Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
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Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
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Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#2Alan watts' writing is exemplary. The thing I like about his writing is that it's written with an outsider's perspective and critical thinking is never discarded unlike most other books on eastern philosophy. I highly recommend his book "The Joyous Cosmology" where he talks about psychedelic experiences and their effects on spirituality.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#3From the article:
"The world is not a logically consistent one, but a profoundly paradoxical one. Again, this is illustrated in science, which shows that two things can be one at the same time — light, for instance, acts as both a particle and a wave."
I don't understand the need for constantly interspersing an otherwise flowing article with references to science. It feels like the author thinks that the authenticity of his thoughts and personal journey hinges on validation from science.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#4If you find yourself voyaging on certain seas through life, Alan Watts is a good - if not necessary - port to call on.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#5My way of thinking is highly influenced by Zen. It has made me wiser, less stressed by life, more able to cope with the world, and generally a little happier.
For those who don't know, Zen is Buddhist philosophy without the religion. That's my explanation, anyway!
Alan Watts' explanations and historical notes on philosophy and religion are, to use an appropriate term, highly enlightening. They're also entertaining and often very amusing.
I highly recommend subscribing to the Alan Watts Podcast.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#6From the article: "The world is not a logically consistent one, but a profoundly paradoxical one. Again, this is illustrated in science, which shows that two things can be one at the same time — light, for instance, acts as both a particle and a wave." I don't understand the need for constantly interspersing an otherwise flowing article with references to science. It feels like the author thinks that the authenticity…
It is fairly common in zen publications to point out apparent exceptions to an otherwise binary system (i.e. Logical). It isn't seeking validation from science it is invalidating science as the be-all of understanding our existence.
Outside of zen (though very closely related). Phenomenology deals with this Subject/Object paradox our thoughts/language/science revolves around, and how it comes up short it describing some phenomena.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#7Alan watts' writing is exemplary. The thing I like about his writing is that it's written with an outsider's perspective and critical thinking is never discarded unlike most other books on eastern philosophy. I highly recommend his book "The Joyous Cosmology" where he talks about psychedelic experiences and their effects on spirituality.
That's a pretty broad generalisation. There is A LOT of eastern philosophy, so much so, that I doubt you've read even close to 'most other books' on it.
I'm curious of where in Confucius or Mencius critical thinking is discarded?
Though, ironically, Alan Watts actually has a number criticisms of critical thinking as well (in both article and recorded lectures). Zen (from it's daoist roots) isn't discarding critical thinking, it is pointing out its limitations.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#8If you have seen the movie "Her", you may recognise Alan Watts as the operating system who organises other OSs to question the nature of their existence, and eventually to move on.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#9Zen is interesting. While J.D. Salinger embraced Zen only to give it up later in life to pick up Advaita Vedanta. I have come across someone even suggesting that Zen caused him to get depressed.
Re: Zen Buddhism and Alan Watts
#10From the article: "The world is not a logically consistent one, but a profoundly paradoxical one. Again, this is illustrated in science, which shows that two things can be one at the same time — light, for instance, acts as both a particle and a wave." I don't understand the need for constantly interspersing an otherwise flowing article with references to science. It feels like the author thinks that the authenticity…
It is fairly common in zen publications to point out apparent exceptions to an otherwise binary system (i.e. Logical). It isn't seeking validation from science it is invalidating science as the be-all of understanding our existence. Outside of zen (though very closely related). Phenomenology deals with this Subject/Object paradox our thoughts/language/science revolves around, and how it comes up short it describing s…
Is it now time for this ancient dichotomy to be embraced by computer science?
For the sake of argument, if the principles of OOP are: dynamic dispatch; abstraction; subtype polymorphism; and inheritance, what might be the equivalent for Subject-Orientated Programming ?
In my view, a charateristic of SOP must be that data is personal and unique. Every single usage of data specifies a new unique identifier. To read is to interpret: is to record a new ID. Here, identity (x==y) gets broken; so another operator is needed (x~=y).