website or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Include your home base (city, state).

And wherever you go, may your journey be less “trepaliare” and more “trip”!

Rainy Day, Sunny Day

There was once an old lady who cried all the time. Her elder daughter was married to an umbrella merchant while the younger daughter was the wife of a noodle vendor.  On sunny days, she worried, “Oh no! The weather is so nice and sunny. No one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if the shop has to be closed?” These worries made her sad. She just could not help but cry.  When it rained, she would cry for her younger daughter. She thought, “Oh no! My younger daughter is married to a noodle vendor. You cannot dry noodles without the sun. Now there will be no noodles to sell. What should we do?”  As a result, the old lady lived in sorrow everyday. Whether sunny or rainy, she grieved for one of her daughters. Her neighbors could not console her and jokingly called her “The Crying Lady.”  One day, she met a monk. He was very curious as to why she was always crying. She explained the problem to him. The monk smiled kindly and said, “Madam! You need not worry. I will show you a way to happiness, and you will need to grieve no more.”  The crying lady was very excited. She immediately asked the monk to show her what to do. The monk replied, “It is very simple. You just need to change your perspective. On sunny days, do not think of your elder daughter not being able to sell umbrellas but the younger daughter being able to dry her noodles. With such good strong sunlight, she must be able to make plenty of noodles and her business must be very good. When it rains, think about the umbrella store of the elder daughter. With the rain, everyone must be buying umbrellas. She will sell a lot of umbrellas and her store will prosper.”  The old lady saw the light. She followed the monk’s instructions. After a while, she did not cry anymore; instead, she was smiling everyday. From that day on she was known as “The Smiling Lady.”  Author Unknown        AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DAILY REFLECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

“César franchit le Rubicon” by Adolphe Yvon (1875). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Published: April 7, 2025 (TheOnion.com)

WASHINGTON—As the Trump administration continues to alter the version of American history that appears in government publications, sources confirmed Monday that a page on the National Parks website had been revised to describe Harriet Tubman as a human trafficker. “Operating between 1851 and 1862, the notorious human trafficker Harriet Tubman stole approximately 70 African Americans away from their homes in the southern United States,” reads a post on the National Park Service page, which now refers to the Underground Railroad as one of the most prolific human trafficking rings ever to operate on American soil. “Tubman would kidnap people in their sleep, including children, and carry them off to locations as far away as Canada. Despite the best efforts of American lawmen to bring her to justice, Tubman remained at large over the course of 13 separate kidnapping raids into southern states. Even in her later years, she never once expressed remorse for displacing her victims or violating the property rights of their owners.” At press time, the Parks Service had reportedly rewritten its page on Rosa Parks to describe her as a terrorist bus hijacker.

Published: October 25, 2017 (TheOnion.com)

VATICAN CITY—After months of failed attempts to coax their sole mating pair into conceiving, officials from the Vatican City Zoo admitted Wednesday that they were unsure whether the facility would ever successfully breed an angel in captivity.

The current effort is reportedly part of an ongoing campaign by the zoo, home to Christendom’s most diverse collection of holy fauna, to increase the world’s angelic population, which has dwindled to fewer than 400 heavenly creatures in the wild.

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“No systematic attempt to breed winged celestial beings outside their natural habitat in everlasting paradise has ever succeeded, so this is a daunting task,” said the zoo’s director Cardinal Lorenzo Menichelli, who explained that creating the ideal conditions for procreative intercourse would require theobiologists to learn more about angel fertility cycles and courtship rituals. “While there have been occasional signs of a potential pregnancy, such as elevated hormone levels or a dilated halo, each has unfortunately turned out to be a false alarm.”

“Nevertheless, we still hope that one day we will welcome a new baby angel into our zoo’s Heavenly Messenger Pavilion,” he added.

According to sources within the Holy See, zoo staff built an approximation of the angels’ natural habitat to facilitate breeding, installing sidewalks paved with gold throughout their concrete enclosure and a $300,000 motion-activated mist system to simulate clouds. Reports also confirmed that a special, secluded cage has been set up as far away as possible from the exhibit’s main viewing platform, which is often crowded with photo-snapping bishops and loud Sunday school children known to discourage angelic coition.

However, despite the zoo’s best efforts, Menichelli said the male and female angels seldom show interest in each other, and on the rare occasions they do, the pair often becomes spooked prior to the act of copulation by sounds coming from the Leviathan and Behemoth cages in the nearby Hall of Beasts. The cardinal added that the problem is compounded by the fact that female angels are only in heat once every jubilee year.

“We’ve tried numerous techniques to stimulate their libidinal urges—chanting devotional hymns, bestowing our blessings upon their loins, and bathing them in the shimmering light of God’s pure grace,” said Menichelli, adding that the zoo had recently ordered several gallons of highly pungent angel testosterone, which is known to induce estrus in reluctant females. “We even showed them video clips of other angels mating to activate their instinctual reproductive cues, but they refused to watch it and then began anxiously making the sign of the cross.”

“Our experience has been quite different with the Nephilim, which breed like rabbits,” he

continued, noting that the biblical race of giants had come a long way since the 19th century, when they were targeted by trophy hunters and nearly went extinct. “If we didn’t keep them isolated, we’d have a new litter every week.”

Records indicate the zoo’s latest angelic breeding project follows a series of botched efforts dating back to the early 1970s. In a widely publicized 1984 incident, an attempt to mate two seraphim on loan from the Lourdes Zoo and Aquarium failed when the much larger and more aggressive male shouted, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole Earth is full of His glory!” and proceeded to tear the wings off the female, setting the program back by more than a decade.

“Angel husbandry is a difficult process, but we’re not giving up,” Menichelli said. “These magnificent creatures are the most popular attraction at the zoo, apart from the Demon Pit and the Botanical Garden of Eden, and we’re committed to making it something that visitors to the Vatican can enjoy from now until the Second Coming.”

Menichelli confirmed the zoo would try artificial insemination next, just as soon as it received the Church’s permission to collect a sample.

The Five of Disks All the Fives in the deck are demanding cards – the number five relates to the planet Mars, which can sometimes have a disruptive destructive energy. On the other hand though, Martian power, strength and determination are necessary attributes to break through obstacles and difficulties.The Lord of Worry is mostly about anxiety around events which threaten our financial or physical security – notice this card indicates the anxiety, rather than the event itself. Often, when we are under the influence of this card, we worry needlessly about situations which have not yet come to pass.Sometimes, rather than our anxieties being centred on finances, they can revolve around basic family security – whether our partner cares about us, whether things in our home environment are as we would wish them to be. You might find yourself worrying about your children, your parents, your partner.Anxiety has a nasty habit of creating yet more anxiety. We worry. Because we worry, we become stressed. As the stress level mounts we feel our ability to cope recedes. That makes us feel vulnerable. And then of course we get more anxious.What is needed here is a method of breaking into the cycle of worry and distress, in order to clear away confusion and get to the heart of things. It often helps, when you feel like this, to write down what you feel worried about. And then you can go over the list deciding what is real, and what imaginary.Once you’ve whittled away the phantoms, you will be left with a list of more realistic things. Now cross off all those matters that either you cannot alter, or have not yet made themselves manifest.Now you have only the real things to worry about left. With a bit of luck, your list should be much much shorter now. Therefore you can direct all the energy you were using to worry into finding workable solutions to your difficulties. Affirmation: “I can deal with my life – it is my most precious possession.”

(Angelpaths.com)

“Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi (1207-1273) Persian Poet

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DAILY REFLECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

New Thinkin • Apr 6, 2025 • Entheogens and Consciousness David Jay Brown and Sara Phinn Huntley are coauthors of the Illustrated Field Guide to DMT Entities: Machine Elves, Tricksters, Teachers, and Other Interdimensional Beings. Sara Phinn Huntley is an artist whose work has explored the intersection of psychedelics, technology, and philosophy. David Jay Brown has also written several other books including Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing, and Psychedelics as well as The New Science of Psychedelics: At the Nexus of Culture, Consciousness, and Spirituality. Here they share their personal experiences encountering entities while taking entheogens. They also share stories concerning the various entities that psychedelic experiencers have encountered. They point out that such experiences are similar to those reported by UFO contactees and abductees.  00:00 Introduction 03:20 David & Sara’s background 07:26 Entities and aliens (or NHIs) 15:03 Entities and psychic powers 18:02 Are these entities real? 21:48 The attraction of certain entities 38:27 What is hyperspace? 44:33 Ayahuasca and DMT 47:38 Conclusion New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on March 12, 2025)

New Thinking • Apr 7, 2025 Kenneth R. Pelletier, MD, PhD, is professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center. He is author of Longevity, Mind As Healer – Mind As Slayer, Toward a Science of Consciousness, Sound Mind – Sound Body, The Best Alternative Medicine, Healthy People in Unhealthy Places, and Change Your Genes – Change Your Life. Here he describes progress in the emerging new scientific field of epigenetics. He points out that the manner in which genes express themselves is determined by diet, exercise, and mental state, in addition to other biochemical factors. Alterations to epigenetic markers can be passed on to one’s descendants — in effect, supporting the once discredited notion of Lamarckian genetics. We are at the brink of a new era of personalized medicine. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on May 4, 2019)