Crunchy Cat said:
Of course it didn't make sense
. I mis-read "denial is faith" as "denial of
faith" and then commented accordingly. It's the ol' brain filter at work. I
understand what you are saying though, any attempt at escape in the taoist
trap turns into a form of faith or rejection.
Exactly. We seem to think similarly, so there is a reasonable chance we'll actually find some agreement here.
I've made the same observation. So now we have a single adult scenario where acceptance is not possible and a common baby scenario where acceptance is not possible. There are many other scenarios like this as well. Can a gay man accept (not pretend) he's attracted to women?
Probably not no. There are plenty of scenarios that result in mutually exclusive conditions. If I'm black, I can't accept that I'm white? Blah blah, I agree. This is irrelevant to the argument IMO, as you've subverted the trap via faith prior to the discussion.
What's interesting to note (as I reflected on it after your previous post), is that a baby is not separate from the tao until it begins to form concepts. It begins to do so early in its life. We might say that until there is a "sense of self" there is no separation from the tao (hence the taoist/buddist denial of self). I've explored that in my mind and it seems like I've come to understand it but I'd need to explore it more to get the relationships expounded and clarified. If you're interested, let's spelunk.
Afterthought: "what one can believe" in terms of their foundation, is a matter of motivation and will. Whether or not the structure of their mind can rebound from changing or removing parts of the foundation, or any related stuff... is another matter, but IMO, there is little you can firmly state "No one could believe this" because that's simply not true. It seems to me that you're "crunchycatomorphizing" people to your own perception (which of course we all do, because crunchycats are good no?)
Can a person burning to death accept the experience as pleasurable?
If they survive, it's possible yes. Dayz sum sick bitches out thair man.
Humans are simply built with a base foundation of emotion and sensory
tolerances. It's not possible to accept that you don't feel happiness or
hungry for example.
I agree to some extent with the first sentence, but would argue technicalities on the second, as I'm sure that's simply not true. I'd point to monks and such who've I believe, proven you're incorrect. Most people can't, but SOME can I think... but you're doing this after having made a miniscule little leap of faith... right? Do you see? Once we make the leap we can build a model. Until then, not so much. This is basically philosophy of mathematics/logic - in the sense that we are lost without some axioms. Logic is useless without inputs, boundary conditions. No matter how valid they
seem, observational distance and our lacking the "encompassing all of time" thing, limits us to
assumption regarding the validity of those boundary conditions...
We can only assert the authority of our perception... know what I mean?
It is a piece of conceptual geometry that is static in
conetent and can expand as different emotional states and sensory
tolerances are experienced. For example, it's not possible to accept that
people don't die.
LOL. You had me until that last sentence. Did you forget about the 2/3 of the planet who exactly accepts that people don't really die? Regardless.... all you say is steeped in your perspective (which I generally concur with). If we assert our authority of perception as "objective", do we not bear false authority at that point? We say "this is how it is... OBJECTIVELY"... isn't that ultimately "might is right" in craniality form? Isn't that being an "intellectual bully"? Does that allow for error?
Bah, I'm just saying.. if we do not allow for the fact that our basis is faith... even if that is a miniscule aspect of our argument... then we have no consistency in our model, and no argument stronger than that of a schizophrenic on a paranoia bender.
The rest of the conceptual geometry is adaptable (keys may not fit in
keyholes today but may do so tomorrow) and this is where I think we're
getting hung up (the ol' Taoist -COM- trap).
Having chunked this up I may have missed your intended meaning. I see now you're exploring my suggested spelunking hole before. Hmm. I'll have to revisit upon letting it gel for a bit.
This is where the fun part comes in (.NET). My experience is that the non-
adaptable conceptual geometry will reach various stages of relationships that
enable it to grow. Eventually that growth crossed a threshold where it's
simply not possible to accept that I am not a part of reality; hence, my
original assertion of being a part of reality is not a statement of faith.
I understand your intention, but your assertion doesn't
seem like a statement of faith, but it is. Would you agree? IMO, it's an important realization to level the playing feild and stay the impending solidification of presumption as you describe above. IMO, the threshold you describe as being crossed is a flaw... basically bad housekeeping. You missed some junk that was laying around and it layed there so long it became part of the house.
I think in a mind like yours, or of sufficient maleability however, removing parts of the house is a matter of will and motivation. You can see things as you choose when it's been clearly demonstrated that you should.
I think I've clearly demonstrated it.
Of course then, I'm a cocky bastard and have no real basis external to that cockiness to assure me that I'm correct.