14 ideas
8228 | Being is revealed at the point between waking and sleep [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: At the point of sleep when sleep has not yet come and external wakefulness vanishes, at this point being is revealed. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 50) | |
A reaction: One for Heidegger. The problem with eastern philosophy is that no one expects that this revelation could be put into words, so we cannot compare our revelations of being, or pass them on to others. Which means they can't be criticised. |
8232 | Neglect your self, and feel the consciousness of each other being [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Feel the consciousness of each person as your own consciousness. So, leaving aside concern for self, become each being. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 83) | |
A reaction: Good. The western scepticism about other minds puts up a barrier to this sort of thought. The best of Zen is when it encourages the use of imagination to explore what is real. But imagination struggles to distinguish what is true. |
1457 | Morality requires a minimum commitment to the self [Rashdall] |
Full Idea: A bare minimum of metaphysical belief about the self is found to be absolutely presupposed in the very idea of morality. | |
From: Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], II.III.I.4) | |
A reaction: This may not be true of virtue theory, where we could have a whole creature which lacked any sense of personhood, but yet had clear virtues and vices in its social functioning. Even if choices are central to morality, that might not need a self. |
8230 | Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 64) | |
A reaction: Nice. You might train your own will like a dog in this way. It is a counterexample to the simplistic idea that all you need is a belief and a desire, and you have got an action. But (pace Searle, Ideas 3817 + 3818) this does not prove free will. |
20436 | Art leads to mental health, and mental clarity [Beardsley,M, by Carroll,N] |
Full Idea: Beardsley says aesthetic experience relieves tensions and quiet destructive emotions. It also aids us in sorting out the jumble in the flow of consciousness, by virtue of its tendencies toward heightened clarity and coherence. | |
From: report of Monroe Beardsley (Aesthetics: problems in the philosophy of criticism [1958]) by Noël Carroll - Monroe Beardsley p.162-3 | |
A reaction: I find this claim highly implausible. I like art, but I feel neither healthier nor clearer after experiencing it. |
6674 | All moral judgements ultimately concern the value of ends [Rashdall] |
Full Idea: All moral judgements are ultimately judgements as to the value of ends. | |
From: Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], VII.I) | |
A reaction: I am increasingly struck by this, especially when observing that it is the great gap in Kant's theory. For some odd reason, he gives being rational the highest possible value. Why? Nietzsche is good on this. 'Eudaimonia' seems a good start, to me. |
6673 | Ideal Utilitarianism is teleological but non-hedonistic; the aim is an ideal end, which includes pleasure [Rashdall] |
Full Idea: My view, called Ideal Utilitarianism, combines the utilitarian principle that Ethics must be teleological with a non-hedonistic view of ethical ends; actions are right or wrong as they produce an ideal end, which includes, but is not limited to, pleasure. | |
From: Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], VII.I) | |
A reaction: I certainly think that if you are going to be a consequentialist, then it is ridiculous to limit the end to pleasure, as it is an 'open question' as to whether we judge pleasures or pains to be good or bad. I am fond of beauty, goodness and truth, myself. |
8234 | Bondage and liberation are relative terms, which only frighten those already terrified of the universe [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Since in truth, bondage and freedom are relative, these words are only for those terrified with the universe. The universe is a reflection of minds. As you see many suns in water from one sun, so see bondage and liberation. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 110) | |
A reaction: Since most easterners have experienced permanent social repression, their philosophies all encourage them not to worry about it. No wonder marxism, proved popular, when it suggested you could actually change things. |
1458 | Conduct is only reasonable or unreasonable if the world is governed by reason [Rashdall] |
Full Idea: Absolutely reasonable or unreasonable conduct could not exist in a world which was not itself the product of reason or governed by its dictates. | |
From: Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], II.III.I.4) |
1459 | Absolute moral ideals can't exist in human minds or material things, so their acceptance implies a greater Mind [Rashdall, by PG] |
Full Idea: An absolute moral ideal cannot exist in material things, or in the minds of individual people, so belief in it requires belief in a Mind which contains the ideal and is its source. | |
From: report of Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], II.III.I.4) by PG - Db (ideas) |
8231 | Abandon attachment to body, and feel the joy of being everywhere [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Toss attachment for body aside, realising I am everywhere. One who is everywhere is joyous. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 79) | |
A reaction: I really don't think it is wisdom to spend your time imagining things which are not true. I might imagine that some gorgeous film star is in love with me, but I don't recommend it. Live according to nature. We are physical beings. |
8227 | Feel your whole body saturated with cosmic essence [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Feel your substance, bones, flesh, blood, saturated with cosmic essence. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 23) | |
A reaction: I find this unsatisfactory. Being a sad victim of materialistic western scientific culture, I don't think 'cosmic essence' exists. I could imagine myself full of the stuff, and that might feel good, but I could also imagine I had won the lottery. |
8229 | The serenity in blue sky beyond clouds [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Simply by looking into blue sky beyond clouds - the serenity. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 59) | |
A reaction: Philip Larkin finds the same experience looking through high windows. If we articulate the experience, it seems to combine humility and detachment. The sky makes us insignificant, but the mind can project into the sky. |
8233 | Imagine fire burning up your whole body, but not you [Anon (Cent)] |
Full Idea: Focus on fire rising through your form from the toes up until the body burns to ashes, but not you. | |
From: Anon (Cent) (Centring [c.500 BCE], 28) | |
A reaction: Try very hard to persuade yourself that you are immortal, even if you are not. Hm. Zen Buddhism actually contains very little commitment to what is true or false. It explores interesting beliefs like children playing with toys. Very post-modern. |