tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post8040866844789568376..comments2023-05-24T23:33:57.516+10:00Comments on My Unwelcome Stranger: An hour in the life...Denis Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-15224801374853648702011-07-01T10:15:30.121+10:002011-07-01T10:15:30.121+10:00That's exactly what I've always said to pe...That's exactly what I've always said to people about John Wren-Lewis. One of the reasons I find him so inspiring is that he was a "Richard Dawkins type" before his experience, so he didn't come with all the mystical/religious terminology. He described his state in his own words, and since he was a scientist himself, a mathematical physicist, he had a very good command of very precise language and was very eloquent.<br /><br />I hope you've had the opportunity to listen to the interview, as if you like Koestler for the reasons you say, you will like JWL.<br /><br />I believe one of the problems with the philosophers, specifically Stephen Katz, is that they have never had a non-ordinary experience themselves, have never done the necessary research into mystical experience, and know no one whom they respect who has had one, and hence they are left with pure logic alone to construct their theories. <br /><br />Certainly, in today's zietgeist when we think that consciousness is tied up with language and experience, the concept of pure consciousness makes no sense at all. This basically was Katz's position, and he was a major mover and shaker in the philosophy of mysticism. I see him lurking behind so many discussions on consciousness and mysticism.<br /><br />Enough. Enjoy JWL.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-18628082012828779432011-06-30T23:21:36.870+10:002011-06-30T23:21:36.870+10:00Koestler's description is all the more interes...Koestler's description is all the more interesting as he's not a religious person, but is describing a mystical experience that religious people would describe in their terms The same experience would be looked on as different but it's only the words that would be. And yes, Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey has a beautiful description of the same thing. So I am certain that it's the philosophers who have the problem, and purely with the terminology, if the mystical state isn't confused by sensory additions, such as Joan of Arc may have added.<br /><br />Yes, all this is on my To Do list! All in good time.....Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-73293251568267365132011-06-27T10:50:09.605+10:002011-06-27T10:50:09.605+10:00C'mon Google, I haven't finished yet.
To ...C'mon Google, I haven't finished yet.<br /><br />To start again, Koester's description is delightful. When writers talk about such experiences, they can nearly create them in the reader. When ordinary people talk or write about them, they can be muddled and vague, making it hard for the listener/reader to find the common thread amongst them all.<br /><br />The accounts I like the best usually come from heavily edited accounts, such as those in The Three Pillars of Zen, from poets such as Wordsworth, and from highly educated and articulate people such as John Wren-Lewis.<br /><br />However, I've listened and read so many accounts, that I am beginning to appreciate the uniqueness of each one and how tangled up with each personality such experiences can be. This has led some philosophers to conclude that the experiences are all different and are culturally determined and conditioned. I find two commonalities in all accounts, the main one being the loss of the sense of a limited, separate self and ego, and the other the loss of the fear of death.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-34664582832420250022011-06-27T10:44:38.568+10:002011-06-27T10:44:38.568+10:00Koester's descriptionKoester's descriptionJoanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-83871710235577318662011-06-25T01:33:49.173+10:002011-06-25T01:33:49.173+10:00Rather like medical conditions, things can seem ve...Rather like medical conditions, things can seem very alike but simultaneously unique. I really can't imagine being able to explain much of this to anyone else. I was pleased to be able to come across the very excerpt from Arthur Koestler's autobiography _The Invisible Writing_ which puts into words exactly what you are commenting on. It's here <br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/65ndkff <br /><br />though you may need to copy and paste that URL. The excerpt is short.<br /><br />I better go to bed as I can feel all the signs that I must now sleep. One way or another I will come back to this if I can.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-91764104487268571872011-06-24T11:51:17.300+10:002011-06-24T11:51:17.300+10:00It's my understanding that it's not uncomm...It's my understanding that it's not uncommon for people facing a major life crisis to experience an altered state of consciousness in which the situation is understood quite differently than we normally understand it. I haven't tested this on my own experience except in minor ways, and yes, I found myself in quite an altered state in which I was able to perform what seem to me now to be miracles.<br /><br />Surely, Denis, you have been tested many times over the last 560+ days.<br /><br />As for religious beliefs and philosopical approaches, I wonder if it depends on how deep the convictions or experiences go, or how deep the understand is. Perhaps sometimes these things sit on the level of the conscious mind as concepts, and they can be blown away by fairly minor events.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-58982564668696140762011-06-23T17:19:55.283+10:002011-06-23T17:19:55.283+10:00I suspect the moment we think we're doing bett...I suspect the moment we think we're doing better than average, we'll get some sort of jolt to remind us it isn't always the case. A friend of mine who occasionally reads this blog said that her experience was that when the pressure is really on (i.e., in a personal crisis) it didn't really matter what their religious or philosophical background - they still fell apart - or ended up coping - in pretty much the same way. Too big a generalisation for me to make, but I suspect there's truth in it. Some things in human programming go deeper than rational thought or even of irrational ideas.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-13521246035393416622011-06-22T12:39:29.378+10:002011-06-22T12:39:29.378+10:00You're doing far better than I am. After over...You're doing far better than I am. After over 40 years of involvement with this stuff -- yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, and study of Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese texts, I am having to face up to the reality that I know very very little, and the little I feel I have grasped, is a few specks of dust on the wind.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-24116893039730707702011-06-21T11:08:43.225+10:002011-06-21T11:08:43.225+10:00Ii the circumstances, classical Qigong would be fr...Ii the circumstances, classical Qigong would be frustrating, but what I do overall is fitting the bill. I'm waiting for nicer, non-windy days to go walking outside, but when you think about it, there are so many things that can be done indoors, adapted to what's possible for me and the damage to brain function. I do believe that I'm applying principles that work. When the problem is fundamentally neural and not something a physiotherapist can deal with purely by manipulation, the other elements need to be added by me. I think I'm fortunate to have a half century of Asian philosophy behind me to deal with some aspects of this.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-15641701791829611852011-06-19T11:50:34.565+10:002011-06-19T11:50:34.565+10:00Geez, move over Arnold Schwartzeneggar. And I thou...Geez, move over Arnold Schwartzeneggar. And I thought I was exemplary in daily exercise. I should try the pushups against the door frame. I could use a few triceps.<br /><br />I keep wondering if Qigong would help, too, but you probably couldn't squeeze in another regime of body movement. I have a good gigong DVD. Just say the word and I'll make a copy for you.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-26583251516796576182011-06-18T17:09:54.897+10:002011-06-18T17:09:54.897+10:00Everyone has to contemplate these things, even if ...Everyone has to contemplate these things, even if they don't realise that. And if they are strong now,they won't be, without paying the sort of attention you are to keeping your body functioning at its best. As the present painful twinge in my shouderblade reminds me, and the sore muscles where the physio worked on it yesterday, I have once again taken my body for granted not moved, stretched and strengthened it in the optimum way each day. (though pushing a combi van uphill in a soggy paddock may have had something to do with it too!) Your perseverence is inspirational, and the very reason you have managed that 563 (spooky, that's a weird year) days so comparatively well.Juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03796734273732243982noreply@blogger.com