smalltalk
16-02-2004, 19:27
Glad to be back to this plain of existance from a time that was perhaps the most intense I've had for quite a while, though not every moment was a happy one.
I won't bore you with details of my life - or satisfy your voyeristic tendences (whatever your preferences are). I'd rather give a "short" account of some of the things, that crossed my mind.
Anyway, I guess you now have to endure my lowbrow attempts at humor and my careless mockery once more. But then, live would be a bit more dull without laughing, and if I mock someone, it's just because I love all you freaks and knowledge seekers.
Paranoia, Reality, Wishfull Thinking
Somehow I often can't differ between a situation and what I would like to see in it - or what I would want to make out of it.
I started to read a book,
then someone tells me about William James,
and in the next day this William James is mentioned in my book.
When you hand someone a CD, titled 'Come to my room' and get back one that's called 'in mood for love', does this prove that you both really like music, or could there be more to it?
As far as I was told from asking, it was coincidence. Of course it isn't, but I not going to invade other people with my truth, if they don't want hear after being begged to listen.
More Coincidences
I was quite astonished, when I moved to my new flat last summer, and found a postcard with a chimpanzee on the mirror in the bathroom, left by someone who lived here before.
This is a truth, no philosopher can trick me into denying.
Aristotle sees and chooses to remain blind
Aristotle reasons about emptiness, the void, vaccuum:
Nobody could give a reason why motion of a body should ever stop in the vaccuum. Why should this happen rather here then there? Therefor everything will remain at rest or in motion forever. As this is an absurd idea, there is no such thing as 'nothing'.
Buddhas lack of grasp
Now if anyone leaves home, wife and children to seek wisdom, I can understand it perfectly well. But if the same person claims, that a important part of his teaching is compasion, then I wonder why he never returned to his family to practise what he was preaching.
Why Buddhists are as superstitious as christians
There is a rumour of a great white elephant trodding around in the forests. Someone tells you about it. Would you believe it? OK, you want to see for youself, you go searching, and see big footprints. Still you don't believe, they were caused the famous white elephant, because they could come from a rhino as well. If you then look closer at the footprints, you might recognize the imprint of elefant's claws. But still, it might have been a black elephant, which caused it. Only when you finally see the white elephant with your own eyes, you could believe he is really there.
That is, if he is not accopanied by white mice. Then you might figure you're suffering form delirium tremens.
Buddha claims of himself to be enlightend. But what light 'lies' in trying to enumerate the eternal truth.
People talk of the 4 noble truth's and the eightfold path or the ten commandments. I wonder, why people don't have the imagination to envision a more enlightened mind, that could condense his teachings into 3 sentences or expand our wisdom to 5 nobleties. Counting is for clerks. But then, who knows what counts?
Well, it might be stated that the universe knows what counts, but it is not or not fully conscious of this knowledge - yet. ;)
Jesus Christ's masochism
Let's assume someone found a truth. A gem of wisdom. If he tries to tell you with words, and you are unable to recognize this truth, what good would it do, if he has himself crucified? As if this act would help people to understand. Instead he throws away his life, in a desperate and fanatic attempt in making people understand. What more good could he have done, if he stayed here and tried to help.
I'm not intending to die for other people's sin. There are already enough people dying for the sins of other people. In situations of conflict, you either fight or flee. If a sane mind realizes that he can't win a fight but will be destroyed, he should rather leave.
If he feels, there is no hope for mankind, he should go into the desert to find peace and his own revelation. (Darn, that nowadays we won't find peace in the desert anymore).
Instead he went to hell. I wonder what personal revelation he sought there. Was he a masochist?
If he feels, there is no joy, but only pain in his life, he should try to starve himself to death, which is supposedly the least painfull way of suicide. (Darn, so nowaday we do have substances that could ease his pain, but then if a doctor would give it him, that doctor would be crucified instead of him, at least in some countries.)
On the other hand, if I were Pheonix and could recreate myself out from the burning fire into new life, I wouldn't mind death.
But what is this thing called self?
Why Descartes knows nothing
"I think, therefore I am".
Strange that this nonsense has been around for centuries without being rebutted.
What an indicator for the pathetic state philosophy is in.
Descarte reasons, that all his experiences could be caused be a wicked god, as if he would only exist in the mind of this God.
This might be true, but then where does he take the chuzpa from to claim that he is a person, an "I". If his idea is true, then he cannot state that "he" exists. "He" is just fiction made up by an evil God. All he could say was: "I think, therefore something exists." But by acknowledging that "he" exists, "he" must also acknowledge, that the delusions that are given to him by his fictious god have their own reality and consistency. The world is as real or unreal as Descartes himself.
Much worse is, that philosophers always think with only half their brain. They forget, that the brain extends into the spine, maybe even into the hole nervous system and the solarplexus.
If Descart were alife, he would claim:
"I feel, therefore I am."
If he had basic understanding of life, he would say: "I breath, therefore I am."
If he would use his eyes for looking, he would see sort of structure.
If he would go on asking question, he might finally arrive at something close to thinking. Obviously, if Descartes has a dull moment and fails to think, "he" nevertheless remained real.
If he had humor, he would say:
"Coito, ergo sum"
Maybe I should kick Descartes ass, until he is finally ripe for acknowledging that at least his pain is real. I wonder, if we just torture him enough, could we make him believe that 1 + 1 = 3? Or would he say, like Gallilei, "And yet it revolves."
I guess everybody here will agree, that Descartes in fact knew quite a lot of things. The Question is, what devil tricked him into believing that he wouldn't.
The final word on Evolution and Creationism (for now)
So people claim, it was possible that god created the universe just a moment ago, that he created all my memories and also buried all those bones of that overgrown, featherless chicken called dinosaurs.
Again this is thinkable and cannot be rebutted. But then we have to realize, that a lot of painfull thought was invested by God, trying to arrange all those bones in exactly the right place, so that they imply a meaning.
If I can't differ between two things, they must necessarily be the same thing. So the problem at hand is to take the shovel and go digging, instead of argueing about matters of interpretation and semantics.
Why reincarnation is a dubious idea and why the difference between hinayana and mahayana buddhism is an illusion of blabbering minds.
There is a classic tale illustrating the difference between Hinayna and Mahayana Buddhism.
Two monks are lost in the desert. They are out of water, and will die soon. Wandering around they find an oasis. The first monk refreshes himself and then sits down quietly and meditates. The other monk also refreshes himself, and then sets off back into the desert with the words: "I will look if there are other lost monks out there."
The story ends here, but reality does not, so I will go on wondering about the fate of those poor folks.
While the first monk sits and meditates, unspecified enemy forces arrive at the oasis. It could be predators, seeking for prey they expect to find quite probably at an oasis. Or lets say, a war has broken out somewhere, and now soldiers have come to the oasis looking for their enemy. They find the monk, suppose he is a spy, torture him. The monk remains silent, cause. Even if he tried to communicate his knowledge, I doubt his tormentors would have the will or the brain to understand.
Overnight, the second monk returns and with his monkly powers overcomes the invaders. Next day, again, the first monk remains sitting and meditating, while the second one goes back into the desert. He finds a lot of other monks, convinces them with his wisdom. They form a resistance movment. They are just on the brink of overcoming the enemy, - when a massive object from outer space crashes into earth.
Now its your turn to come up with with a sequel to this story.
I have a vague idea, but it is quite insane. If can't destroy it, I will write it down.
Fiscal authorities - or how to deal with spam
Call me lazy, irresponsible or insane: I don't open letters that I have not called for, except if they come from potential allies in the pursuit of happiness. By law, I am forced to make a fiscal declaration every 3 month. I didn't comply for 10 month. So they beginn to impose thier kind of "righteousness" on me. Instead of just taking what's theirs, and just drawing money from my bank account, based on the figures of my last years income, they raise their demand a double fold for every quarter year, making me pay an amount of money for three month, that would be good for a whole year.
I asked them if they could please just draw a reasonable figure from my bank account, maybe 10 or 20% percent above from last years tax. It would save them and me a lot of stress, and they would make a bargain from my overpay. They said they couldn't. Their software would come up with the decission, what someone has to pay.
I hate it when measly thoughtless minds penetrate my life and bother me with meaningless things, that have relevance to them but not for me. I hate it even more, when I try to be cooperative, but there is no mercy in people and no will to find a way, and - worst of all - no way to reason with people.
Mockingbird singsong
Stumbled accross Thomas Nagel's "What does it all mean? - a very short introduction in philosophy"
quote:
This Book gives a short Introduction into Philosophy for readers, who have little idea about the subject.
Well, I doubt that readers will have much more knowledge after reading his musings.
quote:
The only example for a correlation between Consciousness, behaviour, anatomy and the physical World, that we ever have observed, is our own case.
How do we know, if we eat chocolate, if it tastes the same for you and me?
Maybe we really don't know this.
But then, if I eat and you starve, how would you feel?
Everyone with fears, knows how it feels to be devoured.
Everyone with appetite knows how it feels to devour.
Everybody should know, that with the pleasure of making babies comes the pain of birth.
However, I might be totally wrong with my sureness.
I lack the imagination to picture how someone feels, when he flies his bomber over a town and pulls the trigger. Or how it feels if you are about to fly a plane into a building.
But I believe that I perfectly know, why they do it. It's because of the pain people inflict onto others in a neverending circle that goes on and on and on and on and on.
quote:
How do we know that the people around us are not just brainless robots?
Well, sometimes it has this appearance to me. But in fact people do have brains. They just aren't trying hard enough to use it.
Proposal for a virtual art performance
Amass all the dead carcasses and of the current wars, pile them in one big heap around the siegessäule, and then bring forth some american bombers, German V2-replicas or captured planes and the people who operate them, and let them fight about who has the right to blow the assembly into bits and pieces.
This performance shall happen in your brain. I want to make clear, that I no way think of realising this idea. - OTOH, if we find a way for all the fanatics to kill themselves off without hurting innocents, the world might be a better place. Now you might say no one is innocent, but I say, I only try to destroy minds, not bodies.
Singing
Always thought, that I couldn't sing. But that was just because a system of 12 tones was pressed into my mind. And I believed that nonsense. Until three days ago. "Michael Nyman meets indian masters" showed me the way.
Jesus' most interesting teaching
Heaven is a state of mind.
(I'm eager to learn what the fanatics will make out of this quote. There is a possibility to missunderstand this completly.)
Keates
But when I am consumed by the fire,
give me pheonix' wings to fly to my desire.
What is the universe? - a practical joke from a god with a convoluted sense of humor.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry about the affairs of reality. But both acts are good ways to deal with the lust for live and the pain of it.
The final question
?
I fact, I don't know, because I forget. So I have to learn anew. Whoever this "I" is.
I'm tired now. (Yet I'm curios what you will make out of this.) But I'm sure there will be more if the world doesn't cease to exist in the next day. Which is possible, but not very probable. This fact has a meaning.
See you later
with 8-bit kisses, smalltalk
I won't bore you with details of my life - or satisfy your voyeristic tendences (whatever your preferences are). I'd rather give a "short" account of some of the things, that crossed my mind.
Anyway, I guess you now have to endure my lowbrow attempts at humor and my careless mockery once more. But then, live would be a bit more dull without laughing, and if I mock someone, it's just because I love all you freaks and knowledge seekers.
Paranoia, Reality, Wishfull Thinking
Somehow I often can't differ between a situation and what I would like to see in it - or what I would want to make out of it.
I started to read a book,
then someone tells me about William James,
and in the next day this William James is mentioned in my book.
When you hand someone a CD, titled 'Come to my room' and get back one that's called 'in mood for love', does this prove that you both really like music, or could there be more to it?
As far as I was told from asking, it was coincidence. Of course it isn't, but I not going to invade other people with my truth, if they don't want hear after being begged to listen.
More Coincidences
I was quite astonished, when I moved to my new flat last summer, and found a postcard with a chimpanzee on the mirror in the bathroom, left by someone who lived here before.
This is a truth, no philosopher can trick me into denying.
Aristotle sees and chooses to remain blind
Aristotle reasons about emptiness, the void, vaccuum:
Nobody could give a reason why motion of a body should ever stop in the vaccuum. Why should this happen rather here then there? Therefor everything will remain at rest or in motion forever. As this is an absurd idea, there is no such thing as 'nothing'.
Buddhas lack of grasp
Now if anyone leaves home, wife and children to seek wisdom, I can understand it perfectly well. But if the same person claims, that a important part of his teaching is compasion, then I wonder why he never returned to his family to practise what he was preaching.
Why Buddhists are as superstitious as christians
There is a rumour of a great white elephant trodding around in the forests. Someone tells you about it. Would you believe it? OK, you want to see for youself, you go searching, and see big footprints. Still you don't believe, they were caused the famous white elephant, because they could come from a rhino as well. If you then look closer at the footprints, you might recognize the imprint of elefant's claws. But still, it might have been a black elephant, which caused it. Only when you finally see the white elephant with your own eyes, you could believe he is really there.
That is, if he is not accopanied by white mice. Then you might figure you're suffering form delirium tremens.
Buddha claims of himself to be enlightend. But what light 'lies' in trying to enumerate the eternal truth.
People talk of the 4 noble truth's and the eightfold path or the ten commandments. I wonder, why people don't have the imagination to envision a more enlightened mind, that could condense his teachings into 3 sentences or expand our wisdom to 5 nobleties. Counting is for clerks. But then, who knows what counts?
Well, it might be stated that the universe knows what counts, but it is not or not fully conscious of this knowledge - yet. ;)
Jesus Christ's masochism
Let's assume someone found a truth. A gem of wisdom. If he tries to tell you with words, and you are unable to recognize this truth, what good would it do, if he has himself crucified? As if this act would help people to understand. Instead he throws away his life, in a desperate and fanatic attempt in making people understand. What more good could he have done, if he stayed here and tried to help.
I'm not intending to die for other people's sin. There are already enough people dying for the sins of other people. In situations of conflict, you either fight or flee. If a sane mind realizes that he can't win a fight but will be destroyed, he should rather leave.
If he feels, there is no hope for mankind, he should go into the desert to find peace and his own revelation. (Darn, that nowadays we won't find peace in the desert anymore).
Instead he went to hell. I wonder what personal revelation he sought there. Was he a masochist?
If he feels, there is no joy, but only pain in his life, he should try to starve himself to death, which is supposedly the least painfull way of suicide. (Darn, so nowaday we do have substances that could ease his pain, but then if a doctor would give it him, that doctor would be crucified instead of him, at least in some countries.)
On the other hand, if I were Pheonix and could recreate myself out from the burning fire into new life, I wouldn't mind death.
But what is this thing called self?
Why Descartes knows nothing
"I think, therefore I am".
Strange that this nonsense has been around for centuries without being rebutted.
What an indicator for the pathetic state philosophy is in.
Descarte reasons, that all his experiences could be caused be a wicked god, as if he would only exist in the mind of this God.
This might be true, but then where does he take the chuzpa from to claim that he is a person, an "I". If his idea is true, then he cannot state that "he" exists. "He" is just fiction made up by an evil God. All he could say was: "I think, therefore something exists." But by acknowledging that "he" exists, "he" must also acknowledge, that the delusions that are given to him by his fictious god have their own reality and consistency. The world is as real or unreal as Descartes himself.
Much worse is, that philosophers always think with only half their brain. They forget, that the brain extends into the spine, maybe even into the hole nervous system and the solarplexus.
If Descart were alife, he would claim:
"I feel, therefore I am."
If he had basic understanding of life, he would say: "I breath, therefore I am."
If he would use his eyes for looking, he would see sort of structure.
If he would go on asking question, he might finally arrive at something close to thinking. Obviously, if Descartes has a dull moment and fails to think, "he" nevertheless remained real.
If he had humor, he would say:
"Coito, ergo sum"
Maybe I should kick Descartes ass, until he is finally ripe for acknowledging that at least his pain is real. I wonder, if we just torture him enough, could we make him believe that 1 + 1 = 3? Or would he say, like Gallilei, "And yet it revolves."
I guess everybody here will agree, that Descartes in fact knew quite a lot of things. The Question is, what devil tricked him into believing that he wouldn't.
The final word on Evolution and Creationism (for now)
So people claim, it was possible that god created the universe just a moment ago, that he created all my memories and also buried all those bones of that overgrown, featherless chicken called dinosaurs.
Again this is thinkable and cannot be rebutted. But then we have to realize, that a lot of painfull thought was invested by God, trying to arrange all those bones in exactly the right place, so that they imply a meaning.
If I can't differ between two things, they must necessarily be the same thing. So the problem at hand is to take the shovel and go digging, instead of argueing about matters of interpretation and semantics.
Why reincarnation is a dubious idea and why the difference between hinayana and mahayana buddhism is an illusion of blabbering minds.
There is a classic tale illustrating the difference between Hinayna and Mahayana Buddhism.
Two monks are lost in the desert. They are out of water, and will die soon. Wandering around they find an oasis. The first monk refreshes himself and then sits down quietly and meditates. The other monk also refreshes himself, and then sets off back into the desert with the words: "I will look if there are other lost monks out there."
The story ends here, but reality does not, so I will go on wondering about the fate of those poor folks.
While the first monk sits and meditates, unspecified enemy forces arrive at the oasis. It could be predators, seeking for prey they expect to find quite probably at an oasis. Or lets say, a war has broken out somewhere, and now soldiers have come to the oasis looking for their enemy. They find the monk, suppose he is a spy, torture him. The monk remains silent, cause. Even if he tried to communicate his knowledge, I doubt his tormentors would have the will or the brain to understand.
Overnight, the second monk returns and with his monkly powers overcomes the invaders. Next day, again, the first monk remains sitting and meditating, while the second one goes back into the desert. He finds a lot of other monks, convinces them with his wisdom. They form a resistance movment. They are just on the brink of overcoming the enemy, - when a massive object from outer space crashes into earth.
Now its your turn to come up with with a sequel to this story.
I have a vague idea, but it is quite insane. If can't destroy it, I will write it down.
Fiscal authorities - or how to deal with spam
Call me lazy, irresponsible or insane: I don't open letters that I have not called for, except if they come from potential allies in the pursuit of happiness. By law, I am forced to make a fiscal declaration every 3 month. I didn't comply for 10 month. So they beginn to impose thier kind of "righteousness" on me. Instead of just taking what's theirs, and just drawing money from my bank account, based on the figures of my last years income, they raise their demand a double fold for every quarter year, making me pay an amount of money for three month, that would be good for a whole year.
I asked them if they could please just draw a reasonable figure from my bank account, maybe 10 or 20% percent above from last years tax. It would save them and me a lot of stress, and they would make a bargain from my overpay. They said they couldn't. Their software would come up with the decission, what someone has to pay.
I hate it when measly thoughtless minds penetrate my life and bother me with meaningless things, that have relevance to them but not for me. I hate it even more, when I try to be cooperative, but there is no mercy in people and no will to find a way, and - worst of all - no way to reason with people.
Mockingbird singsong
Stumbled accross Thomas Nagel's "What does it all mean? - a very short introduction in philosophy"
quote:
This Book gives a short Introduction into Philosophy for readers, who have little idea about the subject.
Well, I doubt that readers will have much more knowledge after reading his musings.
quote:
The only example for a correlation between Consciousness, behaviour, anatomy and the physical World, that we ever have observed, is our own case.
How do we know, if we eat chocolate, if it tastes the same for you and me?
Maybe we really don't know this.
But then, if I eat and you starve, how would you feel?
Everyone with fears, knows how it feels to be devoured.
Everyone with appetite knows how it feels to devour.
Everybody should know, that with the pleasure of making babies comes the pain of birth.
However, I might be totally wrong with my sureness.
I lack the imagination to picture how someone feels, when he flies his bomber over a town and pulls the trigger. Or how it feels if you are about to fly a plane into a building.
But I believe that I perfectly know, why they do it. It's because of the pain people inflict onto others in a neverending circle that goes on and on and on and on and on.
quote:
How do we know that the people around us are not just brainless robots?
Well, sometimes it has this appearance to me. But in fact people do have brains. They just aren't trying hard enough to use it.
Proposal for a virtual art performance
Amass all the dead carcasses and of the current wars, pile them in one big heap around the siegessäule, and then bring forth some american bombers, German V2-replicas or captured planes and the people who operate them, and let them fight about who has the right to blow the assembly into bits and pieces.
This performance shall happen in your brain. I want to make clear, that I no way think of realising this idea. - OTOH, if we find a way for all the fanatics to kill themselves off without hurting innocents, the world might be a better place. Now you might say no one is innocent, but I say, I only try to destroy minds, not bodies.
Singing
Always thought, that I couldn't sing. But that was just because a system of 12 tones was pressed into my mind. And I believed that nonsense. Until three days ago. "Michael Nyman meets indian masters" showed me the way.
Jesus' most interesting teaching
Heaven is a state of mind.
(I'm eager to learn what the fanatics will make out of this quote. There is a possibility to missunderstand this completly.)
Keates
But when I am consumed by the fire,
give me pheonix' wings to fly to my desire.
What is the universe? - a practical joke from a god with a convoluted sense of humor.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry about the affairs of reality. But both acts are good ways to deal with the lust for live and the pain of it.
The final question
?
I fact, I don't know, because I forget. So I have to learn anew. Whoever this "I" is.
I'm tired now. (Yet I'm curios what you will make out of this.) But I'm sure there will be more if the world doesn't cease to exist in the next day. Which is possible, but not very probable. This fact has a meaning.
See you later
with 8-bit kisses, smalltalk