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Tom Storm

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If everything is consciousness, is consciousness regarded as natural?
September 29, 2021 at 23:41
Was there a question? Language is never the thing it describes so it is not surprising that language can be mastered and words mustered that never mak...
September 29, 2021 at 23:40
"Suppose, however, that God did give this law to the Jews, and did tell them that whenever a man preached a heresy, or proposed to worship any other G...
September 29, 2021 at 22:32
I think this is a profound reading. And in a similar vein please explain Jesus - is it not the case that God sacrificed himself to himself to save us ...
September 29, 2021 at 22:01
I don't know of anything that is 'supernatural'. How would we even identify this attribute? I am only aware of claims people make about entities or ph...
September 29, 2021 at 21:55
Power has many definitions. I'm not interested in all variations. I was feeding back a few thoughts about leadership and those in an elevated position...
September 29, 2021 at 20:05
Acton was referring to government power, but it's an observation others have made. I don't need to explain to anyone here the uses and abuses of power...
September 29, 2021 at 10:46
I have no doubt that Lord Acton's quote is mostly accurate - the actual quote is 'power tends to corrupt' (the tends is important and makes the quote)...
September 29, 2021 at 05:20
Ok
September 29, 2021 at 04:43
I like the idea of this but I can't yet see how it would work. Sorry. Can you perhaps, using some brief dot points and a given work, step it out for u...
September 29, 2021 at 00:32
Sorry man, it all seems empty of content. Taking a dump/painting = same thing. It adds nothing to our understanding of art. Probably the artist's proj...
September 28, 2021 at 23:27
You're right. I was just providing trauma as a potential example. But I do think people's life experiences and childhoods (awful or otherwise) play a ...
September 28, 2021 at 23:24
Untrue. For years I have worked with prisoners and people with vast anti-social behaviors. A fit of rage may be suppressed. What you say only applies ...
September 28, 2021 at 22:38
No, the unconscious may well direct artistic choices and the artist may have little or no capacity to access what the work is expressing. Certainly th...
September 28, 2021 at 21:55
As you probably know, Paul Tillich, one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century, used this term 'ground of being' to describe g...
September 28, 2021 at 20:01
Agree. I suspect this is what's behind the growing minimalism movement (which like anything else has also been hijacked by posers). I've been practici...
September 28, 2021 at 00:15
I can respect that. Sounds like you're a romantic, but why not? Take care.
September 27, 2021 at 23:57
Ah, so there's our problem. I don't see that as an excuse. I see that as someone practicing a faith. We need to be comfortable in the realization that...
September 27, 2021 at 23:26
Reality is the word we use when we go hunting for certainty.
September 27, 2021 at 23:20
I agree with you. But it doesn't change my point. I'm not trying to describe religion in all its panoply of great and terrible - just the fact that pe...
September 27, 2021 at 23:17
You can repair the hammer.
September 27, 2021 at 21:41
Yep - I'm not saying I'm correct, just that this seems to work. It's always interesting how discussions of art generally end up in good versus bad. Ge...
September 27, 2021 at 21:39
I think that is limited account of how religions work. The point is that people of good faith and good intentions often do dreadful things because the...
September 27, 2021 at 21:17
I guess we're back to that familiar aphorism - "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like." I personally am comfortable with this even thoug...
September 27, 2021 at 21:07
No offence intended but I thought the punchline - after the aspirant saw the lovely animal in that golden light - was going to be, "Damn, I've wasted ...
September 27, 2021 at 11:39
The thought of this amuses me as it's a fairly lightweight composition. I much prefer Rach 2 - still lightweight but it's far more efficacious I find ...
September 27, 2021 at 10:02
I kind of get what you are saying. I generally take the view that absolute certainty may not be possible - that aside can't we apportion confidence ab...
September 27, 2021 at 08:30
Everyone needs a hobby.
September 27, 2021 at 07:52
Copycat.
September 27, 2021 at 07:44
If it is a falsehood is it then not the case that we think we 'know' X is the case, when it isn't? My understanding is that we can only know true thin...
September 27, 2021 at 04:30
:up: Useful clarification.
September 26, 2021 at 23:27
Humans are neither good nor bad, but they can often be relied upon to do the wrong thing.
September 26, 2021 at 22:49
Sure. I have met living therapists who are less engaged than a computer and no one seems to notice they aren't really there either... I don't think it...
September 26, 2021 at 22:37
I fear this is a fairly wise quote. I think of the good citizens of a suburb near me who are Christians and good family people but are willing to cond...
September 26, 2021 at 20:04
Does it not depend on the nature of the proposition you are accepting as true? How does one justify, in any way, the belief that the world is run by a...
September 26, 2021 at 19:52
I think wisdom and intelligence are synonyms. Are there any uses of the word wisdom where intelligence can't also be used? Sometimes there's snobbery ...
September 26, 2021 at 07:20
Perhaps I don't understand your point. Humans are essentially clever animals and we use language and technology to help manipulate our environment. I'...
September 25, 2021 at 04:04
What's a soul?
September 24, 2021 at 07:20
From suburban shitsville to the Elysian fields... It's a turn of phrase, B...
September 24, 2021 at 07:19
Goodness... Sorry but his sounds like vague and confused thinking. You still have unfinished work in explaining why consciousness and self-organizatio...
September 22, 2021 at 22:33
I'm from Australia so blandly secular is the default in general, even if we currently have our first evangelical Prime Minister. Our politics was alwa...
September 22, 2021 at 19:42
What you say is true but I wonder is there a difference in the foundational nature of government and religion? Is religion not founded on and galvaniz...
September 22, 2021 at 05:02
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Well Plato will tell you we all live in a cave. It's a key narrative in philosophy. That aside is being hostile really a way to engage with a topic? C...
September 22, 2021 at 01:59
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There's your problem. It isn't. :smile:
September 22, 2021 at 01:55
This has been answered a few times both directly and indirectly. If it's on display as art it's art. You are being invited to consider something as an...
September 22, 2021 at 01:46
Cool. Yep - both are examples of consciousness and self-organization - which is why I said these criteria are close to meaningless. Unless one is a sl...
September 22, 2021 at 00:52
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I have never understood what the word 'pure' adds to the word evil. Would we talk of pure good versus good? I think the word is added to underline it ...
September 22, 2021 at 00:15
:up: Nice one Joshs
September 21, 2021 at 22:41
What I can say for certain is that people hold versions of who they think they are based on stories and interpretations which often do not resemble th...
September 21, 2021 at 22:37
The way I've generally heard this was that you need to lose any current preconceptions of yourself in order to find your true self. I think it holds u...
September 21, 2021 at 22:21