There have been a few discussions where people have been wondering or speculating what Bernardo's view on something is. He is clearly very busy at present with the Essentia Foundation, book launches etc, but I asked him if he would answer a few questions, and he has agreed.
So if you have a question or two (maximum) that you would like him to put to him, please reply with them on this thread.
NOTE:
The questions must be short, precise and to the point. No long rambling questions please.
Bernardo's answers will also be short and to the point.
I have no idea how many questions we will have as there are a lot of members of the board that don't post, and so I can't guarantee he will answer all of them if we get many. Hopefully we can focus on areas that people are genuinely curious about, not the same questions he has answered already in many of his interviews etc.
Also, if you want to have a discussion about what questions to ask, can I ask that you start a new post and keep this thread purely for the questions.
Thank you
Simon
Ideas are certain original forms of things, their archetypes, permanent and incommunicable, which are contained in the Divine intelligence. And though they neither begin to be nor cease, yet upon them are patterned the manifold things of the world that come into being and pass away.
St Augustine
Are you familiar with Owen Barfield's and/or Jean Gebser's ideas on the "evolution of consciousness" (as described in Saving the Appearances and The Ever-Present Origin respectively) and, if so, do you find their arguments convincing and what implications would such a process have for your idealist position, specifically regarding any telos it may imply for collective human development?
Last edited by AshvinP on Sun Feb 28, 2021 8:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"Most people would sooner regard themselves as a piece of lava in the moon than as an 'I'"
Inspired from reading Decoding Jung's Metaphysics, what do feel is our integral role as corporeal alters in determining the quality and integrity of the medium the Angels and Daemons have to work with, in forging our collective, inter-being, ever-evolving dreamworld, if indeed that's what's going on?
Here out of instinct or grace we seek
soulmates in these galleries of hieroglyph and glass,
where mutual longings and sufferings of love
are laid bare in transfigured exhibition of our hearts,
we who crave deep secrets and mysteries,
as elusive as the avatars of our dreams.
BK, as far as I can see, assumes there is one alter per organism (in contrast to someone like Nietzsche for whom the body 'is a social structure composed of many souls'). So, my questions are:
- What do you think of the idea of each cell being an alter?
- Why would bacterial cells in the body be alters, but other cells, such as blood cells circulating freely in the blood, not be alters?
I had a bad idea to start another thread confusingly for people to ask questions, which I’ve abandoned...
My questions:
- What are your thoughts on the traditions of the “world soul”? Do you think it’s comparable to “Mind at Large”?
- How do you explain out of body experiences? When you have them your conscious mind is looking down at your body from a particular place, so what do you think is the focus point that you are perceiving from under idealism?
Ideas are certain original forms of things, their archetypes, permanent and incommunicable, which are contained in the Divine intelligence. And though they neither begin to be nor cease, yet upon them are patterned the manifold things of the world that come into being and pass away.
St Augustine
Before I ask I will note that I appreciate Bernardo's way of thinking and that his books yielded all kinds of insight within me.
My question is a continuation of the matter of self - reflection and the nature of M@L. I regard this issue a speculative one but I will still ask. Bernardo and other idealists use the analogy of dreaming to describe reality. In my daily life I am never in a state of mere dreaming, I can observe the meaning of the dream when I am in a state of wakefulness. Even if I was in a lucid dream, in order to decipher the dream I still need to remember events that happened to me while awake and now appear symbolically before me . Given these facts, why shouldn't we assume that reality was in a state of wakefulness before it entered a state of "dreaming", and the phenomena we witness only remind us of insights we already know and corresponds to events or mental states prior to our sleep. Another derivative of this matter is that it is possible that the entry into "sleep mode" was done for reasons that are not known to us at the moment but were known at that time and fullfiled a certain purpose
"And a mute thought sails,
like a swift cloud on high.
Were I to ask, here below,
Amongst the gates of desolation:
Where goes
this captive of the heavens?
There is no one who can reveal to me the book,
or explain to me the chapters."
This is purely speculative but I'd like to know if Bernardo thinks that biotic life exists in multiple locations across the cosmos or if the earthly garden is unique?
Be calm - Be clear - See the faults - See the suffering - Give your love
