|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
The middle path in philosophy.
#7832109 - 01/04/08 02:12 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
In the movie "I Huckabees" there seemed to be two philosophies at war with each other. Nihilism and Positivism (I could be wrong about these categorizations but you get the idea). By the end of the movie it was clear that neither had all the answers and both were necessary to come to grips with effective living.
This is the stance I feel is the most worthwhile for me also. IMO, both realizations are necessary for effective living. It seems that very few people ever decide that this is an effective path. Yet I believe that there is great freedom in mixing these ideas. Neither holds all the "truth".
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: Icelander]
#7832541 - 01/04/08 04:19 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I happen to agree with this point of view.
--------------------
|
Epigallo
Stranger
Registered: 09/17/06
Posts: 8,155
Last seen: 6 years, 10 months
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: AlteredAgain]
#7832642 - 01/04/08 04:44 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I've always been a strong proponent of middle-pathism.
|
Rose
Devil's Advocate



Registered: 09/24/03
Posts: 22,518
Loc: Mod not God
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: Icelander]
#7832752 - 01/04/08 05:13 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
"I Huckabees" was a mediocre movie but... it made a great and resonant point. Nihilism and, "Zen" go together like peanut butter and jelly.
I have a friend who calls what you are describing, "Secular Buddhism". I get a kick out of that term.
-------------------- Fiddlesticks.
|
xFrockx



Registered: 09/17/06
Posts: 10,455
Loc: Northeast
Last seen: 11 days, 11 hours
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: Rose]
#7832930 - 01/04/08 06:11 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
I'm pretty sure it was nihilism and existentialism, but I'm not positive(ism).
|
Cracka_X
Spiritual Dirt Worshipper




Registered: 01/25/03
Posts: 8,808
Loc: Swamp
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: Icelander]
#7832984 - 01/04/08 06:28 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
|
|
for a moment I thought you were gonna delve more into buddhism.
but yeah, totally agree
-------------------- The best way to live is to be like water For water benefits all things and goes against none of them It provides for all people and even cleanses those places a man is loath to go In this way it is just like Tao ~Daodejing
|
justamonkey
Stranger



Registered: 10/26/05
Posts: 292
Loc: Upstairs
|
Re: The middle path in philosophy. [Re: Cracka_X]
#7834592 - 01/05/08 06:28 AM (16 years, 27 days ago) |
|
|
Well...I look at it like this. Somebody invented both of those ideas, nihilism, and existentialism. Being positive, or feeling hopeless, or whatever, its all someone's attempt to describe something. Whatever it was they were trying to describe, that's the truth, their descriptions, however, are not accurate. Communication is a closed system, and closed systems continue infinitely toward chaos. Therefore, anything except for experience is inaccurate.
I read about LSD, I talked about it, I looked and listened to art about it. I tried in every way to know it. I failed. I came to a conclusion as to what it was before I experienced it. That conclusion was positive, and led me to try it.
I was wrong, though my idea was close, it was highly inaccurate.
The experience was accurate, and that's all that ever will be.
I will agree that the middle way is best, but my description of the middle way may be different from yours, so I will include that also. To me, the middle way is the way of experience. It is not a curse nor a blessing because it is experience, it is doing or not doing, it simply is.
-------------------- [quote]We don't need anyone to teach us sorcery, because there is really nothing to learn. What we need is a teacher to convince us that there is incalculable power at our fingertips. What a strange paradox! Every warrior on the path of knowledge thinks, at one time or another, that he's learning sorcery, but all he's doing is allowing himself to be convinced of the power hidden in his being, and that he can reach it. [/quote]-Carlos Casteneda
|
|