please help me build a foundation for gathering knowledge (what is right/wrong?)

[LoveandPurpose]

Hello everyone!

 

I am really curious about the world and want to understand as much as I can about it. Politics, psychology, science, spirituality, philosophy, everything - the relative and the absolute. But there is a lot of contradictionary information out there.

 

I want to build a foundation, from which I can judge information.

A bit like Spiral Dynamics. A ground on which I can stand to know what is right and what is wrong. 

Which books can you recommend me? Are the books from the systems thinking section from the book store what I'm looking for?

Would love some recommendations from you @Leo Gura!

 

Thank you!

Edited February 23, 2020 by LoveandPurpose

[Inliytened1]

@LoveandPurpose  i would recommend the booklist. As well as listen to Leo's videos.  I also would recommend a company called the Great Courses where you can listen or watch college grade lectures on all of these topics (science being one of my favorites) from highly respected and very talented professors.  I love their course selection.

For spirituality and personal development you won't find anything deeper than Leo's material.  Even the great courses don't have courses that go that deep into consciousness as the nature of reality.  But their philosophical courses are really good nonetheless and sometimes point at consciousness being the nature of reality though most professors stay away from it as they are in the materialist paradigm.  

Hope that helps!

[Charlotte]

I think this is a fantastic question. Thanks for asking.

I'd say systems thinking is a fantastic place to start. Look for patterns within answers. 

I feel that you would have to apply different methods of information judgement depending on the topic and field. 

I'm sure others will have some great advice for you. 

Good luck on your quest ?

[LoveandPurpose]

@Inliytened1 @Charlotte  Thanks to both of you and thank you Charlotte for your kind words!

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, LoveandPurpose said:

I want to build a foundation, from which I can judge information.

A bit like Spiral Dynamics. A ground on which I can stand to know what is right and what is wrong. 

There cannot be such a thing because reality is groundless and all knowledge is circular, relative, and self-biased.

Any foundation you adopt will be imaginary and itself subject to doubt.

Go foundationless. Practice not-knowing. That will put you closest to Truth.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there."

[LoveandPurpose]

@Leo Gura Isn't there a difference between the relative and the absolute here?

Isn't knowing the right facts vs. the wrong facts is something different than knowing that all facts and everything is imaginative.

 

e.g politics: Judging statements with spiral dynamics is very helpful so I know which way is up and which is down. Now I can who I vote for.

Realizing everything is imaginative isn't going to help me that much in that aspect right?

Not everything can be solved with this existential/absolute approch and if that's the case, is awakening the only way to know that this is true?

[Leo Gura]

@LoveandPurpose

But you are asking for a foundation. Do you want a foundating grounded in truth or falsehood? If truth, then your foundation must be not-knowing because that is most true for you. You do not know how to distinguish truth from falsehood. But if you want a foundation grounded in falsehood, then proceed as you were.

I am not speaking of the Absolute here. I am speaking very practically. You do not know how to distinguish truth from falsehood even in the relative domain.

For example, you do not even know if the Earth is flat. This has serious implications in the relative domain.

I am not even talking about the Absolute here. You are so far from the Absolute that it's nothing but a fantasy for you at this point.

Notice that a lot of epistemic mistakes are made in relative domain.

If you want a foundation, it's best that your foundation not be based on falsehood. No one can give you a foundation because how would you know what they gave you is true? A foundation can only be derived by yourself through personal inquiry and contemplation.

[LoveandPurpose]

@Leo Gura I don't particularly mean a foundation about the nature of reality.

I mean knowing how filter out wrong from right knowledge. Knowing about self-bias, ideology, spiral dynamics helps and I wonder if there's similar models/theories on that.

One person says capitalism is good. The other person says capitalism is the best system that's out there. Others say that a different, more modern form of it would be better. How can I know which one is true without reading 100 books on capitalism?

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, LoveandPurpose said:

@Leo Gura I don't particularly mean a foundation about the nature of reality.

I mean knowing how filter out wrong from right knowledge. Knowing about self-bias, ideology, spiral dynamics helps and I wonder if there's similar models/theories on that.

One person says capitalism is good. The other person says capitalism is the best system that's out there. Others say that a different, more modern form of it would be better. How can I know which one is true without reading 100 books on capitalism?

You can't know that ahead of time! That's the point.

You are asking for an epistemic foundation. The nature of reality is intimately tied with everything else so it should to be avoided here.

If you admit you don't know, you might be motivated to read some books on capitalism.

Yes, it takes work. You want a shortcut. And I am trying to show you that a shortcut here is a mistake. There is no shortcut for learning to distinguish truth from falsehood.

The nature of reality is entangled with how you think about reality and with your survival. If these things were seperate, everything would be easy.

[Thewritersunion]

The only foundation to reality is questioning everything and just being.

As far as I know.

[LoveandPurpose]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

If you admit you don't know, you might be motivated to read some books on capitalism.

So there is a way to know that relative truth about capitalism?

What are good books about epistemology? 

I'm trying to figure out my Life Purpose right now and Understanding is one of my top values.

 

And believe me I admit that I don't know. I feel like I don't know anything about this world (for sure).

[LoveandPurpose]

9 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

The nature of reality is entangled with how you think about reality and with your survival.

How do you know that for sure?

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, LoveandPurpose said:

So there is a way to know that relative truth about capitalism?

There are ways to be less ignorant about capitalism and relative things.

Quote

What are good books about epistemology?

Not many good ones. You can find a few on my book list.

I'm working to correct that.

Quote

I'm trying to figure out my Life Purpose right now and Understanding is one of my top values.

Then you should be eager to read, learn, research, and contemplate stuff.

Be open ended. You don't know what you'll discover.

Quote

And believe me I admit that I don't know. I feel like I don't know anything about this world (for sure).

Good. But not nearly enough.

Not-knowing is not just about admitting it, it's a whole lifestyle and state of mind.

Try sitting for 5 minutes and just basking in I-don't-knowness.

[LoveandPurpose]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

There are ways to be less ignorant about capitalism and relative things.

And how do you do that with contradicting information? Because that's the heart of my question, for now. 

Awakening is too much for me now, I need to learn the basics.

 

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You can find a few on my book list.

What should I search for/in what section?

 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

12 minutes ago, LoveandPurpose said:

And how do you do that with contradicting information? Because that's the heart of my question, for now. 

Oh, that's easy.

By holding many contradictory perspectives at once with an open mind.

Quote

What should I search for/in what section?

There is a metaphysics and epistemology section.

But you will probably find such books too impractical.

It seems you want ready-made answers rather than genuine inquiry.

[LoveandPurpose]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

By holding many contradictory perspectives at once with an open mind.

Can there be one single truth then, deciding which one of these perspectives is the right one after a lot of research, or is it just knowing the different perspectives and realizing that everything is very complex.

Is there always one perspective that's true? (e.g. capitalism)

[Leo Gura]

See my videos:

How To Develop Big Picture Understanding

And

How To Discover What Is True

[LoveandPurpose]

@Leo Gura Thanks my dude, the epistemology section was exactly what I was looking for!

[Leo Gura]

9 minutes ago, LoveandPurpose said:

Can there be one single truth then, deciding which one of these perspectives is the right one after a lot of research, or is it just knowing the different perspectives and realizing that everything is very complex.

Is there always one perspective that's true? (e.g. capitalism)

Some perspectives are deeply false and many are partially true. Few perspectives are all-true.

Yes, mostly things are very messy and complex.

No, there's no simple one true perspective in capitalism.

[LoveandPurpose]

@Leo Gura Ay, thank you!

 

Last question: I will go to university in a couple of months until I find my Life Purpose.

Would psychology or philosophy help me more with this kind of understanding we're talking about here?

I know your pov on universities, but which one of these two (or other courses of studies) is more helpful?