Philosophical Speculations

Jim,

When you say "similar Judeo-Christian backgrounds" what are you referring to? Is it exposure to some similar myths, etc?

(I'm not going to attempt the quote feature here as the last attempt wasn't successful.) Ashvin, I don't believe there was any cynicism or gracelessness in my commenting on a particular style. That I know immediately who the two wiser ones are could be taken as a measure of your success. But that's ...

There are two sorts of dread - one from feeling we will always be isolated in personal bubbles of consciousness, alienated from each other and Nature; the other from feeling we will be absorbed into impersonal Consciousness (or just die and lose consciousness) and thereby lose all memory, hopes, amb...

Thanks, tjsailor

"My mantra is: I am You, You are Me. Seems to be helpful"

That's already more helpful than "I am that", which brings its own feelings of terror, here at least.

Hi Hedge90, Thanks for your posts. There is a lot that I recognise in them. The dread, the rationalisations, the next book that might account for it all and more. I'm curious if this "creeping existential dread" you're now experiencing feels different in nature to the experiences you descr...

Robert, Thanks. My anticipation and your subsequent defensiveness have saved some time. I suppose then, as you fall back predictably on that koan, the next question could be framed as : Can one be human and not worship God? I won't be checking back here for at least 12 hours. If you don't want to pl...

Ashvin,

You'll find it starting at about 20 mins and it's very brief.

Ashvin, Hold your horses there. Nobody is accusing Frankl of being inauthentic. Not me, and I'd doubt Bernardo is. Bernardo's point is (you'll see this when you get round to it) is that people come out of therapy sessions and later feel tricked, in that finding their own meaning wasn't their reason ...

Hi Starbuck, Robert Starbuck : Yes, I agree with you. I watched that talk too, and wasn't sure what to make of it. That's what I want, meaning rather than my meaning. Have you come across Humancondition.com? They seem to be advertising quite heavily. I relented and gave it half an hour recently. The...

Hi Robert, Bernardo's latest public YouTube interview (check his Twitter timeline) touches on meaning. He references Viktor Frankl and the therapy he was giving inside concentration camps, which, in a nutshell, consists of helping people to find meaning, seemingly any meaning, to get them through th...