Philosophy Now Forum

I have no formal training in philosophy ... just a desire to unlearn.

Making my living in electrical design and project management ... I live in Canada and don't watch hockey ... is that a contradiction or an outright violation of natural law?

My hobbies are camping, mountain biking, astronomy and reading; mainly science, mythology, religion, philosophy etc.

My specific interests are ...

- the relationship between language, information and physical reality
- the nature of subjective consciousness and its relationship to the physical world
- metaphysics and pre-Socratic Greek musings about the nature of the universe
- the need for philosophy to sort out science, relegate traditional religion to the past and developing a framework for living
- the need for a way of life that is respectful, passionate, 'spiritual' , tuned-in and yet not vulnerable to bull-shit
- the need for teaching critical thinking skills (maybe the universe is 'mind' - that doesn't mean we call it God)

My views might be described as atheist and Buddhist (with certain limits and conditions attached naturally)

My goal - awareness & sensitivity vs. knowledge.

The value of general knowledge (or faith) to society as a whole on a daily basis is that it permits us to put away things that don't matter so that we can focus on what does; living. The problem is that 'knowledge' has consequences.

For me philosophy is an active, dynamic process that allows us to understand and live without investing in dogma or arriving at 'facts' - is that bullshit?

I don't know - hey maybe I'm getting somewhere?

Welcome to the madness.

Sounds to me from what you have said you will fit right in with the other nutters here.

Blaggard wrote:Welcome to the madness.

Sounds to me from what you have said you will fit right in with the other nutters here.

Hey! I'm right here ya know!

Anyway, welcome grounded, to the nuthouse.


BTW what kind of music do you like?

My son is putting a road bike together, mostly carbon fiber, he's a bit serious about it.

Have you read much from Joseph Campbell?

GROUNDED wrote:I have no formal training in philosophy ... just a desire to unlearn.

Making my living in electrical design and project management ... I live in Canada and don't watch hockey ... is that a contradiction or an outright violation of natural law?

My hobbies are camping, mountain biking, astronomy and reading; mainly science, mythology, religion, philosophy etc.

My specific interests are ...

- the relationship between language, information and physical reality
- the nature of subjective consciousness and its relationship to the physical world
- metaphysics and pre-Socratic Greek musings about the nature of the universe
- the need for philosophy to sort out science, relegate traditional religion to the past and developing a framework for living
- the need for a way of life that is respectful, passionate, 'spiritual' , tuned-in and yet not vulnerable to bull-shit
- the need for teaching critical thinking skills (maybe the universe is 'mind' - that doesn't mean we call it God)

My views might be described as atheist and Buddhist (with certain limits and conditions attached naturally)

My goal - awareness & sensitivity vs. knowledge.

The value of general knowledge (or faith) to society as a whole on a daily basis is that it permits us to put away things that don't matter so that we can focus on what does; living. The problem is that 'knowledge' has consequences.

For me philosophy is an active, dynamic process that allows us to understand and live without investing in dogma or arriving at 'facts' - is that bullshit?

I don't know - hey maybe I'm getting somewhere?

Welcome Grounded!
Are you?
Grounded, that is?
And that's the purpose of philosophy, right?

To ensure that we are in fact grounded,
no not just to earth potential!

But with respect to the truth of all things considered...

Again, welcome!

Blaggard wrote:Welcome to the madness.

Sounds to me from what you have said you will fit right in with the other nutters here.

Thank-you for the hearty welcome; I look forward to the conversation.

I think nuttily, therefore I am a nut.

thedoc wrote:

Blaggard wrote:Welcome to the madness.

Sounds to me from what you have said you will fit right in with the other nutters here.

Hey! I'm right here ya know!

Anyway, welcome grounded, to the nuthouse.


BTW what kind of music do you like?

My son is putting a road bike together, mostly carbon fiber, he's a bit serious about it.

Only good music, its the only kind I'll listen too - in any genre mind you (except C&W with the notable exception of J. Cash).

As philosophers we all walk-the-line.

thedoc wrote:Have you read much from Joseph Campbell?

Love Joseph Campell although its been a few years (Hero with a Thousand Faces ... I think) ... not to be confused with my brother in law ... zero with 2 faces.

Seriously though, we are all on a journey, a quest, a circular path through 'crucifiction' (typo intended) to resererection (sorry got to stop joking) - archetypes, masks, Jung - yes, my goal is definitely to reconcile some unconcious, primordial, psychic energies before I croak.

Now I'm reading 'the wisdom of the myths' by luc Ferry; apparantly Greek mythology was crucial in preceding Greek philosophy, the movie 300 and six pack abs (you have to see the movie) !

Love mythology - the problem lies in forgetting that we made it up - then 4000 years later you got JoHo's knocking on the door.

SpheresOfBalance wrote:

GROUNDED wrote:I have no formal training in philosophy ... just a desire to unlearn.

Making my living in electrical design and project management ... I live in Canada and don't watch hockey ... is that a contradiction or an outright violation of natural law?

My hobbies are camping, mountain biking, astronomy and reading; mainly science, mythology, religion, philosophy etc.

My specific interests are ...

- the relationship between language, information and physical reality
- the nature of subjective consciousness and its relationship to the physical world
- metaphysics and pre-Socratic Greek musings about the nature of the universe
- the need for philosophy to sort out science, relegate traditional religion to the past and developing a framework for living
- the need for a way of life that is respectful, passionate, 'spiritual' , tuned-in and yet not vulnerable to bull-shit
- the need for teaching critical thinking skills (maybe the universe is 'mind' - that doesn't mean we call it God)

My views might be described as atheist and Buddhist (with certain limits and conditions attached naturally)

My goal - awareness & sensitivity vs. knowledge.

The value of general knowledge (or faith) to society as a whole on a daily basis is that it permits us to put away things that don't matter so that we can focus on what does; living. The problem is that 'knowledge' has consequences.

For me philosophy is an active, dynamic process that allows us to understand and live without investing in dogma or arriving at 'facts' - is that bullshit?

I don't know - hey maybe I'm getting somewhere?

Welcome Grounded!
Are you?
Grounded, that is?
And that's the purpose of philosophy, right?

To ensure that we are in fact grounded,
no not just to earth potential!

But with respect to the truth of all things considered...

Again, welcome!

Glad to see you have some electrical knowledge and the self appointed title ws intended to have an electrical as well as quasi-Buddhist connotation (I think I was grounded when I was a teenager too - but different context).

Lets just say that my philosophical journey will hopefully lead towards what you said - the truth ...

The truth that can be spoken may not be the whole truth ... or something like that ... (Taoism, Wittgenstein ??)

On a completely irrelevant tangent I wonder if the fundamental nature of conciousness is not electrical ... may tie in with the electrochemical functioning of the brain ... could provide a sort of concious dimension to all of physical reality for those seeking some sort of pantheism ... leptons are fundamental right ... this would make electrical technolgists ... like myself ... a kind of 'high' priest of sorts ... hmmm got to work on this one

GROUNDED wrote: On a completely irrelevant tangent I wonder if the fundamental nature of conciousness is not electrical ... may tie in with the electrochemical functioning of the brain ... could provide a sort of concious dimension to all of physical reality for those seeking some sort of pantheism ... leptons are fundamental right ... this would make electrical technolgists ... like myself ... a kind of 'high' priest of sorts ... hmmm got to work on this one

All topics are relevant, depending on your polarity.

However you as a 'High Priest' might have too many negative connections for some. (Shouldn't that be 'Positive Priest'? or are my poles reversed?)

thedoc wrote:

GROUNDED wrote: On a completely irrelevant tangent I wonder if the fundamental nature of conciousness is not electrical ... may tie in with the electrochemical functioning of the brain ... could provide a sort of concious dimension to all of physical reality for those seeking some sort of pantheism ... leptons are fundamental right ... this would make electrical technolgists ... like myself ... a kind of 'high' priest of sorts ... hmmm got to work on this one

All topics are relevant, depending on your polarity.

However you as a 'High Priest' might have too many negative connections for some. (Shouldn't that be 'Positive Priest'? or are my poles reversed?)

Me as high priest (or anyone for that matter) has too many negative connections for me!

No, my mini-tangent on the electrical nature of the universe was intended as a vehicle for discussing 3 things (1) there are many ways of looking at things and there is some degree of validity in every perspective (and some degree of imperfection)-some kernel of truth (and always a lie) - but everything is relevant, interconnected - you're right on about that - my method is to throw out incomplete and even contrary statements and see what happens - they will either be refined, acknowledged or blown away by your fellow forum members - all of these results are ok with me as long as we unlearn something (2) how quickly we can move from a pure metaphysical perspective to corrupting our world view with - us - our egos - creating a platform for raising ourselves up - god was made in mans image and to serve man - then high priests came along quickly to run things on gods behalf because HE wasn't around too much and/or was too cool to hang out with us (3) I genuinely wonder about the fundamental nature of conciousness and the role that electrical fields play in its manifestation - complex mental functioning is definitely an emergent process involving memory, massive interconnectivity and multiple feedback mechanisms but is not conciousness itself a fundamental property of matter and energy on some level - if not it has to be explained via reductionism to consist of a more fundamental set of properties - unless this whole heirarchical model of things and properties is invalid in which case its going to be very difficult to ever really sort things out - after all what is a thing without its properites - hey, you know - maybe its the limitations inherent in language that limits our ability to solve some of these problems - maybe scientists are too invested in mathematics - maybe we need a new visual hyper-logic or something - on the other hand the success of the scientific method shows that this model is not completely with out value and that we're on to something - I think - I better stop ...

GROUNDED wrote: Me as high priest (or anyone for that matter) has too many negative connections for me!

(3) I genuinely wonder about the fundamental nature of conciousness and the role that electrical fields play in its manifestation - complex mental functioning is definitely an emergent process involving memory, massive interconnectivity and multiple feedback mechanisms but is not conciousness itself a fundamental property of matter and energy on some level - if not it has to be explained via reductionism to consist of a more fundamental set of properties - unless this whole heirarchical model of things and properties is invalid in which case its going to be very difficult to ever really sort things out - after all what is a thing without its properites - hey, you know - maybe its the limitations inherent in language that limits our ability to solve some of these problems - maybe scientists are too invested in mathematics - maybe we need a new visual hyper-logic or something - on the other hand the success of the scientific method shows that this model is not completely with out value and that we're on to something - I think - I better stop ...

On another forum someone posted research that indicated that Foxes were more successful hunting if they aligned themselves and their prey with the Earths magnetic field, implying that somehow they could sense it. I raised the possibility that people could also be sensitive the magnetic fields, citing my own ability to wake up in the morning at a predetermined time, without reference to clocks or an alarm clock. My suggestion was poo-pooed by the "Experts" but your post seems to indicate a possible relationship between counsciousness and electro-magnitism.