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Article 4421 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: petersow@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Wayne Peterson)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: mean,meaner,MEANING-est/ intention-and-self the buddhist way
Message-ID: <1992Mar12.010921.6795@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com>
Date: 12 Mar 92 01:09:21 GMT
References: <1992Mar6.154306.1665@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com> <1992Mar10.002155.8700@norton.com>
Organization: Honeywell Air Transport Systems Division
Lines: 45

Bryan Yoder states:

"Self-knowledge and mysticism are most certainly NOT the same thing!  One could
claim self-knowledge through a whole range of means besides mysticism including
neurology, psychotherapy, introspection, and philosophical investigations, none
of which need to have any mystical content.  

My definition of mysticism is any system of belief based on claims of 
"unknowable" dimensions or beings, or subjective experiences that cannot
be explained or described in terms of sense experience.  Self-knowledge is
orthogonal to this, and mysticism can be (and has been) used to make 
claims about every kind of knowledge from weather patterns, to personal 
ralationships, to war plans."

My apologies for a previously unintended insulting remark. I meant
that we all suffer from no-ops and jumps, that seems to be the nature of
the mind.

The above is a good example.  I jumped to a conclusion about
what you meant by mysticism.  Mysticism to my understanding is
not a set of beliefs at all.  Mysticism is direct perception of a
thing, generally oneself.  Since it is personal, then of course it
is not likely anyone else will believe you unless they have the
same perception.  The mystic however doesnt care what anyone
else thinks.  You will never see him present a paper at a conference.
In Plato's allegory of the cave he talks of one who turns from
the shadows and sees the cause of the shadows, when he tells the
others of what he sees, they do not believe him because they
dont share his perception.  Only the shadows exists to them, his
experience is meaningless.  Why should he care to explain himself.  He
perceives their folly, and only says turn around when your ready
and see the truth for yourselves.  The senses face the wall and see
the shadows.  Please dont confuse mysticism with occultism.  The
non-descriminating mind places things it does not understanding
in categories to have the illusion of understanding. This is
true of my  mind as well as yours.  If neurology helps you know
yourself, then I say study neurology.  If philosphy helps, then
study philosophy, and if mysticism helps, study mysticism.  Be
cause in the end we only have our selves.

Sincerely,
Wayne Peterson

"When you lose something, look where you lost it, even if
it is dark."


