tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35431899305155715942024-03-02T09:30:14.392-08:00Religion and PhilosophyKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-80537908558664627942024-02-12T10:17:00.000-08:002024-02-20T15:00:10.829-08:00The One, Revised<div style="text-align: left;">The single reality is neither homogeneous nor static but internally differentiated and dynamic.</div><div>Energised complex molecules changed randomly until one became self-replicating.</div><div>Self-replication and natural selection generated multi-cellular organisms.</div><div>Naturally selected organismic sensitivity to environmental alterations quantitatively increased until it was qualitatively transformed into conscious sensation.</div><div><br /></div><div>More complicated brains somehow transformed bodily sensations into perceptions of discrete objects.</div><div>The One becomes conscious of Itself by appearing to Itself as other and many, then realises its oneness.</div><div>The One is present in every particle but conscious only in organisms with central nervous systems.</div><div>It knows itself as animals and human beings but not in any pre- or trans-cosmic state.</div><div><br /></div><div>Its internal relationships are spatiotemporal and physical or psychophysical.</div><div>Gods are personified natural and social forces.</div><div>"God" is unified personified external forces.</div><div>Science depersonifies reality.</div><div><br /></div><div>Scientists explain events as instances of laws.</div><div>They explain less general laws as instances of more general laws.</div><div>They cannot explain the most general laws.</div><div>They observe only the consensually objective aspects of reality.</div><div><br /></div><div>Individual experience is subjective.</div><div>Empirically observable phenomena are objective.</div><div>We know consciousness because we are conscious and because we observe conscious behaviour.</div><div>Consciousness is a property of some organisms but not an empirically observable property because it is the subjective experiences and objective observations of those organisms.</div><div><br /></div><div>Any empirically observable process is objective.</div><div>Therefore, no such process links objectivity to subjectivity.</div><div>Brains cause consciousness.</div><div>But, in this case, only the cause is observable.</div><div><br /></div><div>Persons are self-conscious individuals.</div><div>Self is recognized as such only by contrast with other.</div><div>Therefore, the One incorporates all persons but is not Itself a person.</div><div>It is "God" as the object of numinous and mystical experience but not as a transcendent person.</div><div><br /></div><div>Numinous experience is of an awesome presence.</div><div>Mystical experience is of inner oneness.</div><div>Visionary experience is of projected visions.</div><div>Experiences are variously interpreted.</div><div><br /></div><div>The One imagines that it is us.</div><div>We imagine the gods.</div><div>They are in us.</div><div>We are in It.</div><div><br /></div><div>All is One.</div><div><br /></div><div>(This revised version is more succinct. See<a href="https://religionphilosophy.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-one.html"> here</a>.)</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-54051220117992370162023-12-15T14:34:00.000-08:002023-12-15T14:36:22.714-08:00Subjectivity<div style="text-align: left;"> A psychophysical organism is s conscious material object.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Therefore, it is both a subject and an object of consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Consciousness generates the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Rising temperature is objective.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Feeling hotter is subjective.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Consciousness is a property of a psychophysical organism.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Therefore, it is not an independent substance.</div><div style="text-align: left;">"Soul" is objectified subjectivity.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-26295282743915283042023-10-02T14:28:00.002-07:002023-10-02T14:28:33.639-07:00The Universe And Consciousness<div style="text-align: left;">The universe becomes conscious of itself through psychophysical organisms.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Every conscious organism is both an individual self and the universal self.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Human beings usually identify with the organism or with a self-image but not with the universe.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thus, the universe becomes conscious of itself but does not realize itself.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-39013500431455020772023-09-14T08:06:00.005-07:002023-09-21T14:46:32.237-07:00Concrete Reality<div style="text-align: left;">We know other people by seeing and hearing them.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We know ourselves by being ourselves.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am not another person.</div><div style="text-align: left;">My objective knowledge of him is not his subjective knowledge of himself.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Concrete reality is every aspect of existence.</div><div style="text-align: left;">An abstraction is one or more aspects considered separately.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Empirically observable objective reality abstracts from the totality.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The totality also includes subjectivity.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Objectivity is ontologically primary.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Subjectivity is epistemologically primary.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Objectivity is an inter-subjective consensus.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Its primacy is deduced.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We know someone else as he appears to us, never as he is to himself.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is a permanent "mind-body problem."</div><div style="text-align: left;">We see both the cause and the effect in a father-son relationship but not in a brain-mind relationship.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Neuronic interactions and consciousness are causally related properties of a single organism.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-91446160404510265682023-08-27T07:37:00.002-07:002024-01-12T03:32:49.614-08:00Matter And Consciousness<div style="text-align: left;">Philosophically, "matter" is whatever pre-existed consciousness and exists independently of it.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It is not mechanically interacting particles with only quantifiable properties like mass and volume.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It is energy changing dynamically and qualitatively.</div><div style="text-align: left;">In fact, quantitative change becomes qualitative.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cause and effect can be two objects or two properties of one object.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Molecular motion causes fluidity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Molecular cohesion causes solidity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Neurally processed organismic sensitivity causes consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Neurons fire electrically and interact electrochemically.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Properties of matter include motion, fluidity, cohesion, solidity, sensitivity, electricity, electrochemistry and consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Consciousness is a qualitatively unique material property, not an immaterial substance.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Matter has become conscious.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-51448030204017144312023-07-06T06:47:00.019-07:002024-02-12T10:16:14.373-08:00The One<div style="text-align: left;">The single reality is neither homogeneous nor static but internally differentiated and dynamic.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Energised complex molecules changed randomly until one became self-replicating.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Self-replication and natural selection generated multi-cellular organisms.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Naturally selected organismic sensitivity to environmental alterations quantitatively increased until it was qualitatively transformed into conscious sensation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Increased brain complexity somehow transformed bodily sensations into perceptions of discrete objects.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The One becomes conscious of Itself by appearing to Itself as other and many, then realises its oneness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The One is present in every particle but conscious only in organisms with central nervous systems.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It knows itself as animals and human beings but not in any pre- or trans-cosmic state.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Its internal relationships are spatiotemporal and physical or psychophysical.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Gods are personified natural and social forces.</div><div style="text-align: left;">"God" is unified personified external forces.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Science depersonifies reality.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Science explains objective events as instances of laws.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It explains less general laws as instances of more general laws.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It cannot explain subjective phenomena or the most general laws.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Objectivity is an inter-subjective consensus.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Subjectivity is the unique experience of each individual conscious organism.</div><div style="text-align: left;">A sensory input causes a neural interaction which causes a sensation.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Scientists observe and describe objective inputs and interactions but not subjective sensations.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We experience consciousness and observe conscious, including linguistic, behaviour but do not observe consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Numinous experience is of an awesome presence.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Mystical experience is of inner oneness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Visionary experience is of projected visions.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Experiences can be interpreted theistically or non-theistically.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Theists personify ultimate reality.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Persons are self-conscious individuals.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Self is recognized as such only by contrast with other.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Therefore, the One incorporates all persons but is not Itself a person.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It is "God" as the object of numinous and mystical experience but not as a transcendent person.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The One imagines that it is us and we imagine the gods.</div><div style="text-align: left;">They are in us and we are in It.</div><div style="text-align: left;">All is one.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-49738343194149240992023-04-24T05:42:00.000-07:002023-04-24T05:42:05.183-07:00Three Indian Philosophical Systems<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHqmVFCfQDiTW2I7x4OGKril65m-f3b4p-KdyK3sUacCp3mED906Gr8-4S4Rxle62QJVp29y8lkz6GFv-J1uMiAAg6F0fj_fT2lQzmIGtv4V-hjsnpkYOVkDsHBiMwIy_zZR5plaNKmFR7BhmdUS-7E8E4MoUvwpj4F5w9NP4_RYIDJyEgy1VZcNtd2g" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHqmVFCfQDiTW2I7x4OGKril65m-f3b4p-KdyK3sUacCp3mED906Gr8-4S4Rxle62QJVp29y8lkz6GFv-J1uMiAAg6F0fj_fT2lQzmIGtv4V-hjsnpkYOVkDsHBiMwIy_zZR5plaNKmFR7BhmdUS-7E8E4MoUvwpj4F5w9NP4_RYIDJyEgy1VZcNtd2g" width="183" /></a></div>Vedanta: either monotheist or idealist monist meditation.<p></p><p>Yoga: soul pluralist theory and the practice of "control of thoughts."</p><p>Buddhism: <i>anatta </i>("no soul") and "emptiness" teachings and meditation.</p><p>I place these systems in reverse order in terms of their approximation to truth.</p>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-3902086699015700762023-03-16T11:32:00.002-07:002023-03-16T11:32:37.693-07:00The First Cause Argument<div style="text-align: left;"><u>The Argument</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">(1) Every event is caused.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(2) An infinite regress is impossible.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(3) Therefore, there was a first cause, which everyone calls God.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>Comments</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">(1) and (2) need to be proved.</div><div style="text-align: left;">There are uncaused events in quantum mechanics.</div><div style="text-align: left;">If every event is caused by an earlier event, then an infinite regress is not only possible but actual and there can have been no first cause which, in any case, would be a past event, not an eternal person.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-18760880246312390792022-03-16T17:08:00.000-07:002022-03-16T17:08:40.086-07:00Subjective, Intersubjective And Objective<div style="text-align: left;">Subjectively, each sighted person sees colors.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We learn words for colors when we learn to speak.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thus, we learn to recognize and respond appropriately to particular colors.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Stop at red lights; go at green lights; people with pink skin and coffee with milk in are "white."</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Intersubjectively, we agree about colors.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Grass is green; the sky is blue.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Objectively, scientific instruments detect and measure electromagnetic wavelengths.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Electromagnetic radiation causes color perceptions in sighted organisms.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Longer wavelengths correspond to red; shorter to blue.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Cause and effect exist and are not identical.</div><div style="text-align: left;">If only the objective existed, the nothing would be subjective.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Then there would be no distinction between subjective and objective.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Neurons cause consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">If only neurons existed without any effects, then there would be no consciousness. <br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-42576234668702101182022-03-01T14:06:00.005-08:002022-03-02T06:43:01.733-08:00Subjective And Objective<div style="text-align: left;">Neuronic interactions cause consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Behavior demonstrates consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">However, neither neurons nor behavior are identical with subjective experiences.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Consciousness is a relationship between subjects and objects.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It involves a qualitative difference between subjective and objective.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Nothing that is objectively observable is a subjective experience or vice versa.</div><div style="text-align: left;">An organism with a central nervous system is a subject and object of consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Each subject observes other subjects but not their experiences.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Subjective experiences are not invisible objects.</div><div style="text-align: left;">They are what it is like to be a conscious organism.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We know an organism's subjective experiences by being that organism, not by external observation.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Experience is present in each conscious organism, not elsewhere in an immaterial realm.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The relationship between objectively observable brain states and subjectively experienced mental states remains mysterious.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The relationship is not explained by reifying mental states.</div><div style="text-align: left;">To reify mental states would be either to identify them with brain states or to objectify them in an immaterial realm.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We must avoid either mechanistic reductionism or mind-body dualism.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The emergence of consciousness was a qualitative transformation.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Quantitatively increasing sensitivity was qualitatively transformed into sensation.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This created the distinction between subjective and objective.<br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-6102344629995929982022-02-04T10:16:00.003-08:002022-02-04T10:16:44.949-08:00Personification And Reification<div style="text-align: left;"> It is anthropomorphic to personify transcendence.</div><div style="text-align: left;">"God" is personification.</div><div style="text-align: left;">"The transcendent" is reification.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Transcendence is a process, not a substance.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A person is a subject-object.</div><div style="text-align: left;">"Soul" is reified subject.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Or at least, so I think.</div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-33557094491193480022022-01-17T12:52:00.000-08:002022-01-17T12:52:29.349-08:00Draft Talk On Zazen, Part III<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmXSdX0ljBQLHqQs7PFrU7jStaxky9-73IqjuAkU6QFmR9uJhabTcw6PLipDTvf20sSNLtl7h8hbnXDsDaE8AOey6Z9QhI02oUwQm3ZzHWZBycBPF_JZLYRvxjJ2dpEIR2FDCD_I50haOxdFORrfETGtpxRW7k8CfkXG1fwifNqEa8zxWWVeQ8NBc_bQ=s275" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmXSdX0ljBQLHqQs7PFrU7jStaxky9-73IqjuAkU6QFmR9uJhabTcw6PLipDTvf20sSNLtl7h8hbnXDsDaE8AOey6Z9QhI02oUwQm3ZzHWZBycBPF_JZLYRvxjJ2dpEIR2FDCD_I50haOxdFORrfETGtpxRW7k8CfkXG1fwifNqEa8zxWWVeQ8NBc_bQ" width="275" /></a></div>It might not be possible to prevent natural thoughts from arising spontaneously in the mind. However, even if this is possible, it is not what we are trying to do in zazen. Thoughts have to arise so that we can practice nonattachment to them. But it is possible:<p></p><p>to<i> think</i> that the purpose of zazen is to prevent thoughts from arising;</p><p>to <i>continue</i> to think this even when we have received instruction and have been told that it is not the case;</p><p>to practice meditation <i>while</i> misunderstanding it;</p><p>to <i>think</i> that we are failing to meditate because thoughts arise;</p><p>to <i>realize</i> that we have been mistaken about the purpose of meditation yet still to feel as if spontaneous thoughts are failures to meditate.</p><p>Maybe continued practice brings better understanding. </p>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-75635273046095317712022-01-16T05:13:00.001-08:002022-01-16T05:13:15.557-08:00Draft Talk On Zazen, Part II<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGTuEJLm6rQXY49zSBIjJy92vbd8DEkG9s4I6FymBQXOM2KTtWzUVhRS4CfSwA4BMj-evxxYP9CpPOnG_XOxhx6lFSzsIrE9E2OxBoGZaiT2d7Kx6Q_iWq7i5SxaSsdQEhyBw4jbMg-CID82Yzv0P4LMiVndBgB_tRMRWi_GzjfIliJOBq222I7ghaeg=s266" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="190" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGTuEJLm6rQXY49zSBIjJy92vbd8DEkG9s4I6FymBQXOM2KTtWzUVhRS4CfSwA4BMj-evxxYP9CpPOnG_XOxhx6lFSzsIrE9E2OxBoGZaiT2d7Kx6Q_iWq7i5SxaSsdQEhyBw4jbMg-CID82Yzv0P4LMiVndBgB_tRMRWi_GzjfIliJOBq222I7ghaeg" width="190" /></a></div>To minimize inputs, we sit in a quiet room, facing a wall. Because we want to remain awake and alert and not to go into a trance, we keep the eyes open but we see only an unchanging wall. One guy told me that he could see the quality of the light changing on the wall during evening meditation but I am not that observant. We hear silence and maybe an occasional faint background sound. However, any loud or persistent noise would interfere with meditation.<p></p><p>Practicing nonattachment to natural thoughts means:</p><div style="text-align: left;">sitting without deliberate thought;</div><div style="text-align: left;">remaining relaxed and alert; <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">noticing that a thought has arisen unbidden;</div><div style="text-align: left;">letting it come and go;</div><div style="text-align: left;">not holding onto it;</div><div style="text-align: left;">not continuing it or adding to it;</div><div style="text-align: left;">not getting caught up in it;</div><div style="text-align: left;">not trying to suppress it;</div><div style="text-align: left;">sitting with it, accepting its presence, until it passes; <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">not changing natural thought into deliberate thought. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Practicing does not mean always succeeding but does mean persevering. Most of the time, all that is present in meditation is you and your thoughts, not anything else, so why do this? If you see no point in it, then you will not do it. My job is not to tell you to do it but to say that, if you would like to approach some understanding and control of natural thought processes, then zazen might help. <br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-71096887254025436232022-01-15T11:24:00.001-08:002022-01-17T13:02:57.253-08:00Draft Talk On Zazen, Part I<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEVx7tFrkV5O3aTF0SQj1F7JThuKLeRMQhTBtrxj1nN-QMGg-dFXYVF1w-YnSB47FVR3QKQiu0VCm2JbNlOKl0brWlLMIv7NmGXZMBNRdjnm_2P4fx5JiFFxRUEj9CIfx33ja5u1mUciM8gOR0vkqedb3nREiyeOIbmsJT7Y2TnBGnPuCpPdMFdIxuGw=s267" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="189" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEVx7tFrkV5O3aTF0SQj1F7JThuKLeRMQhTBtrxj1nN-QMGg-dFXYVF1w-YnSB47FVR3QKQiu0VCm2JbNlOKl0brWlLMIv7NmGXZMBNRdjnm_2P4fx5JiFFxRUEj9CIfx33ja5u1mUciM8gOR0vkqedb3nREiyeOIbmsJT7Y2TnBGnPuCpPdMFdIxuGw=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></div>Many inner practices are called "meditation." I will speak only about zazen, just sitting meditation. I will not give instruction in the practice of zazen because I am not qualified to do that but, if anyone would like to receive instruction, then I can tell them where to go for it. You will pick up some idea of what zazen is about from what I<i> am</i> going to say. <p></p><p>Zazen is not trance, concentration, visualization, mantra or koan. It is a normal state of consciousness. We are aware of our surroundings while we meditate. If the fire alarm goes off while we are sitting for zazen, then we hear it and respond. We do not sit in a trance and burn to death. So, if zazen is ordinary consciousness, then why do we call it a meditation practice? That is the central question, to which I will return.</p><p>In every waking moment, a conscious mind receives inputs from the external world and outputs from the unconscious mind and thinks about them so here are three processes: inputs, outputs and thought. However, we must complicate the description slightly in order to differentiate between two kinds of thought. </p><p>Inputs are what we see and hear. Outputs are natural thoughts, arising spontaneously, becoming conscious, entering consciousness from unconscious memories and mental processes. When we think about inputs or outputs, that is deliberate thought. Thus, we are making a three-fold distinction not between inputs, outputs and thoughts but between inputs, outputs (which are natural thoughts) and deliberate thoughts.</p><p>In zazen, we address all three processes. We minimize inputs, practice nonattachment to outputs and temporarily suspend deliberate thought.<br /></p>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-51997191098932180912021-09-21T11:41:00.004-07:002021-09-21T11:42:53.186-07:00Stages Of Development In The Origins Of Buddhism And Christianity<div style="text-align: left;"><b>Buddhism</b> is straightforward, remaining on a single path.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">(i) Gautama seeks the way to the end of suffering.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(ii) He realizes his enlightenment, thus becoming the Buddha.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(iii) The Buddha teaches the Way and founds the Sangha.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(iv) He dies in old age.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">I have no fundamental problems with either the teaching or the practice. I accept:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">anatta (no soul);</div><div style="text-align: left;">karma (action);</div><div style="text-align: left;">good or bad consequences of either right or wrong actions;</div><div style="text-align: left;">dukkha (suffering);</div><div style="text-align: left;">mental grasping as the psychological cause of suffering;</div><div style="text-align: left;">right actions and meditation as the way to the end of suffering;</div><div style="text-align: left;">compassion.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I do not accept rebirth which looks like a hangover from Jain/Hindu reincarnation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Christianity</b> is more complicated, changing direction three times.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(i) Jesus preaches the imminence of the kingdom.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(ii) Jesus thinks that his vicarious suffering will initiate the kingdom.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(iii) He dies realizing that this approach has failed.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(iv) Peter proclaims that Jesus is risen.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(v) Paul proclaims that Jesus's death was the ultimate blood sacrifice (!)</div><div style="text-align: left;">(vi) Paul and other Apostles found churches.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">The three changes of direction:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">from Jesus preaching the kingdom to Jesus as the Suffering Servant;</div><div style="text-align: left;">from the trauma of the crucifixion to the proclamation of the resurrection;</div><div style="text-align: left;">the transition to a universal Gentile religion expecting not an imminent kingdom but a remote Second Coming.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Of (i)-(vi) above in Christianity, I sympathize only with (i) and that only in the sense that a new society and a new consciousness are <i>potentially </i>imminent<i>.</i> </div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-10640490799453069202021-04-23T05:01:00.003-07:002021-04-23T12:47:10.850-07:00Being And Consciousness<div style="text-align: left;">Being is one but internally differentiated and dynamic, not uniform or static.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It appears to itself and becomes conscious of itself through many psychophysical organisms.</div><div style="text-align: left;">However, each such organism senses or perceives only its immediate environment.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The single continuous reality generates the appearances of discrete objects and empty spaces.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Being is the universal subject of consciousness.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Psychophysical organisms are individual subjects.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Biological processes both generate and impede consciousness.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Naturally selected organismic sensitivity to environmental alterations quantitatively increased until it was qualitatively transformed into conscious sensation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thus, consciousness originated as a means to survival, not as an end in itself.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The conscious motivation of self-preservation generates the illusion of a separate self.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Illusory separation prevents realization of individual identity with the universal self.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thus, being is conscious but not fully realized.<br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-37957972463880524462020-11-02T09:41:00.002-08:002020-11-02T10:22:36.045-08:00Negative Buddhism<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRH2s_iTdeazXG8TNZjnuQQdIjhyN3j562Kv_eS08ydMWrLSgmzlX6NvvQFeLFIL8WAq5u0GziTrTeCpPzfKshMzguJTzgnLZGxdm6Ns-fdN0fQ7RuOcOZDOn95ihI7qZMRqfhaHYXrYG/s318/zazen2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRH2s_iTdeazXG8TNZjnuQQdIjhyN3j562Kv_eS08ydMWrLSgmzlX6NvvQFeLFIL8WAq5u0GziTrTeCpPzfKshMzguJTzgnLZGxdm6Ns-fdN0fQ7RuOcOZDOn95ihI7qZMRqfhaHYXrYG/w400-h200/zazen2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I practice zazen, just sitting meditation, because it seems to be the best way to address problematic thought processes. However, there is a particular version of Buddhism that I not only disagree with but intensely dislike.<p></p><p> According to that version:</p><p>A suicide and a Buddhist both aim to end suffering by ending consciousness. The suicide mistakenly thinks that it is sufficient to end the present life. The Buddhist knows (!) that it is also necessary to prevent future lives. Thus, their goal is the same. A Buddhist is merely a better informed suicide.</p><p>On this view, it seems to follow that, if more people were converted to Buddhism, then more people would practice celibacy and fewer people would be reborn. Thus, for two reasons, fewer people would be born. The end result would be a planet without any human beings living on it. A standard reply to this would be that greed, hate and delusion, which cause birth and death, are beginningless and endless. Therefore, even if some individuals cease to be reborn, the Wheel will continue to turn. Nevertheless, on this view, an ideal outcome would be the cessation of all human births.</p><p>I do not believe in rebirth and, in any case, want to see the opposite, a universe full of intelligent beings perpetually learning and creating. The Buddha, on realizing his enlightenment, did not starve himself to death or remain in solitary contemplation but, motivated by compassion, taught the Dharma for decades. Thus, there was more to his practice than just the ending of personal suffering.</p><p>Buddhism preserves a particular form of meditation which can also be found in traditions with widely variant world-views, theistic, soul pluralist etc. Therefore, it is the meditation, not the world-view, that counts.<br /></p>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-60005740749516541022020-08-31T05:01:00.001-07:002020-08-31T15:54:00.892-07:00Three Traditions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYq56OzhiMF-cbZ_tjldg0rftccwkxL1JGCH_8dm3sco3PHxDq7jUBAUejYNRCGgjAlSSxvcKRM2kGjZcUMuy8mlvwi8Xd_Fj9yp6SJN6yOP5_6-59L0r9f7ildf6w0w1hpdnnEIGbNDQU/s1600/thebuddha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="300" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYq56OzhiMF-cbZ_tjldg0rftccwkxL1JGCH_8dm3sco3PHxDq7jUBAUejYNRCGgjAlSSxvcKRM2kGjZcUMuy8mlvwi8Xd_Fj9yp6SJN6yOP5_6-59L0r9f7ildf6w0w1hpdnnEIGbNDQU/s400/thebuddha.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Paganism, Christianity and Buddhism are issues in Poul Anderson's works, e.g.:<br />
<br />
Veleda, a sibyl of the goddess;<br />
<br />
Axor, a Wodenite convert to Jerusalem Catholicism;<br />
<br />
Adzel, a Wodenite convert to Mahayana Buddhism -<br />
<br />
- so it is appropriate to say what we think about these traditions.<br />
<br />
<u>Paganism/Hinduism</u><br />
While ritually celebrating seasons, solstices and life-stages, we can refer to gods<i> and</i> recognize them as personifications, not as persons. A skeptical philosopher can share a ritual with a hard polytheist. Neither attempts to interrogate or excommunicate the other. That is a whole 'nother tradition.<br />
<br />
<u>Christianity And Other Prophetic Monotheisms</u><br />
Christianity is part of the conceptual transition between ancient and modern civilizations. In fact, monotheisms in general are transitional between polytheism and atheism although these different world-views coexist and interact. They do not mechanically succeed each other according to any conceptual scheme.<br />
<br />
<u></u>
<u>Buddhism</u><br />
The Buddha identified and addressed an inner cause of suffering, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%E1%B9%87h%C4%81">tanha</a>, </i>variously translated as "grasping" etc. Each of us can practice meditation between now and death. Spiritually, that suffices. It is not necessary to believe either that rebirth occurs or that the purpose of meditation is to end rebirth. If that were true, then the Buddhahood of all living beings would mean the end of all life on Earth. I want to see the opposite: abundant life, consciousness, understanding and creativity. This accords with Poul Anderson's preferred future for humanity: freedom and diversity.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-39218407715114809902019-10-24T07:38:00.001-07:002019-10-24T07:38:23.523-07:00Cosmic Catechism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGT6x40gsUwWm4LoYTgHTGY9aH8A9KP1gzLfsmuBKJ18g6JNvwFHvEe_uTdqWKiIZaNLFbPm7FEkKDjFINz58DMlzGSLQNDMEqJhuRM3ydJwHYX6klCEWIBoF5R7J_-7IpXPJS-8kWX_UZ/s1600/sunovermountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="310" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGT6x40gsUwWm4LoYTgHTGY9aH8A9KP1gzLfsmuBKJ18g6JNvwFHvEe_uTdqWKiIZaNLFbPm7FEkKDjFINz58DMlzGSLQNDMEqJhuRM3ydJwHYX6klCEWIBoF5R7J_-7IpXPJS-8kWX_UZ/s400/sunovermountain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>Is the Biblical deity real and, more specifically, omnipresent?</i><br />
I believe not.<br />
<br />
<i>However, are theists able to pray at any place and time?</i><br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
<i>Is the ultimate reality, whatever that is, omnipresent?</i><br />
Yes but how could it not be? Wherever anything exists, then the most basic level of reality must also exist.<br />
<br />
<i>Is it possible to reason, imagine and meditate at any place and time?</i><br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
<i>Do "gods" exist?</i><br />
Unlikely but this is an empirical question whereas there are philosophical objections to monotheism, e.g., the creator before the creation would be a self without other which is like a square without sides<i>. </i>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-27666361630136909322019-10-05T09:01:00.000-07:002019-10-05T09:02:16.085-07:00Ends And Means<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzzewcFfK8P9gzaqPPfMuOxiDV2UUks9yU_smp2VLH_FE0L905iXVHM6NPcAKUedcTo1TPBLy4siP0sDXGbJtHqi2UbhPTR7RK8VR6oD5abtTUKu2WlFkqR32RkWJdZ03OlgLAJW6tcEI/s1600/endsandmeans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqzzewcFfK8P9gzaqPPfMuOxiDV2UUks9yU_smp2VLH_FE0L905iXVHM6NPcAKUedcTo1TPBLy4siP0sDXGbJtHqi2UbhPTR7RK8VR6oD5abtTUKu2WlFkqR32RkWJdZ03OlgLAJW6tcEI/s1600/endsandmeans.jpg" /></a></div>
Consciousness began as a means to physical survival.<br />
In human beings, it also becomes either a means to psychological survival or an end in itself.<br />
Physical survival can become a means to deeper consciousness.<br />
The question of consciousness as means or end is always present.<br />
But we are often unaware of it.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-80569840244167995792019-09-30T09:53:00.000-07:002019-10-01T02:20:31.263-07:00Solipsism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtOQVv0YhU_682Ydg1spU_ItoRL7yacFaNu_7PHtGpJ9GK8vhnbPYavxQiS1dXbXt09Uyu-r_pvotpylokj2scd3PgD9p-Jrd8dbgBCesQUypqVZRPbFgQrFIf3uqzj0lB2U9tlx5h8Wf/s1600/theunpleasantprofessionofjonathanhoagmoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="170" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtOQVv0YhU_682Ydg1spU_ItoRL7yacFaNu_7PHtGpJ9GK8vhnbPYavxQiS1dXbXt09Uyu-r_pvotpylokj2scd3PgD9p-Jrd8dbgBCesQUypqVZRPbFgQrFIf3uqzj0lB2U9tlx5h8Wf/s400/theunpleasantprofessionofjonathanhoagmoon.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
The narrator of Robert Heinlein's <a href="http://logicoftimetravel.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-time-patrol-and-temporal-bureau.html">"- All You Zombies -"</a> is:<br />
<br />
a time traveler;<br />
her own parents;<br />
a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism">solipsist</a>.<br />
<br />
She calls other people "zombies" and says that they do not exist.<br />
<br />
Horse manure. She does interact with other people, not just with herself. Although her body is generated by a causal circle, it is sustained by a physical environment that is external to it, must have preexisted it and can be expected to continue existing after it, the body, has died.<br />
<br />
Solipsism is scarcely sustainable. To tell another person that you are a solipsist is to assume that that person exists. To eat is to acknowledge dependence on an external environment.<br />
<br />
Heinlein referred somewhere to "multi-person solipsism," which is a contradiction. Someone in <i>Stranger In A Strange</i> <i>Land </i>says that each of us is like a worm talking to its other end. I agree with that. The single reality is conscious of itself through each psychophysical organism. However, each discrete organism, with its distinctive memories and sense of identity, exists as part of the single reality.<br />
<br />
In the following story in <i>The Unpleasant Profession</i>..., "They," the narrator is deceived about the nature of reality but is deceived by other conscious beings. He is not alone. "They" exist and so do "zombies."<br />
<br />
He thinks:<br />
<br />
"'Self-awareness is not relational; it is absolute, and cannot be reached to be destroyed or created." (p. 146)<br />
<br />
Self-awareness ends every time we become unconscious. Self exists only in relation to other.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-61463938475448108222019-09-24T07:36:00.000-07:002019-09-24T07:42:24.554-07:00Energy And Inertia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Energy is change.<br />
Inertia is resistance to change.<br />
Every object and event is an interaction between energy and inertia. <br />
If nothing changed, then nothing would happen.<br />
<br />
If everything changed at every moment, then nothing would exist.<br />
The apparently static is in fact dynamic. <br />
Mass resists change but also is energy.<br />
One stationary object is many moving particles.<br />
<br />
Many objects are stationary on the surface of a planet which however moves through space.<br />
Organisms resist change by changing what is not themselves into themselves and vice versa.<br />
Natural selection preserves but changes species. <br />
The Red Queen runs as fast as she can to stay where she is.<br />
<br />
We stand still by walking up a down escalator.<br />
Human beings changed their environment and themselves in the process.<br />
Changing the means of production changes social relationships. <br />
In zazen, we do not change what is but see and accept it.<br />
<br />
However, someone who did not see and accept but now does has changed.<br />
<br />
See <a href="https://religionphilosophy.blogspot.com/2012/05/change-and-resisance.html">Change And Resistance</a>. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-48134220907917602822019-09-21T09:30:00.001-07:002019-09-21T10:35:40.930-07:00The Real Temple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwCF9GN_ucuH6eXQzoEa1bhfrniM4blhg7u8AF_5p2jQZT1EEdhRQyBj2XiqHDf3Y9sgwHkLh6o4N9tqmznVW4zgUN8jrNARUtLNnYqcudmcvwc8wnsUbEH-w3Xb7xOSwXo3PF_xQEH-I6/s1600/autumnleaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwCF9GN_ucuH6eXQzoEa1bhfrniM4blhg7u8AF_5p2jQZT1EEdhRQyBj2XiqHDf3Y9sgwHkLh6o4N9tqmznVW4zgUN8jrNARUtLNnYqcudmcvwc8wnsUbEH-w3Xb7xOSwXo3PF_xQEH-I6/s400/autumnleaf.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The present is the transient and the eternal.<br />
Consciousness is constant during waking life but not before or after life.<br />
Everyone alive now is always a member of the universal self.<br />
The past divides; the present unites.<br />
<br />
People leaving different places of worship see one sun.<br />
The real temple is heaven and earth.<br />
The true scripture is a blank wall.<br />
Scriptures are signposts.<br />
<br />
They point to what we see when we face a wall.<br />
Meaning is focused in words.<br />
Some philosophers called manifested reality the Word. <br />
We should stand, not kneel, because the One is within, then sit to meditate.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://religionphilosophy.blogspot.com/2016/04/one-sun-now.html">One Sun Now</a>. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-31376565421819750722019-09-09T14:20:00.002-07:002019-09-09T14:21:59.090-07:00Here And Now And The Past<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEOZ5LsULyS86sK4lXMMpPAr6FyKVP06yKJPBV5PxpC-GXrpsTMaQVmt6fq3PT8f_xZl_awmQFW4LCztTHVuZz0jvtDlQ9eZ2jooFPEiKyBXWelKvks2mfW02oTrLaGWkl92aGeOjNaKt/s1600/buddha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="272" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEOZ5LsULyS86sK4lXMMpPAr6FyKVP06yKJPBV5PxpC-GXrpsTMaQVmt6fq3PT8f_xZl_awmQFW4LCztTHVuZz0jvtDlQ9eZ2jooFPEiKyBXWelKvks2mfW02oTrLaGWkl92aGeOjNaKt/s400/buddha.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
We live here and now but must <i>practice</i> living here and now by "just sitting."<br />
<br />
In my experience, contemplative Zen monks are here and now whereas dogmatic Jesuit priests are past.<br />
<br />
It is necessary to sit with and let go of disagreeable memories.<br />
<br />
Some individuals, still alive, might also practice living here and now by this or other means.<br />
<br />
However, their attitudes remain in my past which unfortunately still makes itself present.<br />
<br />
It might be possible to meet here and now but the past is an obstacle that we would have been better without.<br />
<br />
"My intention is, beloved Mother, to thank the almighty giver of all goods for the superabundant graces with which he has enriched thy noble heart."<br />
<br />
It is not. And you cannot answer for the beliefs of the man.<br />
<br />
(Imagine reading that out to hundreds of teenagers every morning.)paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543189930515571594.post-61708370540137520062019-09-05T01:07:00.000-07:002019-09-05T01:07:25.733-07:00Marx And Engels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOE9JnjJCbCfq6Ow0qi-61gy2MZGHBnxwZa4VR2DjVuPIp_IRH8c0zUy5342R6APbGtVfgSvqpj63JmzYeo-KgMqh7xx25BbOqECSZp2UT4zbdf1wOO0vhERxKt0cGDcRQ0hGMYJCqFoeO/s1600/marxandengels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="304" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOE9JnjJCbCfq6Ow0qi-61gy2MZGHBnxwZa4VR2DjVuPIp_IRH8c0zUy5342R6APbGtVfgSvqpj63JmzYeo-KgMqh7xx25BbOqECSZp2UT4zbdf1wOO0vhERxKt0cGDcRQ0hGMYJCqFoeO/s400/marxandengels.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Marx and Engels were encyclopedic writers on every subject, learning from historical events during their life-times. They learned that something they had written in the Manifesto was wrong but it had become a historical document that they had no right to change. However, they added multiple prefaces to later editions.<br />
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Marx studied the classical political economists and explained the declining rate of profit. He clarifies exploitation and alienation whereas conventional economists mystify labor-capital interactions.<br />
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Engels funded Marx's research and wrote <i>The Dialectics Of Nature</i>, "The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man" and <i>The Origins Of The Family, Private Property And The State</i>.<br />
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They did not reduce consciousness to mechanical interactions but explained it as arising from qualitative transformations. They did not dismiss religion as a hoax or mistake but explained it as expressing the deepest contradictions in human experience.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com3