How often does one find an essay penned by a western philosopher -- that opens with a quote by Nagarjuna? Graham Priest's fascinating Beyond true and false becomes one of very few, when it begins by citing the illustrious Buddhist philosopher-sage thusly: The nature of things is to have no nature; it is their non-nature that is their nature. For they have only one nature: no-nature. What …
[Read more...] about On Saying True Things About The Ineffable
Seems like once a year or so that I feel drawn to reviewing – and hopefully in some manner clarifying – the tenets of valid cognition. And so it is, here on the cusp of June, that I embark once again on this journey … What Is Valid Cognition? The phrase “valid cognition” (Sanskrit: pramāṇa) is one that appears largely in Buddhist philosophy – though there are similar explorations within Yoga and …
[Read more...] about Revisiting The Tenets Of Valid Cognition: When Is Knowledge Reliable?
The Scales of Justice: Dream-Like or Eternal? Are “equality” and “justice” and “fairness” archetypes that have some kind of actual (subtle transpersonal) existence, perhaps in the mode of Platonic Forms? Or are they bona fide attributes of the Divine: qualities that flow forth spontaneously via a bodymind that is fully transparent to its eternal Source? Or are they merely conceptual …
[Read more...] about Equality, Justice, Fairness: Reflections on Sharing a Cake
If we define “bachelor” as “an unmarried man” – then the statement “Every bachelor is an unmarried man” is true by definition. Given how we’ve defined our terms, it simply cannot be false. It is necessarily un-falsifiable. Hence it really doesn’t make sense to call such a statement a “theory” or a “hypothesis.” It’s not something that can be proved or disproved empirically. It’s not a matter of …
[Read more...] about Bachelors & Buddhas: On The Validation Of Scientific & Metaphysical Claims
Volition? Volition is as conditioned as any other factor in the performance of an action. - Wei Wu Wei (excerpted from Posthumous Pieces) Absolute Freedom The phrase “choice-less Awareness” is one that frequently is employed to point to the non-conceptual, non-phenomenal “space” of Pure Awareness. The implication is that ultimate freedom is choice-less: Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is …
In the great tradition of Neo standing in the kitchen with the Oracle, amidst the scent of cookies, here’s a passage from Wei Wu Wei’s Why Lazarus Laughed which, as of late, has really been “baking my noodle.” Questions that Are Not A good example of a question that is not is: “Do you believe in such-and-such a thing?” In so far as nothing exists, there is nothing to believe in. In so far as …
