thinking

thinking, thinking, thinking and thinking, and thinking it all over again. Nothing new in the end. Exciting and boring... blah. - most activities, when analyzed properly, are thoroughly boring anyway. For me, the activities that escape that, are ''religious'' (whatever that may mean!) activities: (deep) meditation is extremely valuable.

something else: some ''rules'' for intellectual debate i came up with (still thinking them over):
-never change your position during a debate.
-feel free to ''irrationally'' stick to your position - there might be an argument for or against, or against the against, or pro the pro etc etc, now or in the future. I.e. rational grounds for believe might not really exist. (haha! -i'm amazing myself; but note: this does NOT make me a relativist about truth; just about rational justification).
-every position is extreme - never accuse another or yourself of being extreme. (This, i guess, is more a point for dutch folks to take.)

'nother point:
There is a problem in any conversation: people do not share languages; not nowadays anyway. Or in other words: we take part - using the same English, or Dutch, or Chinese - in a lot of ''different worlds''. This means that i can give a probable explanation of my behavior sometimes in terms of past lives and karma, but will be obstructed in doing so in some contexts.

last point:
we really know nothing. Science has NO idea about a lot. Those who think science presents a complete and near-perfect worldview are highly infatuated with hubris. (whoo... strooong statement!)


regards,
fedde
(ps, though i'm really excited by the above thoughts, they continue to deeply bore me)

states of mind

Somehow, ''we'' (westerners (as if easterners are different)) in our education (oh yes we do) have a focus on the rational way(s?) of knowing. So called ''altered states of consciousness'' (ASC) (term coined by Charles Tart, i admit not yet having read his work on them) are (usually) neglected.

I find it helpful to ask myself whether i myself neglect them; why rationality is so highly (over?)rated; etc.

Some more questions i would like to think about more in my life (i.e. if i ever become knowledgeable in several fields and still have time i might write something about this):

-Can ASCs provide more valid ways of knowing? In what contexts? On what ways? What then is knowledge?

-Why are ASCs calles ALTERED? This supposes that somehow our basic state of mind is cold and rational... i think it is not. At least not if we are not firmly indoctrinated and imprinted to value the rational state extremely high.

by the way; i'm pretty sure that rationality as a way of knowing the world is limited per se.

things and events

times go by, yeah!

ok, so i uploaded a lot of pictures to my facebook (198); the first half of my china series... the rest will come later


hope everyone is happy and... here is the tip of the day:
matches can be used a couple of times; i keep it at two uses per match; but Naess reports that his wife could use 1 x 4. This saves trees, saves the planet. Less harm , more beauty!

peace,
fedde

diets - good news

Has great news! (at least for me...) The American Dietetic Association has a new position on vegetarian-/veganism: positive! Not only are plant-based diets adequate, they even have advantages. This is the case for all people, up to and including pregnant women and athletes. See here; http://www.eatright.org/About/Conte...nt.aspx?id=8357 (and also be sure to check out this site: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/index.html). Peace :) (ps: unfortunately the ADA's position stands in contrast to its Dutch counterpart, which is more conservative (chanting: ''milk, milk, milk''))

busy with being busy

I've got quite some things to do - but i'm not doing them. Being less productive than i wish i'd be is usually the case for me, but when i'm at my parents' place, i'm less productive than i could be. And, just before 3 exams, 2 papers, one meeting of the reading group in Buddhology, 4 x 2 hrs of work (each week! i've got a job!), i really ought to be really really doing something. But, i just can't get my head straight when i'm here... perhaps i should just accept it and wait with being busy until i'm home again, on my own again. And now enjoy the snow, ice, books, and family! :D

sounds like a gooood plan :)