Tom Storm

I have heard similar claims from about a dozen people over the decades. These experiences were supposedly derived from sources such as Islam, Christia...

The problem with this (as I am sure you know) is that this is merely a claim. And it sits alongside all kinds of claims people make such as "I can tal...

Interesting comment. Are you sure? I suspect a lot of people are immune to the mindset too.

What reasons or evidence do you have for this? There's a Noble Prize going for anyone who can demonstrate this.

The question is fair. But no human being will even get enough time or have enough brain power to fully apprehend all philosophical thinkers and ideas....

I don't think there is any robust evidence for revealed wisdom, Gnostic or otherwise.

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Actually I picked these at random. I forget what Fish said - I should have paid closer attention. Agree. Or consider the scientists who freed us from ...

Nice work. A lot of folk read the 'big' philosophers for name dropping rights and I think there is an assumption made that in reading them you've read...

Ok. Is it a question which interests you is it just something you have to respond to?

I was acknowledging Baker's answer to my response. I wasn't aware that respect meant that I had to be in total agreement too. :gasp: I thought this wa...

When is your essay due? Any comments yet about all the responses to your question or are you just raiding the place for paragraphs?

Indeed well put. Yes, and the pride in quality work means you do it just as well for someone you do not particularly like or who does not like you. I ...

Thanks. I guess everyone brings whatever experience they have to the table. I find the work rewarding but it has its days.

I should say am not an expert on therapy and therapeutic modalities. My background, amongst other things, is in suicide intervention, post incident tr...

For the most part, yes, but the comparison was a bit glib so not to be take too literally. I was essentially making the point that good professional c...

Didn't you get the TikTok dancing racoon video which proves this?

I've come to see that. I've certainly been guilty in my time for holding absolute certainty that there is no absolute certainty and other neophyte con...

Nicely put. Crystal clear.

Thanks for your response. I respect this. :up:

Clumsy. I have no knowledge of religious figures like the Buddha, but brain damage might explain them. But no - when I highlighted that point it was t...

This seems very prescriptive. May I clarify? Does this mean if I walk up to Rembrandt's Night Watch and have an experience no different to looking at ...

I agree. But I guess I don't put those into the category of doubt so much as undifferentiated anxieties of living. But what you've highlighted is just...

Perhaps, but have you noticed that it depends upon what belief you are doubting? No one is traumatised by the notion that they doubt if the platypus i...

It's hard to know what the question means exactly so I guess I'll answer this as if you are asking: "Can a person hold beliefs which they doubt?" Yes....

If people were immortal (a horrible idea) it would obviously make life utterly different in every way imaginable from the question of meaning to how o...

You don't have to be dead to be disheveled. Trust me. And if you've ever met my uncle Frank you'll see that decomposition can happen to any man who ha...

I think we often use the word faith in various imprecise ways. Normally it refers to the process by which people believe, not the content of the belie...

A subcategory I am very amused by is the person who has read a great philosopher and assumes that they are now a philosopher too, with all the abundan...

Ok, yes I have said the same many times. Ironic and truthful. Nicely put.

Tantalizing. Can you expand briefly?

Interesting how you choose to see this. My experience over 30 years suggests no contempt and good results. There is no need for a worldview be it reli...

Just YouTube video interviews where they ask Dawkins do you want all religions ended. And is there anything good in religion? If I'd known I were goin...

Do any ideas work for everyone?

They are not my favorite people but I don't think what you have said is correct. I have heard at least three our of the four horsemen (esp Dawkins) ta...

Cool. All I know about him is that he became a venerated and influential teacher.

I think that's too strong. Pinker defends the Enlightenment tradition (which is unfashionable in many parts and provokes anger) and certainly privileg...

That might be because it was said by someone very powerful... But you know what? It's been used powerfully with people who are homeless and on the mar...

Are you prepared to say some more? People will fight over jelly beans.

Yes, if you take the claim literally. I guess J is using 'absolute truth' to mean something a bit more adventurous, possibly transcendent. It is an in...

You throw around a lot of terms and ideas that suggest a systematic view of reality and a pecking order of ideas. How do you determine what is evil an...

Thank you.

Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish, and someday you will be a real boy, Pinocchio. :joke:

Yep.

There an old TS Eliot essay Shakespeare and the stoicism of Seneca.

Thanks - I may not have time as I'm under the pump at work (COVID emergencies, reports). The connection to CBT is clear and I studied Albert Ellis, wh...

Does your mechanic need to care for you to do a good job on your car? I'd settle for non-judgemental professional skill over emotive caring most days....

Thanks, yes, As it happens, I was just listening to Steven Pinker discuss this view of reason via his new book Rationality. It does interest me that h...

When I raised Plantinga earlier FI said he was familiar with this argument. Did you mention at some point you were potentially doing further study on ...

Well then why are you asking if there is one? If you have one demonstrate it. I'm going to opt out of this. If it goes somewhere I might drop in again...