GENIUS FORUMS

Wait, I'm confused. How can one believe in objective meaning (up, down, left, right, are qualities actually out there), yet refuse to believe in Absolute Reality?

Well, the topic was Krishna declaring what are the attributes of a 'divinely inclined person', and if that is a reference point, and 'Krishna' is some part of the ineffable God that the Hindus say we are part-and-parcel of, and if realization of that 'divine person' (which CAN also be defined abstr...

Alex, Fair enough. I was only saying the limit of my imagination, that your defence of Christianity was your defence of the truth. I'm not, however, convinced of the extent of penetration you claim for the Christian idea. You credit it for causing more than it did. Having Jewish roots, there is the ...

Christianity is a catalyst that drives thought's progress, and the presence of a catalyst assures that the new equilibrium cannot revert to the status of the old. You make messy beliefs sound clean and scientific, when these sort of beliefs clump together like flavours in a stew. Yes, Christianity,...

I've read one of his essays before, and this lecture, taking place 6 or 7 years later, reveals the same amount of insight, although it is better-worded. There are two insights in particular that are related to the enlightenment process. The first, which he borrows from elsewhere, is that awakened co...

The word necessary implies need. Whose need? Necessary for what? Procreation? Or is that also unnecessary? Okay, I'll add the adjective "ontologically" in front of "necessary". On the one hand, existence is not completely captured (in the sense that "A and not-A" compl...

You've lost me. Use of these principles by whom? Since we're talking about Taoism here, I'm speaking of Lao Tzu and similar mystics. I don't believe that the distinction between the male and female is meant to be taken literally: it is, rather, the use of the familiar to explain the unfamiliar. You...

What you do seem to be saying is that the predominance of one aspect over the other applies to the inner self as well as the outer self, and in the same relatively overwhelming proportion. All of reality is one; the inside is as much the outside as the outside is. The overwhelming proportion of exi...

cousinbasil, Given that you correctly identified the fact that I was using masculinity and femininity as an example of A=A, why did you then immediately forget this, and try to disprove enlightenment is an all-boys club? I'm explaining duality; the specific terms don't really matter, so long as one ...

...I believe that to dwell in that which is the clear water of the self is to be in a state where you observe both the masculine and the feminine from a non-attached viewpoint. Though this is not enlightenment (complete non-dualism) this is for me the sane point of perspective for further investiga...

Carmel wrote:I tend to be attracted toward individuals who have integrated the masc. and fem aspects of their nature

What do you mean by masculine and feminine aspects? Isn't that rather black and white?

A definition would satisfy my psychology. When we define such-and-such, as in when we denote the word "reality" to mean "everything that exists", have we gone and touched a world beyond psychology? How about when we use a syllogism? Does our psychology matter when we discover th...

Kunga, Can you please give an example ? i have a hard time following that one . When you talk about human nature, you are talking about essences. For instance, human nature is benevolent. Or, humans are essentially evil. The example you used is that humans are inherently deceptive when it comes to t...

Kunga, Is it not human nature to conceal the animal nature ? Humans have no essence. They are neither one way nor another necessarily. What they happen to do is more often accidental than virtuous. For every negative thing you can find reguarding a woman there is a positive. And vice versa with men....

THERE IS NO LOGIC FOR ANYTHING IN THIS UNIVERSE TO EXIST. What about logic? You seem to take it for granted that it exists. From my vision, this concludes all that exist should not. Simply because you judge that something exists accidentally, you don't need to make the further evaluation that it sh...

Thanks. Good to be back. I lost the summer to my illness, and the last 4 months to school.

Robert wrote: That's probably the same person who posted this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iihNHQykKw

I can't believe it took 9 minutes to set us up for a single pun.

The Thing is having an identity crisis. Man, woman... it?

Superman's someone who takes "WWJD" a little bit too seriously. What about the other Superheroes? I'm sure I could reverse engineer most of those costumes with the power of allegory.

German idealism + Australian metaphysics = Canadian comedy of errrorrs.

Sympathy for the Devil

An omnipotent God cannot be eternal because he cannot end his own life. I also question whether he can be moral because he cannot do so.

If I take away all your power, you don't even have the power to die. Because I was the first to perfect the will to power, all humans after me are powerless. What are you going to do without power? Why did you ever need it in the first place? It is not yours -- it is mine. Do you think you can do my...

*shrug*

That certainly sounds intense. It's probably a lot less intense for the serial killer. It must be like being half-asleep all the time. Kind of sad.

What about trophies? The only thing I've ever collected is coins. I'm completely indifferent to money, though. I'd bet if I cared about the value of my collection, I wouldn't have such a large one. Philosophy, on the other hand, I care about. The motive is somewhat humanistic, like right now I'm try...

When I was younger, I wanted to be a criminal profiler. Even though life took me in a different direction, I still love people watching. But I've never seen a serial killer. How does the mind of a serial killer work? It's the one thing, as a philosopher, I've never been able to figure out.