Have you ever noticed how Abraham, Jesus, Mohammad, Siddhartha and Ryokan all had a habit of going alone into the wilderness for several days at a time? Then they came back and made ethical pronouncements and people listened to them?
And how much similarity is there between the ethical pronouncements? Should you sacrifice your son to a hallucinated god, turn the other cheek, slay the unbelievers and rape their women, observe your thoughts until you conclude that nothing is real, or...?
So far, I find it plausible that going away from other people for several days is good to focus on developing your own philosophy. These days, you should probably also turn off the social networks. But is this walk less random?
Should you sacrifice your son to a hallucinated god, turn the other cheek, slay the unbelievers and rape their women, observe your thoughts until you conclude that nothing is real, or...?
“No”, “yes”, “no”, “no”, and “it depends”, respectively. Some of these questions are more complicated than they appear to outsiders. For example, while the Covenant is seen as a one-way street in Christianity, the Jewish Covenant can be seen more as a two-way negotiation within Jewish theology. Would Abraham have sacrificed Isaac if God had not rescinded the command? Perhaps Abraham was testing God rather than the other way around. But I do not think any of these specific questions get to the crux of our disagreement.
And how much similarity is there between the ethical pronouncements?
I think this is the crux of our disagreement. The ethical systems pronounced are all context-dependent products of their time, so to compare them we must examine them in a context-free way. The simplest way to cut away much of the context is to examine their epistemology.
Most (all?) contemplation-based mystic techniques have strikingly similar methods. By focusing one’s thoughts on a single target of attention, they not only get the junk from your social networks[1] out of your mind, they help you get other junk out of your mind too.
So far, I find it plausible that going away from other people for several days is good to focus on developing your own philosophy.
I think we have common ground here. Furthermore, I contend there exist contemplative techniques that can magnify the effect of getting away from it all.
And how much similarity is there between the ethical pronouncements? Should you sacrifice your son to a hallucinated god, turn the other cheek, slay the unbelievers and rape their women, observe your thoughts until you conclude that nothing is real, or...?
So far, I find it plausible that going away from other people for several days is good to focus on developing your own philosophy. These days, you should probably also turn off the social networks. But is this walk less random?
“No”, “yes”, “no”, “no”, and “it depends”, respectively. Some of these questions are more complicated than they appear to outsiders. For example, while the Covenant is seen as a one-way street in Christianity, the Jewish Covenant can be seen more as a two-way negotiation within Jewish theology. Would Abraham have sacrificed Isaac if God had not rescinded the command? Perhaps Abraham was testing God rather than the other way around. But I do not think any of these specific questions get to the crux of our disagreement.
I think this is the crux of our disagreement. The ethical systems pronounced are all context-dependent products of their time, so to compare them we must examine them in a context-free way. The simplest way to cut away much of the context is to examine their epistemology.
Most (all?) contemplation-based mystic techniques have strikingly similar methods. By focusing one’s thoughts on a single target of attention, they not only get the junk from your social networks[1] out of your mind, they help you get other junk out of your mind too.
I think we have common ground here. Furthermore, I contend there exist contemplative techniques that can magnify the effect of getting away from it all.
Social networks have been around since before Homo sapiens.