David Chalmers - Is the 'Soul' Immortal?

 

 

"Now I have to say I'm a complete atheist, I have no religious views myself and no spiritual views, except very watered down humanistic spiritual views, and consciousness is just a fact of life, it's a natural fact of life." ~ David Chalmers

Toma Caragiu (my cousin once removed) and Mircea Diaconu - The Fable (English Subtitles)

From the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius

 

"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness."

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Memo 1

Memo sent to myself a long time ago:

"all fabrications shall pass: possessions, fame, body, beauty, enjoyment, soul. In sobriety, work out your goal". 

I will have to meet again the sender.

There is no planet B - we cannot separate ourselves from THIS evolution

We cannot separate ourselves fro THIS evolution. 

A very interesting article on Aeon: There's no planet B

“We don’t just need a planet roughly the same size and temperature as Earth; we need a planet that spent billions of years evolving with us. We depend completely on the billions of organisms that make up Earth’s biosphere. Without them, we cannot survive.”

The Rose of Tibet

As a college student (1983-1987), Lionel Davidson's The Rose of Tibet was the fiction book that I loved most. Its spirit, flavor, and the serendipitous manner in which, for me, the lecture of this borderline timeless love affair integrated in the overall context of that period stayed with me forever, and became an intrinsic part of my life onward.

For the record, I include below the information available from Wikipedia

The Rose of Tibet is a 1962 adventure novel by Lionel Davidson. 

Plot summary 

Charles Houston (a teacher in London) makes a perilous and illegal journey from India into the forbidden land of Tibet during the unsettled time 1950/51, in the hope of rescuing his vanished brother. What he does not know is that his coming was prophesied a century earlier, and he is awaited by an impossible love, an enormous treasure, and the invading Red Chinese army. Houston travels to the Yamdring monastery, finds his way to the abbess and makes a perilous escape with her. The story is set at the time of the Chinese invasion in 1950. 

Critical opinion 

Graham Greene said of the novel: "I hadn’t realised how much I had missed the genuine adventure story until I read The Rose of Tibet", while Daphne du Maurier wrote: 'It has all the excitement of King Solomon's Mines'. Author Barry Gifford considers this book the one he wishes he had written. In his collection of essays entitled The Cavalry Charges he writes that it is: "a genuine work of literature. I was immediately charmed by the device Davidson employed to entice the reader into believing he's headed in one direction and then opening up an entirely unexpected can of bedazzling worms." Gifford goes on to say: "I re-read The Rose of Tibet every few years and each time am transfixed, transported. Among so many books, poems and songs that I love, it's the one that I wish I'd written. The Rose of Tibet is also the one novel I'd really love to write the screenplay for." In the introduction to the 2016 edition, Anthony Horowitz writes: "At the heart of the story is a remarkable love affair and a huge treasure... All of these evoke Rider Haggard and I still wonder how Davidson manages to make his fantastical descriptions seem so real... There is also a wonderful array of unforgettable characters to meet along the way." The commentator, Marcel Berlins, reviewed the book in 2016, writing: "The Rose of Tibet, if it is to be classified, is an adventure thriller, peppered with history, religion and politics... Under the author's extraordinary skill, it all seems believable."

Plagiate si doctorate pentru "made men"

In Romania, problema [plagiatelor si nu numai] tine de o educatie morala care trebuie sa fie sustinuta de o societate cu valori corespunzatoare. Nu-ti insusi munca altuia, nu fura, nu plagia ar trebui sa functioneze ca un automatism. 

Nu e cazul la noi in Romania (absolut ma consider roman si european, de aceea spun "la noi"), cred ca din motive istorice. Nu vad nicio solutie, poate peste o generatie, poate mai mult, va fi altfel.

Altfel, cu lucrarile doctorale care sa "revolutioneze domeniul", alea sint putine si in US! De exemplu, sute de universitati din America sint mai bine ranked ca cele din Romania, si totusi chiar si in aceste intitutii foarte putini studenti doctorali revolutioneaza ariile respective! In cele mai multe cazuri e suficient ca comisia doctorala sa vada resultate noi fie publicate deja, sau acceptate, sau sa vada rezultate noi care sint "evident publicabile" in judecata comisiei. 

Mai e ceva care nu prea se spune in Romania, iar in America se implica dar nu se accentueaza atit de des cit ar trebui: doctoratul este un INCEPUT! Dupa doctorat ar trebui sa urmeze o cercetare mai profunda. Pe undeva PhD-ul te pune intr-un "limbo" - trebuie sa te validezi. Nu pentru un CV ci pentru constiinta atingerii unei mai depline realizari profesionale. Creind si obtinind rezultate notabile intr-o arie diferita decit cea a PhD-ului. In Romania PhD-ul este adesea vazut ca "punctul omega", ajungi acolo si esti un "made man" - si asta incurajeaza implicit plagiatul (e ca in mafie: pentru a ajunge "made man", se "calca peste cadavre").

De fapt: ai PhD? Inseamna ca ti-ai demonstrat abilitatea sa creezi si sa cercetezi, ceea ce inseamna ca ulterior doctoratului este mult de lucru. Poate fi un postdoc. Poate fi o lucrare publicata (research monograph) in dezvolti o idee noua care te captiveaza si care ii captiveaza si pe colegi (peers).

Asta le-am zic la "incoming faculty", in calitate de department chair (sau, mai nou, "program lead"): trebuie sa faci ceva nou "research-wise" de care sa fi mindru.

Minimalist poetry: after the storm

 

Czeslaw Milosz - Encounter (zen reading)

Encounter

 (Czeslaw Milosz - 1936)

We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.

My take: whether intended or not, this is a magnificent artistic representation of the Mahayana Buddhist concept of sunyata (creative emptiness - impermanence), the poetry version of a masterful zen painting, an immersion into the wonder of Buddha-nature.

Scoala cu clasele I-VIII Florin Comişel - Ploieşti (Middle School Florin Comişel)

That's the school where I was a student in grades 1 through 4 (from 1970 to 1974). 

At that time, the school name was plainly "General School Number 11". Every school recess happened in the Jupiter 6 backyard: then it seemed huge to me (although over the years my perception changed). Still, the school was very close to my home (I used to live on Jupiter 2). My classroom teacher was Mrs. Elena Nedelcu, a kind, family-oriented person.

Later, the school name changed to Florin Comişel Middle School.

Florin Comişel (1922-1985) was a Romanian composer, pianist, and director.

In context (and speaking of music): in 1972, just around the time when I was finishing the second grade, Elton John released Rocket Man.

Agnosticism/atheism and the underlying zen

To be agnostic in the sense of "I don't want to get involved" or "I am sitting on the fence" is not a tenable position. It is incomplete in that it begs for a follow-up. However, most of those claiming an (operational) agnosticism are implicitly pointing out to a (philosophical) atheism. 

Otherwise, only "sitting on a fence" would implicitly recognize a certain region bounded by that fence. 

But there is no fence. 

And here is the zen.

Over the Hills and Far Away - my favorite LZ and why

 

In the night that preceded my departure to America (August '92), I obsessively listened, for hours and hours, Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away". This LZ piece remained with me forever!

"Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings"...