It is one thing to talk and write about 'pure' experience, and another to
experience it.
"From the early seventeenth century onward, while scientists confined
their research to the external world, the inner world of the human soul and
consciousness was left to the theologians and philosophers. Despite their many
ingenious theories, they failed to come to a consensus on even the most
rudimentary questions, and in the late nineteenth century scientists began to
investigate the unexplored dimension of the natural world. William James was
fascinated by this topic, as it can be viewed from scientific, philosophical,
and spiritual perspectives, and he rejected the notion that all physical and
mental phenomena arise out of some primal stuff called "matter." In his view,
the primal substance of the universe is pure experience, which he characterized
as "plain, unqualified actuality, or existence, a simple _that_," prior to the
differentiation of subject and object."
"James commented that psychology in his times was hardly more developed
than physics had been before Galileo, and despite many advances in the
cognitive sciences during the twentieth century, this is still true of
scientific study of consciousness. He added that a topic remains a problem of
philosophy only until it has been understood by scientific means, at which
point it is taken out of the hands of philosophers. The fact that philosophers
continue to make a living by writing book after book claiming to explain
consciousness is evidence that the West does not yet have an authentic science
of consciousness. Scientists and philosophers continue to speculate on the
real nature of the mind, as opposed to its appearances to introspection, by
purely logical means, without any compelling empirical evidence. Einstein
commented, "Propositions arrived at purely by logical means are completely
empty as regards reality. Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because
he dr
ummed it into the scientific world, he is the father of modern
physics---indeed of modern science altogether."
"Philosophy, literally the "love of wisdom," is methodologically aimed at
overcoming subjective biases and arriving at theoretical knowledge, which must
be a central element of wisdom. Historically, this is the whole point of
philosophy. But modern philosophers agree on virtually nothing, and they have
produced no body of consensual knowledge, implying that their views must be
strongly subject to subjective biases, which detracts from the cultivation of
wisdom. The primary reason for this failure is that philosophers have become
overspecialized and disengaged from practical philosophy. As ingenious as many
of their speculations are, they are commonly of little use either in the world
of science or in everyday life."
(Wallace, Alan B., 'Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism,
and Christianity', p.77-78)
___
Moq_Discuss mailing list
Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc.
http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org
Archives:
http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/
http://moq.org/md/archives.html
