Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Economic Bubbles/Wealth Effect

Great Depression/Renaissance-The Great Expression!...

Mylai/malaise/melee/Malay

Group Evil/Vietnam/Nazism

Red Scare/Satanism/War on Drugs/Terror

Government Subsidization

1:42 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

On the Progression of Our Current State
Category: Religion and Philosophy

There can never be true progress when nations and kingdoms and peoples are divided; for when the races are divided then subdivisions come, and classes and parties also become divided. The same spirit of destruction is at work all the time, and even families become separated. Unity seems to be rooted out from the hearts of men. Examples are not necessary; those who will notice it can see this state of humanity, this condition of life, all over the world.

11:27 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Universal Sufism
Category: Religion and Philosophy

For the chosen people,

Hazrat Inayat Khan set forth ten thoughts, which form the basic creed of Universal Sufism:

1. There is one God the Eternal, the Only Being, None exists save God.
2. There is one Master the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers toward the Light.
3. There is one Holy Book the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only Scripture that can enlighten the reader.
4. There is one Religion the unswerving progress in the right direction, toward the Ideal, which fulfills the life's purpose of every soul.
5. There is one Law the Law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6. There is one Family the Human Family, which unites the Children of Earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
7. There is one Moral Principle the Love which springs forth from a willing heart, surrendered in service to God and Humanity, and which blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8. There is one Object of Praise the Beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects, from the seen to the unseen.
9. There is one Truth the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of Wisdom.
10. There is one Path the effacement of the limited self in the Unlimited, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all Perfection.

For we are the children of the voice.

9:57 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Madness and Reason
Current mood: amused
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

A. Consciousness

I. Sense-certainty

II. Perception

III. Force and the Understanding

B. Self-consciousness

IV. The Truth of Self-certainty

A. Independence and dependence of self-consciousness: lordship and bondage.

B. Freedom of self-consciousness: stoicism, scepticism, and the unhappy consciousness.

C. (AA.) Reason

V. The Certainty and Truth of Reason

A. Observing reason

B. The actualization of rational self-consciousness through its own activity.

C. Individuality which takes itself to be real in and for itself.

(BB.) Spirit

VI. Spirit

A. The true Spirit. The ethical order.

B. Self-alienated Spirit. Culture.

C. Spirit that is certain of itself. Morality.

(CC.) Religion

VII. Religion

A. Natural religion

B. Religion in the form of art.

C. The revealed religion.

(DD.) Absolute Knowing

VIII. Absolute Knowing...

1:15 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

ObsessiveObsessiveBoredomObsessiveObsessiveObsess
Current mood: curious
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Hegel's work Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807) is called The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind in English; the German word Geist has connotations of both spirit and mind in English. It is one of Hegel's most important philosophical works; he himself regarded it as the foundation of his later works. It explores the nature and development of mind/spirit, showing how it evolves through a process of internal contradiction and development from the most primitive aspect of sense-perception through all of the forms of subjective and objective mind, including art, religion, and philosophy, to absolute knowledge that comprehends this entire developmental process as part of itself. Thus it also lays out an entire system of metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy.

The master and slave relationship was much discussed in the 20th century, especially because of its connection to Karl Marx's conception of class struggle as the motive force of social development. This idea also provided the inspiration for Søren Kierkegaard's conception of the God sinful bondsman relationship and for Friedrich Nietzsche's master-slave morality. One of Hegel's most influential interpreters, Alexandre Kojève, argued that Hegel's intentions were to illustrate that overcoming the fear of death was the only way to achieve true freedom. This was not actually stated by Hegel (in truth at points in this work he makes a direct argument against the use of force as the manner in which history develops). The most recent work that uses this argument is Francis Fukuyama's, The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama admits in the work that his understanding of Hegel is mostly Kojèvian, in particular his conception of the end of history as an ultimate stage of history, while it is, according to Georg Lukacs' interpretation, not a transcendent end but an aim immanent to the never-ending process.

1:09 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

!!!
Category: Life

"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection."

"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher. "

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."

"Guilt, as experienced in Western culture, is connected with hopelessness and discouragement and is past-oriented. Genuine remorse, however, is a healthy state of mind--it is future-oriented, connected with hope, and causes us to act, to change." -Dalai Lama

12:34 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

321/050706/5310634
Current mood: curious
Category: Religion and Philosophy

2453887.34777/the 31st of May, I turn 30, my nephew turns 4.  My brother is 33.  Numbers and their symbolisms keep me up at night. The 'holy trinity' of all logic. The un-common denominators of known existence and the common of the un-known.  Hebrew alpha-numerics / Chinese pictograms. The inter-twined synergies in all things. Keys to the sub-conscious.  There are only two events, Analysis and Synthesis.  My dialectics are in absolution...tired, pacing feet...static headache...trailing, spontaneous thoughts, endless inspiration, everything seems brighter and new...insomnia, paranoia, symptomology...is this a six month manifested manic episode or ascension to a higher level of consciousness...so many questions...only two variables...only one value...

1:03 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

On Passive Consumerism
Category: News and Politics

Passive consumers are the cash cow for the modern corporate business skeleton. Through decades of propaganda, marketing has succeeded in dumbing the American consumer into wanting crap they do not need. An active participant will know what they want, why they want it, and where their money goes.  Follow the money to the head of the snake and chop it down.  This has gone on long enough to force the marketing industry into polishing turds and psychological warfare.  Out of how many dissatisfied customers complain enough to become satisfied?  The large amount that do not are simply giving away free money.  The target market for cell phone companies is 7 to 10 year olds.  How many will complain if a function doesn't work properly?  Starbucks has warped an ancient and beautiful language to sell to these same consumers.  Only there can you buy a macchiato and get a latte.  Half-assed engineers, lagging test-market, hell the only people doing a good job here is the marketing field.  Its just to bad all that pretty advertising is pure bullshit. We are the people of the LIE. Slap 'Gourmet' on the name, raise the price to a comfortable suffix .95 or .99 and everybody wants it.  I see the corporate framework has become a form of cannabalism.  Only here can I lose sleep over the fact that hurricane torn New Orleans gave just cause for Prudential life insurance to put millions of dollars into ADVERTISING! I could rant about this shit for days.... more to come... head.. spinning

12:26 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment