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.
Sunday, 18 November 2012
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.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Philosophical Musings 85-88
85) All the reason and philosophy in the world will not bring about understanding unless we feel genuine gratitude for the toil and suffering that has gone into creating all the things we have.
86) If we criticize and rage against those who are different from us, or who think differently from the way that we do, to the extent where we do not feel their humanity, then we need to question our assumption that we know the answers (we do not) and we need to realise how potentially dangerous this situation is. Both believers and non-believers are equally culpable.
87) Before we can claim to be free thinkers we need to appreciate and understand how our automatic thinking is very different from reflective or contemplative thinking.
88) Before we can reason with the outside world we have to be able to reason with ourselves .
86) If we criticize and rage against those who are different from us, or who think differently from the way that we do, to the extent where we do not feel their humanity, then we need to question our assumption that we know the answers (we do not) and we need to realise how potentially dangerous this situation is. Both believers and non-believers are equally culpable.
87) Before we can claim to be free thinkers we need to appreciate and understand how our automatic thinking is very different from reflective or contemplative thinking.
88) Before we can reason with the outside world we have to be able to reason with ourselves .
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Philosophical Musings 81-84
81) To say science is better than mythology is rather like saying electricity is better than wood. Electricity and wood serve different purposes. However, nowadays we have both wooden chairs and electric chairs.
82) To demand a criteria for deciding what, in traditional literature, should be taken symbolically and what should not be taken symbolically is like demanding precision in deciding whether someone is sixty-five percent happy or ninety-two percent happy. There are certain areas of our lives where a demand for criteria or a demand for precision are impossible and not even desirable.
83) Stone is primary school; water is secondary school and college; and wine is graduation.
84) Nearly all of us spend a large proportion of our lives dreaming that we are awake, including those we call experts and great scientists; perhaps especially the experts and great scientists.
82) To demand a criteria for deciding what, in traditional literature, should be taken symbolically and what should not be taken symbolically is like demanding precision in deciding whether someone is sixty-five percent happy or ninety-two percent happy. There are certain areas of our lives where a demand for criteria or a demand for precision are impossible and not even desirable.
83) Stone is primary school; water is secondary school and college; and wine is graduation.
84) Nearly all of us spend a large proportion of our lives dreaming that we are awake, including those we call experts and great scientists; perhaps especially the experts and great scientists.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Philosophical Musings 77-80
77) It is our differences that make life interesting. It is our shared experiences, despite those differences, that help to make life sacred.
78) If my “understanding” feeds my pride and my tendency to be condescending towards others then my “understanding” is another of my illusions.
79) It is only when we start to sense the negative external impact of our automatic reactions that we start to be more fully ourselves.
80) If our opinions are based largely on what we read rather than our personal experience then we need to question not only what we read but how we read.
80) If our opinions are based largely on what we read rather than our personal experience then we need to question not only what we read but how we read.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Philosophical Musings 73-76
73) To be sceptical does not mean to be closed. To be receptive does not mean to be suggestible.
74) Nobody can be convinced of Reality at its most subtle by the power of argument.
75) That Truth can be contained in a lie is about as likely as a tortoise beating a hare in a race.
76) The idea that 'myth' means 'lie' is one of the most misleading and damaging misnomers of our age.
74) Nobody can be convinced of Reality at its most subtle by the power of argument.
75) That Truth can be contained in a lie is about as likely as a tortoise beating a hare in a race.
76) The idea that 'myth' means 'lie' is one of the most misleading and damaging misnomers of our age.
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