Comments for Steven Sashen -- The Anti-Guru Blog http://sashen.com/blog Investigations on the Psycho-Spiritual Life Sat, 17 May 2008 04:46:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 Comment on Well, I’ll be reintarnated! by sashen http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28159 sashen Sat, 17 May 2008 04:32:52 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28159 Clearly, Ed, there are only so many issues one can work on in one lifetime ;-) Clearly, Ed, there are only so many issues one can work on in one lifetime ;-)

]]> Comment on Well, I’ll be reintarnated! by Ed http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28134 Ed Sat, 17 May 2008 00:21:29 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28134 Bravo. :-) The other element that drives me nuts about past life discussions is that inevitably they turn to "what I learned" or "what I'm working on now..." Uh... gosh, what an excuse to be stuck in one's stuff. I mean, if it takes lifetimes (plural) to heal/grow/fix stuff, then of course the fact that it's been ten years with no discernable improvement is okay. I once had a woman tell me I was obviously on my second life because I had so much stuff around sexuality to work out. Really? It's gonna take me more than a lifetime? Kewl. I'll work on it when I get back from the strip club, since there's obviously no hurry. ;-) Bravo. :-)

The other element that drives me nuts about past life discussions is that inevitably they turn to “what I learned” or “what I’m working on now…” Uh… gosh, what an excuse to be stuck in one’s stuff. I mean, if it takes lifetimes (plural) to heal/grow/fix stuff, then of course the fact that it’s been ten years with no discernable improvement is okay.

I once had a woman tell me I was obviously on my second life because I had so much stuff around sexuality to work out. Really? It’s gonna take me more than a lifetime? Kewl. I’ll work on it when I get back from the strip club, since there’s obviously no hurry. ;-)

]]> Comment on Well, I’ll be reintarnated! by sashen http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28116 sashen Fri, 16 May 2008 18:28:41 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28116 It ain't cynical if it's true ;-) It ain’t cynical if it’s true ;-)

]]> Comment on Well, I’ll be reintarnated! by Tom Stine | Living from Consciousness http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28113 Tom Stine | Living from Consciousness Fri, 16 May 2008 17:56:52 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28113 One of my favorite gurus made the following comment at a retreat: "How come it seems like everyone that ever remembered a past life was somehow at the foot of Jesus' cross? Best I can tell, there must have been few million people hanging out while Christ was crucified." Okay, you are cynical, both of you, but I gotta agree. Don't we all live <em>now</em>? The past is past, over and done. I live in southern Missouri, so I guess you could say all of my family was REINTARNATED. One of my favorite gurus made the following comment at a retreat: “How come it seems like everyone that ever remembered a past life was somehow at the foot of Jesus’ cross? Best I can tell, there must have been few million people hanging out while Christ was crucified.” Okay, you are cynical, both of you, but I gotta agree. Don’t we all live now? The past is past, over and done.

I live in southern Missouri, so I guess you could say all of my family was REINTARNATED.

]]> Comment on Well, I’ll be reintarnated! by Tim http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28072 Tim Fri, 16 May 2008 07:27:33 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/76/well-ill-be-reintarnated/#comment-28072 Oh what breakfast time frivolity and mirth you bring to your loyal subjects across the pond. (Oh no ..... you were only the *jester*. Maybe you got an "upgrade" in a *parallel* life!) :) Oh what breakfast time frivolity and mirth you bring to your loyal subjects across the pond.
(Oh no ….. you were only the *jester*. Maybe you got an “upgrade” in a *parallel* life!) :)

]]> Comment on Does my cat have free will… or is that a hairball? by Ed http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-28053 Ed Fri, 16 May 2008 01:28:22 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-28053 C'mon Steven--you know the answer to the angels dancing on the head of the pin question: "it depends on whether they're waltzing or doing the jitterbug." ;-) C’mon Steven–you know the answer to the angels dancing on the head of the pin question: “it depends on whether they’re waltzing or doing the jitterbug.” ;-)

]]> Comment on Does my cat have free will… or is that a hairball? by sashen http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27565 sashen Fri, 09 May 2008 04:55:29 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27565 Hey, Ed... I think you've hit the nail on the head with the Pascal's wager, but maybe not in the way you think you have ;-) Implicit in your hypothesis is that "acting as if I don't have free will" is: a) Possible b) Recognizably different from "acting as if I do have free will" (btw, in that situation, nobody would suggest they are "acting") c) A cause of bad or unpleasant results What if one or more of those options are not true? BTW, you can fit 8 angels on a pin and it takes 3 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Hey, Ed…

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with the Pascal’s wager, but maybe not in the way you think you have ;-)

Implicit in your hypothesis is that “acting as if I don’t have free will” is:

a) Possible
b) Recognizably different from “acting as if I do have free will” (btw, in that situation, nobody would suggest they are “acting”)
c) A cause of bad or unpleasant results

What if one or more of those options are not true?

BTW, you can fit 8 angels on a pin and it takes 3 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

]]> Comment on Does my cat have free will… or is that a hairball? by Ed http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27562 Ed Fri, 09 May 2008 04:33:01 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27562 I think your second and third conditions are pretty related. It's kind of where quantum and chaos theory collide. There's no such thing as "identical initial conditions" outside of Newtonian physics, as you well know (courtesy of Quantum Physics). Which means your prediction is really starts with the question "are there variables I can safely ignore such that the final result falls within the error bars of my prediction?" Chaos theory says, "not as often as you'd like." But we do agree that this is largely irrelevant as it has no meaningful impact on our daily life *unless* we let it. We could certainly spend a lot of time dithering over it the same way we worry about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But otherwise, I suggest that a variant of Pascal's Wager applies. If I act as if I have free will and I don't, nothing's lost. If I act as if I don't have free will, but I do, then I've surrendered my ability to use that free will. (the other two variants are left as an exercise to the reader). The net result is that I'm better off assuming I have free will than assuming I don't. I think your second and third conditions are pretty related. It’s kind of where quantum and chaos theory collide. There’s no such thing as “identical initial conditions” outside of Newtonian physics, as you well know (courtesy of Quantum Physics). Which means your prediction is really starts with the question “are there variables I can safely ignore such that the final result falls within the error bars of my prediction?” Chaos theory says, “not as often as you’d like.”

But we do agree that this is largely irrelevant as it has no meaningful impact on our daily life *unless* we let it. We could certainly spend a lot of time dithering over it the same way we worry about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But otherwise, I suggest that a variant of Pascal’s Wager applies. If I act as if I have free will and I don’t, nothing’s lost. If I act as if I don’t have free will, but I do, then I’ve surrendered my ability to use that free will. (the other two variants are left as an exercise to the reader). The net result is that I’m better off assuming I have free will than assuming I don’t.

]]> Comment on Does my cat have free will… or is that a hairball? by sashen http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27358 sashen Tue, 06 May 2008 20:22:20 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27358 Another blog (which I adore) just posted a review of <i>On Being Certain</i> that adds to this conversation (and includes Hamlet!) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=103 Another blog (which I adore) just posted a review of On Being Certain that adds to this conversation (and includes Hamlet!)

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=103

]]> Comment on Does my cat have free will… or is that a hairball? by sashen http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27185 sashen Sun, 04 May 2008 23:09:48 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/69/does-my-cat-have-free-will-or-is-that-a-hairball/#comment-27185 Hi Ed, While I agree that a linear time vector is one aspect of free-will/determinism, it's not the only one. A second, necessary for determinism, is the notion that cause and effect are purely Newtonian (i.e. that with identical initial conditions, the identical final condition will always recur). A third, necessary only if you want to predict final conditions, is the ability to identify initial conditions with 100% accuracy (and I'm sure you know that Chaos Theory is all about our inability to do so). A fourth, necessary only if we believe in free-will, is that some aspects of reality are NOT subject to physical laws but can act on physical components. That is, thoughts are things -- a thought is independent from and not merely the result of biological processes but can, somehow, alter physical processes. And I agree, since we can't do something different, including become "unstuck" from time and going back and doing it differently, all of this is conjecture. And I further agree that even if we found out that we are 100% robots, I'm currently leaning in the direction that this knowledge would have no impact on our daily life. Hi Ed,

While I agree that a linear time vector is one aspect of free-will/determinism, it’s not the only one.

A second, necessary for determinism, is the notion that cause and effect are purely Newtonian (i.e. that with identical initial conditions, the identical final condition will always recur).

A third, necessary only if you want to predict final conditions, is the ability to identify initial conditions with 100% accuracy (and I’m sure you know that Chaos Theory is all about our inability to do so).

A fourth, necessary only if we believe in free-will, is that some aspects of reality are NOT subject to physical laws but can act on physical components. That is, thoughts are things — a thought is independent from and not merely the result of biological processes but can, somehow, alter physical processes.

And I agree, since we can’t do something different, including become “unstuck” from time and going back and doing it differently, all of this is conjecture. And I further agree that even if we found out that we are 100% robots, I’m currently leaning in the direction that this knowledge would have no impact on our daily life.

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