Transcript Some Enduring Questions???

Some Enduring Questions???
By: Fr. Mike Moga, SJ
St.Paul Publication
Copyright 2005
The Enduring Questions
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In what sense a Philosopher is Ignorant?
What is the nature of his ignorance?
What wisdom is not?
Why are we not thinking?
Why are we thinking in the path of human
illusions?
Is there Truth?
What is the purpose of human life?
What is human existence?
Why is the world essential to human existence?
In what sense a philosopher is ignorant?
Socratic Philosophy
• A Philosopher is ignorant in the sense that
he is a person who is in constant search for
wisdom.
• The search embodies the greatest good
possible for a human being.
• This is the profound sense of Ignorance.
• A wise person does not claim to have known
everything.
What is the Nature of Philosopher’s Ignorance?
• Our Lack of Understanding of something real (there is
much of the reality that we do not understand)
• The basic experience of Wonder ( an amazement of
something wonderful/awful present in the reality
• A movement into the area of not so obvious
The Experience of Wonder
• The not knowing of the Philosopher is the rich
and exciting experience of wonder
• The experience of Wonder opens up a world of
absolute values.
• The experience of wonder opens our lives to
powerful vital forces ( we move beyond mere
spectators from a distance and find ourselves
caught up in the passions and excitement of
human living).
• The presence of Wonder guides us into lives of
commitment.
What is true Wisdom?
Some misunderstandings on the notion of wisdom
(What wisdom is not)
• Wisdom is not a matter of a superior mental
capacity.
• Wisdom is not mere factual knowledge, even
when it is correct, never deserves to be classified
as wisdom, (ex. Knowledge of the price of corn,
rice, projected HDI,etc.)
• Wisdom is not knowledge connected to some sort
of human skill(statistical skill, mathematical skill,
skill to repair a car, or a computer)
What wisdom is?
• Sensitivity for mystery
• Knowledge of the ultimate reasons or
causes
• Sense of the overall goal of human life
• Sensitivity for human life
• Broad view of things
• Good Judgment
• Knowing how to be happy
• Living in terms of what is really important
• Living in tune with a greater reality.
The Nature of not thinking
The appearance of “not thinking”
• The fading of human values into
insignificance
• The superficial awareness of our
mortality
• The tendency to evade religious
truths in our lives.
• Tendency to not to keep in touch
“with my self”
Why are we not thinking?
• The swirl of distractions
• The darkness of conventional
understanding
• The World of Practicality
• The hiddenness of the cause of
thought
The Swirl of Distractions
Tendency to be caught up in distractions( a world of escapism that can
envelope human life, the world that absorbs our attention and energies)
• Cycles of Spectacles: parties,celebrations,political activity, public
entertainments, seminars, vacations,etc.
• Empty thrills: movies, TV, that seem to promise the experience of real life
but effectively turn us away from vital involvement.
• This distractions transplant a conviction that is somehow true and real.
• When totally caught up in these empty distractions we cut off from any
confrontation with the deeper meanings and values of life and we never
have the chance to confront the wonder and tragedy of existence.
• Distractions are deceptive in blocking our experience of real mysteries and
real issues.
The Darkness of Conventional
Understanding
Conventional understanding:
• Packaging of truths by cultural and social traditions
• We are told what to think ( thought control) when we
understand reality and experience
Conventional Expression:
• The proper use of language
• Proper use of a model in a science or economic lecture but
does not breathe the true spirit of science
Loss of Wonder and Anxiety
• We loss site with the new dimensions of truth in
beauty, science, history and people.
• We do not think that life is not pure comfort, and
convenience but also of anxiety and a deep sense
of finitude , vulnerability, and fragility.
The World of practicality
• Practical needs dictate us not to think ( I do not
need to think when I am in dire need of
something)
• Functional thinking blinds me not to think beyond
my functions
• Fixated to productivity and on our ability to be
practical and to cope with the problems of life.
The Hiddenness of the Cause of
Thought
• The impermanence of a stimuli to strike us to be
thought-worthy before we are moved to think.
• Our tendency to ignore thinking makes the
stimuli impermanent.
• Our need to live a life full of comfort,
convenience, and ease makes us not to think.
Human Illusions
• Frequently, in our lives we human beings live in
terms of something which is simply not true.
• We get caught up in a desire for possessing
something more from which we believe will not
give us complete happiness.
• We know that soon we will be dissatisfied and
reaching out for something else.
Forms of Human Illusions
• The illusion of righteousness ( I am better than others)
• The Illusion of happiness ( We go over the rainbow to a
situation of perfect satisfaction, joy and peace)
• The Illusion of Diversion ( I always run from the real issue of
my life)
• The Illusion of Fame and Success (The thought that life is
enhanced by the values of power, status, and fame)
• The illusion of unending life ( Tendency to refuse that one is
not going to die)
• The romantic illusion ( the illusion of seeing life as a love story
when the prince meets the princess they fall in love and live
happily ever after)
• The illusion of bad news ( the illusion that what is truly real is
bad, ugly and painful)
Is there Truth?
• The denial of the truth ( tendency to consider all
human affirmations as mere personal opinions)
• The assertions from the opinion polls
• Assertions based on some objective basis or
reason
True Affirmations
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Factual Knowledge
Experience
Communal truth, mathematical assertions
Scientific validations
Religious truth
Philosophical assertions
Reflections
• Objective truth is possible in human life.
• There is no one universal realm of truth which is
the basis of all true statements.
• Objective truth reveals that there is more to full
human knowledge than the possession of true
statements.
• Truth as something that has a basis that is
objective and general.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF
PHILOSOPHERS