18 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. |
| 21110 | An understanding of the most basic physics should explain all of the subject's mysteries [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: Once we understood the fundamental laws that govern forces of nature at its smallest scales, all of these current mysteries would be revealed as natural consequences of these laws. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 08) | |
| A reaction: This expresses the reductionist view within physics itself. Krauss says the discovery that empty space itself contains energy has led to a revision of this view (because that is not part of the forces and particles studied in basic physics). |
| 21105 | In 1676 it was discovered that water is teeming with life [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: Van Leeuwenhoek first stared at a drop of seemingly empty water with a microscope in 1676 and discovered in was teeming with life. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 04) | |
| A reaction: I am convinced that this had a huge influence on Leibniz's concept of monads. He immediately became convinced that it was some sort of life all the way down. He would be have been disappointed by the subsequent chemical reduction of life. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 468 | Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.] |
| Full Idea: In singing and playing the lyre, a boy will be likely to reveal not only courage and moderation, but also justice. | |
| From: Damon (fragments/reports [c.460 BCE], B4), quoted by (who?) - where? |
| 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. |
| 21109 | Space itself can expand (and separate its contents) at faster than light speeds [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: Special Relativity says nothing can travel 'through space' faster than the speed of light. But space itself can do whatever the heck it wants, at least in general relativity. And it can carry distant objects apart from one another at superluminal speeds | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 06) | |
| A reaction: Another of my misunderstandings corrected. I assumed that the event horizon (limit of observability) was defined by the stuff retreating at (max) light speed. But beyond that it retreats even faster! What about the photons in space? |
| 21104 | General Relativity: the density of energy and matter determines curvature and gravity [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: The left-hand side of the general relativity equations descrbe the curvature of the universe, and the strength of gravitational forces acting on matter and radiation. The right-hand sides reflect the total density of all kinds of energy and matter. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 04) | |
| A reaction: I had assumed that the equations just described the geometry. In fact the matter determines the nature of the universe in which it exists. Presumably only things with mass get a vote. |
| 21107 | Uncertainty says that energy can be very high over very short time periods [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that the uncertainty in the measured energy of a system is inversely proportional to the length of time over which you observe it. (This allow near infinite energy over very short times). | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 04) | |
| A reaction: Apparently this brief energy is 'borrowed', and must be quickly repaid. |
| 21106 | Most of the mass of a proton is the energy in virtual particles (rather than the quarks) [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: The quarks provide very little of the total mass of a proton, and the fields created by the virtual particles contribute most of the energy that goes into the proton's rest energy and, hence, its mass. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 04) | |
| A reaction: He gives an artist's impression of the interior of a proton, which looks like a ship's engine room. |
| 21112 | Empty space contains a continual flux of brief virtual particles [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: Empty space is complicated. It is a boiling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time so short we cannot see them directly. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 10) | |
| A reaction: Apparently the interior of a proton is also like this. This fact gives a foot in the door for explanations of how the Big Bang got started, from these virtual particles. And yet surely space itself only arrives with the Big Bang? |
| 21108 | The universe is precisely 13.72 billion years old [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: We now know the age of the universe to four significant figures. It is 13.72 billion years old! | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 05) | |
| A reaction: It amazes me how many people, especially in philosophy, would be reluctant to accept that this is a know fact. I'm not accepting its certainty, but an assertion like this from a leading figure is good enough for me, and it should be for you. |
| 21111 | It seems likely that cosmic inflation is eternal, and this would make a multiverse inevitable [Krauss] |
| Full Idea: A multiverse is inevitable if inflation is eternal, and eternal inflation is by far the most likely possibility in most, if not all, inflationary scenarios. | |
| From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 08) |
| 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. |