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 23/01/2016. Perspective of samma ditthi[I] Right view is an achievement of comprehension, regarding the nature of experience. It is the answer to the question, “What is reality”, and also “What is the...
Walking towards a right refuge
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 15/01/2016 To motivate oneself consistently to walk the eightfold path it may not be enough to pursue its truths since those truths may not be fully intuited before certain liberations. Tradition recommends that a follower...
On The Apology of Socrates
The title is a quirk of etymology, having been born in the Greek courts, spread through the early Chrisitan’s spiritual and philosophical defences, and ended up meaning something like a “regretted guilt”. Not so here. I prefer the alternative title: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Socrates voices by Plato On one hand, this is a document. On one hand, this is a story. On...
First taste of kasina
Editorial notes: Shai starts his seventh blog, entitled “The Traveller is the Journey“. This blog represents the entry point into the third major phase in Shai’s journey. Having previously dedicated substantial research effort to reviewing and documenting the great philosophical minds of the West, he now commences his exploration of the wisdom of East, in particular the mystical aspects of the...
Thomas More – Utopia
Journal: Even before finishing this book[I] I felt underwhelmed. First, it was too easy, as if any text from the 15th century needed to be difficult. Difficult because it should be foreign. And difficult because of one pre-existing standard for the text’s mould: Plato’s Republic. Essay: Before, I had categorized this book as a combination of Plato and Swift[II]. And so after, my...
Hegel on “Spirit”
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 15/11/2014 I have been reading Charles Taylor’s book “Hegel” and his discussion on the Phenomenology of Spirit on “Spirit”. What follows are notes on my reading, and my reaction to...
Notes on Taylor’s “Hegel” IV Spirit
————————————————- Ch.6. “THE FORMATION OF SPIRIT”[I] ————————————————- We are entering the domain of Geist, which is later aka “objective spirit” {in the Encyclopedia?}. It concerns...
Reading Hegel on “Lust”
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 29/10/2014 This is an element in the chapter “Reason”, which I have already explored as a whole, but within which I am now focusing on a single concept to be found in C.AA. “Reason” V. “The...
Thinking about Hegel’s “Reason”
The significance of Reason was not immediately apparent for me. At first it seemed no different, except by semantic quibbles, from thought. In retrospect this occurred because when I scrutinized what would be a mind that self-defined as Reason, what I was actually considering was a rational mind. And a rational mind could be just a thinking mind whose thoughts all conformed to some (logical) set...
Hegel on “Reason”
A summary of Phenomenology of Spirit (by Hegel) on Reason. This chapter describes the ongoing evolution of a consciousness that knows that it itself and its experiences are both explicable by, and manifestations of, reason. This has existential and practical implications, and leads consciousness to prove its assumptions: testing science, desire and ethics, and its relation to society.