i would like you guys to evaluate this, if you please, for it seems to me to be the essence for which we are searching.
In my youth, prior to adopting the Christ as a model, i harboured the pretence of reading some philosophical works. My favourite was Plato and i had a book, the four dialogues of Plato which i loved to read, however, at the back of this book there were some papers written by Scottish philosopher, John Stuart Mills, in which he tried to explain the idea of genius, for it was a word very much banded about at the time, but with little understanding, often was heard, 'he was a man of genius' and Mills in true platonic fashion, tried to elucidate upon it. His eventual conclusion was that originality was genius, anyhow, it was his thought process that was most interesting and it seems to me to be the essence of those truths which we seek.
he used musical composition as an illustration, the notes being readily defined ( for example the note A always resonates at 440 Mhz, although it has other perhaps less audible frequencies), the rules of musical harmony are well defined and readily learned and the notes themselves are no more than eight, ABCDEFG. What Mills was saying was that in our endeavour for truth we are like the musician who must seek to put these notes in such a sequence that they may be termed harmonious and a pleasing melody ensues. If we are to simply follow the musical score of another, then this is mere imitation, what the adherent must try to do, is to uncover these sequences of notes for himself and arrange them in such a fashion that they are ascetically pleasing. what is of interest is that these sequence of notes are infinite and there sequencing must come from within the person themselves, thus Mills states, that we must enter in to the 'spirit of the ancients', avoiding mere imitation, for originality is the prime endeavour. what think you?
now some may consider that through the adoption of Christianity and Christ as a model this becomes obsolete, but this is not the case, for a Christian, has as his very basis, his conscience, which is constantly evaluating on the basis of 'knowledge', what is harmonious or dissonant,
thus his perceptive powers are being honed, within a framework, just like the student of musical composition, to discover or at least confirm these truths for himself.
Originally posted by robbie carrobieI think that whatever we think, we feel and we do is definitely related to the location of the exact point of our attention regarding everything. That point of attention is used by us according to our own perception and understanding of the psysical world "out there", of our inner world within us, and of the world of all the theories, beliefs and ideas regarding both "the world out there and our personal inner world". Regardless its specific location, our point of attention must serve us -and we have to be aware of the possibility that anytime, anywhere anyhow we may well end up boxed inside it for good.
i would like you guys to evaluate this, if you please, for it seems to me to be the essence for which we are searching.
In my youth, prior to adopting the Christ as a model, i harboured the pretence of reading some philosophical works. My favourite was Plato and i had a book, the four dialogues of Plato which i loved to read, however, at the back ...[text shortened]... student of musical composition, to discover or at least confirm these truths for himself.
It is my knowledge that we are able to relocate constantly the point of our attention according to our intelligence -I define "intelligence" as a product of our conceptual and non-conceptual awareness.
It seems to me that each human being is the Truth -there is no other "truth" than this, and of course there is no such a thing as "absolute truth".
And I think that originality is just another essential product of the mind of the Human: I see it as a by-product of our ability to relocate constantly our personal point of attention according to our abilities, our knowledge, our will and our dreams
😵
Originally posted by robbie carrobiePlato? He sort of reminds me of Josh McDowell in his insistence upon choosing between two equally non-viable alternatives.
i would like you guys to evaluate this, if you please, for it seems to me to be the essence for which we are searching.
In my youth, prior to adopting the Christ as a model, i harboured the pretence of reading some philosophical works. My favourite was Plato and i had a book, the four dialogues of Plato which i loved to read, however, at the back ...[text shortened]... student of musical composition, to discover or at least confirm these truths for himself.
Originally posted by Wulebgrahhh yes but when one reads his account of Socrates, their is nothing more than he likes than to find a contradiction, so that it may further the search for truth. BTW have you ever caught a Salmon?
Plato? He sort of reminds me of Josh McDowell in his insistence upon choosing between two equally non-viable alternatives.