14 JUL 2025 by ideonexus
Symbols as Abstractions and Zen
Men feel themselves to be victims or puppets of their experience because they separate "themselves" from their minds, thinking that the nature of the mind-body is something involuntarily thrust upon "them." They think that they did not ask to be born, did not ask to be "given" a sensitive organism to be frustrated by alternating pleasure and pain. But Zen asks us to find out "who" it is that '1las" this mind, and "who" it was that did not ask to be born before father and mother conceived us. ...Folksonomies: zen
Folksonomies: zen
14 JUL 2025 by ideonexus
Abstraction is a Necessity for Communication
The English words "man," "fish," "star," "Hower," ·run," "grow," all denote classes of objects or events which may be recognized as members of their class by very simple attributes, abstracted from the total complexity of the things themselves.
Abstraction is thus almost a necessity for communication, since it enables us to represent our experiences with simple and rapidly made "grasps" of the mind. When we say that we can think only of one thing at a time, this is like saying that the Paci...Folksonomies: zen
Folksonomies: zen
21 MAY 2025 by ideonexus
The Mind is the Way
Someone who seeks the Way doesn't look beyond himself. He knows that the mind is the Way. But when he finds the mind, he finds nothing. And when he finds the Way, he finds nothing. If you think you can use the mind to find the Way, you're deluded. When you're deluded, buddhahood exists. When you're aware, it doesn't exist. This is because awareness is buddhahood.
If you're looking for the Way, the Way won't appear until your body disappears. It's like stripping bark from a tree. This karmic ...Folksonomies: zen
Folksonomies: zen
07 DEC 2024 by ideonexus
What is Prosochē?
The brief definition offered above provides some insight into the Stoic concept of prosochē; however, I do not think it draws out its full meaning and richness. My own understanding of the concept was furthered by the following descriptions of prosochē from various authors:
A “fundamental attitude” of “continuous attention, which means constant tension and consciousness, as well as vigilance exercised at every moment.”
Being “perfectly aware not only of what [one] is doing, but ...Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
Folksonomies: mindfulness stoicism
05 JAN 2023 by ideonexus
Identifying AI Online
Before you continue, pause and consider: How would you prove you're not a language model generating predictive text? What special human tricks can you do that a language model can't?
1. Triangulate objective reality
[...]
This leaves us with some low-hanging fruit for humanness. We can tell richly detailed stories grounded in our specific contexts and cultures: place names, sensual descriptions, local knowledge, and, well the je ne sais quoi of being alive. Language models can decently mim...Folksonomies: ai auto-generated content
Folksonomies: ai auto-generated content
There are additional tactics for differentiating ourselves from AIs, but the first two were the most interesting to me.
05 JAN 2023 by ideonexus
Web Gardens and Streams Elaborated
Caufield makes clear digital gardening is not about specific tools – it's not a Wordpress plugin, Gastby theme, or Jekyll template. It's a different way of thinking about our online behaviour around information - one that accumulates personal knowledge over time in an explorable space.
Caufield's main argument was that we have become swept away by streams – the collapse of information into single-track timelines of events. The conversational feed design of email inboxes, group chats, and...Folksonomies: web topology digital distraction
Folksonomies: web topology digital distraction
03 JAN 2023 by ideonexus
Traits of Yoga Practice That Lead to Conspiracy Theories
Remski, the host of Conspirituality, noticed a number of yoga teachers flirting with QAnon during the early months of the pandemic. At first, he suspected it was a marketing ploy. With yoga studios around the country suddenly closed, teachers were forced to compete for the same online audience. But as the pandemic progressed, some teachers, like Guru Jagat, did not walk back their rhetoric.
Of course, many people practice yoga without believing in conspiracy theories. However, yoga philosoph...Folksonomies: conspiracy rabbit hole
Folksonomies: conspiracy rabbit hole
19 NOV 2022 by ideonexus
Critical Ignoring and Deliberate Ignorance
Low-quality and misleading information online can hijack people’s attention, often by evoking curiosity, outrage, or anger. Resisting certain types of information and actors online requires people to adopt new mental habits that help them avoid being tempted by attention-grabbing and potentially harmful content. We argue that digital information literacy must include the competence of critical ignoring—choosing what to ignore and where to invest one’s limited attentional capacities. We ...An important educational paradigm.
17 OCT 2021 by ideonexus
Treat Children as Rational Creatures
But if you take away the rod on one hand, and these little encouragements, which they are taken with, on the other; how then (will you say) shall children be governed? Remove hope and fear, and there is an end of all discipline. I grant, that good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature; these are the spur and reins, whereby all mankind are set on work and guided, and therefore they are to be made use of to children too. For I advise their parents and gove...Folksonomies: education
Folksonomies: education
17 OCT 2021 by ideonexus
Belief Discovers No New Qualities
SINCE therefore belief implies a conception, and yet is something more; and since it adds no new idea to the conception; it follows, that it is a different MANNER of conceiving an object; something that is distinguishable to the feeling, and depends not upon our will, as all our ideas do. My mind runs by habit from the visible object of one ball moving towards another, to the usual effect of motion in the second ball. It not only conceives that motion, but feels something different in the con...Folksonomies: philosophy empiricism
Folksonomies: philosophy empiricism