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Monday, August 24, 2015

Teilhard, Gettier, and Tipler

Circular Argument 24 December 2002 - Published on Amazon.com
I enjoy having my brain stretched, so, with that goal in mind, I picked up Dr. Frank J. Tipler's "Physics of Immortality."
Frank Tipler was a well respected physicist before this book, and is still regarded as an expert in the field of quantum cosmology. He is not the first world-class scientist to take a flyer on an implausible idea. I think it's interesting that in the book he condemns Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit paleantologist from whom he took the term "omega point" for doing precisely what Tipler does in this book. Teilhard did outstanding work investigating early hominid primates in Asia before he began working on his "omega point" speculations, which attempted to wed evolutionary biology and theology, and then began to believe that his speculations were scientific facts. Tipler has been caught in the same trap.

Why do we so often misunderstand one another? Derrida on communication http://t.co/vnrMjWAAe5
Adrianna Tan: “The Singaporean Fear Of Failure Is Amusing” http://t.co/7chBApglMG 
The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human beings in mind. http://t.co/bkArCFriw3

Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.
[Sri Aurobindo's lights on the first of the three quartette of the four purusharthas of the Indian system of culture] http://t.co/TO44YLsy2o
[a compilation of Sri Aurobindo's lights on the second quartette of the Chaturvarnya of the Indian system of culture] http://t.co/kbNDoqR75P
[a compilation of Sri Aurobindo's lights on the third quartette of the four Ashramas of the Indian system of culture] http://t.co/GLPmQ8PBYS
15years of Botanical Gardens - [image: Thumbnail for 3846] Saturday 29th of August from 2pm to 5pm the 15th anniversary of Auroville Botanical Gardens. Starting at 2pm welcome and...
A Critique-high-rise high-density - [image: 2015_08_22_presentation_sustainable_habitat_critic_on_highrise_english_1] A critique on High-rise and density by Ashok Lall together with Sanhay Pr...
“Gettier” Intuition Across Cultures - No doubt many of you will have seen this by now, but for those who have not: Noûs has just published a truly amazing study on this topic by a team of exper...
Overview of the Traditional Yoga of Knowledge Paths - The traditional yoga of knowledge starts with several core principles. First, there is an intuition of a reality which is unchanging, eternal and absolute,...
Barin's narrative unveils the machinations of the colonial mind and the regimes of tyranny - Colonial mind and the regimes of tyranny The Statesman-23-Aug-2015 A regrettably forgotten figure today, Barindra Kumar Ghose, popularly known as Barin Ghos...
Fabulous Bahubali: Some Musings - Late that I almost always am in watching the 'big name' movies, maybe everything that I thought or felt after watching Bahubali has already been said, c...
I have expanded and slightly amended Purani’s notes - A Cultural Misunderstanding Page 2 The second type of distortion is to rewrite a quote in order to suit the sinister intentions of the author which is clea...
Battle for Indian History: How to fight it, and how not (part 2) – Virendra Parekh - *2 – Guidelines intended to misguide * British historians, nationalist leaders of freedom struggle, Aligarh school of historians and Marxist activists pass...
Sri Aurobindo is Jeffersonian in matters of liberty - Tusar Nath Mohapatra - @SavitriEraParty SRA-102C Indirapuram Ghaziabad Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum (SELF): Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri ...
The future is not determined nor known - Adam Smith's Lost Legacy ANOTHER FALSE PROSPECTUS FOR SUCKERS - The “invisible hand” was never a thesis “coined” by Adam Smith. Long before Adam Smith wa...
ANOTHER FALSE PROSPECTUS FOR SUCKERS - The Chinese Stock Market Crash is it because of "The Invisible Hand" “A former hedge fund manager, MBA prof & expert witness on investments” writes HERE ...
Neither Development nor Corruption, it is Democracy vs. Fascism - Tweets 8/19 2015 19 Aug Tusar Nath Mohapatra @SavitriEraParty Einstein, Whitehead, Bergson, and Sri Aurobindo http://t.co/xKIF9JjI0Q Savitri Era of those who...
Ramli Ibrahim plans a performance on Savitri - For Ibrahim Puducherry is a special place The Hindu-August 21, 2015 ANNIE PHILIP Puducherry holds a special place for dancer Ramli Ibrahim. Greatly influen...
Strategy and deceit have no space in writing history - Shanmukh - @maidros78 A simple Yindoo 200 Following 1,583 Followers 53,581 Tweets Joined Twitter 10/23/13 8/21 2015 6m Saswati Sarkar @sarkar_swati @Un_Spin ...
Need for patience, balance and steady effort - Sri Aurobindo Studies The Paths Of Knowledge, Devotion and Works Join In the Integral Yoga Posted on August 18, 2015 Historically, individual seekers have be...
Late Shri Surendra Nath Jauhar may have foreseen destruction of the Mother’s Ashram by his successors - Dear Old-timers of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi Branch: You would recall that in April 1968, the Mother had appointed Shri Dwarka Prasad to be the Manager of...
The Veda and Sri Aurobindo's Savitri: 14: Sacrifice of the Veda and the surrender of Savitri - The importance of the sacrificial fire in the outward ritual corresponds to the importance of this inward force of unified Light and Power in the inward rite...
The System of Indian Culture: 09: The system of triple quartette subsisted in its completeness and order only till the later Vedic and heroic age - This frame, these lines of a large and noble life-training subsisted in their purity, their grand natural balance of austerity and accommodation, their fine ...

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Friday, August 21, 2015

Need for patience, balance and steady effort

The Paths Of Knowledge, Devotion and Works Join In the Integral Yoga
Posted on August 18, 2015
Historically, individual seekers have been drawn to one or another of the paths of yoga, primarily based on their own inner predilections, readiness and openness, which brought about an introduction to and opportunity to take up the practice of one of the paths. Each of the paths had its own focus, practices, and end results for the sincere seeker.

The Key Role of the Supramental Consciousness In the Integral Yoga
Posted on August 19, 2015
Sri Aurobindo has identified a status of consciousness that mediates between the upper hemisphere of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, and the lower hemisphere of Body-Life-Mind. The characteristics of the upper hemisphere are pure existence, absolute knowledge and power, and unadulterated bliss. It is absolute, eternal, and infinite. The characteristics of the lower hemisphere are fragmentation and limitation, division and the consequent ignorance, weakness and suffering. The upper is the ultimate cause and substance from which the lower is created. Between the two there is the level of consciousness which Sri Aurobindo terms the “supramental” consciousness. While maintaining the characteristics of a Truth-Consciousness, this mediating level is able to take the “undivided” and parcel it out into individual forms, beings and powers. It acts something like a step-down transformer which takes the energy generated from a major electricity generator and cuts it back to a level that the individual transmitting wires and the receiving stations can handle and utilize without burning up from the pure, unadulterated energy.
Whatever specific steps a yogic process takes in the seeker, whether through the path of knowledge, devotion or works, the initial goal is to make a conscious connection with the Divine. In the integral Yoga there is the additional aspect of both accepting the manifestation as the omnipresent reality of the Divine and becoming an instrument of its evolutionary transformation from a state of ignorance, fragmentation and limitation to a state of knowledge, power and Oneness. 
It is the attainment of this level of consciousness that represents the key to the integral Yoga:

Posted on August 20, 2015
There is a danger which arises when the vital ego of man tries to associate itself with any great ideal or progress, as is represented by the ascent to the supramental level of consciousness. This danger can lead to pride, arrogance and the feeling of superiority that can look down on others and other paths, and which may lead to complacency in the effort. As we see from the history of humanity, the appeal of attaining new and greater powers, new and greater knowledge, some form of “supermanhood” is something that is quite attractive to the ego-personality. Sri Aurobindo reminds us that the attainment of the supermind is not the goal but a means towards a divine realisation and action.
It is therefore essential to remain focused on the true goal of the yoga, for which the ascent to the supramental level is a means, not the end itself:

If the seeker reflects on the actual operation of his body-life-mind and ego-personality, he will see the many present issues, concerns, limitations and difficulties that need to be systematically worked on and overcome in order to move the consciousness beyond the level at which human beings tend to operate. 
This transformation must continually proceed to the deepest levels of the being and the well-spring of unconscious and subconscious habitual actions and motives that drive most of the life-action. Sri Aurobindo calls for the psychic transformation that opens up all the inner motive-forces of the life and turns them toward the Divine. Thereafter comes the descent and action of the higher Light and Force to spiritualise and refine the action by removing the boundaries set by the ego-consciousness. 
All of this takes time, and even the concentrated effort of a life dedicated to yogic practice does not eliminate this time requirement: 
Sri Aurobindo cautions strongly against the attempt to “storm the gates”, so to speak. 
These warnings underline the need for patience, balance and steady effort and the understanding of the enormous changes required and the time needed to carry them out in the nature. That is why Sri Aurobindo indicates that the seeker should not fixate on achieving the supermind as the immediate focus or goal.

The systematic studies on this blog have also been published as self-standing books by Lotus Press and are available in both printed formats and as e-books. There are 3 volumes encompassing Readings in Sri Aurobindo’s The Life Divineas well as 1 volume for Readings in The Mother by Sri Aurobindo, and Readings in Sri Aurobindo’s Rebirth and Karma. Both volumes of Readings in Sri Aurobindo’s Essays on the Gita have now been published as well. 

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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Sri Aurobindo’s evolutionary nationalism transcends Hindutva

Commemorating Sri Aurobindo’s anniversary, the birth of a nation, and a new world http://t.co/cyPMk7WvxH BY OLGA REAL-NAJARRO AUGUST 14TH 2015

The first Indian leader to call for complete Independence from colonial rule was also a propounder of Indian spiritual values, and their role in a world union respectful of cultural individualities. His pluralistic, evolutionary nationalism transcends current Hindutva appropriations. Transpersonal psychology is recurring to his structure of consciousness, related to the core of Ken Wilber’s proposals and his spectrum of consciousness. 

The interdisciplinarity and cross-cultural outlook of his writings inspire today varied research in the fields of psychology, philosophy, spirituality, religion, and cultural anthropology. Even more, his suggestive philosophical proposals of intertwined ontological and social structures, contrasted occasionally with Teilhard de Chardin or Hegel, encourage new applied studies in leadership, integrative and community mental health, poetry, literature, and education.

Aurobindo outlines the evolution towards a new society, the social paradigm of the gnostic being. The human being is a being in transition, a living laboratory with complex stages of growth. His theory underpins the need for progress at a global level, and an increased awareness of the coexistence of diversity and oneness. To propitiate the development of this paradigm, the tools are yoga and education–the means to enhance a complex, inclusive, and synthetic thought, not detached from people and social reality.

Aurobindo is a controversial figure that raises both admiration and criticism. His applied integrative synthesis of the material and spiritual realities of social and individual structures provokes adherence and rejection. He doesn’t seem to fit either traditional Eastern or Western evolutionary theories. What calls our attention is the resilience of his thought, despite probing and critical scrutiny. How can we explain his acknowledged contribution to knowledge and his simultaneous criticism? His mystical empiricism explains why his philosophical work resists the passing of time, while some of his social and international proposals, unthinkable at the time, seem to have a place in contemporary political affairs.

Presently, the world is linked through global institutions, though they lack the spiritual, subjective connotations Aurobindo aimed for the development of the human being. His writings pose a reflection on the place of spirituality in education in a multicultural secular society, a place among twentieth century educational innovators, such as Paulus Geheeb, Rabindranath Tagore, Rudolf Steiner, or Innayat Khan. His political engagement with the framing of the Indian nation is still revised in comparative studies that claim why Gandhi is praised, and Aurobindo, at times, erased.

A major exponent of Indian English literature, and the creator of Savitri, the longest poem in English, he epitomizes the representation of consciousness, tradition and modernity, a precursor of Mulk Raj Anand, Nissim Ezekiel, and Anita Desai, among others. Culturally speaking, he anticipates Homi Bhabha’s perspective of his multiple levels of hybridity. His translations of the Vedas and Upanishads approach Indian tradition to the contemporary reader, offering a view of religion that transcends superstition and ritual practices, a timely contribution to todays’s fanaticism and misinterpretation of ancient spiritual proposals.

Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.
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Sunday, August 09, 2015

Five famous disputes between philosophers and scientists

link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12064-013-0190-7
by M Ruse - ‎2013 - ‎Cited by 2 - ‎Related articles

Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace independently discovered the mechanism of natural selection for evolutionary change. However, they viewed the ...

www.theguardian.com › Science › Charles Darwin

Aug 9, 2013 - John van Wyhe: Attempts to reinstate Wallace as the working class hero who discovered evolution before Darwin have no basis in fact.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120308062545.htm

Mar 8, 2012 - For example, several writers have claimed that Darwin stole ideas from Wallace's essay during the time he kept the letter secret. But most other  ...

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Charles-Darwin-finally-cleared-stealing-ideas-theor...

Mar 9, 2012 - The mystery led to numerous conspiracy theories - including the accusationsDarwin stole ideas from the letter, which plagued Darwin's  ...

plato.stanford.edu/entries/royce/

Aug 3, 2004 - Royce's friendly but longstanding dispute with William James, known .... Royceand James had always disagreed deeply concerning the proper  ...

universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/companions/chapter.jsf?bid...

William James (1842-1910) was both a philosopher and a psychologist, nowadays most closely associated with the pragmatic theory of truth. The essays in this ...


www.theguardian.com › Arts › Books › Philosophy

Apr 28, 2006 - All four men would be crucial in Hume's quarrel with Rousseau. .... anycontroversy on a disputable point would be with a man of his talents.".
www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/
These works caused great controversy in France and were immediately .... However, due to quarrels with Hume, his stay in England lasted only a year, and in  ...

www.amazon.com › ... › Professionals & Academics › Philosophers

 Rating: 4 - ‎4 reviews

The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding [Robert Zaretsky, John T. Scott] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on ...
https://archive.org/details/concisegenuineac00hume
Oct 12, 2011 - ... genuine account of the dispute between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau : with the letters that passed between them during their controversy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz–Newton_calculus_controversy

The calculus controversy (often referred to with the German term Prioritätsstreit, meaning 'priority dispute') was an argument between 17th-century mathematicians Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz (begun or fomented in part by their disciples and associates) over who had first invented the mathematical study of change ...

www.angelfire.com/md/byme/mathsample.html

Newton vs. Leibniz; The Calculus Controversy. Like most discoveries, calculus was the culmination of centuries of work rather than an instant epiphany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism_controversy

This, for Jacobi, was the result of Enlightenment rationalism and it would finally end in absolute atheism. Mendelssohn disagreed with Jacobi, saying that there is  ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German ..... This led to an exchange of letters between Jacobi and Mendelssohn which  ...
‎Youth - ‎Early prominence as ... - ‎Lavater - ‎Illness
plato.stanford.edu/entries/friedrich-jacobi/

Dec 6, 2001 - Back in Germany in 1762, Jacobi continued his philosophical studies. He eagerly read the essays submitted by Moses Mendelssohn and Kant  ...
plato.stanford.edu/entries/mendelssohn/

Jump to Controversy with Jacobi over Lessing's alleged pantheism - Mendelssohn enjoyed, as noted at the outset, a lifelong friendship with G. E. ...
https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=081917016X
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, ‎Moses Mendelssohn, ‎Gérard Vallée - 1988 - ‎Drama

Mendelssohn reiterated his views on Lessing's thought in his An die Freunde Lessings.^® By then the polemic with Jacobi had become extremely bitter.
https://www.lbi.org/.../mendelssohn.../mendelssohn.../pantheism-controvers...

Hearing about this through their mutual friend Elise Reimarus, the German Counter-Enlightenment mystic Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi informed Mendelssohn that  ...
https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0199838240
Michah Gottlieb - 2011 - ‎Religion

Jacobi's assessment of Mendelssohn's “Prize Essay” was not his only reason for judging Spinoza's metaphysics superior to Mendelssohn's. Mendelssohn's PD  ...

Related:

Sartre and Camus: A Historic Confrontation - Page 148

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=QTIQAQAAIAAJ
Jean-Paul Sartre, ‎Albert Camus, ‎David Sprintzen - 2004 - ‎Snippet view
A Historic Confrontation Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, David Sprintzen, Adrian Van den Hoven ... And "what is happiness, if not the simple accord between a being and the existence he leads? ... Thus, when you described one of these privileged moments that realize a provisional accord between man and nature, and ...

A Secular Age - Page 585
https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0674044282
Charles TAYLOR, ‎Charles Taylor - 2009 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions
Camus speaks of “honour”: Noblesse oblige à l'honneur. ... To have rehabilitated ordinary happiness binds us to all; it brings us together with others in an effort to fight for this happiness wherever it is endangered. This is ... provisional victories.



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