Thank you for the most refreshing read Sir, and it sounds like you have had/are having a most interesting life. And yes, I too like to sniff everything, and feel the touch, and soak up the sunrise and the sunsets, and the beauty of the world and its variety is evergreen and custom does not stale its delight, but grows ever stronger by the day in communion with it.
As for what we can get at, well, as you intimate, there are things which generally go unsaid, or perhaps even unknown by some; but yes that peace and comprehension found in that profound silence where time and change is forgotten is the very essence of all that is good and true; and where the poets are lost for words and the philosophers ask no more questions. I know what you mean. As for me I am not inclined toward any system of belief, for does not life itself exceed anything which one could ever believe anyway. But, each to their own, and if it puts icing on the cake for them, then so be it; but I like the cake just as I find it to be. The dogs seem to enjoy it too; and they make trustworthy companions and ask for nothing except ones friendship, and who could withhold that indeed. Many thanks. Doug. --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "dougwilmer" <dougwilmer@> wrote: > > > > "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to > > find out, which is the exact opposite." ~ Bertrand Russell. > > > > Surely it takes gullibility to believe things, not willpower. > > Human society believes in a multitude of different and > > contradictory things yet look at it. Also with regards to > > the wish to find out, well, when did wishing ever achieve > > anything unless action is taken on the project of studying > > everything which we find exists. You cannot study what you > > have not found to exist; and reality beats fairy tales > > well, at least things are true of our experience of finding > > them anyway. But what is anything when nothing is observing > > it; or it is not there to observe. You cannot study what you > > cannot get at. The question becomes what can we get at; and > > then go study it. > > Well said. Especially the part about studying what > we can get at. I was thinking about that today, while > walking the dogs along the river at sunset. It was a > spectacular sunset. I even caught the dogs looking at > it from time to time. They looked sheepish went caught, > almost embarrassed, as if busted doing something too > human, but that only lasted for a second, and then they > were off to sniff other aspects of reality. > > I can identify. I get off on sniffing reality. > > I have been very fortunate in this life. I have exper- > ienced great moments of profound silence, in the strangest > of places. And y'know, the silence was no deeper in the > crater of Haleakala than it was during rush hour on Wall > Street. And I have experienced moments of great light, > and that light was as bright, and as dazzling in the great > cathedrals of Europe as it was in Canyon de Chelly and > Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon, and as it was in the > candlelit rooms of an Amsterdam brothel called Yab Yum. > > I am one lucky frood. Although ostensibly a Buddhist, I > never got particularly caught up in his ideas about life > being suffering. My life hasn't been. My life has been > fucking spectacular, one amazing adventure after another. > I have done pretty much everything wrong that one can > possibly do in my life, and it has all turned out right. > > So do I identify with "the wish to find out" more than I > do "the will to believe?" Well, duh. The latter is, to me, > about "settling," about deciding, "I've found the ultimate > truth, so now I can relax." I've never relaxed, and I hope > never to. I hope to keep challenging my beliefs and my > assumptions until my dying breath, and after. > > One of the reasons I like Fairfield Life is that there are > others here who seem to feel the same way. > > That's kinda cool. I have found that on this partidular > blue-green ball in black space it's far easier to find > folks who have the will to believe than it is to find folks > who have the wish to find out. It's nice to have found so > many of the latter in the same place. > > > Seems too obvious to bother to say really. So, forget I said it. > > But it *isn't* obvious to many people. They seem threatened > by the wish to find out, as if it were some kind of attack > on their will to believe. So I think it's important to > actually *state* the obvious from time to time, so that > those here who are more in the "wish to find out" camp can > be reminded that theirs is a noble path, too, just as noble > as the path of those who have a stronger will to believe. >
