GENIUS FORUMS

Cory wrote: If 'God' = The body of cause and effect - - what causes 'the body of cause and effect? David Quinn replied: It doesn't have any cause. This is because whatever thing or phenomena we might wish to postulate as being the cause of the body of cause and effect will necessarily be a part of ...

David Quinn wrote: You really need to chill out with respect to people's use of words. I'd hate to be in your friend's shoes when he says to you, "I'm going down to the shop to buy a loaf of bread". I would only get my head snapped off with, "Oh, are you now? How can you possibly imag...

Sapius,

this 'what underlies material' is a great topic and I'm going to start a new thead on this soon, that is, once I finish thrashing it out with Quinn on a different matter....yet probably, both matters well end up being the same matter. (see: God's cause)

Cory wrote: I don't see a personal will, a personal mind that chooses to do anything. How can enlightenment be the result of my acts of will, when my will is only an illusion? David Quinn replied: True. A person will only seek enlightenment if he is caused to seek it. Ultimately, God is the doer of...

David Quinn wrote: Indeed, every step towards enlightenment involves an act of will. I don't see a personal will, a personal mind that chooses to do anything. How can enlightenment be the result of my acts of will, when my will is only an illusion? It is obvious that I have personal memories that ar...

David Quinn wrote: It's going to require a significant paradigm-shift for you to resolve it, which you may or may not be capable of doing. It's going to require you to leave a lot of conventionality behind. It's going to make you less attractive to the babes. Is this paradigm shift the result of a p...

Sapius wrote: (now don’t go arguing) How could a blob of protein turn into a true cell? Those are the kinds of question that I feel we need to remain with. I read over the link you posted. The theory about life’s origins pointed to certain causes responsible for this fundamental mutation from no...

With help from Soloway and others, let's resolve the cosmic otherworldly intelligence vs. 'this is all there is' debate once and for all. The question of whether or not a greater intelligence 'is' - - keeps coming up. Soloway, quite reasonably challenges us with the question: Do you think higher int...

Dhodges, I'm familiar with Dennet. He expends a great deal of energy, time and space in the form of his books as a means to say hardly anything at all. If he says anything remotely truthful, it is not at all original. If there is anything original in what he says, it is a kernel that I suspect will ...

in an environment in which animals are constantly straining their necks to reach higher leaves, the animals with longer necks are generally going to do better (in competition with other, similar organisms in the same gene pool), and the population will drift in the long-necked direction, resulting ...

Yes, bicycles evolving into motorcycles is a good example - -evidently the transformation from bicycle to motorbike wasnt just some random accident - there was a creative intelligence involved in the bicycle to motorcycle evolutionary process.

Hades, Evolutionary theory doesnt totally make sense to me. How does something come from nothing? There is some major circumventing going on. Cause and effect seems so barren and desolate. Like a skeleton. The 'life' element is inexplicable. I'm tempted to insert into the equation some sort of cosmi...

If I am preparing a meal, and am cutting carrots on a cutting board, what is causing the carrots to cut? The knife? My hand gripping the knife? The energy exerted? Where does the energy come from? The brain is perceiving and concentrating on the carrot, coordinating the knife. (what causes the brain...

Cosmic Prostitute wrote: Nature doesn’t consist of components that are a susceptible to malfunction Well, wouldnt you agree: human beings are malfunctioning? I wouldn't say nature is infallible. Nature has produced humans which are obviously not functioning very smoothly. However, nature does a go...

Cory wrote: so the pain of that rationalization, that reality, drives us to absorb ourselves in a book. To escape. Dhodges replied: I've heard people say things to that effect before, but it is not the way I experience life. Dhodges, Why don't you share with us 'how you experience life'? If you are ...

The perfectly-enlightened person is thus able to eliminate the experience of emotion altogether. By no longer believing in the existence of his self, he can no longer perceive situations of threat or gain/loss. And so the chain of events which leads to an emotion response can never trigger into act...

David Quinn wrote: However, from the practical standpoint of us living on this earth as human beings and experiencing time as a reality, things are definitely unfolding all around us via causation. From this standpoint, it is perfectly correct to speak of "causes" and "effects". ...

Sue Wrote: No matter what the differences or similarities are, all people are connected by the fact that everything they are, and everything they do, is ‘caused’. I am not so sure about this division between cause and effect. Does the seed 'cause' the tree or does the tree 'cause' the seed? Howe...

Why are you one of the few woman who realize that this is 'generally' the case? I think woman read so much for the same reason that I (a male) read so much. It hurts to not be unoccupied with something. There is such a tremendous drive, an urge to consume some sort of product, whether it is a book, ...

Perhaps one of you or some of you would like to consider and respond to the following thoughts..... Would it be delusional to associate freedom with choice? As of late, I feel that 'choice' leads only to conflict and confusion. Is Wisdom a choice? I dont think so. However, what about stupidity? Is s...