Posts by Rapunzel

102

ARE YOU AN INTELLECTUAL? Why not?

by Terry in

jw
friends

i think i heard the word "intellectual" for the first time when i was less than ten years old.. my grandmother said to me that the presidential candidate for the democratic party (adalai stevenson) was an "intellectual".. the way she said the word...the timbre of her voice...the look of admiration on her face...led me to believe this was a good thing indeed!.

i think i may have asked her what the word meant, but, i don't recall exactly what she told me.

perhaps enough to confirm that this fellow stevenson was a "thinker" of admirable stature.. fast forward.. by the time my teen years came along there was a kind of dichotomy in society between so-called "eggheads" and common folk.

Rapunzel

"It is a bit more accurate to say, 'I exist, therefore I think.' than the other way around.

Descartes wasn't checking his watch when he made his statement."

This is confusing Descartes with Sartre. The fundamental premise that existence precedes essence was Sartre's. Descartes' axiom of the cogito resulted from his method of radical doubt. For him, the cogito axiom was the one thing against which he could raise no doubt whatsoever. It was the one thing that he could be absolutely sure of. It was the "cornerstone" upon which he formulated the rest of his philosophy in its entirety.

It was Sartre who based his philosophy on existence, as opposed to the traditional "essence."

81

Ever have a paranormal event in your life, please share?

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i am one who believes strongly in the spirit realm, paranormal activity, etc.

even with such a strong belief, i am often told by skeptics that such things are foolish and nonsense.

while i accept people have the right to feel however they want, i have often shared stories with people that are hard to explain with logic and find others have events like this too.

Rapunzel

After gastric [intestinal] surgery, I developed a fistula [a hole] in my intestinal tract. Due to the fistula, there developed serious complications arising from infection. I went into septic shock, and was put into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. I was intubated...the whole "nine yards" as it were. I don't know if anyone is familiar with what an I.C.U. is, but let's say that I was really sick. For a while, I was on the dividing line [which is very thin, I came to realize] between life and death.

In any case, while in the I.C.U., I had "visitors." They had the appearance of ordinary people. There was nothing frighening or alarming about them. They said nothing, and their presence in no way distressed me. But they were no one whom I recognized; they were total strangers. I remember simply looking at them and their looking at me.

I also remember blinking my eyes, and their disappearing when I blinked my eyes. At first, one would appear. I would blink my eyes and they would disappear. And then one would reappear. This pattern of one appearing and then disappearing continued for a few moments, and then it stopped.

I am supposing that it was a question of my simply hallucinating. After all, why would a "guiding spirit" or "guardian angel" disappear when I blinked my eyes? And then reappear?

Even now, it's painful for me to recall this experience because I was in so much pain and distress. I don't want to even think about my time in that I.C.U. I consider myself a "rational"person. What distresses me most is that what I saw at that time does not fit into my world view. It's hard for me to make it fit into how I see the world. But, believe it or not, I have experienced things even more bizarre than my "visitors" in the ICU on that day. However, I don't even want to think about those occurences now; they're too strange.

102

ARE YOU AN INTELLECTUAL? Why not?

by Terry in

jw
friends

i think i heard the word "intellectual" for the first time when i was less than ten years old.. my grandmother said to me that the presidential candidate for the democratic party (adalai stevenson) was an "intellectual".. the way she said the word...the timbre of her voice...the look of admiration on her face...led me to believe this was a good thing indeed!.

i think i may have asked her what the word meant, but, i don't recall exactly what she told me.

perhaps enough to confirm that this fellow stevenson was a "thinker" of admirable stature.. fast forward.. by the time my teen years came along there was a kind of dichotomy in society between so-called "eggheads" and common folk.

Rapunzel

Cogito ergo sum res cogitans.

38

Did you return to celebrating holidays?

by song19 in

jw
friends

with this new light, i am starting to try and figure out what to do with my life and my time... now that the world is opened up for me to finally explore.. i have been wondering if i will return to celebrating the holidays with my 'worldly' relatives.

my parents, brother, and in-laws are all witnesses.

i have pretty much rejected the holidays say for 25 years.

Rapunzel

As Junction Guy pointed out, "U.B.M." stands for unbelieving mate. The term refers to the situation in which there is a divided household. It describes a situation in which a man or woman becomes a Witness while his/her spouse does not. It refers to a situation in which one spouse converts to the Witness faith while the other does not. As can be easily imagined, this often drives a wedge between the couple, with the result that there is a divorce.

As you probably know, Witnessess - both male and female - are severely punished if they marry someone who is not a Witness. This situation is described as being unevenly yoked, as if they were two oxen.

44

(How) Does Truth Set Free?

by Narkissos in

jw
friends

"the truth shall set you free" (cf.

john 8:32) is the kind of sentence that potentially transcends any contextual setting.

as we know only too well, it has been used over and over again in religious propaganda and is very easy to return against it (i.e.

Rapunzel

In regard to truth, there are also the immortal words of John Keats: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know,"

44

(How) Does Truth Set Free?

by Narkissos in

jw
friends

"the truth shall set you free" (cf.

john 8:32) is the kind of sentence that potentially transcends any contextual setting.

as we know only too well, it has been used over and over again in religious propaganda and is very easy to return against it (i.e.

Rapunzel

Very much along the lines of Andre Gide, Luis Bunuel once remarked: "The search for truth is wonderful. Beware of the person who claims to have found that Truth!"

44

(How) Does Truth Set Free?

by Narkissos in

jw
friends

"the truth shall set you free" (cf.

john 8:32) is the kind of sentence that potentially transcends any contextual setting.

as we know only too well, it has been used over and over again in religious propaganda and is very easy to return against it (i.e.

Rapunzel

"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." - Andre Gide

"There are truths on this side of the Pyranees, which are falsehoods on the other." Blaise Pascal

"Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coattails." Clarence Darrow

4

Catholic Funeral Mass

by tnangel73 in

jw
friends

what goes at a catholic funeral mass?

i am thinking of attending one this evening.

a former doctor of mine died last week.

Rapunzel

Catechism of the Catholic Church, page 550, #2282 - "Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or great fear of hardship, suffering or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide."

C.C.C., page 550, #2283 - "We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutory repentence."

5

Joseph Campbell's Definition of the Word "Religion"

by Rapunzel in

campbell states: "my favorite definition of religion is 'a misinterpretation of mythology.

' and the misinterpretation consists precisely in attributing historical references to symbols which are properly spiritual in their reference.

what a mythic talks about is not something that happened somewhere or will happen somewhere at some time or another; it refers to what is now, and was yesterday, and will be tomorrow, and his forever.

Rapunzel

Campbell states: "My favorite definition of religion is 'a misinterpretation of mythology.' And the misinterpretation consists precisely in attributing historical references to symbols which are properly spiritual in their reference. What a mythic talks about is not something that happened somewhere or will happen somewhere at some time or another; it refers to what is now, and was yesterday, and will be tomorrow, and his forever."

I find this notion interesting in that the common "recived idea" concerning this relation is the converse, namely that mythology is a spurious and degraded form of religion.

Campbell also offers an interesting quote from Heinrich Zimmer who once said: "The best things can't be told; the second best are misunderstood; the third best have to do with history."

Any comments on the above?

Required Reading Lists for Presidential Candidates

by Rapunzel in

jw
friends

as students, were you ever assigned a reading list of books that you had to read?.

in yesterday's [sunday's] new york times, there was - what i thought - a very interesting article.

it was a sort of survey in which some twenty writers were asked which books they thought the three american presidential candidates should be asked to read.

Rapunzel

As students, were you ever assigned a reading list of books that you had to read?

In yesterday's [Sunday's] New York Times, there was - what I thought - a very interesting article. It was a sort of survey in which some twenty writers were asked which books they thought the three American presidential candidates should be asked to read. The books could be of any category or sort - fiction, non-fiction, whatever. It was interesting to read the opinions of professional writers on which books they thought the the three candidates should read. Some writers assigned different books to the three candidates. However, one recommended that all three read excerpts from the Norton Anthology of American Literature.

So, I wonder - Which books would you "assign" to the three candidates who would be the next American president? What knowledge do you think that they should have? What would you have them know?