where does one find oneself?

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discuss the existential, or metaphysical properties which could define a person, as an entire being. Discuss the range of materialistic to spiritual entities which could contribute to this enlightenment. When should we expect to make this discovery, and will it be in the form of an epiphany, or a much more rudimentary spectrum of events which, based on subjective perception, will allow us to realize who we truly are.

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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 1,929 • Replies: 38

[+3] - Setanta - 05/13/2011[quote="Tifinden"]writings and propositions[/quote] I'd have said drivel, personally, but each to his own . . .

@Tifinden,

Consider these quotes of mine, "Everyone spends so much time pondering about life after death; Where is there time to think about life before death?"
And, "Underneath the peach tree I sit, where luscious fruits are borne; but eat I do not, for the fruits sit too high; I cannot reach"
Come, reach for the fruit, wherein the fructal sap will enlighten your palette, find yourself, through the length of your arm, and the sheen of the fruit.

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@Tifinden,

Welcome to A2K.

First one considered and corrected:

"YOU spend so much time pondering about life after death; Where is there time to think about life before death ? YOU ASK YOURSELF".

Suggestion: Look at the general format of philosophy threads on this forum. Notice a "simple" thesis is postulated or question asked. If people are interested they will naturally "discuss", but they will resist an instruction "to discuss" because it looks like a homework assignment.

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Well put . . .

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@Setanta,

Are you referring to my writings and propositions, or merely to the other who answered by prompt?

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@Tifinden,

Tifinden wrote:

writings and propositions

I'd have said drivel, personally, but each to his own . . .

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@Tifinden,

School assignment? I find that failure is where we learn the most. Success just leaves us full of ourselves and incapable of learning.

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@Cyracuz,

Also well put.
I think--in answer to a question above--that progress manifests both in the form of sudden epiphanies and gradual evolution. And the irony of it all is how we can grow from the experience of failure and block growth by the experience of success.

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@JLNobody,

Its amazing that you and Cyr can speak on "failure" and "evolution" after dismissing truth with such an ease...the world is a tricky place...yes indeed ! Wink

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where does one find oneself?

i usually look under the couch cushions

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil, consider the crocodile. It is virtually unchanged from how the creature was in the time of the dinosaurs. That is because the biological configuration we classify as crocodile has proven extremely resilient, and the creature has a high survivability. So it has survived to our day and age, but it hasn't really evolved much. Because it's success has made it so there has been no need to.
Now, if that species had "failed", it would have been forced to change in order to survive, and so it would have perhaps evolved to some "higher" form of life.

(This comparison may not be entirely accurate in terms of biology and the facts we have, but it illustrates my point well enough. If you can let go of absolutes and truly appreciate the dynamic nature of.. well, nature... you might end up with a perspective that lets you see deeper. I know that was the case for me, at least.)

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@Cyracuz,

What I meant was that loaded words as failure or evolution always have a frame of reference of development instead of simple change...and of course development implies a closer step towards perfection...now you know where that leads concerning your belief on truth and such like concepts...hope that clears up to what I was at Cyr...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

But what is perfection? I think our idea of a perfect world today is different from the idea people had of a perfect world fifty years ago. When we say "perfect", most times it means "the best we can imagine", but that is no guarantee that it is any good at all. The pioneers of the oil industry no doubt imagined a perfect world where everything was powered by their oil, and when the first automobiles came along, they no doubt had a vision of the future where everyone had their car and with it increased mobility and freedom. Perfect! Except that now we know better...

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

But what is perfection? I think our idea of a perfect world today is different from the idea people had of a perfect world fifty years ago. When we say "perfect", most times it means "the best we can imagine", but that is no guarantee that it is any good at all. The pioneers of the oil industry no doubt imagined a perfect world where everything was powered by their oil, and when the first automobiles came along, they no doubt had a vision of the future where everyone had their car and with it increased mobility and freedom. Perfect! Except that now we know better...

I can give you a good enough alternative definition...
Perfection is the best you can accomplished as you go along...that is and means, the best that your particular conditions did allow you to perform considering your intelligence and access to information.
Amounts only to say that there are causes for things to be the way they are, or at the very least a perfect correlation like cause behaviour on how things manifest themselves...
Perfection is not against dynamics and evolution, it simply explains it...true circumstances resumes it !

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Quote:

Perfection is the best you can accomplished as you go along...that is and means, the best that your particular conditions did allow you to perform considering your intelligence and access to information.

Or, the best we can imagine... Seems to me that is saying the same, just using fewer words...

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@JLNobody,

Are you insinuating that we eventually find ourselves through our personal development and progress- traveling through veneers of failure and success- what do you suggest would define ourselves? are these inherent qualities of life, or is there a much more profound and deceptive feature which will unleash our potential.

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@Tifinden,

"Where do I find myself?" - In the world.

Problem solved.

Now we have to ask, "What does it mean to 'be' in the world?", and Im sure Dasein or Fresco can answer your question with whatever they can deconstruct, hermentucize, involve in languaging, or interpret.

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@Ding an Sich,

Where do I find myself? Existentially or phenomenologically I can't find a "self". I look every morning for a half hour on my meditation cushion, but all that "I" experience is a stream of sensations, thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. I tacitly presume (partly because of the pressure of my language's grammar:objects require subjects) that there is an agent of these experiences but I cannot find "him" or "it" except as just another stream of ideas, sensations, feelings, etc.
In other words "I" am not someone to whom this experience happens; indeed, I AM that experience. It only becomes a "problem" when I look for a ficticious agent of experience. The Hindu formula, Thou art that (tat tvam asi), fits here.

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@Ding an Sich,

Ding an Sich wrote:

"Where do I find myself?" - In the world.

Problem solved.

Now we have to ask, "What does it mean to 'be' in the world?", and Im sure Dasein or Fresco can answer your question with whatever they can deconstruct, hermentucize, involve in languaging, or interpret.

where does one find oneself?

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