Tom Storm

Like many I have often festered over the idea of what 'really is' actually means. In the end, even for 'physicalism' all we think we know seems to be ...

You put a good case, Banno. I like the drama of my wording more, but yours may be more apropos. There is something powerful in the idea of what we see...

As my example indicates, we see different things, when we look at the same thing. But I have no idea if this addresses remotely what the others are al...

When I stand in the desert here in Australia looking at sand and jagged scrub, I know my Aboriginal Australian comrades see food, water and an entire ...

Yep. In counselling we might call this validating and acknowledging. Without it people don't feel understood or heard.

I can also say this with a straight face...

This is not my area, but I guess we can't know which theory to ascribe towards an object at any point given all the potential values possible. Is a gu...

I'm assuming because all objects belong to a system of value and meaning.

Digression: The time to believe in something is when there is sufficient evidence. Sure, lack of evidence is not proof against a proportion, however t...

That is an interesting observation. I've never taken any real interest in these sorts of 'pithy' statements but good to know that often there is a fou...

Pessimists and optimists are equally boring to me. Both take it as a forgone conclusion that they have things sussed and that their take on life/histo...

Over time and with experience, some people develop, grow and change. I think this is true based on what I have seen. Some of the wise people in alcoho...

I love the taste of a buttery soft persimmon. We used to grow them (the size of an apple) in a little orchard we had. We also grew the other fruit pic...

Can't speak for KK but in a way my ability to see and appreciate (for want of a better word) a flower has definitely improved since I was 5. Given tha...

Hellen Keller managed to be a pretty interesting thinker despite being blind and deaf from birth.

That is an interesting point. Can we discover truly new things - could it happen incrementally as part of a creative process? An example wouldn't hurt...

It keeps coming back to this, doesn't it? It's like the thing itself vanishes if we are able to have an experience of it.

Yes. The West has an energetic tradition of self-loathing too it seems to me. Much of this an understandable by-product of reactions to the horrors of...

I've always assumed spiritual practices and beliefs generated just as much acrimony and division as anything else constructed by human beings. You hav...

Thank you.

Asking questions doesn't often lead to getting genuine answers when you talk to leaders. The 'answers' you receive tend to be mediated marketing state...

What is an argument over the nature of value? Step it out if you have time. I am sympathetic to the view that there is no capital T truth out there to...

Perhaps enlightenment is a pissing competition recast as a meta-narative... :razz:

I make no significant attempt to be consistent. if I am is it because I accidentally hold consistent positions. I think humans are walking contradicti...

Exactly my point. Enlightenment is no different to other things people believe. It isn't something outside of people to be found in some particular wa...

That's exactly what Yahweh thought and look what happened there...

I don't think we disagree to much about contingence and ontology. When I put questions to people it is not necessarily that I don't have a position or...

I hear you I work in the area of addiction so you don't need to convince me about harm reduction models. I just dislike prohibition and interdiction m...

Thanks. I have not followed this so my answer was founded in ignorance.

Exactly. Watch a black market and criminal trade in cigarettes take off.

Does anyone have an example of Magick they can site?

:up:

Thanks for potentially diagnosing my situation, C. You may be right but your use of language is somewhat indirect and jargonistic to me - are you a de...

I've always thought of you that way too, Frank. Yes, I pointed out in my OP that the 17th-18th Century Enlightenment is hostile to ideas of enlightenm...

This depends entirely on how you choose to look at it. Animals are born in their billions - some are cats & dogs, some are humans. You are a human. So...

I'm sorry I'm not sure I entirely follow you. Phenomenology perhaps? The quote, as you probably know, is Jung's - his model of human consciousness inc...

Probably my attention span which is preternaturally short.

Just move on, it was a throw away line. :wink:

Who mentioned philosophers? Just making an observation as a bystander to religion and philosophy.

Yeah... doesn't really roll of the tongue and it sounds kind of dull.

In my OP, I was wondering if enlightenment means the same thing in different cultures. I guess I was asking if it is the case that enlightenment (if a...

I find I get a lot of peace and calm - for me it involves doing nothing in particular. You know it when you feel it. I like spending time alone. Apart...

Me neither. I never read comics as a kid and I don't like superhero films but I've caught a few on streaming services over the years. Last time I went...

Nicely done. Far more vivid than some piss poor shadow puppets. That's a quote with a lot of potential uses.

I guess this OP is just another expression the mind body question and the hard problem of consciousness, huh? Seems to me that about 50% of all philos...

Well I think the obvious answer to this, and it is often proffered by conservatives and celebrity motivational speakers like Jordan Peterson, is that ...

Yeah, as if. It's a good thing no one has introduced this ridiculous proposition into the discussion then.

For me this is inconsequential. There are good ways and bad ways of being a scoutmaster. My assessment is he is a piece of work and I'll warrant, ther...

I understand this and need no invitation to leave when I am not engaged by a thread. Is this a polite way of you saying "fuck off" perhaps? Given that...

Sorry Sush, I'm not sure which bit is nonsense. I'm not sure I follow your point. I wasn't really talking about genuine politicians - Is Putin a polit...