Foundation #1 - Happenstance or Intellegent Design
This foundation module ask if the universe of matter is an arbitrary fluke or whether it is the…See More
The mixing of religious and non-religious beliefs in an individual.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
In 1974, Robert M. Pirsig wrote a book called ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE. At the time it blew me away, and still does as I dip into it from time to time to this day. It drew me to philosophy and my eventually becoming a psychologist. It's strange how certain books can affect us and even change the course of our lives. So in that sense, the trueism that the pen is mightier than the sword, can, in my opinion, never be overestimated.
Here are a few tasters along with some of the thoughts I gleaned from it...
All systems are based on individual weakness. (p.395)
Our main cultural attitudes still tend to view insanity as sickness and degeneracy, without positive value. (p.418)
The dialectic from rhetoric, regarding rhetoric from myths and poetry of ancient Greece, where myths and poetry is seen as the response of a prehistoric people to the quality of the universe around them. So quality is not a dialectic. Aristotle was wrong to say that the dialectic comes before everything we know, or that it is the generator of everything we know. (pp.394-5)
Quality = point of understanding between the classic and the romantic. (p.226)
Subjectivity is needed to explain objective realities such as zero and gravity. (pp.237-8)
The world is all mind (p.238)
1. Mind (subject) + 2. Matter (object) + 3. Quality (as a 3rd entity) = the mystical significance of the Trinity. (pp.240-3)
Law of gravity did not exist before Newton. (p.42)
Looking for truth but not seeing it when it stands in front of you. (p.15)
Kant questions Hume's idea that all knowledge comes from sensory impressions. And that although all knowledge may begin with experience, it doesn't all arise out of experience. (pp.134-5)
A priori knowledge of time and space help us to screen our sensory data by means of memory and recognition, i.e. our established concepts of what a motorbike looks like. (pp.135-7)
Kant's Copernican revolution (p.138)
Columbus analogy and expanding the realms of reason (pp.173-4)
With or without quality, rationality remains unchanged. (p.220)
If you can find the time. Enjoy!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Roman Kozlowski on -
I am what I am, and this is what it is.
Contentment is everything.
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Permalink Reply by Jim G on -
"Contentment is everything."
I like that Roman. I agree. It is not always easy to be contented. But it is so true. Like Monty Python's "always look at the bright side of life, whistle, whistle..." Even if you are experiencing a sort of crucifixion in your life, which I sort of am, there's usually a way out and we can be content in between the moments of pain, perhaps even during the moments of pain?
I've heard of both books -- I should put both on my list. Can you expand on the mind - matter - quality? I guess it is when you are present and each moment becomes quality based on your contentment or full appreciation of it? The Buddhists do seem to teach to enjoy the flowers along the way and in all respects, in what you eat, in every moment.
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Permalink Reply by Roman Kozlowski on
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A simple satisfied state of being is more than enough for me. My darling wife often reminds me that I'm one of those rare sorts that would be quite content living on an island on my own. And she is my deepest love.
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Permalink Reply by Roman Kozlowski on
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David, I'm so pleased. The right frame of mind makes for true happiness indeed. God speed...............
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Permalink Reply by Roman Kozlowski on
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Many see the gates of insanity and carefully walk around it. Others have come to the gates and have looked in out of curiosity. Some are plunged into it not of their own free will, while for a few others they enter into it of their own volition.
Pirsig writes ZAMM, a true life story of such an investigative period in his life while on a jouney of recovery on his motorbike accross the US.
"Pirsig is not propounding a brand new philosophy for our acceptance or rejection. He is rediscovering an ancient and universal tradition, illuminating it by his own very perculiar method, and restating it in terms which he hopes will strike home effectively. All I can really say is that he struck with brilliantly enlightening effect on the mind." - Observer.
"You should read it on the road, on a mountainside, at the bottom of the ocean. It should be a set book in any serious course of any study, so multi-applicable are its intentions. For instance, if you wanted to be a motocycle mechanic it should be read before any technical material. If you wanted to be a man of God, it should be read before you decide to be. And if you wanted to write a book, it should be read before you invest in a typewriter. Read the goddam thing and you'll see what I mean. The very heart of things - that's where Persig is coming from." - Street Life.
"Intellectual entertainment of the highest order." - New York Times.
"An unforgetable trip". - Time.
"A miracle". - Village Voice.
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Permalink Reply by James Germiquet on -
The law of gravity did not exist before Newton?
Does that mean that before Newton, you had to climb up into the tree to get all the apples?
But on the other hand climbing trees must have been a lot easier.
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