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WBraun
climber
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This is exactly it.
99.9999999999999999% is what these so called scientists are trying to do here.
Create a conflict where there is none.
This why they are foolish mental speculators and theorists ......
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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I started doing yoga 5 weeks ago. I've been thinking about it for years, but this seems to be the year for pulling the trigger. Surfing is up next.
Yeah, it's just for personal benefit, so I know it doesn't count towards my enlightenment points.
The instructor is a small, quiet guy named Ryan. Your pulse rate goes down just being in the same room with him.
Ryan puts on calming, ethereal music, but the Zumba class upstairs drowns it out with Michael Jackson and "Go Hard!"s. Ryan just looks up and says "let the sounds and sensations wash over you".
It's hard. I feel like a 55 gallon drum with 2 x 4s duct taped to it. But I feel great afterwards. Sometimes I swim for an hour following the class. That feels even better.
The class is a mix of hotties and old farts like me who steal an occasional appreciative peek between sweat wipes.
Everyone has a certain beauty to them. My friend Eric looks like a viking - he's all beautiful - a gentle, if troubled, giant. The old woman next to me has a face like a Chinese lion - a real bruiser, but her feet are exquisite - muscular, with smooth, tanned skin that belies her age. The same-age geezer in the front of me has an incredibly flexible lower back - like a bow.
I knew I was serious when I bought a yoga mat at Big 5. They were all a bit girly, with floral patterns and such. The geezer in front has a manly mat - dark grey, with an imposing, black Chinese geometric pattern that looks like it could be stamped on a vial of powdered rhino horn. I have a feeling it cost more than 14.95, though. Anyway, I left my 14.94 mat at the gym after using it once, so I guess I'll stick with the mats provided. They're more comfy and sticky anyway. Forced detachment.
I've been going once a week, but I'm going to up that to 2 this week.
This week, for the first time, our instructor Ryan cracked a couple of wry jokes. I've gotta say, they were pretty good. I was surprised he broke character, but I suppose that character was my invention, not his.
You never know what you'll experience in a yoga class.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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When the man said, "There ain't any fish in the Zen pond," another way of saying this is nothing has any physical extent. Neither observation has anything to do with enlightenment, proving this or that, beliefs, or whatever else you can project onto it. It simply is the way things are, as opposed to our mental pictures of same. Of course we all use mental pictures metaphorically to express our ideas, but we understand that the picture and the subject are not the same - that is, the map is not the territory.
But how easy it is to get fixated on the map/mental picture. It can be all we ever talk about, evidence by this thread.
JL
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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That's a nice mental picture...
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Mental pictures are what we do.
That's just the way things are.
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MH2
climber
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the map is not the territory.
Sound of wheel spinning.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Mental pictures are what we do.
That's just the way things are.
I would encourage you to explore the notion that the fact that the brain generates mental pictures is the way the brain is, not necessarily the way things "are."
Another thing most obvious on this thread is that we all tend to grab onto some notion per the way things really and truly "are." It is challenging to move past what our sense organs tell us what things are. Instruments, or introspection, will disclose that nothing "is" in the sense that our bodies tell us. For example, several years ago I blew up my left leg. My experience certainly told me that the leg was "real" as was the pain and money and time spent and so forth.
And that's really the stepping off point into the entire "what is real" discussion. Like it or not there apparently are various levels or stratas of existence each with their own "real" perspectives. But if we look for the existential equal of scientific constants, operating at all levels and in all things, we must wonder . . .
JL
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Bushman
Social climber
The island of Tristan da Cunha
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'Empty Spaces'
To prove that I am nothing,
What have I to lose,
So let me take my leave,
If it would so amuse,
To chum the ocean full and rife,
The proposition that I go,
Would leave no empty space,
Void to fill the void,
How then the disgrace?
And what then of my family life?
Where trinkets and spare change,
With pet hair, lint, and green,
The yellowed photographs,
Aging brittle and unseen,
Are hiding out with my old knife,
The leaves that crunch and rustle,
As the autumn winds do blow,
Empty stepping spaces are what's left,
Where memories once did go,
And failing this my only strife,
Now all is stripped away,
There's nothing left to hide,
What dignity I'd hoped for,
In this short and frail reside,
Has been imparted to my wife.
-bushman
11/07/2014
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MH2
climber
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"Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore."
Ode on Intimations of Immortality
Wordsworth
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MH2
climber
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Though realism may be a tempting viewpoint
I'm more tempted by surrealism.
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WBraun
climber
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The consciousness of the scientist is at one level and manipulates words in some order to reveal his meaning.
The consciousness of the theist is at one level and manipulates words in some order to reveal his meaning.
The consciousness of the atheist is at one level and manipulates words in some order to reveal his meaning.
The consciousness of the agnostic is at one level and manipulates words in some order to reveal his meaning.
Consciousness is what drives all of them and is the center.
Consciousness is eternal and another impersonal feature of God ......
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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It's 42
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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A model is a good model if it
1. Is elegant
Elegance is a desirable quality in any number of activities. We certainly admire it when we see it in a climber, or a ballerina, or a wide receiver, . . . It is sought in the formulations of mathematical theory and in the proofs supporting such theory - but there one has to be very knowledgable in the subject ( as is the case in physics, also), whereas watching a beautiful pass reception requires little background. In physical feats elegance does not necessarily imply efficiency.
As for "levels" of reality, during my adventures in the Art of Dreaming many years ago, the environment in which I found myself seemed even more real than normal reality - but actions in the former had no effect on the latter. What counts in "reality" is how the physical environment is affected. When John L visits no-thingness nothing changes in normal reality. And the scientific fact that the ground I fall toward is mostly empty space does not mitigate the injury I receive when I hit.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 12, 2014 - 08:26pm PT
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By Sang Tan, AP
Magician Penn Jillette outlines his atheist version of The Ten Commandments in his new book.
"I wanted to see how many of the ideas that many people think are handed down from (G)od really make sense to someone who says, 'I don't know.'"
Here's his list:
STORY: Magicians say craft makes them see faith as hocus-pocus
1. The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.
2. Do not put things or even ideas above other human beings. (Let's scream at each other about Kindle versus iPad, solar versus nuclear, Republican versus Libertarian, Garth Brooks versus Sun Ra— but when your house is on fire, I'll be there to help.)
3. Say what you mean, even when talking to yourself. (What used to be an oath to (G)od is now quite simply respecting yourself.)
4. Put aside some time to rest and think. (If you're religious, that might be the Sabbath; if you're a Vegas magician, that'll be the day with the lowest grosses.)
5. Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children. (Love is deeper than honor, and parents matter, but so do spouse and children.)
6. Respect and protect all human life. (Many believe that "Thou shalt not kill" only refers to people in the same tribe. I say it's all human life.)
7. Keep your promises. (If you can't be sexually exclusive to your spouse, don't make that deal.)
8. Don't steal. (This includes magic tricks and jokes — you know who you are!)
9. Don't lie. (You know, unless you're doing magic tricks and it's part of your job. Does that make it OK for politicians, too?)
10. Don't waste too much time wishing, hoping, and being envious; it'll make you bugnutty.
Something makes me wish there were a couple of people had read this before some of us arrived in this world.
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MikeL
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 12, 2014 - 11:04pm PT
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Jingy: Magician Penn Jillette outlines his atheist version of The Ten Commandments in his new book.
Yeah, those are false, too. Don’t get excited.
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MikeL
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 12, 2014 - 11:10pm PT
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Base 104: Near the death of the old science vs. religion thread, . . . .
You should know, that it was never really about the death or the uselessness of science vs. anything. That label or characterization is on you.
The point is that science should not be considered special, as dominant over any other means of awareness. The conflict comes from holding a single viewpoint. Not closure but openness. Nothing is anything in particlular.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 13, 2014 - 08:00am PT
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Were you registering excitement from my post?
This is nothing new... It's all made up... even the so called god one's...
Penn just gave his a little more thought before putting them in print.
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Nov 13, 2014 - 04:20pm PT
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The point is that science should not be considered special, as dominant over any other means of awareness.
 That's just a weird statement to make...
I'm not totally sure what you mean...with this statement?
Science is the most reliable means of verifying/confirming the reality around us.
I'm not totally confident we can use any of my personal telepathic means of awareness to paint any kind of picture about the world around us...
It's just more natural to choose science when science is needed for any number of things...
Even the fears of getting through the night can be sciences away... thought about rationally..
or one can choose to prey, or use telepathy to acquire the same knowledge one can certainly obtain via science...
Its not that science is better, or anything...
It's just more reliable...
Not so much changing with the tide of human emotion...
But rather falling always toward truth.
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MikeL
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 13, 2014 - 08:51pm PT
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Narrow views.
Would you believe science before your body when you feel hunger pangs, the natural attraction to your children, the rhythm of a sonnet, or what “The Ode to Joy” brings to some of us? What does science have to say about values, what it means to be human, or morals?
Narrow views.
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