I am a Buddhist and if anyone wants to question my beliefs then they are welcome to do so...

@JLNobody,

JLNobody wrote:

What? Does it have to be written somewhere? Don't be such a negative drag.

Why are you so sure it is so? Why are you asserting it is so?

@Frank Apisa,

It's the way it appears to me. If everything required irrefutable "proof" we'd be in very bad shape. Opinion is what the world turns on not proofs.

1 Reply

@JLNobody,

JLNobody wrote:

It's the way it appears to me. If everything required irrefutable "proof" we'd be in very bad shape. Opinion is what the world turns on not proofs.

My comment did not go to "irrefutable proofs" (I NEVER ASK FOR PROOFS)...and my comment did not go to any opinions you offer. I value opinions even when I disagree with them.

Trace the genesis of this discussion...and you will see what I actually questioned...and asked if it were written in stone or whatever.

1 Reply

For 25 years of our lives (assuming a 75 year life span) we're asleep 8 hours out of every 24 , dead to the world and dreaming, so we could speculate that sleep is another reality.
Personally I like the weird and wonderful dreams I have, probably because I'm a sci-fi fan and quite like them, especially if it involves an --ahem-amorous encounter with a lady, in which case I don't want to wake up.. Wink

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again"
The Tempest Act 3 Sc II

1 Reply

@Romeo Fabulini,

Please do not discuss 75 year life spans around me, Frank, JL, and Dale. We have over 300 years between us already, kiddo.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

So thinking on this thread...I am quite certain that I exist. I am certain that my eyes see an accurate enough representation of the visible spectrum. I am certain that what I feel when I touch something is an accurate enough representation of what I need to feel. I am certain that I know the names of those close to me...in fact, there is a decent amount of reality that I am certain of...and a hell of a lot that I am not.

And really...like JL...I am happy for opinions to have quite a bit of meaning...and makes life, and decision making much easier. The opinions that serve well over multiple scenarios are of course, and the more they stay true...the greater their value.

1 Reply

At this instant (of writing) my "I" thinks the following.
1. "Existence" of this I is a function of this communicative context in which it is engaged.
2. Such an "existentially aware I" is evoked by these contexts. It did not seem to occur in non-philosophical contexts. Indeed there are often several "I's" disputing with each other or even no I's at all !
3. The observation of the fragmentation and contextual evocation of these "selves" and the subsequent implications for the word "existence", is one outcome of the meditational process.
4. Sceptics can argue about the implications, but not the observations of fragmentation per se which are common even to non-meditators. Dream I's can be considered a common extreme case of fragmentation.
5. Analysis of the words "reality", "knowledge" and "truth" are secondary to the analysis of the word "existence".

0 Replies

I don't know if this story is true, but it shows how the philosophical mind is able to think outside the box and push the envelope of understanding, I think it appeared as a Readers Digest end-of-article filler some years ago, and went something like this-
"My philosophy tutor set an exercise for the class by holding up a pencil and saying- "I want you all to write a brief essay about this pencil by the end of the lesson".
When all the essays were in, top marks went to a student who simply wrote two words- "What pencil?".. Smile

1 Reply

@vikorr,

vikorr wrote:

So thinking on this thread...I am quite certain that I exist. I am certain that my eyes see an accurate enough representation of the visible spectrum. I am certain that what I feel when I touch something is an accurate enough representation of what I need to feel. I am certain that I know the names of those close to me...in fact, there is a decent amount of reality that I am certain of...and a hell of a lot that I am not.

And really...like JL...I am happy for opinions to have quite a bit of meaning...and makes life, and decision making much easier. The opinions that serve well over multiple scenarios are of course, and the more they stay true...the greater their value.

Thank you for sharing that, Vikorr.

I also feel that "I" exist.

I am less sure of everyone and everything else..

But I acknowledge that I live my life as though all of it exists.

1 Reply

@Romeo Fabulini,

Sounds like "Reader's Digest".....need we say more ?

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

I am marginally interested on how you think "you" or "aspects of your life" could exist independently of each other.
Obviously I am pushing you towards an understanding that "existence" is always relative, but you have a history of jumping into your "don't know" bunker.

1 Reply

Blade Runner was on TV again the other night, Harri Ford reduced a young woman to tears when he told her she wasn't a "real" human, just a replicant. She tried to argue the case by saying she had a head full of memories going back to her childhood, to which Ford replied something like "They're not real, they were planted"

And in an episode of Star Trek TNG called "The Royale", there's a Vegas-type gambling casino on an environmentally hostile planet light years from earth and everybody is having a good time and they think they're human, but it turns out they're just robots.

My point is that how do we know that we're not replicants or robots?

http://youtu.be/ne-w09_eK-w

1 Reply

Well . . . movies and television programs . . . that's proof positive!

0 Replies

@Romeo Fabulini,

Because that was on TV. I've never seen a replicant or robot that is any where near the complexity of a human. Is it possible in the future? Maybe. Even if that is so, it doesn't change my own experiences. My being a replicant or robot is not in the realm of reasonable consideration.

How can you be so sure God and Jesus existed and yet question your own existence?

1 Reply

@IRFRANK,

Programming.

0 Replies

Frank said:

Quote:

My being a replicant or robot is not in the realm of reasonable consideration.
How can you be so sure God and Jesus existed and yet question your own existence?

1- As open-minded truthseekers and philosophical explorers surely we shouldn't draw a line of "reasonable consideration"? Perhaps it's our duty to fearlessly cross it and push the boundaries just as scifi authors and scriptwriters do, "where no man has gone before".. Smile

(Incidentally another intriguing Star Trek TNG episode (sorry i don't remember its title) was when Crusher keeps seeing crew members disappear one by one. For example she mentions Worf to Picard, but Picard says "Who is 'Worf'? We've never had anyone of that name on board"
It turns out that her "reality bubble" is slowly shrinking)

2- Ah but nobody knows what "existence" means. All I know I exist in this "reality" or "dream bubble", along with Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Elvis etc.. Smile

PS- If our reality is a dream, we could regard Jesus as a Master of the Art of Dream Manipulation, bending the laws of physics at will to produce what people regarded as "miracles".
He also said WE could do it to, so in that respect perhaps prayer is a form of "thought-pressure" that can bend "reality" to some extent?

http://imageshack.us/a/img51/7025/zu1s.jpg

1 Reply

An important distinction which this joker is missing is that science fiction authors and screen play writers are producing fiction. We know that up front. It's not the truth, it's fiction. "Truth seekers" who look to screen plays or novels are not engaged in seeking the truth--they are wasting their time.

4 Replies

@Romeo Fabulini,

Jesus may just be a part of your dreamworld?

0 Replies

@fresco,

fresco wrote:

I am marginally interested on how you think "you" or "aspects of your life" could exist independently of each other.
Obviously I am pushing you towards an understanding that "existence" is always relative, but you have a history of jumping into your "don't know" bunker.

I am marginally interested in your guesses about the true nature of REALITY, Fresco.

I honestly do not know the true nature of the REALITY of existence...and I am in awe of you because you are so sure you do.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

An important distinction which this joker is missing is that science fiction authors and screen play writers are producing fiction. We know that up front. It's not the truth, it's fiction. "Truth seekers" who look to screen plays or novels are not engaged in seeking the truth--they are wasting their time.

Ahh! The willing suspension of disbelief. How Romeo excels.

1 Reply

I am a Buddhist and if anyone wants to question my beliefs then they are welcome to do so...

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know