Begin by an illustration of Kant’s synthesis of empiricism and idealism. Continue by illustrating Hegel’s using synthesis to bootstrap human consciousness to itself Pause to explain the phenotype of BPD[I] esp black/white thinking. Pause to describe the rise of cog-behavioural therapies and their rise out of mindfulness. Describe the addition of D of DBT[II] into the CBT[III] mix. Elaborate using...
[Editor: This is already dated. And contains real problems, but those lie outside the scope of intent for readership so ok. The point is more how to guide an introduction to something which people are willing to understand, but can’t imagine doing so without condensation. [most people should rather admit to knowing as much about .., as about devas]] B/s: Explain how we need wisdom for seeing...
Editorial notes: This essay appears in two versions, the first documented as a draft in Shai’s A BASHFUL HOPE blog (see For the Complexed (v1)) and another version found as a Google Document. The two versions have a similar structure but somewhat different content and the version showing here has been adapted to merge the two versions to form a more complete version of this document. It...
Editorial notes: This essay was not made available (published) in the original blog and is visibly incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 12/12/2016. This essay appears in two versions, the first documented here, and the second, For the Complexed (v2), recovered from Shai’s Google Drive as a set of a four-part series. The two versions have a similar...
Read a biography of Descartes and re-read his Discourse[I] (I’d already read his Methods and excerpts from his scientific slog – optics and harmonics, ergh). So how do I feel about this famous Frenchman, the so-called father of modern philosophy? Philosophy-wise, not that much. His real contribution was to abandon the scholastic philosophy that had been the sole academic curriculum for the...
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 27/09/2016 Hint: To properly appreciate this essay, explore the links. They add another dimension into the message Shai wanted to convey. The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there...
I have spent a few months engaging myself in a regular study and consideration of Buddhism. My schedule now calls for me to move onto other studies, which makes this a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned, how I’ve learned it, the methods I used, and the advice I would give myself or another interested in a similar venture. My introduction to Buddhism began with an interest in...
The Pali cannon (MN 36) tells the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Before his liberation, the to-be Buddha tortured himself by emaciating himself and restricting his breathing, in his search for ultimate liberation. Past masters had failed him in his ultimate quest, and so he strived to find his own way. But when these efforts bore him to fruits, he considered that not all that is...
Emotions are a central concept in Western psychology and its language for introspection. The definition of “emotion” is nebulous, incorporating and alluding to a range of phenomenon, and yet it is an extremely powerful category for defining and referring to the human experience. Buddhism has a deeply and long developed model for describing, identifying, and deconstructing mental...
Setting: Aristotle (the philosopher) and Alexander (the young, one day to be ‘the great’) are walking home from a speech by Protagoras the sophist. Alexander: Are the words of Protagoras true; that the ways of men are whimsical and at the mercy of the winds? Or perhaps it is true that man is the puppet of his soul? Aristotle: What a fine question young Alexander. The Oracle of Apollo...
