Inspiring or Helpful Philosophy and Spirituality

[_Philo Sofee]

More Book of Mormon stories...

AHA! That looks like the battlefield of Kuruksetra.......Bhagavad Gita isn't it? I probably muffed the spelling of the battlefield, silly me. This just shows the Book of Abraham is true and the Book of Isaac is still hiddeon on scrolls in India perhaps in a stone box underground, who can say?

[_Amore]

First, they came for tea and I said nothing
Then they came for coffee and I was silent
Then they came for mocha and I did not speak
Then expresso ice cream and I said what the heck.
-- Rabbi Penguinstock, Congregation Beth Nom

:)
You know, one ingredient in some anti-depressants is caffeine. Generally, I feel good and productive after a cup of Joe. And at the coffee meet-ups, we can all talk faster and get more in, within a shorter time. ;)

[_Amore]

Over the decade+ of journeying outside of Mormonism, my lived version of wisdom seeking draws from a few sources. Most notably are the main stoic writers: Epictetus, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Seneca the Younger. From them, I find something that has the same centering effect that I had sought and found in scripture...

I found there are a lot of parallels available in Confucius...

Striped back from this, finding the middle way while at the same time seeking excellence, right action, and pursuing knowledge of and appreciation for the good, beautiful and true find echoes in many, many other writings. The idea of duty in the Gita appeals to me, for example, if I clearly make it something it isn't exactly in Hinduism.

For example, one of the many gems I appreciate from Epictetus, since you asked for specifics, is this one:

“What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.” -Epictetus, Discourses, Book II, ch. 17

This reminds me of the following zen story -

A well known professor went to visit a Zen master. As the master gracefully served tea, the professor described his ideas of Zen. The master remained quiet as the professor spoke, continuing to pour.
When the tea reached the brim of the cup, the Zen master kept pouring. The tea overflowed, spilling onto the tray, the table, and the carpet, until the professor could no longer stand it.

“Stop!” he said. “Can’t you see the cup is full?”

“This is you,” said the master, pointing to the cup. “How can I show you Zen, until you first empty your cup?”

That one is from the collection of stories, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

As words, they are empty. As beliefs about how other people should behave, they are worse than worthless. As a reminder to myself that learning comes from being receptive to the opportunity in every moment to learn, they are essential. And yet I find if I don't remind myself of them frequently, I forget the lesson in them. It's so easy to do that. Something I find myself coming back to since leaving the LDS church is that getting too far away from seeking those reminders is detrimental to my being able to live with necessary humility which kinda sucks but is proven to be essential. I'm not quite sure why it is, to be honest. But it seems that seeking is essential to being able to not get too caught up in one's own importance and then losing perspective in ways that cause damage. That's been my experience so far, anyway.

Thanks for more to think about.
I made a chronological list of philosophers I’m interested in or who are popular and recently added Epictetus (about 100 AD). Isn’t it strange how there are big gaps in time - like between Christ and Thomas Aquinas... there’s mainly just Epictetus, St. Agustine (600 AD) & Muhammad (630 AD). Crusades - both Christian and Muslim may be partly why there were less philosophical contributions during that time.

So far, Confucius is the only one with politics as the focus. He is credited with this common quote: “Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

I like what you mentioned about the middle way while striving for excellence. It seems that the most ideal wisdom involves balance, harmony, like “doing this, while also doing that.” The serenity prayer is an example.

The Gita sounds familiar. Will you summarize it?

Nice story and analogy about the tea. Although I tend to prefer mindful meditation or processing thoughts/emotions, I also have experienced peace in stillness, and the need to listen more and speak less.

True that lessons are easily forgotten - maybe there is some good in LDS vain repetitions. But also as I develop, one thing that fed me spiritually/emotionally 10 years ago, doesn’t now.

[_Amore]

I've been trying to stay on a daily reading regimen and when I do this systematically, I rediscover one of the most important truths for me personally.

Of the somewhat, perhaps few thousand books I will read, and the very few, perhaps merely a dozen I will really remember and grasp, considered against the fact that there are well over a billion books I WILL NEVER READ, NOR WILL ANY OTHER HUMAN BEING, our reality is sincerely and truly 99.9% total ignorance. That's depressing beyond description, yet spiritually uplifting in a way. It means for real truth, we turn inward, as Jesus said, The Kingdom of God is within you. He said something similar to Luke here in the Gospel of Thomas. Real truth will not be found outside, but inside. Weird, but the older I get, I believe I catch fleeting glimpses of this possibility...

This makes sense too, because the more you read, the more a recognition occurs within your breast that everything you are reading is simply someone's interpretation of things. And interpretations are not truth, but suggestions, ideas to mull over, etc. The real truth is not "out there," It's in here.

Joseph Campbell in his lectures on the Kundalini noted that the problem with the West is we literalized and concretized the symbols which are meant to help us become transparent to transcendence. When the scripture says Jesus ascended to heaven, it was not meant as a literal body ascension into the sky, which is truly silly and impossible. It meant he transcended his own limited knowledge and one way is through the rising of the serpent inside us, up the higher level chakras. The ascension is within us. That is the Kingdom of God Jesus could have been alluding to. The historicists of the organized religions have really done us a disservice in making the symbolic into the historical and literal. That is not where true spirituality, and hence true and real knowledge is to be had. The longer I live, the more sense this all makes, weirdly enough.

Yeah, I see it similarly.
Before internet, I’d go to the library and get a stack of books I could barely carry. Now, in this too-much-information age, I feel like I’ll never read or learn all that’s out there.

Yet, as you explained, it’s really more internal - it’s how you see the wisdom to find it, and then apply it. I occasionally read or post on a philosophy forum and at times, others have this obsession with logic & whether an argument is formulated right. But to me, that’s a waste of time. The real reason to argue or discuss is to improve conditions - to learn, help etc.

“Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.” - Epicurus

Your explanation of Christian symbolism reminds me of Fowler’s stage 5. Are you familiar with it? http://www.psychologycharts.com/james-f ... faith.html. It seems so simple but it feels like uncharted territory. Another book I have, discusses many stages which might fit between Fowler’s stages 5 & 6. Up to stage 4 is intellectual - but 5 begins to look more inward. And within, there’s also an enormous amount to learn!

[_Amore]

"We're not here for a long time...we're here for a good time!" (Huey Lewis & The News)

I like it!
Sometimes I exercise to one of their songs, “The power of love is a curious thing make a one man weep, make another man sing.”

[_Meadowchik]

I’ve been going through philosophers’ quotes, searching for pearls of wisdom. Carl Jung (not really philosopher but a good thinker), explained how he didn’t see a dividing line between psychology (study of the soul) & spirituality. I feel similarly about philosophy, but only in regard to what Epicurus noted...

“Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.”

Please share ideas from spiritual sources or philosophy, which you found to be inspiring or helpful.

That I am valuable. If anything, my existence is valuable to myself. Thus, I have a valid working premise upon which to build. This, by extension, results in valuing others and provides a framework for moral living.

[_I have a question]

“If at first you don’t succeed, sack it off and go for a beer.”

[_Physics Guy]

The Bhagavad Gita has one of the most awesome beginnings ever written. In an era when archers in chariots were the top military unit, two sides in a bitter civil war are about to join battle. One side's great warrior Arjuna suddenly orders his chariot driver to take him out into No Man's Land and just park there between the two armies.

Arjuna can't bear to fight. There are friends and family on both sides. The chariot driver explains to Arjuna why he still has to fight. The explanation is a long sermon that makes up most of the text.

The Bhagavad Gita is set within an enormously long epic story, the rest of which does not count as Scripture, but which is so epic that God incarnate is just one of the characters. He goes by the name of Krishna and works as a driver. So the chariot driver who explains to Arjuna why he has to fight even against his own family is literally God—that part's not allegorical—but this one chunk in the middle of the epic counts as Scripture because it makes the civil war of the longer epic into an allegory for every person's moral struggle against their own baser side. The insight that in the struggle between good and evil we are all on both sides at once is just the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita.

As to whether it gets even better, or starts out great and then goes downhill, your own mileage my vary. I find some passages inspiring but for me it peters out when Krishna starts going on and on about ritual details. The beginning, though, is pretty darn hard to beat.

[_moksha]

So the chariot driver [Krishna] who explains to Arjuna ...

"Know then Arjuna that in ages hence, a powerful wizard will arise in Orem, who will lead an army of tapirs as heralds for the great Ganesha. Ganesha will trumpet great joy for mankind. That is why you must fight Prince Arjuna!"

[_Amore]

That I am valuable. If anything, my existence is valuable to myself. Thus, I have a valid working premise upon which to build. This, by extension, results in valuing others and provides a framework for moral living.

Sounds so simple but is profound! I have struggled and I know of others who have also, to recognize self-worth.

I tell my kids as I remind myself, there are 2 types of value - maybe 3...
1) God’s value of us (which could be deemed conditional upon being conscious of it)
2) Some society’s value placed on a person (except those too young, unfortunately). No matter if it’s a bum or CEO, if they get fatally injured, emergency responders will help.
3) Value dependent upon a need. I’m valuable in certain talents but not so in things I am not good at.