Monkey Philosophy

[judas69]

To be wholly unconscious of the short comings of his thought and the enormity and incalculability of his considerations, to the point of not knowing when his efforts become self-defeating, is the folly of the philosopher.

His heart, lacking in the substance of Truth, moves only to shun the ones who think they can find it by any other means. "If only they knew what they don't know." he mutters. "Surely those who do not seek as I, cannot know". But, if there's one thing this philosopher does take on faith, it is that Truth is only to be had by hard-nosed scientific examination and rigorous proof.

"The monkey is reaching for the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him he'll never give up..."

Perhaps one day, if his efforts remain diligent, he will have enough to convince himself of something ..but until then, his path remains unending and his thoughts unyielding.

"If he'd let go the branch and disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine with dazzling pureness."

 

[Seditious]

too abstract for me bro

 

[judas69]

Well very simply, the believer overcomes the philosopher on the level of reason in finding that which the philosopher (who spends years in search of) can never find ..let alone define, so long as he doesn't realize his thinking too, has an end.

If you stop and consider the human condition a bit you realize that thought, and philosophy in the most general sense, is probably the most pervasive aspect of humanity. Everything we have, everything we do, revolves around the endless firing of neurons that will continue until of course it doesn't.

Thought also then appears to be the most excessive aspect of the human condition, and not just that characteristic of the philosophical mind or your typical mental patient and so I ask: When is enough thought, enough? When does the philosopher put down the pen and say, you know, there are some riddles I will never think myself out of (having really thought himself into) no matter how many hours I spend slumped over my desk? How often do our own thoughts come to the rescue and stop us, when we've already spent too much time in deep deliberation? Maybe not often enough.

Linking this with the governing thread, our own thoughts (like people) seem to turn against us in much the same way when forced, despite our minds ability to foresee potential consequence. In the case of the philosopher, it is exactly his over-thinking, which gradually leads him out of the real world and into a fantasy world of his own making. Thus, as I mentioned in a prior thead, his belief system if created, is usually just that of his own making and nothing any more grounded than those of another, even if it's nothing more than the formulation of a belief system against a belief system (atheism), which is an awkward way to define ones self to say the least. The bottom line is that he, the philosopher, has to think up something ..he can't bare to put his thoughts to rest. He has become a slave to a mind on a constant rampage to divide the world up small convoluted pieces to a puzzle he'll never assemble, and on some level I'm sure he's well aware of this. Yet, he creates God, then he kills him ..and keeps reliving the story in the form of arguement because to do otherwise, would leave him with nothing.

So, what is the motivation here? Is it just our monkey nature shining through, grasping at reflections in the water? Perhaps the monkey was always meant to just grasp? ..afterall, what would the Truth change?

 

[speed]

To be wholly unconscious of the short comings of his thought and the enormity and incalculability of his considerations, to the point of not knowing when his efforts become self-defeating, is the folly of the philosopher.

His heart, lacking in the substance of Truth, moves only to shun the ones who think they can find it by any other means. "If only they knew what they don't know." he mutters. "Surely those who do not seek as I, cannot know". But, if there's one thing this philosopher does take on faith, it is that Truth is only to be had by hard-nosed scientific examination and rigorous proof.

"The monkey is reaching for the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him he'll never give up..."

Perhaps one day, if his efforts remain diligent, he will have enough to convince himself of something ..but until then, his path remains unending and his thoughts unyielding.

"If he'd let go the branch and disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine with dazzling pureness."

Originally I was under the impression this was a quote attributed to Buddha, but Im not so sure. It has to be buddhist however. If I hadnt just read a book on Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Mahavira, I would have dismissed this thread as being incredibly vague and esoteric, without any context to build on.

Taking thought too seriously is obviously the point or lesson--this is Monkey thought. A Buddhist would either turn away from the thought--the monkey--through meditation and suppression; or would examine the thought through observation and examinination of this monkey thought, realizing that thoughts are culturally influenced and external things, and thus said Buddhist needs to get to the true heart of the matter.

 

[judas69]

Originally I was under the impression this was a quote attributed to Buddha, but Im not so sure. It has to be buddhist however. If I hadnt just read a book on Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Mahavira, I would have dismissed this thread as being incredibly vague and esoteric, without any context to build on.

Taking thought too seriously is obviously the point or lesson--this is Monkey thought. A Buddhist would either turn away from the thought--the monkey--through meditation and suppression; or would examine the thought through observation and examinination of this monkey thought, realizing that thoughts are culturally influenced and external things, and thus said Buddhist needs to get to the true heart of the matter.

Put aside all notions of eastern thought because this is not about Buddhism, it's about the Philosopher.

The quote is simply an analogy of what I feel the Philosopher is doing.

 

[speed]

Put aside all notions of eastern thought because this is not about Buddhism, it's about the Philosopher.

The quote is simply an analogy of what I feel the Philosopher is doing.

Again, excuse me for providing some context, and actually commenting on the substance of the poem. A zen buddhist poem by the way. I suppose we're to talk about free will without mentioning christianity, etc.

 

[Pessimism]

I actually agree with Speed in his first post; not like that really matters to any of you though

 

[judas69]

It is interesting though, as the philosopher progresses, he ends up knowing more of what is untrue than what is true, and you would expact him to be closer to the truth as a result but this usually isn't the case. The little he does know unfortunately, is constantly overshadowed by the need to know more.