You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

synthesis

Comments

People want (the illusion of getting) something for nothing and seem to do just about anything to those ends (including selling-out their kids, parent...
March 15, 2021 at 15:39
99.99....% of what you perceive leaves no time for interpretation. Just think about how much is going on in your field of view at once (an infinite nu...
March 15, 2021 at 15:31
I am sure you must know what you are talking about, but I have no clue.
March 15, 2021 at 15:08
Zen, by definition, answers no questions. It is your own realization that accomplishes the task. The meaning and purpose of life becomes manifest in y...
March 15, 2021 at 01:43
Is that why BIG tech, mass media, social media, corporate America, Wall Street, Education, and entrenched government are all on the left? Who is the p...
March 15, 2021 at 01:30
The working wealthy pay almost all the taxes in the U.S. The top .01% might not pay much because of their exotic shelters, but the rest pay it and pay...
March 15, 2021 at 01:26
Human social interaction breeds corruption. It is present everywhere, not just in capitalism. So the best you can do it try to control the corruption....
March 15, 2021 at 01:12
My friend, you need to read up on how this economic system actually works. If you do not understand the monetary system, international trade and finan...
March 14, 2021 at 23:43
Yes, it's called political corruption and it is non-discriminatory. What system would you rather live under, corrupted capitalism, corrupted Communism...
March 14, 2021 at 23:35
It is what it is and you make the best of it. There is no other economic system (unless you have come up with another one). In all human (social) ende...
March 14, 2021 at 23:32
Yes, I know first hand. Your point?
March 14, 2021 at 23:02
Capitalism is the only economic system there is. "Communism" is state-capitalism and socialism is capitalism with the profits redistributed. The botto...
March 14, 2021 at 23:00
Zen is the Japanese word for meditation. Zen doesn't understand anything. It's not about understanding, instead it's about realization through direct ...
March 14, 2021 at 21:16
Nothing against Plato, I am sure he was a brilliant guy and all that, but making the pile of bullshit higher doesn't make it any more correct. This is...
March 14, 2021 at 19:31
I am afraid that people like you who desire salvation (from the challenges of life) feel that everybody else must change the way they think in order t...
March 14, 2021 at 19:24
Just like the people in the USSR, Communist China, and Nazi Germany had to "reconceptualize" what freedom and living up to your potential was. No than...
March 14, 2021 at 17:22
How much socialism do you want? Who doesn't want to live in a country where you are free to live up to your potential? Socialism is about lowering the...
March 14, 2021 at 17:02
You need to move on.
March 14, 2021 at 16:48
Who is Blondie?
March 14, 2021 at 16:30
It's not difficult to understand at all if you realize that the words are merely pointing at the truth. It is conceptual thought that creates attachme...
March 14, 2021 at 16:29
Getting back to the point of the thread, you can only have one situation on the ground, either individuals are free agents or groups (corporate-state)...
March 14, 2021 at 16:22
Regardless of external conditions, any company that can not remain solvent should be forced into bankruptcy. Had the government saved no businesses du...
March 14, 2021 at 16:13
According to whom?
March 14, 2021 at 16:06
Most people who died were in their 80s and were going to die of something anyway. Although people are saddened at another's passing, if they have live...
March 13, 2021 at 16:28
Experience can be had outside of conceptual thought. Getting into all the other philosophical stuff is really above my pay grade and,as well, specific...
March 13, 2021 at 16:21
Zen (Japanese, for meditation). There is only one lesson in Zen, meditate. The words simply point to the practice and it is in the practice is where y...
March 13, 2021 at 02:23
We're both right, you from a relative perspective, me from an Absolute one. Read Wayfarer's link. He was having a better day than I am having.
March 13, 2021 at 01:59
That's a pretty good explanation.
March 13, 2021 at 01:57
My point was that experience is real, fantasy (thinking) not so much.
March 13, 2021 at 01:37
No, I am the one who says that we cannot really understand anything. What I am trying to do is suggest to a bunch of folks with inquiring minds that t...
March 13, 2021 at 01:33
What I am claiming is that you think you know but you don't. You can go along with the system that says that 1+1=2, but so what. It's only true if you...
March 13, 2021 at 00:17
From the frying pan to the fire, eh? Some days I can put this stuff into words and other days the words are far, far away. I'll give it a shot... Onen...
March 13, 2021 at 00:10
Just because we can do something does not mean we can understand it (especially considering that we are incapable of understanding anything :). For ex...
March 12, 2021 at 23:35
Of course it is, but you would be amazed at how many people refuse to grasp this truth (lowercase t). Understanding impermanence (intellectually) is o...
March 12, 2021 at 22:03
Thanks for giving me the credit but you'll have to go back around 2500 years ago (or better) to find the originators of such thinking (Truth and truth...
March 12, 2021 at 21:58
Those things that are purely experiential open up entirely new possibilities and leave thinking in the proverbial dust. Even your ultimate internet fa...
March 12, 2021 at 21:42
Most deaths are perfectly normal and not tragic in the least.
March 12, 2021 at 20:20
That's EXACTLY what it is. But it's literal. It's only when you give up the idea of understanding can you understand. Real understanding is not an int...
March 12, 2021 at 19:14
No, I believe that (literally) we cannot understand anything. It's pretty easy to prove. Just consider the fact that everything is changing. How is it...
March 12, 2021 at 18:49
I shall. Never underestimate the vegetation. It will be here fighting the good fight long after the planet has disposed of our kind.
March 12, 2021 at 18:16
I guess when you believe that you cannot (really) understand anything, philosophy is like the extra button sewn on your shirt (just in case you happen...
March 12, 2021 at 18:11
Once when I was a novice student, my teacher told me that when I feel the need to intellectualize, I should go find the nearest tree and tell it every...
March 12, 2021 at 17:22
It's been decades since I have really gotten into anything overly intellectual (other than my work). As far as NOW is concerned, the idea that we cann...
March 12, 2021 at 16:59
This is meant to be understood on several levels. The Dao cannot be understood nor spoken.
March 12, 2021 at 16:47
Of course it is. Some of the most serious Zen students are Christian mystics. If it is word-play you seek, then you can pretty much prove anything you...
March 12, 2021 at 16:42
Relative truth is getting as close as possible to the truth intellectually, whereas Absolute Truth is THE Truth (which we cannot access).
March 12, 2021 at 02:47
Perhaps this refers to a different kind of absolute. The mystical type I refer to is not accessible to our intellect.
March 12, 2021 at 02:38
Would you disagree that all things are changing?
March 12, 2021 at 02:31
Jack, as you know, I don't believe anything can be understood, but since we are human beings attempting to communicate with one another, language is p...
March 12, 2021 at 02:29
Because many people are simply unaware of such a thing. It expands possibilities and that's always a good thing.
March 12, 2021 at 02:12