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Methods of Western Philosophers

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>> > With regard to Western Philosophers, I don't notice

>> >any real 'how to', teachings with regard to

>> >Liberation, even if they are non-dual. As opposed to

>> >the science of Liberation taught in the East/India.

>>

>> This is true. To most Western philosophers it's a purely

>> intellectual

>> exercise. No soteriological or spiritual motives to their writing.

>> Even

>> some like Schopenhauer who were exposed to Eastern teachings don't

>> prescribe any methods. But the arguments can be part of one's path.

>>

>Yes, and the "methods"

>prescribed in the East are

>many, diverse, and a *long*

>way from deterministic.

 

No methods proposed by Western philosophers? Wait just a sec...

Methods proposed by Western philosophers (in random order):

 

Plato: sit in a cave and watch the shadows cast by a fire

Alan Watts, Tim Leary, Richard Alpert: take lots of LSD

Meister Eckhardt: Contemplate the nature of Godhead

Socrates: Ask questions

Jesus: Direct prayer/communion with the divine

intentional fasting

Issac Luria: Intense meditation using letters of divine names

William Blake: Use of poetic imagination, prophetic vision

Carl Jung: Active imagination; exploration of dreams and creativity

Hildegaard Von Bingen: Devotion to Divine Love

Leonardo da Vinci: Integrate rationality and aesthetics

Sigmund Freud: Profound self-analysis and release of past emotional patterns

Moses: Spend 40 years in the desert

Abraham: reject any images of divinity as truth

Paul: organize a community

John Cage: integrate silence and sound

Wittgenstein: recognize the limits of language

 

Some of these methods are very valuable in my opinion.

 

--- Dan

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Thanks for these links. I was going to add him to the WesternPhilosophers

page on Jerry's site (www3.ns.sympatico.ca/umbada/western.htm), and now

this gives me a push to do it even sooner.

 

--Greg

 

At 06:18 PM 11/10/99 +0000, Jan Barendrecht wrote:

>"Jan Barendrecht" <janb

>

>You forgot to mention the Dutch nondual philosopher Spinoza (probably

>spontaneous awakened):

>http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Spinoza.htm

>http://www.essentia.com/book/enlighten/spinoza.htm

>http://users.erols.com/jyselman/

>

>>All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

>perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and

>subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not

>different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the

>nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present.

>It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the

>Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of

>Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome

>all to a.

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