Jake

And then there was the time somebody mistakenly put a training tape in the NORAD computer, and for a few precious minutes the highest levels of govern...

Please explain how you know that something like the following quote below won't happen again later today. Like most people, you may be coming to your ...

There are often different ways the logic calculation can be run. On the one hand, I personally agree with your quote above. I think I do so because th...

Political bias is solved by the vast number of media outlets available. Such variety hasn't always existed, so we should be thankful for it. The bias ...

Yes, that's it. How much food do any of us have on hand in our house? Civilization begins to collapse at the moment we conclude we won't be able to re...

Ok, I give up, you win...

Well, you got me there. I guess I meant, in comparison to living in caves, which is where we'll be shortly after nuclear war.

Oh darn, and you were doing so good there. :smile: None of the other possible hazards come close to the scale and pressing nature of nuclear weapons. ...

To quibble a bit, I'm not sure excess wealth is diminishing. If I understand correctly, it's more a case that wealth is being ever more unfairly distr...

You are of course entitled to define the scope you wish to address. I was responding to "I've been trying to understand the essence of the political s...

So, to steer back towards the topic of the thread... Are philosophers of above average intelligence? I would agree this may often be true, if we defin...

Right. And why is that? Why aren't I finding extensive discussion of that subject on EVERY philosophy site? Everything built over the last 500 years, ...

Ok, please explain why. My explanation of the relevance would be as follows. If we see that division arises from thought itself, it logically follows ...

Yes, the concepts get attached AFTER the actual experience. You're walking down the hall and someone emerges in to the hall from a room. You look to s...

The bottom line fundamental source of all division in human affairs, both personally and socially, is the nature of thought, the way it works.

I don't dispute the subject has been addressed here and there, that's true. The larger reality is that the vast majority of philosophers (professional...

There appear to be many conflicting definitions of philosophy. For some, philosophy is entering the conversations started by famous philosophers, read...

I think each of us has our own particular blend of smart and stupid. Being good at philosophy just means we have a knack for processing abstractions, ...

It seems your concern here is primarily aesthetic. Ok, each of us is entitled to our own taste in words, no problem. Hmm, good question... Physical pa...

I would start with this. Do we need to know if a theory is nonsense? If there is no pressing need to answer the question, I'd vote for wide ranging op...

I heard a story on NPR about a lady who had an accident that put her in a coma. When she emerged from the coma she couldn't form even short term memor...

Would it offend you to call the digestive system a machine? Is "machine" not new agey enough? Anyway, I think you get the point, however imperfectly I...

And the source of desire is the experience of "me", of being divided from everything else. And the source of that experience of division is thought. P...

I'm sorry, that simply isn't true. We take in data from the environment (experience) and then we process that data (thinking). You can see this for yo...

Hi 0-9, I don't object to the challenge at all, entirely appropriate on a philosophy forum. However, instead of a vague wandering concern about possib...

The indivisible single unified reality is the fact. The appearance of separation is an illusion created by the divisive nature of thought. Imagine tha...

To be more precise, an illusion of separation. Thought operates through a process of division, thus creating "me" experienced as being divided from "e...

It's about disidentification THEORY.

At the time he served my need to analyze things to the 99th degree. I wasn't ready for simpleness yet. I'm still not and never will be in a complete w...

Ok then, so here's a little story. When I was in college I read a lot of Jiddu Krishnamurti, a speaker/writer who addresses these kinds of topics. His...

That's a situation. It becomes a problem when we conclude (ie. think) that being alive is better than being dead based on, um, no evidence of any kind...

Both = Neither.

Well, it's not really creative writing, it's literally true. Not intimately related. Problems are literally made of thought. Situations exist independ...

Maybe this will help? What is your top priority? Pick one of the following: 1) Understand detachment theory. 2) Experience detachment. This is a philo...

Here's another try. Let's imagine you asked, "how can I be a great guitar player?" The answer would be that you not worry about being great just yet, ...

A lack of precision in my words above may have given the impression that I'm arguing for a "mind free of thought". What I meant to suggest, and should...

Ok, if that's working for you, go for it.

I agree with this intellectually. Regrettably, that doesn't help much because intellectualism is a weak stew indeed. What is more helpful is to experi...

The future is not oppressing us. The future doesn't even exist. Our RELATIONSHIP with the future is the issue, and we do have some level of control ov...

I don't consider you or anybody else here an enemy. We wouldn't be enemies if you were disagreeing with me, which after all is kind of our job on a ph...

And this is called sanctimonious lecturing in the trade. :smile:

Here's a little cliche which may come in handy in some circumstances... If the things we want to hear... Could take us where we want to go... We'd alr...

Everyone is free to say such things if it pleases them. There's no crime involved obviously. But, the person who is suffering would learn more from co...

Yes, agreed. As I've said above, thinking is required to function in the world so we can't just get rid of it. So it's not a question of cure, but of ...

I see it as telling a philosophy forum to think this through to to the logical conclusion. 1) Suffering is made of thought, thus... 2) Less thought = ...

Hi unenlightened, Does this work for you? 1) If we're hungry, eat. 2) If we're tired, rest. 3) If thinking is making us nutty, take a break from think...

I would propose that a "schism in the mind" is pretty much the definition of the human condition. Everybody experiences a division between the thinker...

Yes, agreed. The bottom line I think we both share is that whatever works is good.

Thank you. My wife is an avid wildlife rehabber, and it's normal for her to have a squirrel sitting on her shoulder while she pays bills on the Net. T...

Is any amount of analytical activity quelling the mind? We should reduce thought by doing more thinking? No amount of mechanical activity will suffice...