113) Bragging in a light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek manner is almost certainly a far less harmful form of egoism than the need to have the last word when bullying through the expression of an opinion.
114) Abandoning the need "to be in the right" is a huge step on the path to genuine understanding.
115) If you think you can choose pragmatism before Conscience then your "pragmatism" will hardly be pragmatic.
116) Our attitude towards what is called "superstition" can indeed feed us with fanciful naiveté but it can also close our minds to the things that we do not understand.
Friday 15 August 2014
Wednesday 17 July 2013
Philosophical Musings 109-112
109) When we are listening to the awe inspiring beauty of a Gregorian chant, or when we are experiencing the extraordinary quality of the atmosphere inside a Gothic cathedral, we can sense whatever Truth there may be in religion. When we talk and argue about religion, or boast about how religious or irreligious we are, that Truth is lost to us.
110) If our interpretation of truth allows us to feel superior to others then that truth will always fail us.
111) Believers should question their beliefs, atheists should question their atheism and agnostics should question their agnosticism.
112) You may have won the argument but if in having done so it feeds your vanity and pride then the winning of the argument has no value whatsoever.
110) If our interpretation of truth allows us to feel superior to others then that truth will always fail us.
111) Believers should question their beliefs, atheists should question their atheism and agnostics should question their agnosticism.
112) You may have won the argument but if in having done so it feeds your vanity and pride then the winning of the argument has no value whatsoever.
Thursday 11 April 2013
Philosophical Musings 105-108
105) We rarely find solutions by thinking as we ordinarily think. We may come closer to a solution by questioning all our assumptions and opinions, by questioning not only what we think but how we think. Furthermore, we also need to feel actively and to feel actively is a long way from the kind of defensive and negative emotional reactions which form too great a part of our emotional lives.
106) Until a man understands everything he has neither the right to deny the existence of God nor the right to explain to others whatever his delusions might tell him God is.
107) Organised religion very often tends to think of vinegar as wine.
108) To say sorry from a genuine sense of remorse is a thousand times more difficult than saying sorry because it is expected or demanded of us.
106) Until a man understands everything he has neither the right to deny the existence of God nor the right to explain to others whatever his delusions might tell him God is.
107) Organised religion very often tends to think of vinegar as wine.
108) To say sorry from a genuine sense of remorse is a thousand times more difficult than saying sorry because it is expected or demanded of us.
Sunday 18 November 2012
Philosophical Musings 101-104
101) Experience teaches that the subconscious knows things that the rational mind is reluctant to accept.
102) The tone, in which words are spoken or written, is a more accurate indicator of truth than their content is.
103) When confronted with injustice we need to conduct ourselves with presence and dignity in order to challenge it rightly and effectively. If we let uncontrollable anger dictate what we should do we are more than likely to make a bad situation worse. We should act in accordance with what abilities we have and in full awareness of our limitations.
104) From ground level, whether it be from the north or south side, you can see hardly a thing of what's on the twenty-sixth floor of a twenty-six storey building. Likewise, you cannot understand whatever God might be from either a conventionally religious or a hardened atheist perspective.
102) The tone, in which words are spoken or written, is a more accurate indicator of truth than their content is.
103) When confronted with injustice we need to conduct ourselves with presence and dignity in order to challenge it rightly and effectively. If we let uncontrollable anger dictate what we should do we are more than likely to make a bad situation worse. We should act in accordance with what abilities we have and in full awareness of our limitations.
104) From ground level, whether it be from the north or south side, you can see hardly a thing of what's on the twenty-sixth floor of a twenty-six storey building. Likewise, you cannot understand whatever God might be from either a conventionally religious or a hardened atheist perspective.
Saturday 29 September 2012
Philosophical Musings 97 - 100
97) The true measure of a person is the quality of their Being and this is not necessarily commensurate with the quality of their intellect.
98) We cannot claim to have evolved so long as we lack a profound understanding, in the depths of our Being, of what causes us to be violent and drives us to kill. We cannot claim to have evolved unless we are able to uproot from within our tendency to be violent. We cannot claim to have evolved until we are free of violent thoughts, violent emotions and violent deeds.
99) There is no real intelligence in the parts of ourselves which are inclined towards hostile rejection or, conversely, naive acceptance of ideas for which we have only a few sketchy details. Intelligence is trusting in those parts of ourselves which are uncertain and that wish to keep questions alive.
100) "What is God?" is not a question that can be answered, especially with language that has descended into cliché as in "the Lord is my personal saviour" or "God is an imaginary friend". "What is God?" is a question that needs to be kept alive and in keeping the question alive we need to be free of every association, good or bad, that the word "God" brings to us.
98) We cannot claim to have evolved so long as we lack a profound understanding, in the depths of our Being, of what causes us to be violent and drives us to kill. We cannot claim to have evolved unless we are able to uproot from within our tendency to be violent. We cannot claim to have evolved until we are free of violent thoughts, violent emotions and violent deeds.
99) There is no real intelligence in the parts of ourselves which are inclined towards hostile rejection or, conversely, naive acceptance of ideas for which we have only a few sketchy details. Intelligence is trusting in those parts of ourselves which are uncertain and that wish to keep questions alive.
100) "What is God?" is not a question that can be answered, especially with language that has descended into cliché as in "the Lord is my personal saviour" or "God is an imaginary friend". "What is God?" is a question that needs to be kept alive and in keeping the question alive we need to be free of every association, good or bad, that the word "God" brings to us.
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Philosophical Musings 93-96
93) Our bigotry and prejudice is rooted in unreliable information. We delude ourselves when we call such information "knowledge". Bigotry and prejudice is never rooted in True Knowledge.
94) Without real practical experience of something all criticism of it is suspect.
95) So long as those who think of themselves as "friends of reason" lack emotional intelligence, their "reason" or "rationality" will lead nowhere.
96) We in the West live mainly in our heads, in our thinking, and most of our thinking is automatic thinking. Our automatic thinking also analyses what is wrong with the world and suggests what the solutions may be, always in a manner which is both subjective and superficial. Two words which hint at what objective solutions might be are Conscience and Sensitivity but Conscience and Sensitivity cannot be approached through thinking automatically. We need to sense and feel the significance of these two words.
94) Without real practical experience of something all criticism of it is suspect.
95) So long as those who think of themselves as "friends of reason" lack emotional intelligence, their "reason" or "rationality" will lead nowhere.
96) We in the West live mainly in our heads, in our thinking, and most of our thinking is automatic thinking. Our automatic thinking also analyses what is wrong with the world and suggests what the solutions may be, always in a manner which is both subjective and superficial. Two words which hint at what objective solutions might be are Conscience and Sensitivity but Conscience and Sensitivity cannot be approached through thinking automatically. We need to sense and feel the significance of these two words.
Thursday 14 June 2012
Philosophical Musings 89-92
89) We need to ask ourselves what the Knowledge, that the religions claim to possess, actually is, and to what extent it has been distorted and diluted over time and how it may be chronically misunderstood by contemporary culture. Such Knowledge cannot come from ordinary thinking but rather from a sensitivity that Conscious and Objective Feeling can give, completely freed from any kind of reaction.
90) The uneducated are often cleverer than the educated because at least they admit to their ignorance. The educated often delude themselves into believing that their "knowledge" has saved them from ignorance.
91) So long as we need a focus for our anger and our hatred Truth cannot find us.
92) Nearly all the harm we inflict on others we do unconsciously and our remorse comes from the realisation of the hurt we may have caused without any conscious intention on our part.
90) The uneducated are often cleverer than the educated because at least they admit to their ignorance. The educated often delude themselves into believing that their "knowledge" has saved them from ignorance.
91) So long as we need a focus for our anger and our hatred Truth cannot find us.
92) Nearly all the harm we inflict on others we do unconsciously and our remorse comes from the realisation of the hurt we may have caused without any conscious intention on our part.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)