streaming consciousness…

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  hardie karges 4:25 pm on December 7, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 272 ), computer, internet ( 9 ), religion ( 82 ), technology ( 11 )   

  Waiting for it: Electronic Buddha in the Electronic Forest Temple 

  I think it’s a bum rap, the false narrative about smart-phones and other tech, how we never talk to our neighbors any more—we never did! Unless they’re nice. And we still do, if there’s something to discuss. Should we regress to the day when stay-at-home wives have nothing better to do than chew the fat with the housewives’ club all day every day? Yes, I know it’s a real job, but still…

  So why did no one ever make an issue of us reading news papers all the time, or listening to radio? No, they never did that until TV, couch potatoes and all that jazz, and that defines the line that divides our civilization from the initial inquisitive developmental mode to the current acquisitive ‘been there done that’ full-of-it mode, a civilization in decline, with red lights flashing… (More …)

  hardie karges and davekingsbury are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    davekingsbury 4:01 pm on December 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply

    A damning indictment as well as indicating the seeds of renewal, taking in a sharp comparison of then and now and asking big questions for the future. As EM Forster said, Only Connect …

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      hardie karges 10:44 pm on December 11, 2016 Permalink | Reply

      yes, exactly

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  hardie karges 6:31 am on July 3, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Buddhism ( 272 ), computer, logic ( 10 ), meditation ( 54 ), mind ( 4 ), religion ( 82 )   

  Philosophy of Mind: Thought or No-thought? 

  

  Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka

  I’ll have to admit that it bothers me somewhat the extent to which Eckhart Tolle goes to demonize the process of thought. Is this not who and what we are, for better or worse? “All thought is judgment.” Really? But he’s definitely got a point about our non-stop narratives (not to be confused with truth or reality) and the resultant mental noise and ego-defenses inherent to such a system.

  His is basically a metaphysics of meditation, if not in so many words, i.e. (mostly) without the Buddhism. And that, of course, is the challenge, in assuming that the mental state achieved in meditation can somehow be maintained every minute of every day of your life. Is that even possible? Maybe so. But I’d like to suggest a slight detour to that conclusion.

  I’ve been reading some Buddhist texts recently that allude to something that probably translates best as the ‘true original mind’ or ‘pristine mind’, as that state to be desired, sought after and accomplished, and hence to be the model for our short shrill suffering-filled existences. Okay, good enough so far, but: what does this ‘true original mind’ consist of and how does it function? That’s the issue to be determined. In other words: Did thought begin with language? (More …)