Recently, I noticed this strange question above in an Aeon-Psyche article: Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says no. Last Saturday, a new friend said the following: "Believing is in the nature of mankind; it's a clear feeling. You're almost born with it." I couldn't agree more with what he said. It was in a slightly...
Awakening
You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
26 Jan, 2023
Recently, I was reminded of the above saying as I had a choice in my response: angry, cynical, or playing dumb. That choice also relates to my blog Choose your battles wisely. Moreover, a 2013 article in Foreign Policy argued that "There are many more ways to be a fool than there are to be a genius". Perhaps, I would have used vinegar if there had been a time...
Non-acceptance = Chaos ?
27 Oct, 2022
In Monday's blog, I wondered why humans – unlike the Universe – have this option of (non-) acceptance. Subsequently, I realised my question has an implicit presumption: acceptance is the default value in the Universe. Is it really? Is the absence of evidence of the opposite enough? Our (human) non-acceptance of events results in chaos, either in...
Egalitarianism, a solution for human stupidity?
5 Sep, 2022
Many articles argue that human societies look a lot like ant colonies. Ants have a caste system which is similar to our job specialization. "The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, numerous sterile females (workers, soldiers) and, seasonally, many winged sexual males and females." (Wiki) There are much more ants than humans: one million...
Is it possible having no beliefs?
16 Aug, 2022
My recent blog on the 7 pillars of Wisdom, including Frans de Waal's comment on my August 4 diagram, has created some turmoil in my mind. In my view, the main difference between animals and humans is having (no) beliefs. In my view, an Awakening is about losing your beliefs. Can we have no beliefs? I consider myself a centrist and a pragmatist using common sense...
Is stupidity the flip side of beliefs?
4 Aug, 2022
There is a Dutch saying: "A donkey does not bump into the same stone twice." I didn't see foreign equivalents. An alleged quote by Albert Einstein states: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The key difference between animals and humans is (not) having beliefs. Recently, I noticed this question: If Humans Are the...
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