Hugh Gash makes an interesting observation in “Constructivism and Mystical Experience:” ” . . . when there is a mismatch between experience and what is expected, gaps are experienced that reveal an inadequacy in previously constructed ways of organizing the experience.” Say that I often get irritated when people wake up and come downstairs becauseContinue reading “Notes on the God of Uncertainty”
Author Archives: Sean
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”
Spirituality as Equality
This observation underlies a lot of my thinking and practice, half-assed as it is: “Spiritual” is in some important sense the equivalent of perceiving all being as “equal” or even “same.” This is the miracle of creation; that it is one forever . . . Though every aspect is the whole, you cannot know thisContinue reading “Spirituality as Equality”
On Helping Others
(A brief essay categorized under “Things Sean Is Learning Really Really Slowly And Should Probably Be Cautious About Sharing Publicly”) If we do not recognize that everybody needs help, then we will not be able to help anybody. Important corollary number one: knowing that another body needs help, does not mean that that we knowContinue reading “On Helping Others”
On Love, Semantic Preference, Insight and Violets
Hilary Putnam suggests that “What is wrong is that Nature, or ‘physical reality’ in the post-Newtonian understanding of the physical, has no semantic preferences.” That is, there is no one way or right way or best way to speak/write. There are only more or less helpful ways and they are all contingent on context. ThisContinue reading “On Love, Semantic Preference, Insight and Violets”
Thinking Out Loud About Desire
We know anything because we can distinguish it from what it is not. Distinctions are being; they are existence. You can look at a maple tree and see how it is a maple tree and not a flower or a sky or a passing car. Maple tree and not-maple tree are how maple tree appears.Continue reading “Thinking Out Loud About Desire”