Get Real
Reality and Mystery
Published on 16. December 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
150 pages
978-0-7618-5659-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the Preface:
"Get real" was a slang term that became popular in the 1960's when Michael Hickey was growing up in East Boston. It implied that someone wasn't in touch with reality and had to change their way of thinking or living. If you put on the television today, all you might find is one of the hundreds of so-called reality TV shows. More often than not, these reality shows are illusions of reality because the "real persons" utilized as actors/performers are seemingly coached to act in certain ways by the directors, judges, or producers who really control the reality. Nonetheless, reality TV is a modern phenomenon; people watch it constantly, and that does indicate a high degree of the public's interest in some concept of reality. As for "mystery," it seems we are approaching an age where there will be the death of mystery, and we will have only reality. Hickey believes this is because the vast majority of the populace doesn't view reality in the context of mystery. They imagine mystery to be something which is just obscure or ambiguous, which given enough time, will be solved by reason and logic and become reality. Hickey's goal is that Get Real will give the reader a fresh understanding of both reality and mystery as seen from a theological and philosophical viewpoint. Ultimately, he intends the reader to move beyond the perceived duality in order to establish that mystery is truly the home of all reality.
"Get real" was a slang term that became popular in the 1960's when Michael Hickey was growing up in East Boston. It implied that someone wasn't in touch with reality and had to change their way of thinking or living. If you put on the television today, all you might find is one of the hundreds of so-called reality TV shows. More often than not, these reality shows are illusions of reality because the "real persons" utilized as actors/performers are seemingly coached to act in certain ways by the directors, judges, or producers who really control the reality. Nonetheless, reality TV is a modern phenomenon; people watch it constantly, and that does indicate a high degree of the public's interest in some concept of reality. As for "mystery," it seems we are approaching an age where there will be the death of mystery, and we will have only reality. Hickey believes this is because the vast majority of the populace doesn't view reality in the context of mystery. They imagine mystery to be something which is just obscure or ambiguous, which given enough time, will be solved by reason and logic and become reality. Hickey's goal is that Get Real will give the reader a fresh understanding of both reality and mystery as seen from a theological and philosophical viewpoint. Ultimately, he intends the reader to move beyond the perceived duality in order to establish that mystery is truly the home of all reality.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lanham, MD
United States
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
254 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7618-5659-7 (9780761856597)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Michael Hickey is a graduate of Northeastern University and a Master Of Divinity Studies graduate of Weston Jesuit, a Boston College theological school. He retired as a successful entrepreneur to become a full time writer and poet. He is the author of Get Wisdom (2006) and Get Goodness: Virtue is the Power to Do Good (2011). Hickey writes a weekly column called "Words Of Wisdom" for The Naples Daily News and teaches courses on religion, philosophy, and poetry at Hodges University, CLL and Florida Gulf Coast University. His wife, Theresa, is a published poet, and in their forty-four years together they have raised four happy and "well-adjusted" children into adulthood.
Content
Section One-Reality
Preface
Chapter One: Reality of Being
Chapter Two: Roles of Truth and Belief
Chapter Three: Reality of Life
Chapter Four: Imagining the Real
Chapter Five: The Final Earthly Reality
Chapter Six: The Ultimate Reality
Chapter Seven: Self-Realizing
Section Two-Mystery
Chapter Eight: Mystery?
Chapter Nine: Ancient Mystery Cults
Chapter Ten: Early Christianity: Another Mystery Cult
Chapter Eleven: Sacramentality
Chapter Twelve: Revelation: The Unveiling of God
Chapter Thirteen: Myth
Chapter Fourteen: Old Testament Mystery
Chapter Fifteen: New Testament Mystery
Chapter Sixteen: Mystery of Suffering
Chapter Seventeen: Miracles Mystery
Chapter Eighteen: The Hidden Kingdom
Chapter Nineteen: Those Peculiar Parables
Chapter Twenty: Mysticism
Chapter Twenty-One: Two Types of Theological Mysteries
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Mystery of the Female
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Beginning and End Times Mystery
Section Three-Reality Meets Mystery/ "This is That"
Chapter Twenty-Four: Unity of Opposites
Chapter Twenty-Five: Personal and Universal
Chapter Twenty-Six: Matter and Spirit
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nature and Grace
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Natural and Supernatural
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Heaven and Earth
Chapter Thirty: Time and Eternity
Chapter Thirty-One: Knowing and Unknowing
Chapter Thirty-Two: Consciousness and Unconsciousness
Chapter Thirty-Three: Humanity and Divinity: The Cross +
Chapter Thirty-Four: Man the Reality and God the Mystery
Chapter Thirty-Five: God the Reality and Man the Mystery
Chapter Thirty-Six: Self-Transcending
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Conclusion: God Mysteriously In Us and Us Really In God
Preface
Chapter One: Reality of Being
Chapter Two: Roles of Truth and Belief
Chapter Three: Reality of Life
Chapter Four: Imagining the Real
Chapter Five: The Final Earthly Reality
Chapter Six: The Ultimate Reality
Chapter Seven: Self-Realizing
Section Two-Mystery
Chapter Eight: Mystery?
Chapter Nine: Ancient Mystery Cults
Chapter Ten: Early Christianity: Another Mystery Cult
Chapter Eleven: Sacramentality
Chapter Twelve: Revelation: The Unveiling of God
Chapter Thirteen: Myth
Chapter Fourteen: Old Testament Mystery
Chapter Fifteen: New Testament Mystery
Chapter Sixteen: Mystery of Suffering
Chapter Seventeen: Miracles Mystery
Chapter Eighteen: The Hidden Kingdom
Chapter Nineteen: Those Peculiar Parables
Chapter Twenty: Mysticism
Chapter Twenty-One: Two Types of Theological Mysteries
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Mystery of the Female
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Beginning and End Times Mystery
Section Three-Reality Meets Mystery/ "This is That"
Chapter Twenty-Four: Unity of Opposites
Chapter Twenty-Five: Personal and Universal
Chapter Twenty-Six: Matter and Spirit
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nature and Grace
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Natural and Supernatural
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Heaven and Earth
Chapter Thirty: Time and Eternity
Chapter Thirty-One: Knowing and Unknowing
Chapter Thirty-Two: Consciousness and Unconsciousness
Chapter Thirty-Three: Humanity and Divinity: The Cross +
Chapter Thirty-Four: Man the Reality and God the Mystery
Chapter Thirty-Five: God the Reality and Man the Mystery
Chapter Thirty-Six: Self-Transcending
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Conclusion: God Mysteriously In Us and Us Really In God