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QED is not enough. You are misusing it. what is it based off of mystic? what assumptions is QED based off of? These assumption are then both a limit to what we know and all we have. type them, it may help you see what we are saying.
That you personally find an answer emotionally fulfilling or not says nothing about the level of thought a person used to produce that answer, so nothing at all is proven by you feeling icky about the form of the answer in this example.
Those who are fascinated by themselves often conclude that others will be equally absorbed. If they think something worthwhile, then the whole world must think so as well, the alternative being that there is something inferior about the others.
It is the difference between an explanation which begins "Okay, here is what I think I've figured out" and "On my pilgrimage of self discovery...."
To say nothing of "I know this is true because I had a dream about it once" as certain posters will reluctantly admit when they're pushed hard enough on the subject.
Parts of this discussion make me think of a joke that circulated in the Bay Area during the 80s in response to the New Age movement. During parts of the 80s, crystals, channeling people no longer here, and other forms of hybrid spirituality were big in parts of California, especially in Marin County immediately north of San Francisco. The State of California even had a commission about self esteem (which got spoofed in Doonesbury). The joke had two versions, one with Marin and the other with California.
All that you describe reinforces the aura of capriciousness, as in mysticism being whatever you want it to be whenever you want it to be, immune to criticism because there is no actual substance, thus no means for testing validity.
No, I never said that nor did I describe what Mysticism is yet. I will do it if you like, however:
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belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.
That is the best definition I've found. As I said, one could easily have a mystic experience at the realization that we are all made of the same stardust, as reality would be the "absolute" in that definition.
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I regard it as harmless save for those times I have been a trapped listener when someone was talking about the ramifications of their being a "spiritual person." In those cases the damage was limited to the tedium inflicted.
First, I have been a trapped listener to many a boring science lecture. But science is far from harmless, and you can ask the survivors of the Tuskegee experiment if you don't believe me.
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So, you most likely would have trouble talking with me about these matters, not because I think you a fundamentalist, rather because of my deep disinterest in such conversations. At best I might pretend to listen but I'd really be thinking about something else.
And so you post on a thread to say "I don't want to bother myself to listen to what is said on this thread"?
I have nothing remotely any interest in whatever the egg heads are talking about on the science boards, and if I see a science thread I just avoid it.
That which exists can be proven to exist-- all "other" is imagination. Period.
And there is no way to prove anything exist besides the mind, so for all we know imagination is all there is. 2,000 years later and Solipsism still wins.
Not wanting to talk about things which are defined by the salesperson as unable to be discussed doesn't in any way show a lack of thinking on the topic. In fact, it is the only logical course of action, unless one enjoys talking about literally nothing.
A truffle sales men walks up to a man on the street.
Salesman: "I have excellent truffles on sale!"
Man on the street: "What do they taste like?"
Salesman: "Truffles"
Man: "And what is the taste of truffles?"
Salesman: *sighs* "You just have to taste a truffle to see."
Man: "You want me to taste something you can't define it but you want me to buy it?"
Salesman: "You can experience it! It can be added to omelette, pasta dishes, and even bloody Mar..."
Man: walking away "He wants me to buy and talk about something he can't even describe?"
I cannot describe color to those who have been blind their entire lives either, does that mean color can't be talked about?
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Wonder why these "deep" "abstract" thinkers haven't figured that out for themselves, considering how infinitely more intelligent and capable some of them claim to be.
First, NO ONE thinks they are the smartest human being on the planet more than a "new atheist" writer like Dawkins or Hitchens. Granted, they don't speak for most atheists, I admit.
Second, many mystics have been enjoyed by people all over the world and 100% understood. I guess this video makes absolutely no sense, huh?
Parts of this discussion make me think of a joke that circulated in the Bay Area during the 80s in response to the New Age movement. During parts of the 80s, crystals, channeling people no longer here, and other forms of hybrid spirituality were big in parts of California, especially in Marin County immediately north of San Francisco. The State of California even had a commission about self esteem (which got spoofed in Doonesbury). The joke had two versions, one with Marin and the other with California.
"How do you say f* you in Marin/California?"
"Thank you for sharing."
As a rule, "new age" is a label attached to any religious or philosophical system that a given critic does not understand. Both fundamentalist Christians and Dawkin's witnesses are guilty of this (one of the many things they have in common)
I've heard Zen Buddhism called "new age" more times than I can count...never mind that it is about 2,000 and a mainstream religion in other parts of the world.
And I've even heard existentialism called new age. Yep, that Nietzsche was just a 80's ex-hippy...
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