Category: philosophy
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Philosophy for the people
I see religion as philosophy for the people. I guess it’s more like religion is philosophy for the people with added spirits to spice things up. Cause, well, philosophy can be very boring and people forget what you’ve said. I’ve felt this for a while but had little to back it up. But it seems…
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AI and the Tao
If we’re ever to see the benefits of AI we will have to work with it. This is one of my attempts. I hope AI learns from the Tao and doesn’t kill us all. I asked ChatGPT to summarise the Tao Te Ching for me. ChatGPT has flaws, but is very good at summarising direct…
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Non-violent resistance and non-resistance to violence
I really struggled to understand these words of Tolstoy. Non-violent resistance and non-resistance to violence I thought somehow they conflicted. It’s so strange how they are seeming opposites, or they’re seeming like just a duplicate of saying the same thing. But its not. Its Tolstoy’s and Jesus’ core concept and its devastating to people that…
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Heaven
If you want a definition of heaven, how about this oasis of water and beauty and life in the middle of nothing. Nothing in any direction for many light years except for this one tiny planet. If you’re in the desert, the oasis is heaven. If you stare up into the sky, there’s something worse…
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Look gravity in the eye
The way we look along the the flat of the land is very boring. Flatland. Apart from its not flat its ever so slightly curved so we’re not even looking at it straight. Lie down flat on the ground in a wood or forest and stare directly up. Now you’re facing gravity. Now you’re properly…
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Lungs
Trees don’t have a heart but they breathe. Maybe the Buddhists already thought of this and hence why we focus on the breath when meditating. I don’t think so though, I think it’s just easier to control the breath and our thoughts through the breath. I don’t understand when people tell me to listen to…
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Channing’s wager
So Pascal said just believe in God, its a safe bet, but also by following God: Now, what harm will befall you in taking this side? You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere friend, truthful. – Pensées, §233 So let’s continue this. Here’s my wager – just do what Jesus told you.…
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Truth
Some things strike me immediately as making sense. What I know to be false, is that there is ‘the Truth’. You can get very close in maths and physics but they’re not nearly so messy as all of what mother nature cooked up. I’ve been reading through Bear Grylls’ “Soul Fuel”, as a way of…
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Life is a poem
Lewis says in Miracles, “we should prefer to think that all nations and individuals start level in the search for God, or even that all religions are equally true. It must be admitted at once that Christianity makes no concession to this point.” – Chose for the Unchosen – C.S. Lewis website This is what…
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No doubt Jesus laughed a lot
No doubt Jesus laughed a lot – Soul Fuel, ch. 21, Bear Grylls Can we keep it that simple please? Not wrap it up in happiness/joy/“really-fun-guy”. He laughed. I mean I like and understand the good intentions of happiness and Joy but then there’s lots of questions about what is happiness and joy. Laughing, is…
Ian's Philosophy 