Tom Storm

As it happens, I live in one of the most fire prone areas on earth and many people I know have lost homes and family, including in the Black Saturday ...

I wonder if this understanding is what lubricates the Dunning-Kruger effect. Sorry NOS, a cheap shot...

I imagine that person is now cheerfully fucking up the world for Apple or some other conglomerate. Self-realization being but a footnote to their yout...

No. I'd say the scoutmaster is a creep. In essence the scoutmaster is fixated on life lessons and his power to implement them and forgets that this is...

No question, but the merits of that second aesthetic choice may still be up for debate.

The language used to describe enlightenment seems messy. It's hard to assess what is being described. I'll avoid the Eastern and religious terminology...

I can't comment on the merit of his ideas but the prose is so bombastic I can't ever get though more than a few sentences before needing to leave in a...

Good question. I'm not sure it is meant to be the same but I have a poor understanding of the idea, hence this OP. Would there perhaps be certain them...

All attempted definitions are welcome. There are lots of things I don't know that I don't know. And lots of things I don't want to know. I have always...

Even worse... the Chinese market!

I guess you're talking about cultural appropriation. This matter can be seen through several lenses, like most issues. I have a Asian friend who was a...

Agree. Note: I had made some small changes, adding: 'except for inherited power.'

I've often assumed that to gain absolute power in a political sense would probably (except for inherited power) require deceit, violence and possibly ...

There was similar thread on power started by @I Like Sushi. Remember the full quote from Lord Acton, which answers your question. It refers to men and...

I think also for some people, and I'm not thinking of anyone particular here, there's an emotional, almost visceral reaction to certain words. Before ...

I know very little about enlightenment but I wonder if being any kind of teacher is already a sign of significant attachments. Ok. I don't think it's ...

I really hope so.

The noumenal certainly doesn't seem very helpful but have you ever heard any of Kant's jokes? "There was once a young merchant who was sailing on his ...

Can you say more? Do you mean to say that unattachment is a less pejorative manifestation of apathy?

As someone who claims to be educated and a counsellor no less, you seem to have a penchant for emotive and passive aggressive language. Could it be th...

I remember nihilism and the collapse of civilization being all the rage when I was a kid 40 years ago.

Goodness. A profound idea. I've been reading Whitman's Leaves of Grass and it is quite extraordinary. Dear Harold Bloom said of Emerson: "Emerson is t...

Perhaps I don't fully understand. I have certainly never had this experience but I do accept that beliefs and thought systems are not immutable.

This point really resonates. Thank you for a very considered response.

That's intriguing, Joshs - I know my thinking is conventional but I wonder why be different if it isn't in some greater sense, better? What is the imp...

Sounds like a metaphorical description of the state of Western democracy... I can't tell from the tone of your post whether you actually believe in en...

Could be. The way it was taught to me was that a Bodhisattva postpones entering Nirvana in order to teach humanity. For what it is worth, I noticed th...

That's missing my actual point. :smile: It doesn't matter how many different ways prejudice might arise. My point is that faith is often used as a jus...

No, that's from the director's cut of "Blade Runner".

Thanks. Do you associate enlightenment with the acquisition of virtue (sorry about that phrase) or is virtue an entirely separate domain?

Of course, I totally forgot about them. I keep starting Walden and not finishing it. I've always responded to the notion of society as having a deplet...

Do as I say not as I do...

Yes, I am somewhat familiar with Jung and studied him in college. One of my parent's close friends was involved with the Gnostic Gospel find in Nag Ha...

I hear you. I'd be interested in what Wayfarer says to that. In my worldview I can also achieve a state of non-attachment by shooting myself.

Not sure I will ever fully understand Parmenides or Plotinus or comprehend idealism, but I take it from all this that an empiricist will never find th...

:up:

That is a noteworthy distinction and I think I understood this early on - at least in principle. I think I've always thought of it along similar lines...

Empty of virtue too it seems. :razz:

Sam Harris does talk about enlightenment from several perspectives. This quote from his Waking Up website struck me as apropos: "What is enlightenment...

Hence Jesus as being described by some as a bodhisattva.

Should the term enlightenment be reserved solely for use by spiritual traditions? It seems so connected to particular expressions of metaphysics. It r...

Thanks, I have. Some of Harris' stuff prompted me to ask the question.

Good call - my mum had this book and used to gently lecture me about it. I forgot all about it. As it happens Spinoza was her favorite thinker. That's...

Wow - I never had you as a feel good New Age thinker, B. :razz:

The trope of the sad clown is one of those unfortunate truths about humor. I tend to see the funny side of real things rather than contrived things. I...

And don't even talk to me about actors....

It's not just the material, it's the form. And I have no sense of humour. I find comedians generally too needy for love or hectoring bores.

He is. Good example.

Maybe. I personally dislike most stand up comedy, so I'm out. :groan:

Nicely put and helpful.