I don't profess to be interested in philosophy :) Philosophy forums happen to be a space where one can chat with others about big picture perspectives. Many people are interested in better understanding reality, usually those whose jobs, family and social lives don't take up too much of their time and energies.Nick_A wrote: ↑July 9th, 2021, 10:57 pm Sy Borg
You profess to be interested in philosophy but all I read from you is secular psychology. Jacob Needleman in his book "The Heart of Philosophy" describes how I understand philosophy:
Philosophy begins with the recognition that humanity as a whole including me is asleep in Plato's cave with the potential to awaken to and remember universal human meaning and purpose. The purpose of philosophy is to help Man remember rather then the means to curse out Donald Trump as PC secular expression and appear self important.Chapter 1
Introduction
Man cannot live without philosophy. This is not a figure of speech but a literal fact that will be demonstrated in this book. There is a yearning in the heart that is nourished only by real philosophy and without this nourishment man dies as surely as if he were deprived of food and air. But this part of the human psyche is not known or honored in our culture. When it does breakthrough to our awareness it is either ignored or treated as something else. It is given wrong names; it is not cared for; it is crushed. And eventually, it may withdraw altogether, never again to appear. When this happens man becomes a thing. No matter what he accomplishes or experiences, no matter what happiness he experiences or what service he performs, he has in fact lost his real possibility. He is dead.
……………………….The function of philosophy in human life is to help Man remember. It has no other task. And anything that calls itself philosophy which does not serve this function is simply not philosophy……………………………….
My question to you is what does awakening mean for you? Is it just learning more knowledge? What is a human perspective as opposed to an indoctrinated conditioned perspective?
A person interested in philosophy is concerned with why Man is asleep. Can Man awaken? If man can awaken, what prevents it.
However if your real interest is secular psychology, awakening is unimportant. All we need is more knowledge. We are already awake. All that is important is how to adjust to life in the darkness of Plato's cave. My guess is that secular psychology is your real interest rather than philosophy. Am I wrong.
I too think humans that are still largely clueless about the actual nature of reality. We are not evolved with those capacities, just as long as we survive and reproduce etc. So I am not sure if humanity can "awaken", certainly not en masse. Gurdjeiff was right about that IMO.
I am not sure that anyone today knows what's really going on or, given our limited individualistic senses, whether we are capable of doing so. It may not be humans who better understand and more knowingly participate in reality but some of those who succeed humanity.