I'M interested in real philosophy
Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 9:46 pm
Being in the SES for twenty-odd years (or do I mean twenty odd years?) hasn't dimmed my interest in real philosophy at all. If anything, it's nurtured it. Yes, I freely admit that on my own account, I probably wouldn't have become so immersed in Advaita Vedanta without the drip drip drip effect of group nights at the SES, but I probably also wouldn't have become so interested in Christian, Buddhist and Islamic mysticism, particle physics, string theory, and everything else.
I have changed over the years. Is this the result of the SES? If it is, does it matter? The fact that I can ask this question probably suggests its own answer: it doesn't matter. I have no regrets that my thinking has tended to gravitate towards 'deep issues' - it beats a night watching Big Brother on TV, reading Hello! magazine, or drinking myself to a stupor. (If you detect a tone of superiority here, don't worry - it predates my attendance at the SES. I can irritate for England.)
What I would like though, is to discuss philosophical matters that are 'off the beaten track', SES-track or otherwise. For instance, I still regard myself as a Christian, but so much of the dogma I find absolutely impossible to swallow. Not only that, but inconsistent with the scientific understanding that God has provided as a part of our intelligence and curiosity. For instance, I find the Christian Trinity utterly unbelievable, and the attempts to explain it positively ludicrous. And the experiences of the medieval mystics seem to point in the same direction - they all talk of an experience of 'absolute unity'. (I realise that my language is faintly belligerent and dismissive, and that someone else would phrase all this more diplomatically and reasonably, but hell - ain't variety wonderful?)
If there's an intelligent maverick out there who'd like to talk, do join in the discussion. On the other hand, if you're a fundamentalist (capable of rational speech), perhaps you would tell me why? I've never understood you, and you scare the pants off me metaphorically speaking. But I'll give you a good run for your money, and maybe even put an irreverent thought or two in your head.
I'd like to end with a song. (Pretentious, moi?) For no other reason than I've never heard philosophy put so poetically with such a nice tune:
Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are spinning past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find,
In the windmills of your mind
I have changed over the years. Is this the result of the SES? If it is, does it matter? The fact that I can ask this question probably suggests its own answer: it doesn't matter. I have no regrets that my thinking has tended to gravitate towards 'deep issues' - it beats a night watching Big Brother on TV, reading Hello! magazine, or drinking myself to a stupor. (If you detect a tone of superiority here, don't worry - it predates my attendance at the SES. I can irritate for England.)
What I would like though, is to discuss philosophical matters that are 'off the beaten track', SES-track or otherwise. For instance, I still regard myself as a Christian, but so much of the dogma I find absolutely impossible to swallow. Not only that, but inconsistent with the scientific understanding that God has provided as a part of our intelligence and curiosity. For instance, I find the Christian Trinity utterly unbelievable, and the attempts to explain it positively ludicrous. And the experiences of the medieval mystics seem to point in the same direction - they all talk of an experience of 'absolute unity'. (I realise that my language is faintly belligerent and dismissive, and that someone else would phrase all this more diplomatically and reasonably, but hell - ain't variety wonderful?)
If there's an intelligent maverick out there who'd like to talk, do join in the discussion. On the other hand, if you're a fundamentalist (capable of rational speech), perhaps you would tell me why? I've never understood you, and you scare the pants off me metaphorically speaking. But I'll give you a good run for your money, and maybe even put an irreverent thought or two in your head.
I'd like to end with a song. (Pretentious, moi?) For no other reason than I've never heard philosophy put so poetically with such a nice tune:
Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are spinning past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find,
In the windmills of your mind