quotation: Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power. Rene Descartes

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Discuss

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facebook, poetic thought by George-B (the smudge and other poems)

facebook, poetic thought by George-B

To like or not to like:
That is today’s question:
Facebook plays with my feelings of liking and disliking,
but you know that,
it’s all over the news…the betrayal of trust of confidence,
of the most basic relationship…among people:
Fairness, not taking advantage of each other,
as a tool to make yourself rich (and make another poor)
But then you knew there is nothing sincere about facebook, that some made into faithbook: big mistake, big, big mistake)

need: to return ethics to the world!

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Bone of Time, poetic thought by George-B (©Always)

Bone of Time, poetic thought by George-B (©Always)

I’m sitting in this old place
Sometimes,
Thinking about myself,
Imagining myself being
A few years younger,
Still in the safety of the 20th
Century, one hundred years, passed now,
The safety of the memories past …
The memorialistic past, pass double dance of the safe past,
When things turned out okay, and I survived that day and
That and this, days and nights and
sometimes mornings and afternoons,
boring times extraneously boring times of nothing but boredom,
and more boredom and
sometimes the “Hi How are you?”, “Great, thanks…’n how are you?”…

Yes I’m thinking sometimes of the safety of the memories past,
of the 20th century, with more substance on the bone of time,
and less of a hatchet to grind,
with less militantism, and more substance
on the bone of humanity,
on the bone of history,
on the etherical memories of the past.

quotation: Henry James – “…Experience is never limited, and it is never complete…”

Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue.

Henry James (1843-1916) Discuss

quotation: Bertrand Russell – to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) Discuss

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TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Soren Kierkegaard (1813)

Soren Kierkegaard (1813)

Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian and is generally considered, along with Friedrich Nietzsche, to be a founder of existentialism. Much of Kierkegaard’s work deals with religious problems, as he rejected organized Christianity and emphasized man’s moral responsibility and freedom of choice. Kierkegaard stressed the importance of the self and argued that “subjectivity is truth” and “truth is subjectivity.” Why did Kierkegaard publish many of his earlier works under pseudonyms? More… Discuss

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ARTICLE: MAIMONIDES

Maimonides

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, or Maimonides, was the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages. His great philosophical work, Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed), attempts to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with the tenets of Jewish theology and addresses such metaphysical and religious topics as the existence of God and the principles of creation. A physician as well as a scholar and philosopher, he also wrote a number of medical texts. Why is he called “Rambam”? More…Discuss

 

ARTICLE: PETER ABELARD

Peter Abelard

Abelard was a 12th-century French philosopher and teacher whose career was derailed by a scandalous relationship with a tutee named Heloise. After a son and a secret marriage, Abelard sent Heloise to a convent to protect her from her disapproving family. In response, her uncle had Abelard castrated. Heloise became an abbess, while Abelard sought refuge as a monk. After his first theological work was burned as heretical, he established a monastery and resumed teaching. What were his last words? More… Discuss

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QUOTATION: Friedrich Nietzsche

Whence come the highest mountains? … They come out of the sea. That testimony is inscribed on their stones, and on the walls of their summits. Out of the deepest must the highest come to its height.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Discuss

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ARTICLE: THE INCOHERENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS

The Incoherence of the Philosophers

The Incoherence of the Philosophers is a landmark 11th-century text by al-Ghazali of the rational-based Asharite school of Muslim theology. In it, he criticizes the Avicennian school of Islamic philosophy, accusing its followers of being irreligious. Among al-Ghazali’s 20 charges against them is their inability to prove the existence of God and inability to prove the impossibility of the existence of two gods. Who refuted al-Ghazali’s views with The Incoherence of the Incoherence? More…Discuss

 

WORD: PERPETRATE

perpetrate 

Definition:	(verb) Perform an act, usually with a negative connotation.
Synonyms:	commit, pull
Usage:	Only a sadistic, depraved person could perpetrate a crime like this. Discuss.

 

Quotation: Friedrich Nietzsche about man and tree…a comparison

It is the same with man as with the tree … The more he seeketh to rise into the height and light, the more vigorously do his roots struggle earthward, downward, into the dark and deep—into the evil.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Discuss

Quotation: Virginia Woolf about self development and application

Life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones, until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue, as well as little profit, in what once seemed to us the noblest part of our inheritance.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

 

ECLECTICISM

In eclecticism, a concept used in many disciplines, elements from diverse styles are selected and combined into a single system. The term “eclectic” can describe artists who combine, for example, elements from the Renaissance and classical traditions in their paintings. It can also be applied to philosophers who take elements from different systems of thought without regard for possible contradictions. In this way, the term is sometimes used pejoratively. What musicians are considered eclectic?More… Discuss

 

Quotstion: William Makepeace Thackeray about a good word

Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) Discuss

 

BEING (Why is there something instead of nothing?)

Being

Why is there something instead of nothing? This is one of the chief questions that, for millennia, has fueled the existential musings of philosophers who have pondered the concept of “being.” Used interchangeably with the word “existence,” the term “being” conceptualizes subjective and objective aspects of reality. One’s state of being is also a focus of psychology. According to psychiatrist Carl Jung, “the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of” what? More… Discuss

 

Today’s Birthday: NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY (1876)

Natalie Clifford Barney (1876)

Though she was a writer for all of her adult life, Barney is not widely known today for her poetry, plays, novels, or epigrams. Instead, she is remembered for her strong support of female writers and for her openness about her homosexuality. For more than 60 years, she hosted an international salon at her Paris home. The well-attended gatherings frequently featured women’s works. She also wrote proudly about her love of women in a way that few, if any, had since what 6th-century BCE Greek poet?More…

 

Quotation: Friedrich Nietzsche about man and woman

Better than man doth woman understand children, but man is more childish than woman.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Discuss

 

Quotation: Alexandre Dumas about learning and knowledge

To learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Discuss

 

Quotation: Friedrich Nietzsche about distrusting publishers

Thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Discuss

 

Just a Thought: “what’s affordable to BOVI is not affordable to OVI!

 

Just a thought: “Be as if you were Humanity’s only hope!”

 

“The Real McCoy”

“The real McCoy” is an idiom used to mean “the real thing” or “the genuine article,” but who—or what—was McCoy? The origins of the phrase are hazy. It may have originated as a corruption of the Scottish phrase “the real MacKay.” Alternately, it may have been inspired by the infamous Hatfield and McCoy family feud in the late 19th-century US. Still others trace it back to William McCoy, a Prohibition-era rumrunner who reputedly never watered down his liquor. What are other possible explanations? More… Discuss

 

BENTO

Traditional Japanese bento is a style of boxed meal prepared in a thin plastic or lacquered wood box that is divided into small compartments, each of which contains a separate dish. Bento has existed in Japan for centuries. Today, these compartmentalized meals are available in convenience stores and kiosks, but some still prepare them at home as a special lunch for children or as a meal to bring to work. In one elaborate form of bento called kyaraben, the food is made to look like what? More… Discuss

DAME IRIS MURDOCH (1919)

An Irish-born novelist and philosopher, Murdoch studied at Cambridge under prominent philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein before pursuing a career in writing. Her novels focus on the idea that free will is illusory and depict humans as “accidental” creatures, seemingly free but actually bound to self, society, and the natural world. She penned 26 novels and many philosophical works before Alzheimer’s ended her writing career. To what non-medical condition did she initially attribute her symptoms?More… Discuss

 

Quotation: Alexandre Dumas human nature and society

Unless wicked ideas take root in a naturally depraved mind, human nature, in a right and wholesome state, revolts at crime. Still, from an artificial civilization have originated wants, vices, and false tastes, which occasionally become so powerful as to … lead us into guilt and wickedness.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Discuss

Quotation: H.G. Wells on simple explanations and wrong theories

Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough—as most wrong theories are!

H.G. Wells (1866-1946) Discuss

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: MARIA GAETANA AGNESI (1718) Italian Mathematician and Philosopher

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718)

Agnesi was an Italian mathematician and philosopher. A child prodigy, she mastered several languages at an early age, and her proud father often held academic gatherings at which she spoke. When she was 9, she delivered a lengthy speech in Latin on the topic of women’s right to education. At 20, she withdrew from society to focus on her studies and went on to produce her noted two-volume mathematical treatise Analytical Institutions. What appointment did she later receive from the pope? More… Discuss

 

Today’s Birthday: RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861) a Bengali poet, philosopher, artist and composer (a Renaissance Man)

Rabindranath Tagore (1861)

Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, artist, writer, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His writings, which often exhibit rhythmic lyricism, colloquial language, and philosophical contemplation, received worldwide acclaim. He became Asia’s first Nobel laureate when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Knighted by the British government in 1915, Tagore resigned the honor four years later in protest of what? More… Discuss

Brink Of Eternity by Rabindranath Tagore

In desperate hope I go and search for her 
in all the corners of my room; 
I find her not. 

My house is small 
and what once has gone from it can never be regained. 

But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, 
and seeking her I have to come to thy door. 

I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky 
and I lift my eager eyes to thy face. 

I have come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanish 
—no hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. 

Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean, 
plunge it into the deepest fullness. 
Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch 
in the allness of the universe.

Published on Feb 14, 2013
A poem that bridges the seeking of a beloved person to the finding of God and the immersion into eternity. I am awestruck by this poem. Poem read by Owi Nandi.

THE DREAM ARGUMENT (And the reality of other dreams: It is reffered to as a dream, because you have to be asleep in order to beleive it)

The Dream Argument

When people dream, they often are not aware of the fact that the experiences they are having exist only in their minds. It is precisely this phenomenon that has given rise to the dream argument, a philosophical postulation that contends that our senses, on which we rely to distinguish reality from illusion, cannot be fully trusted. Both Plato and Descartes, among other prominent philosophers, expounded on this topic. What successful film trilogy is based on this premise? More… Discuss

Published on Mar 1, 2013

Adam Brand gives his argument in opposition of dreaming the American dream.
Facebook @ http://fb.me/theoxfordunion
Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/OxfordUnion
Oxford Union Website @ http://www.oxford-union.org/

Adam Brand states that America is the richest country of all time and yet its wrapped with inequality, indiscipline and indecency.
He highlights the lack of Social Mobility within America saying the system favour white male Americans. He says that Education costs in America are incredibly high offering the best education to only the wealthiest of applicants, widening the gap between the rich and the poor. 
He says that’s the freedom to bare arms and to be able to buy a gun anywhere has lead to multiple murders and massacres such as Columbine and Sandy Hook.
Filmed on Wednesday 24th January 2013
MOTION: THIS HOUSE STILL DREAMS THE AMERICAN DREAM

ABOUT ADAM BRAND:
Law student at University College Oxford.

ABOUT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY: 
The Union is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.

 

Change (poetic thought by George-B)

Change (poetic thought by George-B)

Change is necessary,
for young to grow old,
for reach to get richer and
poor to lose more,
to fatten the brainy greed
For better, but mostly for worse,

let’s face it
there is a circular motion we call change,
but change for change,  is hypocritical

Is change for worse! 

Quotation: George Eliot on Family likeness and differences

Family likeness has often a deep sadness in it. Nature, that great tragic dramatist, knits us together by bone and muscle, and divides us by the subtler web of our brains; blends yearning and repulsion; and ties us by our heart-strings to the beings that jar us at every movement.

George Eliot (1819-1880) Discuss

Today’s Birthday: Jean Piaget (1896)

Jean Piaget (1896)

Regarded as the foremost developmental psychologist of the 20th century, Piaget developed a theory of “genetic epistemology,” a natural timetable for the development of the child’s ability to think, in which he traced four stages—the sensorimotor (ages 0–2), preoperational or symbolic (2–7), concrete operational (7–12), and formal operational (12 and up)—each marked by increased cognitive sophistication and ability to use symbols. What specific developments occur in each stage? More… Discuss

Today’s Birthday: Jean Jaques Rousseau (1712)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712)

Rousseau was a Swiss-French philosopher and writer who had a lasting impact on politics, literature, and education. In particular, he strongly influenced the theories of the French Revolution and the romantics. Many of his ideas stemmed from his belief in the natural goodness of man, who he felt had been warped by society. His Confessions, published posthumously in 1782, was a frank account of his life and was a founding work of autobiography. Why was he forced to flee France in 1762? More… Discuss

The Sea: My Ultra-Short Poetical Movie

What better place for creative than ever changing interface between  land and water, continent and ocean:

The Sea’s perpetual movement, and the natural speed of the birds in search for the crustacea at the very edge of the water, intrigued me, and inspired an ever so short thought, about the brevity while still larger than life symbolism of the moments, few moments, that repeat: one of a lifeless nature, the other full with life.

Spotted sandpiper al.

Great vehicle for thought, I think…  Share your thoughts on the subject.

Quote Of The Day: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Flowers…are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Discuss

Today’s Birthday: Émile Durkheim (1858)

Émile Durkheim (1858)

Along with Max Weber, Durkheim is considered one of the chief founders of modern sociology. His view that the methods of natural science can be applied to the study of society was influenced by the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte. Durkheim held that the collective mind of society was the source of religion and morality and that the common values developed in society, particularly in primitive societies, are the cohesive bonds of social order. What was Durkheim’s view on crime? More… Discuss

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Today’s Birthday: Abraham Ortelius (1527)

Abraham Ortelius (1527)

Ortelius was a Flemish geographer and cartographer who, while traveling with his contemporary Gerardus Mercator, was inspired to compile the first modern world atlas. The first edition of Theatrum orbis terrarium, issued in 1570, contained 53 maps compiled, in part, from the maps of 87 cartographers. A leading member of the 16th-century Flemish school of geography, Ortelius is thought to have been the first to posit what theory about the positioning of the continents? More… Discuss

Article Of The Day: The Problem Of Evil

The Problem of Evil

The “problem of evil” is the philosophical and theological dilemma of how to reconcile the existence of evil with the idea of an omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient deity. Some philosophers argue that the existence of such a God and of evil are logically incompatible. Others say that true free will cannot exist without the possibility of evil, that suffering is necessary for spiritual growth, or that evil is the consequence of a fallen world. What is the “problem of good”? More… Discuss