Guest guest Posted June 14, 1999 Report Share Posted June 14, 1999 Kant reminds of the analogy of looking through a keyhole. If a person is passing along the keyhole at a short distance, the observers can see, dependent of the height of their keyhole, one leg, two legs, a trunk or a head go by; different experiences due to the limitation of the observers. At a large distance, the observers could agree on having the same experience. But there wouldn't be any agreement with an observer, looking through a keyhole from above, for that observer would see something entirely different. As knowledge and understanding comes as a result from processing perceptions through such a keyhole, it follows that even identical experiences (like nirvikalpa samadhi) can result in a different interpretation / explanation. The consequence of this is that in order to understand someone properly (instead of having one's entirely "home made" interpretation), one has to bring one's keyhole at the same position of that of the one to be understood. This is easy in a personal communication where empathy and Silence can be more important than words but less easy when communicating via some twenty-six symbols. Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 1999 Report Share Posted June 14, 1999 jb wrote: > > "jb" <kvy9 > > Kant reminds of the analogy of looking through a keyhole. This wakes up an old memory about a though i had when i was studying kant. I could not but see him then as a puddle of water laying on the sand in the Sahara and working desperately to maintain himself as water when the sand an the sun was so thirsty for him. Antoine If a person is > passing along the keyhole at a short distance, the observers can see, > dependent of the height of their keyhole, one leg, two legs, a trunk or a > head go by; different experiences due to the limitation of the observers. At > a large distance, the observers could agree on having the same experience. > But there wouldn't be any agreement with an observer, looking through a > keyhole from above, for that observer would see something entirely > different. > > As knowledge and understanding comes as a result from processing perceptions > through such a keyhole, it follows that even identical experiences (like > nirvikalpa samadhi) can result in a different interpretation / explanation. > The consequence of this is that in order to understand someone properly > (instead of having one's entirely "home made" interpretation), one has to > bring one's keyhole at the same position of that of the one to be > understood. This is easy in a personal communication where empathy and > Silence can be more important than words but less easy when communicating > via some twenty-six symbols. > > Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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