I'm seriously considering having myself bronzed and placed on display in the public square when I die. My greatest worry is that pigeons will fly over daily and poop on my head. That would be so undignified!
Cog
cognizant dissident
JoinedPosts by cognizant dissident
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52
We'll All Be Dead Someday
by nvrgnbk inand with that thought............everybody have a great weekend!.
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Human Nature
by nvrgnbk inare we essentially moral beings, corrupted by society?.
or are we in fact amoral, socialized by cultural pressures and religious beliefs?.
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cognizant dissident
It is another duality slide. Instead of either one or the other being true, is it possible that both could be true and both could be untrue, depending on the perspective one sees with?
I say sometimes they are both true and sometimes they are both untrue.
cog
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Hello.
by emilyblue ini posted here a couple of months ago, or less.
my home computer crashed and they cracked down on messageboard sites at my work, so the work laptop was out.
plus, i just felt emotionally burned out and just didn't want to think about it anymore.
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cognizant dissident
Good for you emily blue! It couldn't have been easy to listen to all the tough love people dished out in their posts. But you looked past the tough words and took to heart the constuctive criticism and concern underneath.
You are such a strong person for taking your life back.
Best of luck to you in your new job and let us know how you are making out.
Cog
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Duality, hierarchy, or permanence: WHAT is the question?
by Narkissos inwhile meditating -- in a definitely non-transcendental way -- over the recent "meditation" threads, the following idea came to my mind:.
meditation as often advocated here rightly questions the hierarchical dualities generated by mental activity, such as (or, perhaps, all boiling down to) "good vs. bad" -- hierarchical inasmuch as -- would you have guessed?
-- one is supposed to be better, more valuable than the other; one is definitely to be pursued and the other shunned.
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cognizant dissident
But in doing so it creates another hierarchical duality: the enlightened self, at one with the essence of Being or Awareness itself, vs. the separate self lost in its delusional dichotomies. Now the enlightened would never call the former "good" and the latter "bad". We have become sooo subtler. But there is still one better than the other. Always. The hierarchy subsists and the duality has been displaced -- not suppressed.
You have raised a very interesting point, Narkissos, and we did begin to touch on it at the end of that last thread. I recently read a book by Victor Chen, a close associate of the Dalai Lama, who interviewed him extensively about his meditation practice, awareness, enlightenment, etc. Apparently, it is VERY UNUSUAL for monks to talk about their own private mediation practice and claim "enlightenment" for themselves on any subject. The sense is that by putting such thoughts into language, automatically a duality IS created, betweened the "enlightened present self" and the "unenlightened former self". Even worse, it suggests a separation between the enlightened "me" and the unenlightened "them". This is very much considered to be a trap to those trying to follow a spiritual path, at least amoung the meditators and teachers I have been exposed to. We have constantly discussed this tendency of the mind to create these kinds of dualities in relation to everything, including spirituality. Perhaps this is why meditation and retreats are so much recommended to be a silent practice. To put into language automatically creates duality. The second we try to share our experience with "others" we are hampered by the constraints of comparitive language, thus creating separation. We work the best we can within those restraints, in order to encourage others, yet acknowledge the limitations of language and mind in this regard.
Western thought for all its naïvetés tends to offer a more elaborate structure. Instead of 1 (or 0, cf. Buddhism and Taoism) vs. 2 it tends to develop (as early as Plato) into a 3-level hierarchical construction. To Hegel's dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis in the Phenomenology of the (collective) Mind (which consciously builds on the Trinitarian structure) Kierkegaard responds with a structurally similar, although opposite in intent, topology of the individual subject. Three stages of life, aesthetical, ethical and religious. The middle stage problematises the original oneness of the aesthetical approach into moral duality ("good and bad"). The last, upper stage is supposed to restore the original oneness at a superior level -- that of eternity. Where, of course, both the aesthetical oneness and the moral duality are supposed to be finally reconciled. What we have is a permanent construct of dualities meant to surpass duality.
I have not read Hegel or Keirkegaard so I will not comment on the content or accuracy of their "stages". I sense it just a continuation of the same problem, that the mind continually seeks "patterns" because that is what "mind" does. However, in doing so, as when formulating heirarchies that try to neatly package the prominent events in our life into the parameters of "stages", the very process of such defining, becomes limiting and inaccurate, creating dichomtomies (or in this case trichotimies) that cannot hope to capture the fullness of being human.
So what shall we do with the dreaded 2? Try to repent from it "back" into 1, or 0, in the mystical way of Eastern wisdom? Or surpass it onto the broader fullness of 3 (or more), in the speculative way of Western metaphysics?
God No! To "try" or even worse "to repent" of anything is to miss the point entirely. We just "allow" all to be as it is. Even that is not truly accurate, because what "is" is whether we allow it or not! Perhaps "acceptance" is a better choice of word.
I suggest that instead of questioning duality itselfwe rather question the hierarchy ascribed to it. Or more exactly its permanence, by acknowledging that it can be reversed, and reversed again and again. The borders which our thinking draws within the real can be crossed, over and over again, if they cannot be blotted out. As in the famous Chinese story of the peasant and the horse, what seemed "good" from one perspective can turn "bad" from another, and "good" again from still another. In Hesse's Siddhartha he prince learns something by crossing the river to become a beggar, and the prince beggar learns something else by crossing the river again to engage in the city's activities. That doesn't mean that "good" and "bad" are meaningless -- to the contrary, they are completely true in their relative own place and time. What we have to dispense with is the absolute -- the perspective from everywhere or nowhere, from always or never -- because it does not exist.
The first will be the last is the very principle of walking. Duality in motion.
That should be enough for a start...
That should be enough for the entire thread! Seriously, Narkissos you have summed it up perfectly in this section. I bow to your great skill in using the limits of language to explain that which is unexplainable, /\.
Cog
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For your enjoyment!
by watson infor the large army of our valued sisters!!!
a large army one lazy summer day i sought the shade of an oak tree, and just as i began to doze, something awakened me.
it sounded kind of like a drum; the ground below shook, too.
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cognizant dissident
This sister here never misses a step! Her life must be ideal, But the things she experiences behind closed doors she'll never reveal. Yes, her husband is a pervert, but she just can't face what's real! While she is so busy marching, her child's innocence he steals! Cog is very bad...
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For your enjoyment!
by watson infor the large army of our valued sisters!!!
a large army one lazy summer day i sought the shade of an oak tree, and just as i began to doze, something awakened me.
it sounded kind of like a drum; the ground below shook, too.
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cognizant dissident
If you liked that one nvrgnbk, here's another verse.
See there that single sister...Satan really put her to the test!
And though it wasn't by choice, she accepted the gift of singleness. So now forever more her vagina will stay tight She hopes the elders never learn she masturbates each night! Cog is bad
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For your enjoyment!
by watson infor the large army of our valued sisters!!!
a large army one lazy summer day i sought the shade of an oak tree, and just as i began to doze, something awakened me.
it sounded kind of like a drum; the ground below shook, too.
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cognizant dissident
And then, like lightening, one of them stepped right up to my face. 'How dare you rest!' she said to me. 'There's no time left to waste!' Her sudden movement startled me and made me start to twitch I grabbed her hair and yelled, "Get out of my face, you stupid bitch!" Cog is a poet too! (sorry, couldn't resist!)
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Anyone here from BC, canada
by orbison11 injust wondering if any here are from bc , canada.
myself i am from the whalley cong in surrey , bc.
havent been there in over 8 yrs,,but wondering if i have any long lost friends here.
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cognizant dissident
I spent many years in Surrey. Live on Vancouver Island. Orb11 and I know each other. What about you saved? How old are you? Maybe we all use to hang together and don't even know it?
Orb11: you dropped your last thread where you asked the same question and said you wanted to get some things straightened out. So, I will ask again, what things do you need to get straightened out?
Cog
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I could have prevented this.
by DJK inevery two weeks i take a drive to new hampshire to replenish my supply of cigarettes, 20 dollars less a carton and i buy two.
the savings is worth the 25 minute ride.. today was the day and an early morning trip, driving north away from boston, there is light traffic.
everyone is driving at 65 mph or more.. close to the n.h. border and a quarter mile in front of me, i spot an animal approach the guardrail from a wooded area.
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cognizant dissident
I think one of the most difficult distinctions for us to make in our lives, is understanding what we have control over and what we are responsible for. If we have no control over a situation, we have no responsibility for the situation. Does that mean we should try and take control of a situation whenever we see a need?
What are you going to do? Police the side of the highway for deer 24/7 for the rest of your life? There is way too much highway in this world and not enough of you. Where I live, we have tame deer everywhere. Every yard has pet deer that come to munch daily. I am not exaggerating. We have 4 deer in our yard every night. I do not live in the woods either, but in a busy residential area. With lots of trees admittedly. It is also a winding, narrow, road that is unlit at night. Deer cross constantly day and night. Most of the time you can see them in advance and slow down in case they might dart out in front of your car. Many times you just cannot see them at night and I have had to slam on the breaks and screech my tires a few times.
Today on my way home, I saw a litte fawn with spots still on, dead by the side of the road, the neighbourhood crows pecking away at the body. I felt a moment of sadness and then moved on, reminded to drive a little more cautiously on this road for life is precious. Then I let it go.
You have to let it go. Life is full of random accidents, some preventable and some not. Death is a part of it. Playing the "if only" game is a recipe for insanity. If only you had stopped and chased the deer away from the side of highway, they may have returned 10 minutes later and another car may have hit them and maybe 6 people would have died instead of 3. Who knows? Just let it go. It leads nowhere but needless guilt and suffering on your part.
Cog
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What is your favorite TV show?
by R.F. ini like the show "scrubs".
dr. perry cox is hilarious, so is janitor.
gotta love that show.. whats yours?.
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cognizant dissident
Two and a half men. Lost. Sopranos (hated the ending). The Office. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.