Yesterday I suggested that enlightenment is biological, and cited supportingly Humberto Maturana, who is a biologist. George Spencer-Brown observed that when we ask a philosophical question, we get a philosophical answer. It should surprise nobody that a biologist sees enlightenment on biological terms. Yet I also allowed that enlightenment could be magical. Or Christian orContinue reading “Recognizing Jesus”
Category Archives: Awakening
Enlightenment is Biology Realized
Gregory Bateson observed that often “Enlightenment is a sudden realization of the biological nature of the world in which we live. It is a sudden discovery or realization of life.” Humberto Maturana would surely approve. In “Reality: The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument” he wrote: I claim that the explicitContinue reading “Enlightenment is Biology Realized”
On Wanting Life to be Different
Wanting things to be other than they are is a form of not looking at things – it is a way of not giving attention to what is – and so it is a form of violence because it denies the very existence of that which gives rise to it. Here is life, the veryContinue reading “On Wanting Life to be Different”
Vestigial Arguments and Grace
I like the idea of vestigial arguments – arguments we make over and over that serve no functional purpose but yet remain, like that little bump at the base of our spine where a long time ago in a very different sort of world we had a tail. Those arguments are non-functional but they doContinue reading “Vestigial Arguments and Grace”
Living in the Sight of God
God doesn’t hide. If you want to see the face of God, and you haven’t, it’s because the face of God is either not what you expected or not what you want. And that’s on you, not God. There is – because there is always – another way. Turning away from the face of GodContinue reading “Living in the Sight of God”
More on Illusion and Reality
Illusions always arise with respect to a referent: they are compared to what is believed to be real and on the basis of the comparison are found lacking in some fundamental way. That is how we determine whether an object or experience will be labeled “real” or “illusory.” However, at the moment of experience, illusionsContinue reading “More on Illusion and Reality”