There are things you just know, even without any logical explanation. Intuition is all about it. As for me, if I know what I'm talking about, "all I know is that I know nothing", and that is thanks to Socrates who put it in words. — ahmad bilal
There are experiences that are probably only expressible in what you call "metaphors and poetic language." You don't explain them, you tell a story about them. I don't call what Ahmad is talking about "soul" but I think he and I share a common experience.
It's not really an idea, it's an experience. At least it was an experience before it was an idea. That's how it is for me. — T Clark
If the intention here is not to be philosophically exacting, but rather to be poetically allegorical, then it may be best to avoid the tendency to over analyze, as it becomes like dissecting an intricate and lovely insect to discover what makes it so, and in the process destroying it. — snowleopard
That's what I don't like about mysticism. It feels like an easy way out. It might even be a kind of defence mechanism. — Sapientia
What if it's just bogus? What if it's just a kind of redundant umbrella term for other things? Are you talking about consciousness? Being alive? What is it? Do you even know? And if you don't know what you're talking about, then how is one to make any sense of it? — Sapientia
If this outward appearance of meaning falls apart upon examination and no real meaning is found or can be produced, then I don't think that you can know it at all, let alone that you actually do know it. I think that you'd just be deluding yourself. — Sapientia
I think that it's a problem if you can't produce a means of distinguishing between nonsense and conveying some sort of deep insight which allegedly can only be expressed in metaphors and poetic language. I think that it's a problem if the word "soul" is like the nonsense word "shleaf". — Sapientia
Hi, im new here and i have a thing for thinking. I write sometimes but i am unable to discuss maturity and ability to convey my thoughts on paper with anyone. Here is something i wrote: — ahmad bilal
"Imagine that earth is our body and moon is our soul. Both are among each other at all times but we cannot see the moon in day light and it lights our way at night and guides our oceans. — ahmad
Just like we are unaware of our soul when we are occupied by worldy matters but as soon as we are in darkness and despair it guides us through it. It draws its light from the devine as the moon draws its light from the sun. — ahmad
Our soul has << a >> significant role in each moment of our life but we are unaware of its presence because it is present in the void and it is communicating with << the >> body through the void. As << the >> void itself has presence and it encapsulates all that exists. — ahmad
If we want to know how seperated our soul is from our body.. We should see how separated << the >>moon is from >> the >> earth, compared to the size of this whole universe. They look like they are one, yet << are >> separated.". — ahmad
I don't think it is correct to call this "mysticism." It's just the way the mind works, at least for some of us. Intuition is what bubbles up from inside us. It is as much a part of us as consciousness or rational thought. — T Clark
How do you know if anything you experience, believe, or know is bogus? We talk about perception, consciousness, and other mental experiences/phenomena here all the time. Why is this any different? Do you really experience your internal life as conscious and rational? Do you feel as if your body and feelings are separate from your intellect? I certainly don't. — T Clark
And I don't think it's correct to try to pass this off as "intuition" or "just the way the mind works". It comes close to the definition of mysticism as "vague or ill-defined religious or spiritual belief" — Sapientia
Soul, on the other hand, is ill-defined and seemingly mythical. — Sapientia
Isn't this just as true for rational thought as it is for intuition? — T Clark
Except the soul is a mental experience. — T Clark
By "mental" I include emotions and intuitions. I have experienced it, although I generally call it something else. Do you deny your own mental experience? — T Clark
Soul, on the other hand, is ill-defined and seemingly mythical. — Sapientia
We can refer to the soul, spirit, and essence and get away with vague meanings because there is a general agreement that "soul" has a private meaning for individuals. We all don't have to agree about what the soul is. It is "something that people think is an important part of themselves" even if it is invisible in both substance and action. — Bitter Crank
Are you suggesting that what I said would equally apply to the term "rational thought" as it would with "soul"? — Sapientia
Yeah, so is the shleaf, as it happens. Like the word "soul" people use it as a placeholder. — Sapientia
I already said something along the lines that there's nothing I acknowledge the existence of which I would think it necessary or proper to call "soul". — Sapientia
Unlike the reaction of moderators here when they encounter the word "race" (grand mal seizures and severe blistering--like shingles) I experience only slight itching when I see the word "soul". Clearly Sap gets fairly itchy around such words. — Bitter Crank
Unlike the reaction of moderators here when they encounter the word "race" (grand mal seizures and severe blistering--like shingles) I experience only slight itching when I see the word "soul". Clearly Sap gets fairly itchy around such words. — Bitter Crank
Yes. — T Clark
And so is rational thought. — T Clark
I gave examples of other terms - self, identity, spirit, consciousness, me, myself, I. I would probably use the word "self," most often, but might use the others also. — T Clark
Seems like your and Sapientia's experiences are different. — T Clark
It exists in your reality if you believe in it. — ahmad bilal
Yes. And so does god, the devil, hell, heaven, angels, and all other heavenly unworldly or otherworldly things.
On the other hand, the physical world exists whether you believe in it or not
The soul, then, belongs to that part of the world where believing is seeing, rather than seeing is believing. — Bitter Crank
Internal is as real as external. — T Clark
The soul, then, belongs to that part of the world where believing is seeing, rather than seeing is believing. — Bitter Crank
but this is just another perspective based on scientific knowledge humans have acquired till date.the physical world exists whether you believe in it or not
- Lipton, H Bruce. The Biology of Belief. United States: Hay House INC. 2008It’s quite the conundrum, isn’t it? Our experience tells us that our reality is made up of physical material things, and that our world is an independently existing objective one. Again, what quantum mechanics reveals is that there is no true “physicality” in the universe, that atoms are made of focused vorticies of energy-miniature tornadoes that are constantly popping into and out of existence. The revelation that the universe is not an assembly of physical parts, suggested by Newtonian physics, and instead comes from a holistic entanglement of immaterial energy waves stems from the work of Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg, among others
"Self" can be a good word in this context as "That calm observer behind the thoughts". — ahmad bilal
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