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?
You're enlightened – now what?
121–130 of 239 posts
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#122"Someone, perhaps it was Robert Adams, once suggested that there should be a Great Gathering Of Awakened Beings, and anybody who showed up would be immediately disqualified."
quotes from "Perfect Brilliant Stillness" by David Carse
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#123Here's a story. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle. But not any jigsaw puzzle. An unbelievably huge jigsaw puzzle that's been mixed up with other jigsaw puzzles. Some of them are really old and faded. Some of them are brand new. Some are larger and some are smaller. The edges change from jagged to smooth. Like everyone else at the table, you've been trying to put this one puzzle together for years, trying out numberless pieces…
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#124This 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!
Regardless of how one feels about the article, the thread is surprisingly not bad, and it's an intellectually interesting topic that doesn't get discussed here much. That makes for a great submission! Your notion of what belongs here is narrower than what the site guidelines call for: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . The best submissions are the ones that can't be predicted from any sequence ( https…
The more junk on HN that has nothing to do with code, the more people complain, the worse the quality is, etc. Year after year, it's held true.
I don't hesitate to posit either that moderation decisions have severely decreased the quality of the HN experience. A a cyber-hammer as the arbiter of discussions which they possess nothing worth contributing to, saying "these loosely worded guidelines are what is right" despite dozens, probably hundreds of conversations that moderation members have had with contributing individuals about what kind of posts belong on the front page.
Anyhow thanks for the links, they were "enlightening"
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#125Some people decide to focus on problems and that inevitably leads to insights. It doesn't matter if the problem is programming a GPU, baking bread, making music, or understanding your inner world.
Obviously the longer you advance on a road the more insights you will have. We get wiser as we get older simply because we've lived longer.
In Spanish we have a saying "El diablo sabe más por viejo que por diablo" which can be translated to something like "the devil knows more because he is old than because he is the devil".
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#126Wow, a lot of hate in the comments, and a lot of know-it-alls. I would say that, at the very least, worrying over these details would be a step along that road. And no, there is not widespread agreement on the speciific features. Some would say you cease to perdure in the phenomenal realm at all. Some would say you continue do altruistic things out of compassion. Some would say enlightenment is not possible in a sing…
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems to easy to reach enlightenment when you are living in a monastery with a bunch of dudes and no responsibilities but to "chop wood, carry water." But an enlightenment philosophy that can help a father of 3 with a hard marriage and a fulltime job or two...? Hmm, maybe the enlightment philosophy project will take a few thousand more years...
The Vimalakirti Sutra is about exactly this. Vimalakirti is a laymen householder who achieves enlightnment. Upon his passing, Buddha sends a bunch of spiritual masters and bodhisattva's to Vimalakirti's deathbed. Vimalakirti proceeds to chastise them for how useless their 'enlightenment' is when it doesn't help anyone in the real world, and is only a self centered quest to save one's ego from suffering. https://en.wi…
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Philosophy is closely entangled with information technology.
Would you care to elaborate? I don't mean to be pigheaded, I'm not understanding the connection between philosophy and the science of information.
Epistemology, the nature of truth, value, aesthetics, ontology, logic, proof, categories, symbolic logic, quantity, ethics and morality....
https://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/what.shtml
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-fuzzy/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-provability/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#129Zen saying: "Before enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment chop wood, carry water" . Some more from Ram Dass: “Just because you are seeing divine light, experiencing waves of bliss, or conversing with Gods and Goddesses is no reason to not know your zip code.” "If you see yourself as God and then you come back from this state and somebody says, "Hey, Sam, empty the garbage!" it catches you back int…
It seems to easy to reach enlightenment when you are living in a monastery with a bunch of dudes and no responsibilities but to "chop wood, carry water." But an enlightenment philosophy that can help a father of 3 with a hard marriage and a fulltime job or two...? Hmm, maybe the enlightment philosophy project will take a few thousand more years...
Re: You're enlightened – now what?
#130In many religious traditions enlightenment is nothing less than the annihilation of the self or something of the sort. It's a proper recognition or awareness of one's own nature, absence of desire, superficial rewards, it's not easy to put into words but I think most people get the point.
This has gotten lost in all the self-help posts about meditation and it's been turned into a commodity on app stores and whatnot and now people treat it like a snickers when your blood sugar is low.