Brett

My point about Sunday painters was not that it depletes meaning but whether a line can be drawn between them and those who say “yes to uncertainty”. A...

That’s true and I think it could be applied to every aspect of our life. Isn’t it essentially how we learn and develop as people? We’re drawn to parti...

Want is easier if that’s what you mean? I think it is possible to want something without it being a problem not to have it. But there’s also a differe...

The word “care” is a bit of a problem for me. I’m not sure what exactly it means.

What reality do you mean? I know this is a part of your whole conceptual view of life, but it just seems to me you’re creating equations that suit you...

Given that there’s a process at the core of any creativity and that creativity is a form of human expression then we can assume that this is available...

If art is just a form of personal art expression, which is often the meaning given to art, then what relationship does it have with the world at large...

I don’t think it’s a matter of artwork doing the heavy lifting, as you say. You’re suggesting that we expect the work to explain itself to us, that we...

I feel we, as a species, may have moved on from what the visual art did for us. We might have crossed over into images having a meaning that is very r...

Do you mean not just 2D art but all art?

I think you’re probably right. It’s possible it’s reached it’s limits in making connections. The image itself has been drained of meaning, except to r...

In terms of discovering ourselves do you mean for the artist or for the observer?

From a Buddhist point of view my understanding of attachment is in the sense that “ in our everyday life our thinking is ninety-nine percent self-cent...

I think it would be fair to say that with the development of agriculture in exchange for security people lost their real freedom. Whether or not they ...

I think it was those who migrated into regions where wheat and barley few naturally that became agriculturalists. So they didn’t really give up one th...

In relation to your post that it was extremely risky to put all your eggs in one basket. It must have worked a little bit faster than “eventually” oth...

Could this really be true? Where did this lack of faith arise, what was the impetus? In the beginning of agriculture, (which is pretty difficult to de...

But it worked. Unless you disagree with what we have as a consequence.

That doesn’t seem to make sense to me. There must have been an early state of agriculture that had no connection to even a nascent state. The idea tha...

No it’s not an argument I find acceptable, which is what I meant. But it’s also an easy argument made in comfort and security, which to some degree ha...

That uncorrupted state of mind the believer has, which loses its original state, let’s call it “pure belief”, when articulated is interesting in terms...

I saved this from something I was reading the other day about the poet T S Elliot. Sorry but I can’t find the source of it. But I’m interested in what...

I don’t think complete dependence on agriculture increased the risk of starvation. I would say the opposite, otherwise it wouldn’t have thrived. Misma...

I think anxiety may more likely be part of human nature. For a long time we were very vulnerable creatures. We had very little to protect ourselves wi...

I don’t know much about Cicero, but it seems to me, from what you’ve written, that he was, if anything, pragmatic. When he needed it he wore his lawye...

It’s an interesting theory but it doesn’t contribute much towards my equity. When you realised there was some idea out there about God how did you res...

“Using the best data available on the causes and outcomes of every civil rights and liberties case decided by the Supreme Court over the past six deca...

I don’t think you can be born an atheist. An atheist is someone who repudiates the existence of God. I don’t know why or how you could repudiate the e...

That’s interesting. What does it mean: that you didn’t know there was a God or you repudiated God’s existence at an early age? It also suggests that o...

First of all, to my mind, one can only play with the law if they have sufficient power. Even the mob cannot bend the law to their purpose. So then we ...

Interesting. That’s very much my friend’s position. It seems to me at the very last point of thinking about things and trying to understand the only t...

Quote me instances of my apparent beliefs about God. Why can’t I discuss God without believing in God? And once again how can I define something I don...

I find it highly unlikely that you don’t know what they mean by those terms. You might not understand it but you know what they mean. If you think the...

First of all I’m not a member of any church and my ideas of God in this discussion are what others propose or live by. Do you really think there’s no ...

Yes. It seems to me that the morality and purpose given to a believer and the morality and purpose that has to be determined by an atheist are the sam...

A very interesting OP. My first thought is that in this situation Cicero is acting as a defence lawyer, not as a philosopher. His intention in defendi...

What makes you say that? Edit: yes I guess they were ignorant of neuroscience. But why don’t you put much stock in Zen philosophy?

Thanks for the effort there. This is essentially what I’m trying to get at. What has the atheist exchanged for their belief in Gods and God’s word exc...

Determinism is what I’m trying to draw his attention to, which he dodges. From what I understand from him these fluctuations are random. From his poin...

Thanks for your thoughtful post. I’m assuming there are many ways of living within an idea of God. Protestants seem to believe we are permanently damn...

This “fluctuation”, I think he regards this as when things become unbalanced. But I can’t get a clear understanding of what causes the imbalance, beca...

I don’t know how to make this any clearer. I am not defining God, I am not saying I believe in God. I am referring to a God that believers believe in....

You need to give me the definition of truth I was using incorrectly. Actually in using the word “truth” I was talking about how others use it. I can’t...

If I’ve given a definition of truth on this OP then I’d be happy to see it.

This seems to me to be a reasonable question: can we see the world as it is? The question is not is it real? Is the cup on the table? But can we see i...

He seems to lean towards the physicist’s concept of “nothing”. From my friend: “The vacuum contains an infinity of virtual particles embedded in a foa...

What I mean is that having exhibitions and making a living does not necessarily mean one is an artist. Just how many artists can there be in the world...

With due respect I don’t think that means anything.

No, it’s fine. I’m not suggesting that. The experience is not connected to art, only to ideas of originality. I don’t regard enlightenment as any part...

What danger is that? I say that because he/she doesn’t really care about you. Edit: I should make clear that my experience, the state of mind I was re...