My own perception is that there are words and words have a logic of their own . When you start off with an expression ,however banal it may be, the poet’s own mind carries on with the logic of the words which relentlessly pursue truth and lead it towards little known recesses of the mind which hide this truth. Now truth is a controversial word ,just like wisdom and you may swap one for the other. But the essential thing is there is a logic of all logics which starts with words and as they move they take you to fascinating worlds whose existence you have not suspected. But the question you will ask is :You are saying this higher logic or whatever logic you call it is truth but what is the basis for this ? Apparently everything depends on what you think is truth and if you believe Truth is something verifiable with facts and can be demonstrated again and again ,that is the definition within the conventional sense.How do we know that there is no other logic or truth beyond the logic which governs our lives and the physical phenomena
Commentary
When you are alive , you are conscious .It is consciousness that defines your aliveness. The other way,it is aliveness that causes consciousness. When I experience something my consciousness is temporarily suspended in order to register sensations and record experiences .I have been thinking of why ,when I am typing this ,I am not simultaneously conscious of my typing. I have often found that I may have been subconsciously aware of the experiences I am going through but not all the time. For example I do a hundred things during the day but find it difficult to remember all the experiences when I try to recall them later. I have found over the years it is expedient to let another part of mind to offer a running commentary on what is taking place. There is a continuous drone in the back of my mind which is a kind of a background commentary offered by another part of my mind which makes me conscious. The sound inside is a persistent commentary which tries to synthesize my experiences and make some sense out of them before they are filed away.The commentary looks at the aggregates ,brings to the fore analogous situations, tries to read trends and look for meaning behind each of the transactions.
I have read Aldous Huxley’s statement somewhere that progress is never felt ,but only recorded. Of course he was talking in another context.In the context of what happens to the humankind over large tracts of time. In the evolution of human thought. The running commentary within us makes us conscious of the external sensations which tend to die away without being noticed and made sense of. I train myself to look at the world as I take my walks ,trying not to miss the fascinating sounds of life ,the fantastic newer perspectives on nature ,the glory of unreal situations which will not repeat themselves. All this becomes possible only if the commentary goes on uninterruptedly while I participate in the drama of life.
Does the future exist in a knowable form ?
Does the future exist in any knowable fashion?If so can it be known in any absolute way ?If not why do so many people believe it can ?
(Ask Philosophers.org)
The future exists no doubt but can it exist in a knowable fashion is the question. To begin with ,the past and the present exist and the future has necessarily to exist as continuum of the present.But there is no certainty of the future existing as a projection of the present because one is not sure of the existence itself. That brings to the question of whether Time can cease to exist because only if Time exists can future continue to exist. Time is the framework within which all space has to exist together with all that exists in space. If time can exist without space (for example there is no universe) then future can exist without being tied up to space. Space defines the existence and provides a referential framework for Time.(whatever happened to space is past ,happening now is the present and will happen is the future).Without space Time is continuous and is not broken into the divisions of the past,the present and the future. In that case there is no distinct identity of the future ,which means the future does not exist and is not in a knowable form.
amherst.edu
The idea of identity
The question that is asked of the philosopher is “if a window is broken ,will it continue to be a window ? The answer given here (Ask philosophers) is that it depends upon how much broken it is. If the damage is not substantial it can still be called a window.If ,on the other hand, the glass is broken and the wood has come apart , Will it still qualify to be called a window ? Here the question is one of identity. A caterpillar ceases to be one and becomes a butterfly .
The butterfly
Stinging, stinking caterpillar
Ate beauty-holes in our cheekoo leaves
And disappeared into
The rainbow outside our compound.
If the water becomes ice ,the H2O will still remain and in several transformations the original qualities may still persist although the identity has undergone a change. Einstein’s E=MC2 would imply that the transformation means that the original identity will remain in some form.
My own perception is that the window ,if broken, will not cease to be a window. When we are talking of the window we are not talking of the mere wooden frame or the glass pane .We are dealing with the idea of a gap or a crevice within the opacity of a wall which gives us a view of the world outside. Thus even a hole with no wooden frame or glass pane will qualify to be called a window as long as it functions as a window.
Consciousness
With respect to the nature of consciousness, do you agree with the phrase ‘You cannot be that which you observe’, or can you point at yourself and say ? this is ME??
(The question is from the website:Ask philosophers )
Here the gentleman is talking “me and them” ,meaning I am the observer and them is the observed. The world is the thing which I observe without participating in it .The moment I participate in it I become “them” and “me” merges into it. Yes .You cannot be that which you observe .For example you are watching the circus girl perform and your consciousness embraces her existence on the stage but when you are on the stage along with her and performing as a troupe member you become “them”.You cannot point at youself and say this is me,Jagannath because that presupposes that for a moment Jagannath has come out of himself and started observing himself as a distinct organism separate from Jagannath,the observed. In a near fictional situation in a poem ,this gentleman called John Donne ,the17th century poet imagined a situation in which both he and his beloved pulled themselves out of their mortal bodies and their souls had their lovers’ union in the vast wild wastes of the firmament.But that is an unreal situation.
