Culture
This Side of Paradise and the Unexamined Self
Last night I watched an old Star Trek original series episode that had come to mind: “This Side of Paradise“. The story in it always intrigued me: artificial happiness and the cult-like dramatic conflict when the agricultural lifestyle colonists encounter the Star Trek crew, as well as the entertainment value of what happens with the…
Read MoreOn Beyond Back-To-Nature Philosophies
Listening to a popular “animal communicator”, I realized the core issue with what she was saying. While I appreciate what they do with specific animals and species, and it touches my heart deeply (I love animals, and plants, and minerals…), there is an assumptions and an attitude about humans and the planet and Life and…
Read MoreOn Beyond Social Media Duality
Introduction I see social media platforms like Facebook (the main platform I sometimes use and enjoy) as a place to share the love of some topic, or an event, sale, or service, and have fun conversations, or gather information or quotes. However they can be very addicting, as you may have noticed. And, they can…
Read MoreNikola Tesla and Plato’s Cave
These musings are in response to a friend, a spiritual teacher and former physicist & mathematician, who expressed an opinion about the inventor Nikola Tesla the inventor. His view was that Tesla was a 3rd rate physicist, and not up there with the greats like Einstein and Boltzmann with regard to being a vessel for…
Read MoreBeyond Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theism
Most of us have been asked at some point in our lives if we believe in God. We also at some point may have been put in a category of either an atheist, an agnostic, or a theist (in common culture more likely something like a “believer”). The definitions of these terms are (dictionary and…
Read MoreOn Beyond Life and Career Advice (for Teens and Adults)
Reflecting on Life and Career Advice (for teens or adults): Last night I watched some old videos of a famous comic, brilliant, creative, very “successful”, but who eventually committed suicide. And so many of the celebrities have been in and out of drug rehab, or commit suicide, or become recluses, or go through strings of…
Read MoreOn Beyond the Body Mind World (or, Liberation for Whom?)
Happiness and Pleasure Happiness from objects makes no sense. Where is the happiness experienced? Let’s not even talk about happiness, for the time being, let’s just look at pleasure. Where is the pleasure experienced? If you’re thinking the pleasure is in driving a luxury car, or a woman’s company, or a man’s company, or making…
Read MoreOn Beyond (Academic) Philosophy
For a while when in school, I fantasizing myself to be a future professor. Then I realized no one (not even the world-class philosophers with huge grants, who I’d previously worshipped!) knew what the mind or intelligence was, or how the brain worked, or many other things they claimed to know, especially about consciousness (and…
Read MoreMy Personal Misery Trainer – Comedy Skit
“Humor is ignorance exposed” – Francis Lucille Props (optional): clipboard, running pants, a bottle of beer (Ordinary looking guy, maybe a little mussed, a little fussed, like he had a ling night, gets up in front of a group in a room) “Hey. Hi, my name’s Larry [use any name you want]. I’m here to tell…
Read MoreThe Enlightenment Contest
The scene: a non-duality spiritual retreat. Someone gets up, in the evening, after the meditation and dialogue, when announcements are made: “I have a little announcement. Since everyone here is interested in not only becoming enlightened—or perhaps thinks they already are—and furthermore would love very much to gain full recognition for it and prove something…
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