(Essay) Solipsism: Facts and Fictions

[Jim Cross]

The idea that the forum has been hijacked by one person or bot using different avatars to talk to themselves would be a serious problem.

Well that might be DID, and on this forum that should be allowed

LOL. Especially in a post on solipsism.

BTW, raising an interesting point: Is MAL solipsistic?

[Cleric K]

Of course, in some ways that is what has happened, although maybe not in the literal sense. Essentially the Steiner Bot dominates every thread of every topic in one form or another. Perhaps an alternate domain name could be registered "metasteiner.org."

... or this forum be renamed to "no-thinking-allowed.org"

[AshvinP]

Actually, it does matter, and using such a tactic in the forum would be considered ban-worthy. Again, after looking into it, I'm satisfied there is simply no evidence to support the conjecture. Hopefully, now that some good laughs have been milked from it, it will no longer be a distraction.

Yeah. The idea that the forum has been hijacked by one person or bot using different avatars to talk to themselves would be a serious problem.

Of course, in some ways that is what has happened, although maybe not in the literal sense. Essentially the Steiner Bot dominates every thread of every topic in one form or another. Perhaps an alternate domain name could be registered "metasteiner.org."

Resentful much?

That is also the core point of this essay - we need to stop projecting our own limits and shortcomings on others and on Reality itself. People find Steiner's phenomenology of cognition more interesting, imaginative, and fruitful, so it generates actual back and forth and comments that are longer than one sentence. It is not our fault, or Steiner's fault, or Reality's fault, that people cannot muster more than one sentence to express their enthusiasm for materialism, dualism or flattened-alter idealism. It's not our fault that when we stop posting things, the discussion dies off. Maybe instead of playing victim, you should start considering how you can make your own posts more substantive and engaging so others will be enthusiastic about discussing your ideas.

[Soul_of_Shu]

Perhaps an alternate domain name could be registered "metasteiner.org."

Well, 'meta' as a prefix simply meaning 'beyond', then if Steiner isn't going beyond Kastrup, I don't know what else would qualify as 'metakastrup'. Admittedly, anyone with no knowledge of the early origins of this forum, thinking that because BK links to this forum from his blog it might be nothingbutkastrup.org, hoping that he actually participates in it, may well wonder how he is associated with it at all.

[Jim Cross]

Perhaps an alternate domain name could be registered "metasteiner.org."

Well, 'meta' as a prefix simply meaning 'beyond', then if Steiner isn't going beyond Kastrup, I don't know what else would qualify as 'metakastrup'. Admittedly, anyone with no knowledge of the early origins of this forum, thinking that because BK links to this forum from his blog it might be nothingbutkastrup.org, hoping that he actually participates in it, may well wonder how he is associated with it at all.

I guess I've thought of the forum more or less as "Metaphysical Speculations" which to me indicates a wide ranging discussion of consciousness and/or matter, including scientific, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions, with some slight bias (which I am fine about) in the direction of idealism. Of course, I may have been in error on this.

[AshvinP]

Perhaps an alternate domain name could be registered "metasteiner.org."

Well, 'meta' as a prefix simply meaning 'beyond', then if Steiner isn't going beyond Kastrup, I don't know what else would qualify as 'metakastrup'. Admittedly, anyone with no knowledge of the early origins of this forum, thinking that because BK links to this forum from his blog it might be nothingbutkastrup.org, hoping that he actually participates in it, may well wonder how he is associated with it at all.

I guess I've thought of the forum more or less as "Metaphysical Speculations" which to me indicates a wide ranging discussion of consciousness and/or matter, including scientific, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions, with some slight bias (which I am fine about) in the direction of idealism. Of course, I may have been in error on this.

Let's see... this essay you keep posting in, and thereby keeping at top of the forum list , is about consciousness (idealism), references science, spirituality, and quotes philosophers at length. Solipsism is a topic BK refers to a lot and has not been discussed here in awhile. So what exactly is your complaint, again?

[Jim Cross]

Well, 'meta' as a prefix simply meaning 'beyond', then if Steiner isn't going beyond Kastrup, I don't know what else would qualify as 'metakastrup'. Admittedly, anyone with no knowledge of the early origins of this forum, thinking that because BK links to this forum from his blog it might be nothingbutkastrup.org, hoping that he actually participates in it, may well wonder how he is associated with it at all.

I guess I've thought of the forum more or less as "Metaphysical Speculations" which to me indicates a wide ranging discussion of consciousness and/or matter, including scientific, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions, with some slight bias (which I am fine about) in the direction of idealism. Of course, I may have been in error on this.

Let's see... this essay you keep posting in, and thereby keeping at top of the forum list , is about consciousness (idealism), references science, spirituality, and quotes philosophers at length. Solipsism is a topic BK refers to a lot and has not been discussed here in awhile. So what exactly is your complaint, again?

Perhaps you should have posted this in Topic Specific Argumentation?

[Soul_of_Shu]

I guess I've thought of the forum more or less as "Metaphysical Speculations" which to me indicates a wide ranging discussion of consciousness and/or matter, including scientific, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions, with some slight bias (which I am fine about) in the direction of idealism. Of course, I may have been in error on this.

These things do go through phases. In the early years of the old MS forum there was a lot of talk about Aurobindo—also I would suggest in the 'metakastrup' category—especially when Don Salmon was very prolifically involved, frequently quoting long passages from his body of work, which BK mostly declined to comment on, or offer any opinion pro or con. Now it happens that there are very prolific posters who are passionate about Steiner, who for whatever reason get a lot more push-back.

[AshvinP]

I guess I've thought of the forum more or less as "Metaphysical Speculations" which to me indicates a wide ranging discussion of consciousness and/or matter, including scientific, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions, with some slight bias (which I am fine about) in the direction of idealism. Of course, I may have been in error on this.

Let's see... this essay you keep posting in, and thereby keeping at top of the forum list , is about consciousness (idealism), references science, spirituality, and quotes philosophers at length. Solipsism is a topic BK refers to a lot and has not been discussed here in awhile. So what exactly is your complaint, again?

Perhaps you should have posted this in Topic Specific Argumentation?

I am going to take the initiative and develop some guidelines for myself, in the hopes that it will cut out this meaningless back and forth in the future, and leave certain people with no excuse to complain.


1) Essays posted by myself or Cleric - I will freely comment on these

2) Topics directly mentioning Anthroposophy, spiritual science, Steiner, PoF, phenomenology of cognition-thinking - same as above

3) Comments or questions directed specifically towards me or mentioning me indirectly - same as above

4) Topics which pertain to modern idealism and idealist philosophers (and Jung) - I will comment to the extent I feel they are misrepresented, but will not bring in any of the topics from #2.

4) Topics pertaining to "MAL", "alters", "dissociation", or similar concepts directly linked to BK's idealism - I will not comment unless one of the above also applies.

5) Topics pertaining to materialism - I will probably not even read these, let alone comment on them.