#perception
“If an action or utterance is appropriate, then it’s appropriate for you. Don’t be put off by other people’s comments and criticism. If it’s right to say or do it, then it’s the right thing for you to do or say.”— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (5.3)
A Short Philosophical Aside
The scrupulous 3-dimension world we humans inhabit is in fact biological, not physical, in origin. Its limitations are determined by our specific sensory, motor and mental apparatus and abilities. It only hints at the real world, and while doing so it combines some highly erroneous observations as well. Molluscs and insects and arachnids all have a very different perspective of their environment. We would find discomfort in the world view of an octopus, as we do in the quantum world view.[1][2]
Dimension is a term laymen toss about haphazardly. Mathematicians and physicists have a more precise interpretation concerning dimension. For them, any independent parameter constitutes a separate dimension. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, what if anything can truly be separate and independent? Those are both relative terms. Nothing that exists is really fully isolate and independent. That is one of the substratal premises from which mandalic geometry evolves: relationships invariably exist. And relationships can always change. Mandalic geometry therefore is a geometry of process - a spacetime geometry, not one of space alone.
For those who created the primal I Ching relationship was considered a fundamental aspect of reality. When they thought of dimension - - - and they did, in their own way - - - relationships were always involved. Flash-forward a few thousand years - quantum mechanics accomplishes much the same with its view of interacting particles in continual motion, ever-changing, and incessantly forging transient effective links with numerous other particles of similar and different type under the influence of various fields of force.
Kant thought that human concepts and categories determine our view of the world and its laws. He held that inborn features of our minds structure our experiences. Since, in his view, mind shapes and structures experience, at some level of representation all human experience shares certain essential operational features. Among these according to Kant are our concepts relating to space and time, integral to all human experience. The same might be said about our concepts of cause and effect.
Kant further asserts that we never have direct experience of things, referred to in his writings as the noumenal world. All we experience is the phenomenal world that is relayed to us by our senses. Kant views noumena as the thing-in-itself or true reality and phenomena as our experience or perception of that thing, filtered through our senses and reasoning. According to Kant science can be applied only to things that can be observed and studied. The entire world of noumena is beyond the scope and reach of science. As an heir to Enlightenment philosophy Kant respects the value of reason but believes the noumenal world to be beyond its scope and reach. So are we fated then never to experience the noumena directly? Not by a long shot. Kant claims the noumena to be accessible but only by intellectual intuition without the aid of reason.[3]
In the world of phenomena nothing is self-existent. Everything exists by virtue of dependence on something else. Point to something, anything at all, that refutes that view and I’ll tell you you’re out of your mind - and in the noumenal world. What, pray tell, are you doing there and how did you get there anyway? If you can clearly communicate the how I may give it a try myself.[4]
Image:
One of a set of illustrations by Emma V. MooretitledNoumena - Collages © Emma V Moore 2013 courtesy of the artist. More of her exceptional art can be found at http://www.emmavmoore.co.uk. Follow also on Bēhance Please do not remove credits.
Notes
[1] The world view granted us by our inherited biologic capacities has been millions of years in the making. Indeed. But that makes it still not a whit truer than had we groped it only yesterday. Evolution seems to have sacrificed a full immersive sense of reality to grant a greater degree of interoperability essential to dealing with vicissitudes of a material world and confer durability within that domain. The quest after true apprehension we feel impelled to pursue is a siren not without danger.
“The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings, for it destroys the world in which you live.”
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
[2] Regarding the origin and transformations of the word “scrupulous”:
Scrupulous and its close relative “scruple” (“an ethical consideration”) come from the Latin noun scrupulus, the diminutive of “scrupus.” “Scrupus” refers to a sharp stone, so scrupulus means “small sharp stone.” “Scrupus” retained its literal meaning but eventually also came to be used with the metaphorical meaning “a source of anxiety or uneasiness,” the way a sharp pebble in one’s shoe would be a source of pain. When the adjective “scrupulous” entered the language in the 15th century, it meant “principled.” Now it also commonly means "painstaking" or “careful.” [Source]
Sad to say, this fascinating word that so successfully wended its way through several related incarnations in a number of different Indo-European languages prior to its appearance in English, c.15th century, appears to be passing out of usage among English speakers in modern times. We will likely be left with the occasional utterance of “scruples” but “scrupulous” itself seems destined for oblivion.
Curiously, my election of the word here was not rationally motivated. As I was framing the thought expressed in the paragraph in my mind, the word just appeared out of nowhere and seemed to insist, “I belong here though you may not yet understand why. You really need a word with my complex heritage of multiple meanings here.” And so I went with it, not fully knowing why. Funny thing about it, my rational mind is quite unable now to come up with any other single word that suits as well.
[3] Kant’s epistemology recognizes three different sources of knowlege: sensory experience, reason, and intuition. He views intuition as independent of the other two and the only one of the three with direct access to the world of noumena. This may present as suspect at first, but then how do we explain things like what Einstein did a century ago? Einstein himself has hinted in his writings at the essential role of intuition and imagination in his thinking.
Clickhere for more slides on Kant’s philosophy by William Parkhurst from Introduction to Philosophy Lecture 13, source of the above slide reproduction.
[4] Our human penchant for categorization inevitably leads to dismemberment of holistic reality into an endless number of manifest objects, many of which we no longer recognize as essentially related.
“People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one’s perception of reality.”
-Thích Nhất Hạnh
© 2016 Martin Hauser
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-Page 305-
Blindness falls on the children of the privileged. They come up and up and up and learn to replace themselves but not to better their surroundings. What care would they need put in anything that is not themselves? What effort should they really exude? How could they really make a difference? Their each only one person. Each only one. One made of each ignoring the problems around them. One made…
It will never hold you Like my pillow cuddles me Un-objectively, and full of nothingness. The void is welcoming like a lake It surrounds you, silences you Could drown you, or float you. Bliss of unknowing irresponsibility Surrounding the bright eyed coward. Boldly going where none ever could
Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception
A review and exploration.The brain, Aldous Huxley asserts, is like a reducing valve, filtering out great masses of unnecessary experiences, creating a unified, simple experience of the world. Although Huxley’s Doors of Perception is based around his experience of the consumption of the psychedelic drug mescaline, the wealth of wisdom within the book stretches far beyond that of speculation…
warm mood
Bill Gardner demandant votre aide pour produire un et travaille sur un jeu vraiment innovant, très effrayant et vraiment attrayant conçu peur. Encore une autre chose que vous pourriez être fasciné pour financer l'entreprise sur Kickstarter (oui, le jeu d'ensemble reste à l'intérieur du style de revenu de dessin) pourrait être le créateur Bill Gardner, qui est aussi un ancien personnel Irrationalov. Considérez-vous que cela est un angle intéressant à l'horreur de survie qui est commun fait tout ce que vous avez attendu, nous vous conseillons de visiter Kickstarter et aider à développer une grande, nouvelle «trésorerie du sport. Le style de l'horreur, qui, grâce à des jeux indie folles par exemple mince et la renaissance de l'amnésie un peu moins impartiale comme Outlast, obtenir progressivement populaire, et les fans d'horreur devenant lentement un nombre croissant de sélectif. Le sujet le plus récent intitulé Notion est raisonnablement compte normal d'un personnage qui échappe de fantômes, néanmoins il a un gros ketch. Personnage principal de ce jeu est appelé Cassie et il ou elle est altérée! Votre processus sera d'examiner la maison hantée vous aviez jusqu'au également été persécuté dans la vision, et également l'approche va être étudié comprend l'utilisation de pouvoirs uniques dans le type de Daredevil.
Happiness is greater than sex. Sometimes sex is happiness. It’s scientifically proven sex can uplift your mood but happiness is what you truly perceive as blissful or ultimate joy. Even though I’ll happily fuck you until satisfied
Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, 1873.
Impression,Sunrise was painted by Claude Monet in 1873. It depicts the sunrise in French harbor of Le Havre in 1873.This painting is said to have started the impressionism movement. It might look less subtle with its short brush strokes but it never intended to be in the first place. Here Monet captured an atmospheric condition by painting vivid , adjacent and contrasting colours. It emphasizes the light itself and subjects are given less importance. The flickering light from sun in the early morning pierces through fog and reflected on the water. We see two silhoutted figures on the boat. The painting tries to capture the light from sun as it travels. The blotch of orange in the sky gives us more of a feel for nature. The seascape and horizon meets with no actual separation depicting the serenity of this moment in time. As my eyes wandered from left to right, i sense nothing but the vastness of time and shortness of human life. Maybe i am seeing things that are not there, maybe the illuminated atmosphere is what is missing from my life. I don’t know, i am a human being whose sense of perception can be deceived through the use of few brush strokes. But whatever that is , i tend to be grounded in reality and maybe Monet actually tries to send this message across instead of working on the details and subtlety of his paintngs. So in my opinion(which doesn’t matter as no one else’s opinion matter),this painting eerily produces a realist portrayal of nature and its relationship with humans. A moment or experience, far away from the cacophony of what lies ahead.
The ancient Chinese parable of a farmer as told by Alan Watts
Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.”
The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”
The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”
The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”
The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity, and it’s really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad — because you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune; or, you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune.