Joseph Maynor

What if neither the Harvard Lawyer nor the Islamic Fundamentalist chose their lives? What if that's just the way things are? We assume the president of Fortune 500 Company and a bum on the street are different in some way. What if neither had a choice? What if that's just the way reality is? And how can you say that one person's life is objectively better than another's? Maybe the bum on the street is totally content with his life and the fortune 500 guy is looking to jump off a bridge somewhere.

What is consistent is just sensations not necessarily a material world. We could be Phenomenalists and take what is sensed as what is real -- all the while rejecting the Materialist Paradigm. So, consistency in sensations alone do not prove the beliefs that constitute the Materialist Paradigm. A Phenomenalist takes the sensations to be real, but is not a realist as to the External World -- or the Mechanistic World. That requires beliefs that go beyond the sensations. You could re-frame your question this way -- Why are sensations so consistent? Why do sensations often behave in a pattern of behavior, often predictable? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenalism

The Absolute is always here, it's not a state.

It's hard for the tongue to taste itself. It's hard for Awareness to notice itself. Reality hides in plain sight. The problem arises due to our conditioning that truth comes via beliefs. Truth is pre-conceptual actually. People need to slow down and reconnect with that more basic mundane reality. That reality that is always lurking there, but rarely paid any attention to directly. We are bedazzled by thoughts. We run off with thoughts like children with toys. How can we pay attention to reality when we're always thinking about something? It's because consciousness is so mundane that it doesn't notice itself. Awareness is not sexy, it's not dazzling, it's not distracting. It's just always there.

I think one of the major themes that the Buddha was teaching is that nothing is separate. Everything is one unified whole.

Leo has no choice as to how his life is going or where he's gonna end up. Neither does Eckhart Tolle.

Unchanging Awareness is not anyone's mind. This was a major insight for me. This broke me away from the psychological conception of Ego. The mistake I was making was assuming 'my mind' was Awareness.

Where does growth stop?

Here's a deep question: What is a concept? Notice that even asking this question has some philosophical baggage to it. What am I presupposing to even ask this question? What are my expectations for what the answer should look like?

Idealism is conceptual. Non-duality is not conceptual. Non-duality is best pointed to as follows: BE-ing unchanging Awareness.

Maybe the world's oldest profession is the pseudo-guru.

Those are all great questions. What you’re gonna do on the Path is deep-dive all those questions. What you have there is like an investigation itinerary. You’re gonna go on an expedition to try to find answers to those kinds of questions. That’s the Path. You already got a great sense of what the beginning of the Path looks look like. You can see the issues. That’s great. Being puzzled is the first step of the Path.

When you see through Satan, you will no longer have to fight him. That’s what the Path is leading to.

What do you think you are? Give me a couple of paragraphs. I need more information.

1. Passion. 2. Have something you really want to say. 3. Care enough about your art to do a fine job.

The word ‘observation’ can have more than one meaning. The way ‘observation’ is used in one context might differ dramatically from another context. So, we need to be clear about what we are using words to mean.

This gets into what you take to be real. I could say this is the subject of Metaphysics, maybe it is maybe it’s not, that distinction doesn’t necessarily help us. This is where contemplation becomes relevant to get at the root of this. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of defining our terms, I don’t see an issue there. To me the key question is: “What is there?” What are you prepared to say in response to that question? Can you give me like a couple of paragraphs? Dealing with theory divorced from your actual intuitions is gonna lead to conceptual chicanery.

Maybe he was a pragmatist. A naturalistic pragmatist. Some people think the deeper philosophical-type questions are ridiculous and a waste of time. It’s true — I remember interacting with science professors who thought that way.

When I studied QM in college I remember the professor telling me that the equations work and that’s all he cared about. I remember being deeply unsatisfied with that answer.

You should look into the debate between Al Ghazali and Averroes. Al Ghazali tried to synthesize the more hard-nosed Islamic Theology and Philosophy with the Mysticism of the Sufis. Check out Averroes’ objection! Those of you who want to see Philosophers struggle with how to integrate mysticism and conceptual-truth can’t afford to miss checking out Al Ghazali. I know when I studied him, it made a mark on me. Islamic Philosophy is amazing! It’s a different perspective; a different way of solving the same problems that occurred in the West, in India, in China, etc. the same issues were dealt with by Islamic thinkers, but in their own unique way. So, you wanna take a look at that on the Path. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghazali https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philosophers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Incoherence

It shows that the Materialist Paradigm is art rather than truth. It’s a model that’s been laid on top of reality.

Awesome. Sounds like some good work.

Ayn Rand's 'Fountainhead' is so influenced by this! Nietzsche framed his Philosophy in a parable. I see this as a positive message of growth -- although it is Egoic. I can see a lot of traditional personal development theory being influenced by Nietzsche's Philosophical message. You need to overcome your weaknesses and transform yourself into something great! Right? That's the overarching message of Nietzsche. And do it on your own terms, don't look to the crowd for your values. Fashion your own values! That's all Nietzsche. So, a lot of Nietzsche's ideas have been assimilated into modern personal development theory.

Everybody is dismissive of all Metaphysics except their own. That’s one of the funny things about Metaphysics.