The Cunning of Geist

14/06/2024

Everyone's heard of dialectics, a term often associated with the philosophy of Hegel. This episode explores just what this term means. Comments welcome.

Hegel is perhaps most famous for the Hegelian Dialectic.  But to what exactly does this term refer?  This episode will examine the history of dialectics, starting with the first dialectician, Zeno of Elea, up through Hegel's unique take ...

13/06/2024

Sorry for all the UFO/UAP posts. But as in the old Buffalo Springfield song, "Somethin's happenin' here, but what it is ain't exactly clear."

A Pentagon engineering contractor in Canada captured electronic evidence of a 170-ft long 'barbell' UFO that glowed an eerie 'indigo' blue plasma, investigators told DailyMail.com

12/06/2024

When scientists can't agree on something its called an anomaly. It is incredible that something so basic as consciousness is debated at all. The issue is that consciousness does not comport with the current paradigm of blind materialism. Quantum physics has opened the door to perhaps a new understanding. But more work needs to be done.

A five-year “adversarial collaboration” of consciousness theorists led to a stagy showdown in front of an audience. It crowned no winners — but it can still claim progress.

11/06/2024

What are Dyson Spheres? Check this out -

Could unusual starlight patterns be the key to uncovering these mythical megastructures?

09/06/2024

Yep -

06/06/2024

It has been reported that there are over 25.000 books on Amazon with “How to find” or something similar in the title. Many spiritual movements are based on this marketing premise as well. But rather than “seek and you shall find,” more often it turns out to be “seek but do not find.”

Many esoteric and occult groups have grades for initiates. You can keep rising in rank, but what do you find at the end? Only the promise of cosmic consciousness or some such thing, but it is never found. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

For example, The Rosicrucian Order has many degrees that can take years to complete. And at the end? One is advised to go back and start is all over again! Some traditions/books teach that all is an illusion. But when you close the book, of leave the temple, you are right back in the illusion!

Many religions teach of a world to come, or a heaven above. But we do not, and we cannot, achieve it here, now.

One of the reasons I locked into Hegel’s philosophy is that his “true infinity” does offer an answer. It provides a way to break the chains of the finite to go beyond the given and achieve betterment. This is what we should seek, as it is provides and enables the basis for our continued growth.

More on true infinity here:

Hegel called true infinity “the chief maxim of philosophy.” This episode will review how finitude alone cannot be considered as reality, why traditional notions of infinity fall short, what Hegel’s true infinity actually means, that finitude and t...

04/06/2024

"Politics, having become show business, has increasingly been put into the hands of the casting agencies." - Marshall McLuhan (from "This is Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message" link below."

Marshall McLuhan on Film Rare television appearances and films featuring Marshall McLuhan. This is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Massage Out of Orbit 1999: The Life and Times of Marshall McLuhan The Communications Revolution John Lennon & Yoko Ono Interview (December 20, 1969) Picnic in Space

03/06/2024

More from Chomsky:
Currently off-limits: Mind having equal footing with matter, one unity underneath.

01/06/2024

The saga of ESP research is a big deal. Those that contend that there is more going on than the five physical senses have looked to these experiments with great interest. While still an open question given the current materialistic paradigm of the scientific community, more and more brave scientists are bucking the system and doing ESP related research. This is a lengthy article regarding this issue and the testing that has recently been done, but well worth the read.

The scientist couldn't have foreseen the crisis his research would touch off.

31/05/2024

True:

33 years ago, the theoretical biologist Robert Rosen offered an answer to the question "Is life computable?"

30/05/2024

TBT. Why do bad things happen to good people? Always an interesting question to ponder. This previous episode explores the question, and provides a review of Hegel's unique understanding of the problem of evil.

"Good and evil" is a core philosophic and religious issue.  Perhaps the most important issue.  Where did this concept originate?  Why do we often see God, or Karma, as seeking  retribution and causing our misfortunes?The tree o...

29/05/2024

Philosophy deals almost entirely with "thinking." Some call the whole enterprise "thinking about thinking." But I believe there is a deeper level than thought, and that is life itself. And thought is the highest form of manifestation of life. We humans being the highest representation of this at the moment on planet Earth. The goal of life is evolution and greater freedom.

This quote regarding Hegel speaks to this: "As presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit, the aim of Life is to free itself from confinement "in-itself" and thus to become "for-itself." Not only does Hegel place this unfolding of Life at the very beginning of the dialectical development of self-consciousness; Hegel characterizes self-consciousness itself as a form of Life." (Waterman, 1998).

Comments?

23/05/2024

TBT. Regarding the Chomsky quote provided earlier, this podcast episode might be of interest:

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, has said  that artificial intelligence (AI) could have a more profound effect on humanity than fire and electricity.   Quite a statement.New AI technologies are being produced, Includ...

23/05/2024

Chomsky gets it.

21/05/2024

I have a question for followers of this page and the podcast. Is there any reality to the notion of “hidden masters?”

Much of the esoteric and occult literature of the 19th and 20th centuries purports to have established contact with such beings. Helena Blavatsky and the entire Theosophical movement is based on contact with the supposed “mahatmas” Morya and Kuut Hoomi. These beings were believed to exist in a higher plane and could appear at will anywhere. They are also believed to be reincarnations of noted religious and philosophical personalities of the past, and are charged with guiding the evolution of humanity.

The Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s Thelema are based on contact with such entities, whom they called “secret chiefs.” Contact with higher beings is also part of the teachings of Rosicrucianism, including the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. And the popular “A Course in Miracles” is based on contact with Jesus!

It is recognized that people can conjure up personalities to communicate with in their own meditations. Carl Jung did this with a character he called Philemon. But Jung never believed that Philemon was an actual spiritual entity visiting him. He used it as a tool to reach deeper levels of the collective unconscious.

My personal opinion is that there is fakery involved when the claim of “hidden masters” is made. The message might be valid and important, but the authenticity of the source must be questioned.

I am curious as to others’ opinions on this question. Your comments and thoughts please!

17/05/2024

I have talked much in the podcast about the difference in common understanding (verstand in German) and reasoning (vernunft). It occurred to me that understanding is always reactive. We attempt to understand something that already exists, that is "out there." Reasoning, on the other hand is proactive, in the moment, and moving forward, as in speculative thought and creativity.

Science is all about understanding. It takes the universe as something given, apart from us, to be understood. We are but observers. Reasoning though puts us in the picture, as part of the universe, as a vehicle driving its conscious evolution.

16/05/2024

I grew up in Western New York State in America. This area, from Albany in the east to Buffalo in the west, has also been called the “Burned Over District.” This is due to the new religious movements, revivals, and spiritual awakening that took place in that region in the 19th century. "Burned over” referring to the wild spiritual excitement and passion that swept through the area at the time.

Western New York was the American frontier back then. The Erie Canal, built in 1825, ran from Albany to Buffalo, and was the link to the Great Lakes and further west. This brought all kinds of folks to the area.

The movements that started there include Mormonism, the Shakers, Seventh Day Adventists, the Oneida Society, and Spiritualism. There were many more. Social and political activism also flourished, including abolitionism, and woman’s suffrage. Feminist pioneers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were from the area.

This podcast episode explores.

America went through a profound spiritual awakening in the 19th century, most commonly referred to as "New Thought."  Many leaders at this time credited Hegel  for laying the groundwork.  This episode explores several of the early d...

15/05/2024

Could unusual starlight patterns be the key to uncovering these mythical megastructures?

12/05/2024

10/05/2024

Does Quantum Theory confirm naturalism or does it open up possibilities of a proto-mind? This past episode explores the subject.

Physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman famously said, “I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics.”  His teacher, John Archibald Wheeler, took the meaning of quantum physics to be that "no phenomenon is a ...

09/05/2024

This article is very important. Although a bit technical, it explains what I have been saying in the podcast that consciousness preceded evolved life on Earth. Penrose's theroy, discussed here, involves quantum level "collapses" that are what he considers proto-consciousness.

Stuart Hameroff argues consciousness didn't evolve, it faciliated evolution.

05/05/2024

The main point:

“The main point is to distinguish the genuine Notion of infinity from the bad infinite, the infinity of reason from the infinity of the understanding" (Hegel, Science of Logic, Miller trans. pg. 137).

The true infinity of reason includes life itself. When life and consciousness are reduced to non-living particles, obeying non-living laws, then left brain understanding has taken over, and one is left operating with one half of its brain tied behind its back.

02/05/2024

Throwback Thursday:

Most scholars agree that someone named Jesus lived 2000 years ago, whose teaching form the basis of Christianity. But did Jesus resurrect? Did he come back to life, after being crucified, as the Gospels contend? Hegel had a unique view on this, which is the subject of this past episode.

Hegel's unique and non-traditional understanding of the resurrection of Jesus echoes his overall system of Logic, Nature, and Spirit.   According to Hegel, God others himself in Jesus; and in Jesus' death, Spirit becomes fully finite.&nb...

30/04/2024

Is global population decline the biggest, most immediate problem facing humankind?

Growth in worldwide population has been slowing dramatically, and is projected to be 0% before the end of the century. Japan and China are already showing population declines. Europe's population is expected to begin declining by 2050.

The problem? Simple. More single people, more marrying later, and those that are married having fewer or no kids. This decline in fertility rate has occurred in every region of the world.

This is the first time this has happened on its own, without famine, war, etc. And the implications for our species may be enormous. This video discusses:

Visit https://www.natalism.org/ for more videos

29/04/2024

Episode 81 explores the philosophical and scientific questions concerning extraterrestrial life.

Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisations

26/04/2024

We are actively searching!

One of the world's foremost ET experts believes that with the help of the Webb Telescope, we're closer to discovering alien life than ever.

25/04/2024

Throwback Thursday:

I grew up in Rochester NY, USA, and that area of Western New York State was a hotbed of religious and spiritual revival during the 19th century, including the birth of Mormonism. This past episode covers this unique period.

America went through a profound spiritual awakening in the 19th century, most commonly referred to as "New Thought."  Many leaders at this time credited Hegel  for laying the groundwork.  This episode explores several of the early d...

22/04/2024

Avi Loeb, Harvard’s leading astronomer, suggests that a cigar shaped object recently seen in space may be from another civilization outside our solar system. More study of this object is needed before coming to this conclusion, but it is interesting that Professor Loeb, himself an existentialist, believe aliens might be as well.

He states, “I have to imagine that among the alien intelligence we eventually encounter, there will be a few existentialists. . Just as the intellectual history of humanity allowed the existential school of thought to flourish on Earth, . I suspect the same will prove true for alien intelligence. I believe that they, no less than us, will have spent a civilization’s lifetime confronting life’s most stubborn mysteries, the ones that are impossible to move from the miraculous to the mundane. . Sentient life’s common circumstance, to live and die without ever learning why, was, Camus believed, absurd. I believe that other sentient beings—who are bound by intellectual limitations, just as we are—will inevitably arrive at the same conclusion: life is absurd. (Extraterrestrial, 2021).

Perhaps philosophy does pervade the universe! Episode 81 explores.

21/04/2024

In “Diagrams and Alien Ways of Thinking” (2019), Canadian philosopher Marc Champagne argues that the work of Charles Peirce on diagrams and semiotics might provide the best way to communicate with extraterrestrials.

He states, “One surprising upshot of Peirce's account is that it can help us anticipate how intelligent extraterrestrials might think. In current METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence) research, there are serious questions about message construction and content . . I want to demonstrate the independent merit of (Peirce’s) diagrammatic logic and show how it can advance current METI research.”

The odds are enormous that other planets capable of life exist in the universe. And many stars are billions of years older than our sun. Our attempts to contact alien civilizations so far may or may not have been successful. The question is then, why have we not heard back from them?

New podcast episode 81 explores.