Is Vs “Is”

Posted on November 16, 2008
Filed Under General Thoughts |

““Is”, “is.” “is” — the idiocy of the word haunts me. If it were abolished, human thought might begin to make sense. I don’t know what anything “is”; I only know how it seems to me at this moment.” - Robert Anton Wilson

And on continues my battle with ways of figuring what is real Vs what is perceived. Go down the rabbit hole of epistemology, and I suspect you’ll never be the same again.

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9 Responses to “Is Vs “Is””

  1. Halalhippie on November 16th, 2008 11:02 pm

    hehe… da Drima in for a severe headache. Ever read “Zen and the art of motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig ? try to define “quality”.

  2. Howie on November 17th, 2008 1:33 am

    Hippie-

    Another take…

    I am in the psychology world…we tend to hate math…Before one very difficult statistics course, the professor made us read Zen and the Art of Moto. Main. It turned out to be a stroke of genius, at least for me. It probably is among the top 10 books that impacted my life…but that is another topic.

    Drima-

    So what is Truth, eh? Ahhh…a problem Drima. This is part of why we have Misnah, Talmud, Sura, Hadith, church canons etc etc etc. This is why you go to a lawyer and you ask about a law and he will typically say “my opinion…or my interpretation”…

    In spite of what many religious and hardcore atheists etc. teach us…most things in life fall on a spectrum…a bell shape curve.

    Do you think you understand something simple like “thou shall not lie”…”thou shall not murder”…

    Open that to debate and you will see a million viewpoints here…Don’t lie? What if a kidnapper has a knife to your throat and wants to know where he can find your family. How about a janjaweed asking about your little sister?…Don’t steal…what if your kids are dying of hunger and you see an unguarded loaf of bread? Oh we could go on and on…

    Talk to two people long enough on ANY subject and ultimately there will be differences in viewpoint, perception, belief and then these will not be static position…

    I still think my favorite philosopher was Socrates…how do we really know anything?

    I like an American expression that tells it all:

    “What do I believe? I believe I’ll have another beer”.

    Gotta love us don’t you?

  3. Drima on November 17th, 2008 2:20 am

    A few friends recommended “Zen and the art of motorcycle Maintenance” to me also. Apparently, it’s proposing that reason is powerful but inadequate for fining the Truth?

    Either way, after now hearing you two talking about it, I’m gonna give it a go!

    And lol @

    “What do I believe? I believe I’ll have another beer”.

    Hehe.

  4. Howie on November 17th, 2008 4:07 am

    Drima…

    I read it around 1979…but from what I recall…the main point was, no matter what is happening…be in the moment…not in memories, not in worries about the future…not in the constant noise static that is in your head…not in worrying and internal problem-solving…but to PAY ATTENTION…even if you are just repairing a motorcycle or doing a mundane task…

    It is pretty common Hindu, Bhuddist type of stuff…but however you cut it…it is good advice. Most of us sleepwalk through life

  5. Abu Sa'ar on November 17th, 2008 8:50 am

    There is an is, to the best of Racoonish thinking :)

    With our limited senses, alas, we are incapable of perceiving the world as is; the pathetic 5 senses and limited computational abilities of humans (and even Raccoons) are simply not enough. We can tell the shape of what is by the ripples and side-effects of its existence. We can grasp it with our feeble minds by abstracting it into mathematics.

    The underlying structure of being seems to have no purpose, however, nor an effect upon morality, interactions between humans, etc. It just… is. What’s Sharia to a Hadron? What’s the importance of a soul to a Photon?

    Did you ever read Heinlein’s “The Moon is a harsh mistress”? Good book, tackles many issues you seem to be pondering in interesting ways.

    And ZatAoMM is a good book. I liked. Good messages. Zen for roundeyes :)

    Better still are the Koans of Eris:
    “All the world can tell a dragon from a snake…
    but you cannot fool a Zen monk!”

  6. Peter on November 17th, 2008 2:17 pm

    Hi Drima

    Epistemology is a difficult topic for a layman like me. I just find it obvious, that science and philosophy are the authoritative sources of knowledge - not religion.
    You might find Stephen Laws new post on epistemology interesting. I checked him out after he once commented on your blog.

    http://stephenlaw.blogspot.com/2008/11/god-knowing-without-evidence.html

  7. Halalhippie on November 18th, 2008 9:03 pm

    Howie: glad you’re with me. I read the book about the same time. Discussed it with a friend, went out to fix his carburator at 4 a.m. starry high :-) And it worked. To this day I don’t remember what I did.
    Be in the moment.

  8. Howie on November 18th, 2008 9:48 pm

    Halalhippie-

    “Howie: glad you’re with me.”

    You mean on the beer thing? Yeah…great philosophy.

    ;)

  9. thirdeyepupilsmitter on November 19th, 2008 4:17 pm

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    go to this playlist and watch this amazing netfilm
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8910343939567696

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