Tom Storm

Well, I see physicist Sean Carroll now talks about an 'asleep' cat versus an 'awake' cat, the poison being swapped with a mere soporific. Even QM is p...

I don't consider this relevant to my take on Josh's point. But you and I are too far apart on these matters, let's not even start. :wink:

Not sure how that relates to Josh's comment.

Nicely put and I suspect this is correct. Misreading skepticism and caution as a lack of caring is a new one for me which I will mull over.

Yes, it's important for people to understand that OT literalist readings are a more modern phenomenon and held by Christians rather than Jews. I think...

Nice line. Thanks for the chat.

Let me explain once more and if this doesn't hit the mark, let's just move on. Christians mostly believe that the words in the Bible, the resurrection...

You're joking right?

I've sometimes wondered this too. There is so much divergent thinking around what it is to be a Buddhist, it seems almost anything is possible in this...

Yes and no. As we have seen throughout history what people think the message is depends on who is reading. If Jesus is not the son of god and was not ...

Interesting subject. I have always thought that what makes people content depends upon how restless or vulnerable they are to start with. Based on per...

You're right, poor wording. So I'm not surprised you went in the wrong direction. :wink: I wasn't suggesting Socrates is superior to Christianity. Tha...

:smile: I broke with theosophy and that world so long ago I can no longer even spell Madam Blatavsky... Blavatsky.

Personally I benefit from informed, well reasoned views that are different to my own. I count on other people to make me aware of things I devalue or ...

It's very disappointing.

I think he's a much better thinker that that, Janus. I'm an atheist and sometimes don't agree with Wayfarer either, but for my money he's well read, a...

Who says abduction isn't powerful? Of course Conan Doyle himself was not so acute and thought fairies were real and that Houdini actually dematerializ...

That is interesting. The term religion probably makes more sense in cultures with significant pluralism, where an umbrella term for the various tradit...

Maybe this is a digression, but how do you view Protestant fundamentalist Christianity? Academic David Bentley Hart (who identifies as Eastern Orthodo...

My understanding is that Holmes generally practiced abductive, not deductive reasoning.

Shit no.

No question. I don't think we can underestimate the emotional hook concepts like 'truth' have on people who so often seem to require such notions in o...

Good question. I would think 'truth' is a totalizing idea - 'useful in practice' is a way of measuring knowledge by its efficacy rather than its truth...

I think this is a reasonable position. Why should anything 'make sense' - the very idea of something making sense is in itself just a frame driven by ...

Exactly. It matters not one jot if Socrates was fictional. What we have in Plato's literature is a method of enquiry that transcends the potential tru...

Thanks again. A succinct and engaging summary.

:joke: :cool:

Is that how we got Mel Gibson? I thought he was planned and came from good right-wing Catholic stock...

Nice.

Jesus, that really is a slender entry - I wonder why that is? Whole bookshops are devoted to the perennial philosophy and the quest to achieve higher ...

No worries! Personally I can't tell if people are getting less intelligent or not. I have encountered no reason to think they are.

Eva Maria Saint... (sounds like Italian cursing)

How vulgar!

Pretty sure that footage of a train entering a tunnel was used in old British movies to suggest coitus.

Of course. Thanks for clarifying.

I understand your argument but it doesn't change my view. Clearly life behaves and for my money this is a natural process. Thank you for articulating ...

Nicely put.

Sorry Banno - I'm doing this between meetings - can you expand a little?

Yep, I've seen several talks on non-duality by Rupert Spira.

You guys have done this a lot longer that I have. Is there any hope for some agreement on terminology? Physicalism/naturalism/supernatural/extramundan...

I actually asked @Banno to look over the thread as I was wanting to read something more rigorous in response to intentionalism as a defeater of natura...

Ha! I guess intentionality, consciousness, something from nothing and whatever's left of Aquinas' five ways or proofs will always be offered up as pot...

I like your approach to this discussion but I can't share this interpretation. The natural world has animals in it. They behave and do things. We can ...

Original sin is one of his too. But yes, let's not debate Augustine.

Well, a notable one would be that Yeshua ben Yosef was the son of God.

Your words are interesting. "Suffer from the prejudice" I think that's a prejudicial way of putting it. :smile: No one can say that the natural wold i...

Yes, this is the point of challenge. Interesting. Naturally occurring versus the product of intention hence artificial - interesting. I've always assu...

That's brilliant!

Just think of the implications... the power of precisely the right kind of omelette to restore the sapien in the homo.. Let's contact Sam Harris....

I have not introduced 'supernatural' as a concept. But I guess that is the inference one can make. Do you have good evidence for any well known supern...