Philosophical Speculations

I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but I also want to point out that the tabula rasa notion of the infant human mind is scientifically incorrect. We come into the world with a fair amount of innate ideal content. Oh, absolutely agree. This content is pre-created by our local Divinity, so in that...

Simon, right. I think everyone agrees that we, and conscious activity in general (ok, I accept your term :) ), has an innate ability to express, generate and experience meanings, ideas and forms. The question is - where do they come from, how are they generated, or perhaps they might always exist so...

Agreed

As a former union rep, I'd ask for arbitration ... In this case, not the moderator ... maybe Scott? Arbitration is virtually impossible in this case because the arbiter has to be intimately familiar with both traditions under arbitration (including actually studying and practicing them and observin...

You like to explain everyone else's views in terms of psychological temperament. Have you ever considered this factor for your own view? I would specifically be interested to know where you fall on trait 'openness to experience' which is associated with a disdain approaching disgust for boundaries,...

AshvinP wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:07 pm Buddhism nested in Christianity and the latter is more complete.

Ah, here we go, Christian supremacism clams again

IMO, supremacism claims are characteristics of less developed/complete traditions.

I have always been in the "all major long-lasting spiritual traditions are nested within each other in a contiguous manner" mode, which then renders the question of "which one is better?" meaningless. They are not parallel streams of ideas where 'never the twain shall meet', but...

That was his genius at that time. Later another genius perspective evolved - we can learn to contend with suffering, rather than end it, by seeking out sufficient meaning to justify it's existence in our lives. Thereby the focus shifts back to what we can do right now , in this lifetime, in any giv...

So there are some complicated historical events and some assumptions here. There are many pyramids in Egypt. If the text is credible, not all of them were built by slaves. I don't think Ra said anything about convincing Pharaohs to build pyramids - they built them using thought, according to the te...

Starbuck, well said, I agree. In some suttas Buddha did say that one "enters" Nibbana through the experience of the highest jhanas (levels of formless states), however, this was clearly just a meditative technique to discern and discover Nibbana, and not a goal by itself. Avoidance of the ...