It's not stuck. You must have a negative for a positive to be understood. I can appreciate the difference now between severe and unbearable pain. Had I not had the latter, I would have continued to think that sever was the extreme. I know better now.
It is the same. How can we know we are happy if we've never been unhappy?
Etc. etc.
It is how we learn. We ask questions. We listen to the response and either accept it or refuse it. We grow and learn. Those who are inflexible, who refuse anything that does not correspond with what they think I call fundamentalists. Rigidity of thought..inability to accept anything other than their own beliefs..
Those of us who are willing and able to have our minds and beliefs changed or enhanced by information and those around us, are the lucky ones. Pity those who cannot see the differences and learn from them.
Re: I refute it thus!petru_vodaNovember 21 2007, 00:07:02 UTC
Normally I'd try to find a reply to outsmart you but I feel lazy :-)))
Back to your topic - if your looking for absolute knowledge, I'm afraid I don't have that much to say about it. It seems to me that knowledge is a constantly changing category, probably because I myself am constantly changing. I'm pretty comfortable with that - actually, it is rather entertaining.
Conversely, the only people I know that I can genuinely say I "hate" are former best friends. In both cases I only learned with time that they were more motivated by their negative qualities than their positive ones.
No, not really, but it's also not like my hate for them is some thing that is constantly rattling around in my head. Most of the time I do not think about them at all. It's only ever an issue when I have to deal with the object of my hate directly, and then I remember "Oh right, this person is a putrescent sore on the ass of humanity. I think I will try and avoid them." But that is possibly just me. Most of my emotions are pretty mild, especially the outwardly-directed negative ones, and I can't remember the last time I was really, truly Angry, and wouldn't know Rage if it bit me in the ass.
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It is the same. How can we know we are happy if we've never been unhappy?
Etc. etc.
It is how we learn. We ask questions. We listen to the response and either accept it or refuse it. We grow and learn. Those who are inflexible, who refuse anything that does not correspond with what they think I call fundamentalists. Rigidity of thought..inability to accept anything other than their own beliefs..
Those of us who are willing and able to have our minds and beliefs changed or enhanced by information and those around us, are the lucky ones. Pity those who cannot see the differences and learn from them.
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Seriously, you should go and re-read Lakoff and Johnson. Or Musashi. Or both :-)
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The Dalai Lama ralks about things coming from their opposites and adding value as well (Just like Plato!).
Lakoff? His embodied mind concept is much older than he is. besides, I have an issue with linguist thinkers because I don't always think in words. :)
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Back to your topic - if your looking for absolute knowledge, I'm afraid I don't have that much to say about it.
It seems to me that knowledge is a constantly changing category, probably because I myself am constantly changing. I'm pretty comfortable with that - actually, it is rather entertaining.
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(The comment has been removed)
But that is possibly just me. Most of my emotions are pretty mild, especially the outwardly-directed negative ones, and I can't remember the last time I was really, truly Angry, and wouldn't know Rage if it bit me in the ass.
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