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Olgualion
Shaman-In-Training


Registered: 11/13/01
Posts: 1,253
Loc: Currently Earth...
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I am closed minded!
#1565557 - 05/21/03 11:26 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Close minded to the possibility that there is nothing beyond this physical world. I am closed minded to this possibility because i know it to be untrue.
Mr mushrooms made me think of this in a post o his today. I try to look at things from as many perspectives as possible, but am I close minded If I can not look at something with the perspective of a closed mind?
-------------------- Study the past... See the future...
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trendal
J♠


Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Olgualion]
#1565564 - 05/21/03 11:27 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Interesting idea. I hadn't thought of that before.
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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RebelSteve33
Amateur Mycologist


Registered: 05/28/02
Posts: 3,774
Loc: Arizona
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Olgualion]
#1565649 - 05/21/03 11:47 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Close-minded, to me, means not being willing to consider all possible possibilities (as well as not being tolerant or accepting of people whose life-styles are different from your own.)
Since you don't even seem willing to consider that there might not be something beyond this physical world, then I would personally consider you close-minded. That's just my personal opinion, though.
-RebelSteve
-------------------- Namaste.
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Anonymous
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Olgualion]
#1565667 - 05/21/03 11:51 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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The ancient Greeks had two words for knowledge, episteme for those things that are absolute and doxa for those things that remain within the realm of doubt.
Most things are doxa. We have very few things we can know with certitude.
Currently we have no evidence, empirical or otherwise, that negates the possibility of supernatural.
A lot of confusion can be had in the definitions of terms. It is like the difference between 'possible' and "probable'. Most things are possible but far fewer things are probable.
Good thread!
Cheers,
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Amnesiac
Re-memberingcosmic wisdom

Registered: 03/30/03
Posts: 188
Loc: Unknown
Last seen: 19 years, 4 months
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: ]
#1566414 - 05/21/03 03:23 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I don't think anyone is really closed-minded or open-minded... it's not quite so black and white.
I think we are selectively open-minded. It's simple... we remain open to the things which interest us and which we aren't sure of... and closed to the things that we know are bullshit. And yes, it is possible to KNOW if something is bullshit.
For example, I KNOW that McDonald's is a profit organization which exploits the ignorance of the masses, sacrificing the health of the many in order to increase the profits of the few. Therefore, I am closed-minded to the notion that McDonald's sells good, quality food and honestly cares about the health of their customers. I close my mind to this because I KNOW that I am correct in this. Do not confuse knowledge with belief. Of this matter, I KNOW.
The fact is that people's opinions or emotions cannot sway what is truth, and just because somebody thinks that McDonald's is doing a great deed to humanity, doesn't mean I have to remain "open" to the possibility that they are correct, because I KNOW that they are not.
Sometimes when I explain this, people say, "But what makes you so sure that your opinion matters more than anybody else's? You're just another guy with his own opinion." To this I would say, that my truth was not arrived at through feelings of ignorant physical satisfaction. Just because something tastes good and contains a high level of some elementary nutritional property, does not mean it is worth eating.
People tend to develop opinions based on what satisfies some low-level physical or material need which they have, and not because they have made adequate, unbiased observations leading to an undeniable answer.
Don't be fooled by the appearance and title of this link I am about to give you, but check it out... it is written by a highly intelligent person and is called "Contra open-mindedness"
http://www.datejesus.com/sermons/openminded/
-------------------- Here we are, in these bodies, on this planet in an endless universe. This is not the extent of who we are... merely an extension of who we really are.
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Murex
Reality Hacker

Registered: 07/28/02
Posts: 3,599
Loc: Traped in a shell.
Last seen: 16 years, 4 months
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Olgualion]
#1566547 - 05/21/03 04:13 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I'm with RebelSteve on this one.
-------------------- What if everything around you Isn't quite as it seems? What if all the world you think you know, Is an elaborate dream? And if you look at your reflection, Is it all you want it to be?
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Sclorch
Clyster


Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: ]
#1567083 - 05/21/03 07:38 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Nothing except my existence is episteme... some things are just very stable doxa. Edit: Is that better, Mr_M? I honestly don't know how I missed that.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
Edited by Sclorch (05/21/03 11:53 PM)
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HagbardCeline
Student-Teacher-Student-Teacher


Registered: 05/10/03
Posts: 10,026
Loc: Overjoyed, at the bottom ...
Last seen: 17 days, 18 hours
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Sclorch]
#1567198 - 05/21/03 08:09 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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I agree with you Sclorch. I don't think we can say anything is absolute.
Amenesiac,
I agree with you that we remain open-minded until we discover our personal truth. That is until some outside influence changes our perception. In that sense, we are all open-minded, even if you think your not. It just means that you accept the possibility of something, not that you accept it as equal as in the essay you posted.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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Anonymous
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: Sclorch]
#1567309 - 05/21/03 08:36 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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You're wrong but if it helps you to believe that go right ahead.
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RebelSteve33
Amateur Mycologist


Registered: 05/28/02
Posts: 3,774
Loc: Arizona
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: ]
#1567319 - 05/21/03 08:39 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Most things are doxa. We have very few things we can know with certitude.
I seem to remember you saying before that we know nothing with certitude. Have you recently changed your belief, or am I just mistaken? If I'm not mistaken, what was it that changed your mind? Just wondering...
Peace,
RebelSteve
-------------------- Namaste.
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Anonymous
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You are mistaken. I never would have said that.
I know that I exist with certitude.
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HagbardCeline
Student-Teacher-Student-Teacher


Registered: 05/10/03
Posts: 10,026
Loc: Overjoyed, at the bottom ...
Last seen: 17 days, 18 hours
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Re: I am closed minded! [Re: ]
#1567347 - 05/21/03 08:48 PM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
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Mr Mushrooms, can you give us an example of something that is absolute?
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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Anonymous
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I just did.
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Olgualion
Shaman-In-Training


Registered: 11/13/01
Posts: 1,253
Loc: Currently Earth...
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It entirely depends upon the scale your looking at. How can we measure what we "don't know"?
But, the episteme in relation to the doxa on the "grand scale" is very small.
-------------------- Study the past... See the future...
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