Edgar, Knew you'd get there.. Eventually!
Mike Ps Is the old Edgar back now? ________________________________ From: Edgar Owen <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, 23 November 2012, 18:18 Subject: Re: [Zen] "thoughts, pensees, Meditations, and the Cogito" Mike, OK, I get it now. I assumed your "I think not" meant you were saying I didn't believe the yam myth but I see now you meant it to mean no thinking at all would cause someone to cease to exist if Descartes were correct. You see it can be read both ways in the context of your post? A good but old joke! :-) Best, Edgar On Nov 23, 2012, at 12:48 PM, mike brown wrote: > > >Edgar, > > >First of all, I thought "Zen/reality is all" (they're your words not mine), so >you've contradicted yourself. Second, this is just a reworking of the oldest >Descarte joke in told by undegraduates in philosophy departments. I don't >think a smiley face is gonna help your sense of humour much, but here >goes.. : ) > > >Mike > > > >________________________________ > From: Edgar Owen <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Friday, 23 November 2012, 17:33 >Subject: Re: [Zen] "thoughts, pensees, Meditations, and the Cogito" > > > >Mike, > > >This post of yours seems to have no connection with reality. Was it supposed >to be a joke? If so please add a smily so readers can tell the difference >between bad jokes and delusions! >:-) > > >Edgar > > > > > > >On Nov 23, 2012, at 12:30 PM, mike brown wrote: > > >> >> >>Joe, >> >> >>Asked if he believes that it is possible to survive for 6 years on yam leaves >>and rice, Edgar answered "I think not" and promptly disappeared. >> >> >>Mike >> >> >> >> >>________________________________ >>From: Joe <[email protected]> >>To: [email protected] >>Sent: Friday, 23 November 2012, 4:56 >>Subject: [Zen] "thoughts, pensees, Meditations, and the Cogito" >> >> >> >>Group, >> >>I'm interested in your "pensees". >> >>Rene Descartes was the French philosopher who published his "Pensees" to >>great acclaim; it has been an influential study in Western Philosophy, and >>elsewhere, for centuries. >> >>The book, "Thoughts", or "Meditations" is the record of his attempts to find >>what he calls "clear and distinct" ideas. He tried to begin with the most >>basic thought, or idea: he looked for what he could absolutely not DOUBT. He >>looked, and he looked. Some would say he meditated on it (but not in the Zen >>way, probably). This is why the title is almost always translated as >>"Meditations" in English. But we know what the translators mean (if we can >>remember to the time before we began meditation practice). I think of the >>book as "Thoughts", or "Pensees". >> >>Descartes writes that when he engages in his meditations, he finds that what >>he cannot doubt is that he "thinks" (probably many of us do, too, when we >>meditate). >> >>He took it a step further, and deduced that, because he thinks, he exists. >> >>The "cogito" is the famous proposition he coined: >> >>"Cogito, ergo sum." >> >>"I think, therefore I am." >> >>Now, a question for the group is, how does an awakened person view the cogito? >> >>Or, what would an awakened person say, instead?, if asked to find something >>that he/she could not DOUBT. >> >>Don't all say "Mu", at once, though. I'll worry it's a stampede. >> >>And, is there something like the cogito that an awakened person would compose? >> >>--Joe >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > > >
