Yes-But-Mind vs. Don't-Know-Mind

[Nungali]

1 hour ago, Mark Foote said:

 

 

For Theravadin Buddhists, democracy is the name of the game when it comes to decisions of the order. Except that the group that would remain the Theravadins decided after the vote in B.C. 349 to take their dry sleeping robes and go home, what a bunch of party poopers!

 

 

 

 

Intuitions we have about the way the world works rarely conflict with our everyday experience. At speeds far slower than the speed of light or at scales far larger than the quantum one, we can, for instance, assume that objects have definite features independent of our measurements, that we all share a universal space and time, that a fact for one of us is a fact for all. As long as our philosophy works, it lurks undetected in the background, leading us to mistakenly believe that science is something separable from metaphysics.

 

But at the uncharted edges of experience — at high speeds and tiny scales — those intuitions cease to serve us, making it impossible for us to do science without confronting our philosophical assumptions head-on. Suddenly we find ourselves in a place where science and philosophy can no longer be neatly distinguished. A place, according to the physicist Eric Cavalcanti, called “experimental metaphysics.”

 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/metaphysical-experiments-test-hidden-assumptions-about-reality-20240730/

 

 

I know, not what you were referencing...

 

 

 

 

he is probably referencing himself and the 'experiments' he cites , which seem like exercises in visualizations and imagination  while imagining himself as something 'other ' than human  and the random results thereof as somehow significant   , to him but often out of context and not relating  to the conversation at hand .

 

But hey  ... why miss an opportunity to blow your own trumpet ?  

 

 

.

Edited yesterday at 07:51 PM by Nungali

[Lairg]

2 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

I know, not what you were referencing...

 

It is possible to do metaphysical experiments.

 

For example when you meet/see a person and feel some immediate response/reaction it is possible to  test for what might be going on.

 

Here is a simple experiment some of my friends can do:

 

Consider a possible explanation e.g. knew the person in past lives. 

 

Visualize the person's light-body (aura) and put next to it test words.  For example put words "was my mother" next to the light-body and observe what happens to the words. If the words are attracted they have some relevance.  If repelled they have none.  Try different words to explore the connection.

 

A friend phoned the other day - she had been with friends and one had a son that my friend really liked.  So I said: visualize that boy next to your uterus.  What happens?

 

Immediately she felt that he had been her son in a past life.  She was so pleased.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cobie]

 

1 hour ago, Lairg said:

… experiments. …

You might want to read up on what constitutes a proper “experiment”.

 

 

[Lairg]

2 hours ago, Cobie said:

You might want to read up on what constitutes a proper “experiment”.

 

I arrange single blind experiments quite often.   I have to hold in my light-body or my imaging is contagious. 

 

Such a problem is not considered in materialistic science - although perhaps the entanglement people think about it.

 

Would you like me to arrange a double blind experiment where you can observe the results? 

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by Lairg

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

You might want to read up on what constitutes a proper “experiment”.

 

 

 

 

Ahhhhh , but Coby  ....... metaphysical experiments !  

 

They have different 'constitutes '  ....    just like 'alternative archaeology '  has 

 

 

[old3bob]

 

rumor has it a new "Stargate" show may be in the works...

[bradley]

On 11/23/2025 at 10:44 PM, Apech said:

Tofu is not good for cats - there’s no way a cat was stealing it night after night.

 

I think you are on to something here.  I was up all night thinking about this.  There are so many inconsistencies in the story. First, cats generally don't eat tofu.  Second, tofu is denser than water and typically does not float. It would be quite a miraculous thing if the density of a single piece were to instantaneously change causing it to float to the surface.  Finally cats hate water, and it seems unlikely that one would be digging through milky tofu water in the middle of the night.  

 

Maybe I've been watching too much Columbo, but all of these little things add up to this:  It was not a cat that stole the tofu, it was the sentry, and he just blamed it on a cat.   

[Apech]

1 hour ago, bradley said:

 

I think you are on to something here.  I was up all night thinking about this.  There are so many inconsistencies in the story. First, cats generally don't eat tofu.  Second, tofu is denser than water and typically does not float. It would be quite a miraculous thing if the density of a single piece were to instantaneously change causing it to float to the surface.  Finally cats hate water, and it seems unlikely that one would be digging through milky tofu water in the middle of the night.  

 

Maybe I've been watching too much Columbo, but all of these little things add up to this:  It was not a cat that stole the tofu, it was the sentry, and he just blamed it on a cat.   

That’s what I thought.  What’s the Latin quote ‘who guards the guards?’ So the technique is ‘look at the cat, look at the cat’ while the monk sneaks away with the tofu.

 

Or to be even more controversial … pay your subscription but switch off your mind… just sit and switch off your mind.  Who gives this advice and why?

 

 

[bradley]

28 minutes ago, Apech said:

Or to be even more controversial … pay your subscription but switch off your mind… just sit and switch off your mind.  Who gives this advice and why?

 

I don't think its quite "switch off your mind"  Though, idk.  I think its more not clinging onto to thoughts as they arise, like the dzogchen technique.  Like if you are driving down the freeway, your mind is very active, but that activity arises naturally.  But if you are consciously thinking, oh yeah there is a turn up there, and I need to turn the steering wheel to the right 5 degrees, and then back two degrees, while letting off of the accelerator, and consciously trying to think through every movement,  your car is going to be all over the place. just drive the f-ing car, and dont worry about it.  I don't really know anything about this, or if that is what she was saying, but I agree on the cat thing.

 

Now the real hero in the story is the monk who stole the tofu, and got away with it. This required some planning on his part.      

[Apech]

33 minutes ago, bradley said:

 

I don't think its quite "switch off your mind"  Though, idk.  I think its more not clinging onto to thoughts as they arise, like the dzogchen technique.  Like if you are driving down the freeway, your mind is very active, but that activity arises naturally.  But if you are consciously thinking, oh yeah there is a turn up there, and I need to turn the steering wheel to the right 5 degrees, and then back two degrees, while letting off of the accelerator, and consciously trying to think through every movement,  your car is going to be all over the place. just drive the f-ing car, and dont worry about it.  I don't really know anything about this, or if that is what she was saying, but I agree on the cat thing.

 

Now the real hero in the story is the monk who stole the tofu, and got away with it. This required some planning on his part.      

Yes - I was perhaps being a bit harsh there.  But it is a tendency among those who misunderstand zen to think that switching off is the thing.  It is more like switching on your mind to total brightness ( or something like that).  
 

The monk that stole the tofu needed a cat alibi obviously - so kudos to him. 
 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

Well , here is the proof  .......    do   you like tofu  ?  

[Nungali]

I have to say that my enlightened mind enjoys it when my yes-but ego mind ... all of a sudden , out of the blue, when it can get over itself  , declares simply ....   ' I dont know ' .  The resignation to that is  a relief  at times  ... and even the yes but ego mind needs a holiday now and then .  Acceptance then follows resignation .