User:Gospelnous

Gospelnous is a composite of two words, gospel - meaning: the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles; specif., the Christian doctrine of the redemption of man through Jesus as Christ and, nous - meaning: mind, reason, or intellect, specif. as a metaphysical principle. Though I originally conceptualized the term as a 'user' name, since its inception in 2002, it's virtually assumed a life and mission of its own.

The Gospelnous Story

Nearing completion of a graduate program in Counseling Psychology towards the end of 1997, and having explored postmodern philosophy through the literature of Mikhail Bakhtin and Michel Foucault, I discovered the writing of Ken Wilber. Consequently, and over the next couple of years, my own understanding and further study of psychosis, transpersonal psychology, and the pre/trans fallacy, in hopes of contributing to an improvement of treatment protocols, afforded me introductory contact with such notables as Roger Walsh, David Lukoff, Charles Tart, and Michael Washburn. As my spiritual orientation shifted from Theravada Buddhism back to contemporary Christianity however, but facing financial insolvency and following the Columbine shootings, I returned to my prior work with 'disadvantaged' youth.

Around this same time then, but just weeks after 9/11, I was given the opportunity to serve on a church 'outreach team' to New York City. The experience had a profound affect on me and with a sense of urgency upon returning home, I enlisted the internet in facilitation of research on a project published in part, as an essay series entitled, A Crisis in American Leadership. Though I initially examined different dimensions of Gnostic influence in respect to Christian, psychological, philosophical, and spiritualist inquiry in its inception, Ken Wilber's reference to Aldous Huxley's, Perennial Philosophy ultimately presented itself as a window from whence I began perusing almost 250 years of western World History.

The Wikipedia Connection

Perhaps because my life is as 'process' driven as it is however, I still regard myself as a 'newbie' around here. Consequently, like everyone else, I too generally figure things out along the way, trusting my own 'learning' will inevitably be part of the fun. At the same time though, I believe Wikipedia represents a historically unique and potentially invaluable resource for sharing knowledge that, until recently, has neither been readily accessible nor distributable, to a global community. Subsequently then, this new medium seems to exude tremendous capacity for further facilitating the development of Education and Learning within our respective cultures.

Developing Content

Because my own reading and interpretation of Scripture has developed from, and continues to involve what could be termed a Hermeneutic approach, that same methodology has influenced and directed my work with internet systems and its related technologies. Consequently, once an individual is familiar with the Wikipedia format, translating that same background and skill set to a site like SourceWatch, for example, is relatively easy. In this same regard, my own work has entailed originating or enhancing pages there in support of certain legislation, individuals like Ron Paul, and a group sponsoring the American Freedom Agenda.