Because of Science at Times I am Able to Feel Like a God!

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Mentally, physically, & emotionally.



Because of science there has never ever been a better time to be alive.





Our most difficult individual philosophical challenge is to be able to Let-Go!





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[hammock]

Our most difficult individual philosophical challenge is to be able to Let-Go!

Living in a world of words and concepts and inherited beliefs, says Zen, we have lost the power to grasp reality directly. Our minds are permeated with notions of cause and effect, subject and object, being and nonbeing, life and death. Inevitably this leads to conflict and a feeling of personal detachment and alienation from the world. Zen's whole emphasis is on the experience of reality as it is, rather than the solution of problems that, in the end, arise merely from our mistaken beliefs.

Because it eschews the use of the intellect, Zen can appear nihilistic (which it is not) and elusive (which it is). Certainly, it would be hard to conceive of a system that stood in greater contrast with the logical, symbol-based formulations of contemporary science. More than any other product of the Oriental mind, Zen is convinced that no language or symbolic mapping of the world can come close to expressing the ultimate truth.

... Zen differs from other meditative forms, including other schools of Buddhism, in that it does not start from where we are and gradually lead us to a clear view of the true way of the world. The sole purpose of studying Zen is to have Zen experiences — sudden moments, like flashes of lightning, when the intellect is short-circuited and there is no longer a barrier between the experiencer and reality. Sometimes its methods can seem bizarre and even startling. To catch the flavor, if a Zen master found you reading this book he might grab it from you and hit you over the head with it, saying: “Here’s something else for you to think about!” Such shock tactics, however, are intended not to offend but rather to wake us up from our normal symbol-bound frame of mind.

... Zen uses language to point beyond language, which is what poets and playwrights and musicians do. But, less obviously, it is also what modern science does if the intuitive leap is taken beyond its abstract formalism. The deep, latent message of quantum mechanics, for instance, codified in the language of mathematics, is that there is a reality beyond our senses which eludes verbal comprehension or logical analysis.

... Intuition has ever been the handmaiden of science. And although science represents its theories and conclusions in a “respectable” symbolic form, its greatest advances have always come initially not from the application of reason but from intuitive leaps — sudden flashes of inspiration very much akin to Zen experiences. <ZEN PHYSICS, Chapter 12>

Dr Suzuki has said that Zen "detests any form of intellectualism"...But my impression is that enlightenment for the Westerner does require some intellectual input, though kept within strict limits. The ultimate viewpoint, that of reality, is clearly inexpressible; and the teacher would harm the pupil if he let him forget that the whole problem is precisely one of leaping the gap which separates verbal truth from real knowledge. But rational explanation is needed to coax Westerners to the edge of this gap. Zen says, for example,: "There is nothing complicated to do: seeing directly into one's nature is enough." It took me years of reflection before I began to see how this advice could be given substance and put into practice in our inner life.
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[Bill Wiltrack]

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Love, love, love Hubert Benoit.






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[uwot]

... Intuition has ever been the handmaiden of science. And although science represents its theories and conclusions in a “respectable” symbolic form, its greatest advances have always come initially not from the application of reason but from intuitive leaps — sudden flashes of inspiration very much akin to Zen experiences. <ZEN PHYSICS, Chapter 12>

This is a popular myth amongst the hard of thinking, it allows them to believe that their 'sudden flash of inspiration' is science.

[Impenitent]

... Intuition has ever been the handmaiden of science. And although science represents its theories and conclusions in a “respectable” symbolic form, its greatest advances have always come initially not from the application of reason but from intuitive leaps — sudden flashes of inspiration very much akin to Zen experiences. <ZEN PHYSICS, Chapter 12>

This is a popular myth amongst the hard of thinking, it allows them to believe that their 'sudden flash of inspiration' is science.

apple throwing is rude...

-Imp

[uwot]

apple throwing is rude...

-Imp

I have no idea what you are on about. Nor does Google.

[Impenitent]

apple throwing is rude...

-Imp

I have no idea what you are on about. Nor does Google.

ask Isaac

-Imp

[uwot]

ask Isaac

-Imp

Nope. Nothing.

[Impenitent]

inspiration...

apples...

Isaac...

the gravity of this situation is unbearable...

-Imp

[uwot]

inspiration...

apples...

Isaac...

Yeah, I'm with you so far, but I'm still not getting "rude".

the gravity of this situation is unbearable...

-Imp

It would be much more bearable if you just said what the fuck was on your mind.

Maybe Quine was right after all.

[Impenitent]

inspiration...

apples...

Isaac...

Yeah, I'm with you so far, but I'm still not getting "rude".

the gravity of this situation is unbearable...

-Imp

It would be much more bearable if you just said what the fuck was on your mind.

Maybe Quine was right after all.

I was scolding Newton's tree, not you...

-Imp

[hammock]

... Intuition has ever been the handmaiden of science. And although science represents its theories and conclusions in a “respectable” symbolic form, its greatest advances have always come initially not from the application of reason but from intuitive leaps — sudden flashes of inspiration very much akin to Zen experiences. <ZEN PHYSICS, Chapter 12>

This is a popular myth amongst the hard of thinking, it allows them to believe that their 'sudden flash of inspiration' is science.

If you're referring to Darling's "always" and the comparison to Zen experiences (whatever the hell that is), then yeah, I'd agree that's pushing it too far up the slope of Merde Hill. But otherwise, a literal total exclusion would itself be a sweeping generalization garnering myth-hood status.

[Both] intuition [and serendipity] have a history of playing roles in the formulation of hypotheses, solutions, new discoveries, directions to pursue, "what next?", etc. (Bulk preparation of a submitted end item, though, still accomplished by exhaustive procedure.) What distinguishes crackpots' and scientists' products that developed from a kernel of sudden inspiration is that the former won't let go of something that didn't pan-put or could have been recognized as groundless to begin with. The eccentric non-scientist is adhering to no method of culling out the fruitless from the fruitful, or appeals to a system with leaky holes or warped biases that excuses his project's shortcomings.

When it comes to work that did later survive the meatgrinder of testing replication and peer-review, the scientist IMO was bloody well free beforehand to have derived the start of it from the most outrageous circumstance, as long as the approach / source used is not a habit that becomes routine (if frowned upon or a violation of the applicable institution). And escapes detection long enough for its exposure to be rendered an historically impotent surprise. "Röntgen did that? Ah well, just make the quiet revision, as even a mild ripple of consternation among the media will soon be cut-short by a Bieber or Cyrus incident."

ON SCIENTIFIC METHOD; or Percy's Bashing Of Philosophers of Science And Other Over-The-Shoulders Spectators / Formal Describers

[uwot]

If you're referring to Darling's "always" and the comparison to Zen experiences (whatever the hell that is), then yeah, I'd agree that's pushing it too far up the slope of Merde Hill. But otherwise, a literal total exclusion would itself be a sweeping generalization garnering myth-hood status.

Good point. It is just the always. I have stated my methodological anarchism in various places and forms. I would not exclude intuition, serendipity, guesswork, chance or even lunacy from the scientific process. As the link you provided implies, it is not for us on the outside to determine what scientific procedure is, but we are quite at liberty to decide for ourselves what scientific 'proof' is.

[Blaggard]

Ironically because of science I am able to feel like a small person in small world, in a small galaxy that indeed is a galaxy amongst a trillion. In that sense science has the scale right I am insignificant, but at least for the right reasons. Not because of some divinity but just because of the size of all that is real. Wow. That's a lot of stars.


Humility in the face of the majesty of all that is religious or not, and that is your right, must make you humble either way.

[Arising_uk]

... The deep, latent message of quantum mechanics, for instance, codified in the language of mathematics, is that there is a reality beyond our senses which eludes ... logical analysis. ...

No it doesn't, there are quite a few logical analyses for QM.