GENIUS FORUMS

For those interested in the topic of work and how it relates to the philosophical life, these threads may be interesting: Freedom, Capitalism, & Work Minimum Wage: Is it Desirable? (Topic quickly shifts to work) The Causes of Poverty (Topic is also work and welfare) Grameen Bank & The Commun...

How did I manage to correctly guess (before opening this thread) that any discussion of Steve Irwin at this place would be negative in tone?

Irwin was a hell of a guy, in my book.

Faizi,

Have it your way, then. It's all good.

Faizi, What you are saying rings very true. Working sucks, especially under the capitalist religion. Go on disability. If you have personality "issues," you can probably qualify with a bit of thoughtful attention to the application. Or, be like so many people and continue to talk (accurate...

Unidian wrote: For the record, I think that David's statements about feeling no emotion at the hypothetical painful death of his own child and leaving his wife to a rapist are appalling. If that is "enlightenment," NOX is being far too generous in his attitude toward it. Any state of mind...

I've PMed NOX with some of my thoughts on what he is going through. For the record, I think that David's statements about feeling no emotion at the hypothetical painful death of his own child and leaving his wife to a rapist are apalling. If that is "enlightenment," NOX is being far too ge...

Oops-fucken-ie? Jesus. He's out of the office. You'll have to leave a message. I’ve seen several men come to this forum and, whilst defending women, behave like children. But this has to be the first time I’ve seen a man come to this forum and behave like a child whilst speaking against a woman...

No, because it occurred in the chat room. I've covered the basics of what went on in any case - I suggested that men and women think differently, and that the male style of thought is better suited to philosophy, and the shit essentially hit the fan from there. I would think you can probably guess t...

I got in trouble in TPG chat for stating that men are more inclined toward philosophy, while women tend to focus on other pursuits. When I brought up the plain lack of female philosophers not only in history but in modern times (where there are few cultural barriers), the objection was to ask why th...

Yep, I recognize the attachment and it's something I need to work on. I think I'm making progress already.

I don't think it's causing mine, because I don't debate much anymore. I think I just need to go in the direction my mind is telling me to go. Back to ontology and philosophy of mind, etc. If I do so, I'll be saying the kind of things that will get me drummed out of the "serious people" clu...

I asked originally for your statement on this; that's all. On a board that sports virtually wholesale dismissal of things-yin, it occupies a unique position. I agree that the prevailing attitude here (motivated chiefly by anti-feminine sentiment) is certainly not consistent with Lao-Tzu's writings,...

This topic is also being discussed elsewhere, and those GF members who I'd be interested in discussing it with will know how to find it.

Unlike hsandman, however, I think it's one of the most interesting topics I've discussed recently.

John Deer: Hey fella, wanna try this new machine of mine? Use it and you won't have to wait any longer for the winter cold to cut back your field of grass. Natural-man: No thanks bro, we tend to resist changes like that. John Deer: Well then, have some of these, the wife will love you for it! Natur...

Use Firefox. If you're lazy, there is a script that will download and install it for you automatically. Just run this batch file:

http://naturyl.humanists.net/mozilla.bat

I'm into binocular astronomy as well. You can't beat looking into a dense starfield and seeing countless points of light, each one a massive sun of enormous size and distance.

I think that's correct. But the point (for me) is that non-deluded people are following the Tao consciously (regardless of whether they call it "Tao").

Kevin , Thanks for rescuing this thread from oompa-loompa land and bringing up an important point. Deluded people are created just as naturally as are the flowers of the field, and babies. So if flowers and babies are following the Tao, then so are deluded people. At least, according to your reason...

David (or anyone substantive), feel free to chime in any time now. This thread is sinking fast under the above onslaughts of silly rubbish...

Oops, I'm sorry, Lenny. I didn't realize you were a fruitcake. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I did realize it after your post before this one, but by then I had already responded to you and David. Don't worry, it won't happen again. I can see now that you were only interacting with me fo...

Wow, tons of stuff to address. This will necessitate a much higher level of brevity. Oh well, that's alright. Lao-Tzu says: "More words are worth less" (Verse 5) Lenny , What comes to mind is-- Who's to say, then, what accords and what resists the natural way? It's got to be up to each ind...

It appears you're equating wisdom or wiseness with maturity. In a sense, yes - for me, true maturity is identical with a wise perspective. Accordingly, most people are not truly mature - whether 15 or 55, they are basically obsessed with chasing after new and better toys, being the president of the...

Some interesting questions. I'll see what I can do to address them from a Taoist perspective, and/or my own perspective. Next question: If the original human is in alignment with Te(h), tell me if I interpret this scenario correctly: A child is given a shiny toy. It now does not appear that his or h...

Yes, that is exactly so. The idea that we are born deluded and evil traces back largely to the Western doctrine of "original sin." It has its basis in supernaturalism, to which Taoism (a thoroughly naturalistic position) is diametrically opposed. For the supernaturalist, the supremacy of G...

1) Do you belive that caling/being yourself a follower of something (tao, lao, budda ,shmao) helps you belive that "your" theories are correct ones?(they are not yours realy thou, are they?) Most of my ideas happen to be consistent with Taoism. Therefore, it is convenient to use the term ...