Secular Humanists

[laughter]

Not nonduality, no. More like .. a gateway drug.

[Deleted]

More secular humanist propaganda:

[explorer]

Thank you for those videos: two clever, knowledgeable academics and yet somehow their messages are curiously empty. It is not that the humanist mindset cannot see the numinous but it tries to capture it with the mind and fails. Amazingly paradoxical that the most profound Truth is not accessed by intelligence alone. How ironic and sad in a world which values the mind so highly.

[Deleted]

Jul 10, 2018 13:08:37 GMT -5 explorer said:

Thank you for those videos: two clever, knowledgeable academics and yet somehow their messages are curiously empty. It is not that the humanist mindset cannot see the numinous but it tries to capture it with the mind and fails. Amazingly paradoxical that the most profound Truth is not accessed by intelligence alone. How ironic and sad in a world which values the mind so highly.

You have to admit living in the world they dominate is better than burning people at the stake, the rack, whippings. At least we can have these open and frank discussions about metaphysical topics without fear. Though I am slightly afraid of Reefs.

[laughter]

Jul 10, 2018 9:52:13 GMT -5 zazeniac said:

More secular humanist propaganda:

Lenny's a brilliant guy, and his work is undeniably substantial. He's even gracious here to Hawking, who I always felt was at least partly a product of over-hyped credentialism rather than standing on the merit of his work.

The "reality-as-information" paradigm truly is fascinating and even illuminating in certain respects, but there's a particular difference I discern between Lenny and Tom. To illustrate it I'm gonna' put up two more vids. One is from the guy whose work, in it's poetry, is a clear humanist milestone.



Now, ultimately, realizing nonduality involves a quiescent state of mind. Not to imply that mental silence causes realization, but like ZD was writing about today, there's certainly an association. The business of science is quite full of mental noise, but more importantly, people who get acculturated to secular humanist beliefs are just as hooked on a conceptualized dualism that roots a false sense of identity as any medevil Christian.

But both cultures -- the humanists and the Christians -- produced authors, speakers and teachers that generated material pointing away from those dualisms. These types of materials have the potential to invite interest in mental silence among the people wrapped up in those belief systems.

[laughter]

This is the other vid that I think differentiates OP Tommy Chi from Lenny the hologramist. It's a more direct statement of what I'm getting at.



My reaction to everything this guy says for the first 3 minutes was "finally, someone saying what I've been thinking and writing on this forum for years". And while I get his point about fundamental constants, my initial reaction to what he said about that overall was "well, this guy ain't a physicist", and my hunch about that turned out to be right. I'm also open to but not necessarily down with his speculations involving consciousness. Those should sound familiar. "Morphic resonance" strikes me as a built-out version of LOA.

[Deleted]

Jul 12, 2018 4:05:08 GMT -5 laughter said:

This is the other vid that I think differentiates OP Tommy Chi from Lenny the hologramist. It's a more direct statement of what I'm getting at.



My reaction to everything this guy says for the first 3 minutes was "finally, someone saying what I've been thinking and writing on this forum for years". And while I get his point about fundamental constants, my initial reaction to what he said about that overall was "well, this guy ain't a physicist", and my hunch about that turned out to be right. I'm also open to but not necessarily down with his speculations involving consciousness. Those should sound familiar. "Morphic resonance" strikes me as a built-out version of LOA.

I agree with his, the speaker's, assessment. It is why I continue to say that materialist have a great deal of FAITH, because no matter how much the evidence and data contradicts their model of reality, they hang on to it. But I do prefer the scientific methodology, the notion that you can work things out rationally and there are many physicists including prominent ones who believe the materialist model needs to be abandoned. But the methodology is sound and quite practical. Interesting thing is that every materialist I know would be appalled by the idea of restricting religious/spiritual freedom. 

I do prefer the methodology for practical matters, but I'm open to all methods. I wear an obssidian spike thingy my son gave me. He believes it has special powers, who knows?. But as one sage puts it, if your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't offer him a copy of I Am That or the Bible.

The funny thing is the deeper I look into the QM world, the more mysterious it gets. "Why" and "how" become less and less rational.

[laughter]

Jul 12, 2018 9:12:17 GMT -5 zazeniac said:

Jul 12, 2018 4:05:08 GMT -5 laughter said:

This is the other vid that I think differentiates OP Tommy Chi from Lenny the hologramist. It's a more direct statement of what I'm getting at.



My reaction to everything this guy says for the first 3 minutes was "finally, someone saying what I've been thinking and writing on this forum for years". And while I get his point about fundamental constants, my initial reaction to what he said about that overall was "well, this guy ain't a physicist", and my hunch about that turned out to be right. I'm also open to but not necessarily down with his speculations involving consciousness. Those should sound familiar. "Morphic resonance" strikes me as a built-out version of LOA.

I agree with his, the speaker's, assessment. It is why I continue to say that materialist have a great deal of FAITH, because no matter how much the evidence and data contradicts their model of reality, they hang on to it. But I do prefer the scientific methodology, the notion that you can work things out rationally and there are many physicists including prominent ones who believe the materialist model needs to be abandoned. But the methodology is sound and quite practical. Interesting thing is that every materialist I know would be appalled by the idea of restricting religious/spiritual freedom. 

I do prefer the methodology for practical matters, but I'm open to all methods. I wear an obssidian spike thingy my son gave me. He believes it has special powers, who knows?. But as one sage puts it, if your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't offer him a copy of I Am That or the Bible.

The funny thing is the deeper I look into the QM world, the more mysterious it gets. "Why" and "how" become less and less rational.

It's an interesting question as to whether the scientific method can eventually ever transcend materialism, both because of it's root in objectivity, and that it  leads so naturally deeper into a materialistic paradigm. Even after the irony of how this eventually led to discovering the fallacy almost 100 years ago now, I could make a solid argument that it's even more entrenched than ever.

And all this is, of course, my impressions from the culture at large (so 2nd and 3rd hand). During most of the years I was socially active, I wasn't really open to questioning the nature of myself. Even new people I'd meet these days, I listen and look for interest in the nature of existence, and sometimes I even find it. But if reading and writing on this forum has taught be anything, it's taught me just how volatile a state of mind that interest can lead peeps into.

Further impressions from the culture seem to suggest to me that materialists can be tolerant of other views, but only if they're allowed to layer over a buffer of condescension toward them. And not all of them have the patience for even this version of tolerance. My opinion is that most people aren't interested in or open to becoming conscious of their underlying, unconscious assumptions and biases, and that it can be a process involving alot of internal resistance if they do ever engage in it.

[laughter]

kant stop watching! .. .. please .. send ... help! ....

[Deleted]

Sept 15, 2018 5:38:18 GMT -5 laughter said:

kant stop watching! .. .. please .. send ... help! ....

This will clear your mind.