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You're enlightened – now what?

whatiscalledthinking.substack.com

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Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#51

This article appears to be deeply confusing two drastically different meanings of "enlightened". There's the spiritual sense, which might be described as fully understanding and accepting the impermanence of the world and the "artificiality" of meaning. Separately, there's "getting" something in a knowledge area. E.g. you finally understood how pointers work in C. The author seems to start with the first... but then…

>if you're enlightened then you want to spread it -- but this is the exact opposite of enlightenment

Isn't the opposite of spread - hoard?

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#52

This article is what yall want on the front page? The author submitted and probably vote-manipulated to get it there. It's a content-less article, it has nothing to do with hacker values or software or entrepreneurship. Please vote responsibly, everyone!

Philosophy is closely entangled with information technology.

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#53
post #5

I honestly don't get the point of the article. Is it supposed to be a jab at the modern mindfulness wave? Or is it actually speaking of "enlightenment" as it's understood in most spiritual practices, in which case none of the questions even make sense?

Upon reading it my thoughts went to yesterday's Verge article on the audio recordings of Zuckerberg's Q&As. Facebook has many vocal rank and file people who seem to believe they've arrived at Enlightenment and want Zuckerberg to toe the line. His imperfect attempts to walk a tightrope that keeps everyone happy infuriate the Enlightened, who believe tightrope walking is in its very conception a concession to Evil. They conclude that he's an Agent of Hatred and start taking steps to coerce him into compliance with Correct Thinking.

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#54

Most enlightened people don't even know they're enlightened. The ones who arrived there without conscious effort, through some intense concentration on some other aspect of life, simply lose their angst. Asked to explain, they usually have some kind of muddled folk mysticism about how it happened. Very few of them teach. I know of well attested enlightenment from an olympic-grade swimmer, and a guy who really liked f…

Hold on. Is enlightenment a widely accepted phenomenon with an agreed definition?

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#55

This article appears to be deeply confusing two drastically different meanings of "enlightened". There's the spiritual sense, which might be described as fully understanding and accepting the impermanence of the world and the "artificiality" of meaning. Separately, there's "getting" something in a knowledge area. E.g. you finally understood how pointers work in C. The author seems to start with the first... but then…

>if you're enlightened then you want to spread it -- but this is the exact opposite of enlightenment Isn't the opposite of spread - hoard?

> Isn't the opposite of spread - hoard?

Only in the 2nd sense (ie: "getting" something in a knowledge area).

The 1st sense (... understanding and accepting ...) cannot be hoarded, since it is not given to you from someone else.

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#56
Enlightenment is an aspirational goal that can never be achieved.

No human can fully understand any given situation. To do so, you must first fully understand the entire universe, as everything is connected. And that is of course utterly impossible.

I say this as someone who has found great value in Buddhist philosophy and a personal meditation practice.

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#57
When you understand that the Light you have seen is the Light of a precious Thought whose nature is Love, Beauty, Happiness and Life, you'll want to get to know the Thinker. The Light is Love, and is the inspiration and mother of the Cosmos. Therefore doing loving work is doing the work of the Creator, and the reward of such work is Happiness The only work of the enlightened one is Love; judgment has no place in the enlightened heart.

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#58
post #53
post #5

I honestly don't get the point of the article. Is it supposed to be a jab at the modern mindfulness wave? Or is it actually speaking of "enlightenment" as it's understood in most spiritual practices, in which case none of the questions even make sense?

Upon reading it my thoughts went to yesterday's Verge article on the audio recordings of Zuckerberg's Q&As. Facebook has many vocal rank and file people who seem to believe they've arrived at Enlightenment and want Zuckerberg to toe the line. His imperfect attempts to walk a tightrope that keeps everyone happy infuriate the Enlightened, who believe tightrope walking is in its very conception a concession to Evil. The…

They thereby fall into the trap of judgement and dissipate their energies in Real world bullshit :)

Re: You're enlightened – now what?

#59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upon reading it my thoughts went to yesterday's Verge article on the audio recordings of Zuckerberg's Q&As. Facebook has many vocal rank and file people who seem to believe they've arrived at Enlightenment and want Zuckerberg to toe the line. His imperfect attempts to walk a tightrope that keeps everyone happy infuriate the Enlightened, who believe tightrope walking is in its very conception a concession to Evil. The…

They thereby fall into the trap of judgement and dissipate their energies in Real world bullshit :)

And can’t we all get back to the really important work of complaining about the absence of free snacks, the main reason we’re here?
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