Do we live by logic?

[saunaman]

Anna B's right , we need to listen more ( 2 ears one mouth....) . Don't know about the b%$4ocks the previous poster spouts , but there is definitely a need for people to create quiet , thinking time for themselves .

 

How many people spend a 24 hour period in life with no "me" or quiet "thinking time" ? Would be interested to know . I believe that serendipitous events , or coincidences , happen every day , we just don't notice them because we are brain-washed by shopping , Meadowhall, make-up and Celeb gossip , body image and tattoos as the need to self-express , we are being so dumbed-down by the mainstream media it's untrue .

 

To be a real rebel , you need to get savvy : as George Orwell said "In times of universal deceit , telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act ".

 

Let's start the revolution by just being more truthful , what could be easier ?

[Eccentric]

we are brain-washed by shopping , Meadowhall, make-up and Celeb gossip , body image and tattoos as the need to self-express , we are being so dumbed-down by the mainstream media it's untrue .

People do all of this voluntarily. They are more than happy to engage in vacuous nonsense.

What keeps anyone from going to an island and breaking off contact with all other persons? Probably the cost of converting a lighthouse into a dwelling and transporting all your belongs thither. But being a hermit is a noble thing — self-recognition lies in the denial of others.

The fact that so few people seem to strive to it, bears witness to the majority’s mental weakness.

 

---------- Post added 30-08-2013 at 22:59 ----------

 

Let's start the revolution by just being more truthful , what could be easier ?

 

I do not understand what truthful is supposed to mean.

[Waldo]

Anna B's right , we need to listen more ( 2 ears one mouth....) . Don't know about the b%$4ocks the previous poster spouts , but there is definitely a need for people to create quiet , thinking time for themselves.

 

I was going to say, most people don't even listen to themselves, never mind listen to other people!

 

It's quite rare to find people who actually listen, I mean really listen, not just stand there and look like they're listening, while all time they're saying to themselves "gee, wish he'd finished whatever it is he's saying, so I can interject my own pearls of wisdom"...

[Eccentric]

I was going to say, most people don't even listen to themselves, never mind listen to other people!

 

It's quite rare to find people who actually listen, I mean really listen, not just stand there and look like they're listening, while all time they're saying to themselves "gee, wish he'd finished whatever it is he's saying, so I can interject my own pearls of wisdom"...

 

Which reminds me of the opening scenes to Brief Encounter.

 

Yet there is a huge difference between listening to yourself and listening to others. The latter requires having a certain interest in the other person, which should not be taken for granted. How often does it happen that people approach you and get chatty, and you have no idea who they are or where you met them, let alone what their name is? Listening to others is hard labour. Listening to yourself is obvious, given that you have thoughts.

[Waldo]

I like other people talking to me, sharing their perspectives, it's an honor that they allow me to peer in to their universe. I would love to be a better listener.

 

Also, were you talking about listening to yourself, or listening to your thoughts?

[Eccentric]

Also, were you talking about listening to yourself, or listening to your thoughts?

I’m sorry, I just cannot conceive of the mind as anything other than what it actually is: the brain. It has two hemispheres and a cerebellum. And that is what you are. Every dream you have, every thought that comes into your mind, every intuition is a segment of yourself. The mind is a brilliant thing; it is capable of accomplishing works of genius. It can be moved, it can be depressed, it can be ecstatic. But it can never exist outside of the brain. Once your brain is gone, you as a person vanish as well. That is the sad truth of being alive.

I had a dog when I was a teenager. He was fat, aggressive towards other dogs and later on became epileptic as well. But I was his best friend; I know that for certain. No human has given me such unconditional friendship, and I was shattered when he died. But he no longer exists. There is nothing I can do about that, and I accept it. And when my brain dies, I too shall be irretrievably lost, and so will you. All these precious emotions are by-products of the brain. Knowing that is knowing yourself.

[Waldo]

Dogs are great. They're not as messed-up as people, because they don't think too much. A lot we can learn from them.

[El Cid]

 

The Vulcans on Star Trek always looked to be a miserable bunch.

 

 

But getting back to reality, they may lead more fullfilled lives. Isnt that the opposite to our chavish culture, just live for now.

Wonga are loving how things are progressing.

 

I was brought up on Star Trek, but having a mixture of logic and emotions is a must. I am perhaps am a little too unemotional, but a little alcohol helps.

[Phanerothyme]

Immanuel Kant led an exemplary life. He accepted nothing but Reason. Reason is everything. If you truly wish to understand what life is, what the universe is, then you have to accept that solely Reason can accomplish anything. This holds true for scientific matters as well as for ethical dilemmas.

 

Is murder bad? Well, the categorical imperative applies here: ‘Act in such a way that your deeds could constitute a universal law.’

 

1. I kill someone else.

2. ‘Killing someone else’ becomes a universal law.

3. Everyone kills someone else.

4. When everyone has killed someone else, there is only one person left.

5. The last person cannot kill anyone else.

 

Ergo: the principle cannot hold sway as a universal law. That is why ‘killing someone else’ is a bad principle. Suicide would not cause this problem.

 

It just goes to show that all ethics derives from Logic and Reason.

 

Good old Kant. He was so consequential, people literally set their watches to him. They knew it was exactly 6 o’ clock when he left his front door. That is the kind of life to lead.

If you want to end up like Roger Scruton, it is.

[Eccentric]

If you want to end up like Roger Scruton, it is.

 

It is not quite the same thing. I argue from a Stirnerian perspective, which solely recognises the Self. If you accept ‘rule of law’ as a goal in itself (for whichever reason thats seems to suit your own preservation), you are denying Yourself its existence, in that you subjugate the Self to a phantom, for all concepts that do not from part of You are ghosts and phantoms.

It follows that any authority by which you organise your life shall be Your authority. If it is not, then it is not authority.

This is a fundamental difference with the subservience of any Burke aficionado. If you acknowledge authority, it shall be Your power to do so. As a matter of fact, recognising authority that is not in the Self is a betrayal of the Self.

What I mean to say, is, therefore: only Your law can be a law at all. Any principle you adopt must spring from Your power.