September 2010
15 posts
“am nothing I shall always be nothing I cannot wish to be anything. Aside from that, I have within me all the dreams of the world.
Fernando Pessoa” —Fernando Pessoa poetry and philosophy: english translation of Tobacco Kiosk
Fernando Pessoa” —Fernando Pessoa poetry and philosophy: english translation of Tobacco Kiosk
“The absolute affirms itself through its own self negation.”
—Nishida Kitaro quotes
“
Only Breath
Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion
…or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any
origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.
- Rumi
(via azultierra)
"The mind is just the Brain"
From an interview by Bill moyers, asking neuro-philosopher Patricia Churchland this question:
Bill moyers -
(refering to previous question) What did that do to religious philosophers to write about god breathing into the clay, this spirit of life…the soul of life. The religious idea of the soul, do you think that this is just a methaphore?
Patricia Churchland -
“I don’t think it can be accurate. And even talking about god breathing life into something, now we know of course that life is not like that either. That life, also, is a function of the organization of matter. People used to be vitalists, and they used to say there is a “living force”, there is the “life force” and if you wanted to explain the difference between living things, like us, and dead things like rocks and pieces of concrete, then you had to do it in the terms of “life force”. Now we know that’s not… since Watson and Crick discovered the DNA and since molecular biology has proceeded, it is very clear that that is not the correct explanation of living things, what is the correct explanation has to do with the organization of very complex molecules, proteins and so on…
I think a similar thing is likely to be the case with regard to the mind and the barin. There is no special thing in the mind, the mind just IS the brain.”
“Every day my mind is on disarray, and I repent. Don’t seek gain. Don’t seek fame. Don’t seek academic pursuits. Don’t seek to satisfy the desires of the senses. Simply be diligent in the pursuit of the Way. - Nishida Kitaro in his Diary”
—Anyara-Aphorisms - Nishida Kitaro
