Thelemic Materialism (Thelemic Philosophy)
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@Los said
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You know the old saying, "Figures don't lie but liars figure." Statistics are very open to manipulation, and that's just when conducting very simple kinds of opinion polls or collecting data on crime. Nevermind performing complicated meta-analysis of data and demonstrating that guessing games might, if we run a large enough number of guessing games, produce results that are a tiny bit higher than what we might assume by chance.
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Los do you have ANY background in science or statistical analysis to be able to make such a counter? HARDLY. You're copying and pasting or lifting words from someone else to make this claim. What you are saying is here absolutely false - or, at best goes both ways. If statistics can be manipulated to fit the interpretation, then that could very easily apply to the interpretation of data by the pseudo skeptic crowd.
You're playing the 'heads I win, tails you lose' game. You claim there is no evidence, but when presented with evidence, claim it's not really evidence. This is a very typical response and certainly not new. Statistical analysis is valid for all science, not just the science you like. Modern medical research use these same statistical averages to make claims about the efficacy of a drug trial.
You have absolutely no credibility here in this discussion.
If anyone wants to hear a REAL skeptical scientist (richard wiseman) debate this EXACT argument with a REAL scientist (rupert sheldrake) regarding a bit of research into psi
you will find this pod cast quite enjoyable. Wiseman not only gets refuted beyond measure, he also gets exposed for his bias and manipulation of the data to fit his worldview. He actually replicated sheldrake's data in his study, and covered it up!www.skeptiko.com/rupert-sheldrake-and-richard-wiseman-clash/
Scroll down a bit to find the audio player.
Let's USE THIS case Los. Would love to see how your arguments measure up. Try to support Wiseman in this study. Let's see how far your reason can go before you go completely irrational.
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@Uni_Verse said
"Since every one here does not have a scientific background, I am going to avoid jargon and attempt to explain this in "layman" terms ( so any errors fall on my shoulders):
If we go by the findings of the physicist David Bohm:
Any apparent separation between matter and consciousness is an illusion.
A construct only occurring/assembled after both consciousness and matter have unfolded into the perceivable world of objects and sequential/linear time.
There is another realm of impercievable objects, including the inner worlds (such as thought) which take place outside the confluence of linear time and our senses.To quote Bohm:
"... at the sub-quantum level, in which the quantum potential operated, location ceased to exist. All points in space became equal to all other points in space, and it was meaningless to speak of anything being separate from anything else.""Bohm, like Rupert Sheldrake and a small handful of other scientists, are part of the Holistic Philosophy of Science school. In the philosophy of science, this is a very very small school. The reductionist school in the philosophy of science is what makes up the majority of science.
Science only delivers KNOWLEDGE, it does not deliver UNDERSTANDING, philosophy does. It's not that the science is wrong, it's the reductionist philosophy of science that is incomplete and we have a long way to go before that horse takes a rest.
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@ldfriend56 said
"Ahh, your feelings on the subject eh? Using a 'biased' source? what happened to reason Los?"
WHAT ARE YOU DOING MY OLD FRIEND?
Next, you are going to reveal how many "scientific facts" are only true by definition (which was "determined" to be a fallacy) -
subsequently rocking his theoretical considerations to the coreThat would be akin to removing the fruit from his cake.
@ldfriend56 said
"Science only delivers KNOWLEDGE, it does not deliver UNDERSTANDING, philosophy does. It's not that the science is wrong, it's the reductionist philosophy of science that is incomplete and we have a long way to go before that horse takes a rest."
I entirely agree.
My intent is never to argue against the sciences, unfortunately too many discussions get bogged down in one or more parties being unable to accept the basic restriction that knowledge is the only thing imparted.EDIT:
After all, I do have a background in Mathematics and Computer Science
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@Uni_Verse said
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Next, you are going to reveal how many "scientific facts" are only true by definition (which was "determined" to be a fallacy) -
subsequently rocking his theoretical considerations to the core"
Hmmm, well what you are suggesting here are called 'tautologies', meaning that something can be tautologically true because the definition is logically consistent in terms of how it defines itself. It refers to the logical sequence of the formula, not the semantics of each word or the formula. But this can apply to anything, even the sentence "All X are also Y and move towards Z" is tautologically true. If I fill it in with "All toddlers are small and crawl towards mommy" is still semantically true as well as tautologically true. Make sense?
Unfortunately, we all can run tautologies without being aware of it and anything that is really really really true, still would also have a tautological form that would also be true. The trick is not to confuse the words or the logical form as to what makes something true with a capital T, because then it becomes rhetoric and open to fallacy (not a fallacy in and of itself)
However! Yes this is something that does occur in the philosophical debate in the Philosophy of Science.
Look at the Philosophy of Science as the 'meta' rulemaker for mainstream science, which is very conservative. The arguments that happen there academically inform the understanding and trajectory of scientific research. This is only really a small handful of people having these discussions at that level, comparatively. This is where there may have been a philosophical argument which suggests something similar to scientific facts being only true by definition. it's true that all scientific facts function in a way that follows the tautological form (because ALL facts MUST follow this form logically) but that's not the problem. The problem is when a philosopher uses the tautological form of the argument (not say the evidence or interpretation of the evidence) to influence the philosophy of science, and that is, I believe, a fallacy as well. But that's where the debate is happening! it's not a 'proof'
but there is still hope! 
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Hey Uni_verse! Let me give you an example of how tautologies are abused in rhetoric, Los does this very manipulatively but there is more than likely a heaping dose of delusion in there too
@Los said
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It's also not being "fanatical" to point out that nobody is justified in using the flimsy crap you've been pointing to as evidence of any of the wildly outlandish claims that are routinely discussed on this forum as if they were self-evident fact."see that tautology in there? his entire 'rebuttal' to AV rests on the 'truth' that locks his rebuttal into play and because it fits the form of a tautological truth, he is resting on the logical form of the sequence although the meaning of the sequence is quite biased and subjective and false and all of those kind of things!
Los is defending the idea about Los on this forum. Many here perceive him to be a fundamentalist, like the Christian fanatical kind who knock on your door at 4pm. His defence that he is not a fundamentalist whack job are actually supported by his use of rhetoric that is consistent with, umm.... fundamentalist arguments!
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"There was always sufficient evidence for germs as long as germs existed. People just hadn't noticed the evidence yet. There's a difference between what is, and what we happen to notice."
Absolutely. The germs have been around for a very long time, but before humans had observed the sufficient evidence for germs, no human being would have been justified in accepting the claim that germs exist.
"Semmelweis noticed a statistical correlation. He ended up saving lots of lives at a hospital because of it. He had sufficient evidence. But the scientific community didn't consider it sufficient."
Is that the guy who came up with hand washing and disinfecting? He certainly did have evidence that hand washing and disinfecting was linked, somehow, to lower rates of disease transmission. He didn't have sufficient evidence for the specific concept of germs, though.
And sure, he experienced some push-back from the scientists of his day, but science came to accept his ideas because they are supported by evidence. There wasn't some international conspiracy of scientists working hard to maintain their dogmatic commitment to non-hand-washing. Some guy was challenging their basic ideas about how stuff works, so they were understandably skeptical....but over time, the evidence changed the mind of the scientific community. Because there's actually evidence for the effectiveness of hand-washing.
"You're entitled to your own opinion. You're free to not accept anything you don't personally have sufficient evidence for."
My point, in case you missed it, is that nobody has sufficient evidence for this supernatural stuff. Nobody has sufficient evidence to demonstrate -- even "to them" -- that they really and truly left their bodies or that they can really and truly "remote view" a location.
If they can, then have them use their super powers to demonstrate, under controlled conditions, that they can obtain information about the world.
"You're peddling your own dogma."
It's not dogmatic to observe correctly that nobody has anything resembling sufficient evidence for these grandiose claims.
Your ship in this discussion is sinking, fast, and the only play you've got left -- since you don't have evidence (or you would have presented it) -- is to hurl inaccurate insults at me.
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@ldfriend56 said
"what you suggest here is irrelevant to my experience and my experience is for my own reference. I am not making claims about astral travel, I am reporting an experience that occurred OUTSIDE of my body and this was a phenomenon that occurred while I was a child until the age of around 5 in waking consciousness."
What I'm suggesting -- that you were mistaken and that you never actually left your body -- is extremely relevant to your understanding of how the universe works. Sure, you had an experience that felt like you left your body. Nobody's questioning that.
I'm questioning your interpretation of that experience -- and your (mistaken) conclusion is that you actually left your body. You didn't.
How can I be so sure? Because there is no evidence whatsoever that people having OBEs actually leave their bodies. There is, however, plenty of evidence that people can be mistaken, which is what you are in this case.
If your interpretation of your experience is so correct, then how come nobody -- including people who claim to be able to leave their bodies at will -- can ever leave their bodies to go into the next room and discover information that they couldn't have already known or easily guessed?
"You don't believe it?
Who cares."
Well, you care enough about what I'm saying to do your usual act of quadruple-posting and then trying to take the conversation in a thousand different directions instead of sticking with the subject under discussion.
We're sticking with this one topic. I'll gladly talk about anything else you like -- podcasts and all -- but we're going to talk about everything one single point at a time, and keep talking about one point until we're both satisfied.
Right now, we're talking about this "leaving the body" stuff, which is seems as if nobody can do.
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You're still missing the point.
At the point that Semmelweis made his observations, somebody had good reason to believe in the correlation (Semmelweis). But until he published it, and others read it, and replicated it, they didn't have good reason.
Similarly, just because you haven't seen sufficient evidence for something, it doesn't follow that nobody has.
This doesn't require me to present evidence. I'm not arguing that you should believe in remote viewing. I'm arguing that your concept of sufficient evidence is subjective. The fact that you keep trying to shift the debate is telling.
Saying your behavior is dogmatic is not an inaccurate insult in my opinion. It's in line with the definition, which is insisting ones opinions are unassailable facts.
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Los -
@Los said
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What I'm suggesting -- that you were mistaken and that you never actually left your body -- is extremely relevant to your understanding of how the universe works.
Sure, you had an experience that felt like you left your body. Nobody's questioning that.
I'm questioning your interpretation of that experience -- and your (mistaken) conclusion is that you actually left your body. You didn't."
Now this is quite a claim.
How can you be so sure?
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How can I be so sure? Because there is no evidence whatsoever that people having OBEs actually leave their bodies."
How can I be sure this statement of yours has any credibility? Really? No Evidence? I am doubtful that statement is even relevant here. You've done a pretty poor job on this forum maintaining any consistency whatsoever. Any claim you make regarding anything scientific or philosophic, including your diatribes about reason, logic, and empiricism have zero credibility.
If you want me to accept that there is absolutely no evidence of this whatsoever you're going to have to explain it in a way that will not produce any contradictions.
Until then, I shall not accept your claim that there is no evidence for OBE.
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There is, however, plenty of evidence that people can be mistaken, which is what you are in this case."
Evidence please. Please show this evidence in light of the whole body of evidence.
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If your interpretation of your experience is so correct, then how come nobody -- including people who claim to be able to leave their bodies at will -- can ever leave their bodies to go into the next room and discover information that they couldn't have already known or easily guessed?"
Beats me. I'm very skeptical of your claim that there is no evidence whatsoever. And even if there was no evidence, that would not be enough for me to change my very reasonable observation, I was outside of my body. So far you given me absolutely nothing to use that would make me change my world view in the other direction.
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Well, you care enough about what I'm saying to do your usual act of quadruple-posting and then trying to take the conversation in a thousand different directions instead of sticking with the subject under discussion."Los, it's statements like this that make you lose even more credibility, because now you are practicing deception. I am going to hold you to your language and words and request you hold your integrity with them as well.
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We're sticking with this one topic. I'll gladly talk about anything else you like -- podcasts and all -- but we're going to talk about everything one single point at a time, and keep talking about one point until we're both satisfied."
I am going to hold you to this.
You have made a number of claims - I expect a list or a summary, without bias, as to how this evidence prevents me from stating the blatantly obvious.
I say I left my body because reason leads me to conclude this. Occam's Razor. If my consciousness didn't leave my body like you claim, then that means it must have all been in my brain and a product of chemistry and physics only. This material model creates too many unnecessary entities for the purposes of a rational (and personal) claim and you have given me absolutely nothing within reason to edit my claim. If you do this, then I shall edit my claim.
Your turn.
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If anyone is interested, there is actually an archive of 'skeptical fundamentalists', 'guerilla skeptics', 'militant atheists' in the public eye that get busted for fudging their facts and arguments.
www.skepticalinvestigations.org/homepage.html
More than likely, Los is just lifting many of their arguments and probably buys into it without being skeptical about them. What Los is doing here is not isolated, there is actually an online movement of this sort of ideology happening and they all go around the internet and bully people and claim evidence this and evidence that.
Here is an example of one such group
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@ldfriend56 said
"Objectivity can be understood as 'without bias' how I use the term. I think the Wiki definition is reasonable, especially for journalism and science. "Objective" is also a hot button word, many philosophers don't like the term and quite often college students get irate when it's used. So we can look at objective as 'without bias' and subjective as 'with bias'."
Perfect. On the same page.
"Well, it depends upon how it is used. Personally I do not like the term intersubjectivity because the word removes the 'dialectic' which 'objective/subjective' contains - and I love dialectics."
Cool. The reason why I wanted to stick with intersubjectivity is to postulate that all we have is subjective reality, which definitely CANNOT be disproven. So go with me here for a second...but let's move to your next point because I think it will help what I'm driving at a bit.
"NUIT = the Objective Material Universe, our 'shared' environment. a Continual counting of '1' to infinity which contains no final number (1,1,1 am I not the ox, and none by the book?). The objective universe is ONE environment for ALL (points, Hadit). We all have access to this ONE environment and the information in this one environment is shared by all. This is the 'world' of the objective sciences who study the ONE environment. Science is nothing more than the worship of NUIT. We can see than an infinite and eternal material universe is also a shared MYSTERY for ALL but yet continually reveals new discovery and understanding that becomes our shared 'objective' understanding of Nuit through the progress of the physical sciences.
HADIT = the individual Subjective (and spiritual!) universe. The world of feelings, visions, dreams, ideals but also delusion, deception.(there is great danger in me). Our private universe is HIDDEN from all other points of view. So while your subjective universe is MYSTERY to me, my subjective universe is TRUTH to me (and me only). Hadit as ONE point brings ART to the SCIENCE of the physical universe (Nuit) and therefore we can understand the relationship of ART and SCIENCE to be a child of the relationship between NUIT and HADIT in our progress as a species. "
Okay, the reason why I put these as potential and subjectivity is lifted from Crowley's ideas: basically, Nuit is infinite possibilities and Hadit is the POV.
"Using Liber Al as the metaphor here, we can see that the objective universe (Nuit) is nothing more than an infinite number of points (Hadit, sentience) supporting her existence through the progress of the arts and sciences historically speaking."
I think Nuit is an infinite number of points, but also their* potential* -- and this potential includes something that could be beyond "collectivity" as we know it.
"So we have the 'dialectic' in thelema between Nuit and Hadit, Objective and Subjective, Art and Science, both of which are contained in each of us through all of us.
So what about the third value in Liber Al?
RHK = Mystery, potential manifesting NOW in our historical progress, struggling within the dialectic of Nuit and Hadit, indeed becoming aware of this dialectic as a species. RHK is BOTH Nuit and Hadit, at once. Or, Mystery is BOTH True, AND False, simultaneously.
There may not be 'pure' objectivity - but there is certainly 'pure' mystery. "
Now, the reason why I call RHK intersubjectivity is because it is...wait for it...
THE NEXT STEP. It is an agreed shared reality of infinite potential for all of mankind collectively.
Now, let's talk about how this relates to Thelemic Materialism. Materialism itself misses the boat because, like most POVs, it is overly reductionary.
"The Chinese cannot help thinking that the octave has 5 notes."
-- Crowley
In nature, we see other examples of perceptions that humans have locked in their DNA. The reason why I say "locked in their DNA" is because I believe in evolution -- there is a relation between all life-forms. I also see sufficient evidence to support epigenetics and neuroplasticity. This means we can change the way our DNA and brain reacts to certain environmental stimuli...
Anyway, we see electroreception in all sorts of species. I know that magical and mystical practices teach other senses because I use these other senses everyday -- I believe the idea of Neschama provides a great "blanket term" that some of these senses speak through. Ask any fucking magician that isn't armchair, they will tell you it's much more than just positive thinking. Sometimes, it could be quite negative. Especially when you start tapping into other people's information fields. Hell, you see it when people get reactionary to certain posts!
The strict materialist says "explain this happening! It must have a natural cause!" Hahaha! What is natural? Something that we can perceive with strictly the five senses? Ridiculous. Something that measures up to our arbitrary mathematics? Hahaha! "Natural cause" can be roughly translated as the state of shared* experience*. Is that so hard to admit?
It is well known that people who can induce non-linear brain patterns have access to something different..."supernatural" and "natural" are misnomers and only provide convenience with terms...
Now, the reason why I bring all of this up, is to relate it to intersubjectivity. I think it helps explain how brain-states can be altered collectively and how thought-forms, when properly "enthused," can cause some shit to happen. Anybody that's gone through a formal initiation KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT. It sounds like you may agree, as you've seen some visible manifestations yourself, especially in a group setting.
As far as capturing this on camera, videos are meant to catch the same things that the naked eye can. The naked eye would probably be used to see the "supernatural" footage that would be caught anyway? Ergo, it's a horrible argument. I'm suggesting that the non-linear modes of consciousness are interrupted, or rather, synchronized, when some of these observations take place. These altered states causes perception to modulate -- this is proven -- in REAL labs, with REAL scientists. That's part of the reason why I shared Hobson's AIM model. Do these perceptions relate to the material world? Of course they do. When we say the material world, what we really mean is what we observe with linear perception, instead of non-linear perception. The magician trains to use both simultaneously.
Groups can modulate together, if under the influence of drugs, or have developed enough skill to introduce enough norepinephrine into the system, while staying far enough entrenched in the cholinergic actions of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and, also, the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). Magick works to be able to excite these systems at will.
These more emotional based perceptions can "see" in a different way -- and it doesn't seem to be that interested in "seeing" numbers, watching one's mom undress, or any other wacky things that one may want to see in the next room.
"Please do! I actually work with dialectics as a platform developer for mediation and conflict resolution. I am quite big on them and love all ternary systems that address them (hence my fascination with Liber Al)"
I will. Look for it.
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@Frater 639 said
"Perfect. On the same page.
"I could not find a better quote to summarize!
There is my point of view, there is your point of view - but this is distinguished by objective reality - which is OUR point of view
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wat!!?? no response from Los? really?
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"At the point that Semmelweis made his observations, somebody had good reason to believe in the correlation (Semmelweis). But until he published it, and others read it, and replicated it, they didn't have good reason."
Right. But if Semmelweis had never been able to produce any evidence at all for his hand washing claim -- even when asked -- or if he published some accounts of an experiment but others tried for hundreds of years to replicate his work and nobody ever was able to demonstrate the claim ever again...then not only would everyone else not have sufficient evidence to accept the claim, it would imply pretty strongly that Semmelweis never had sufficient evidence at all (it would imply that Semmelweis had been fooling himself into thinking that he did).
"Similarly, just because you haven't seen sufficient evidence for something, it doesn't follow that nobody has."
Sure. But if someone out there has sufficient evidence for claims of astral travel, what the hell are they doing keeping it to themselves?
On the basis of the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing sufficient evidence, I'm going to stay in the default position of currently not accepting claims about astral travel. Plus, the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing evidence suggests pretty strongly that the people who think they have sufficient evidence are fooling themselves.
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@ldfriend56 said
"I'm very skeptical of your claim that there is no evidence whatsoever."
It's fairly uncontroversial to say that nobody has ever produced evidence that it's possible to magically escape one's body and actually obtain information that one didn't already know or couldn't have guessed.
If you think there is such evidence, I'd sure be interested to hear it. And I'm definitely not the only one. Nobel Prize committee, I'm lookin' at you....
"And even if there was no evidence, that would not be enough for me to change my very reasonable observation, I was outside of my body."
We've been over this. You had an experience that seemed as if you were outside of your body. But -- just like if you had an experience that seemed like you wrote a sentence on your word processor before bed but then woke up to find no evidence of this ever having occurred, you would have reason to question whether you had really written that sentence -- the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body.
You often repeat the same exact points as if I never addressed them at all, which is another thing that makes your posts tedious.
"wat!!?? no response from Los? really?"
It's been one day. Get a grip. I know your urge to quintuple-post is probably growing unbearable at this point, so have at it.
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"the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body."
I have to point out that this is patently absurd. I've read this same POV from many others, too -- generally, in very early stages of training. I should know because I was one of them - it is what we like to call an ordeal. A further indication of why someone may argue passionately against the truth.
Liber O part V specifically says that these "travels" don't really do too much, other than train to a specific type of dharana. Part VI addresses Rising on the Planes, which is written very cryptically...
At the end of Part VI are printed the words:
EXPLICIT
He really did put it down in words -- but with the Crowley slight-of-hand that keeps the armchair magician safe and sound in his armchair.
The above quote is a perfect example of someone who obsessed over the core texts, and still does, with very limited results. What this person fails to realize is that Crowley didn't publish the personal Instruction that puts these "tool kits" (that are the instructional Libers) together. He doesn't put all the components together in one Instruction or Grade for a reason.
If one can't figure that out on their own, I highly suggest formally going through the arduous process of actually finding an Instructor. Again, the quote above is indicative of someone that has no idea what they are doing (or what they are talking about) when it comes to the symbols anchored in astral work. The milk and cookies given in Liber O (and other Instructions) are to actual magick what chord books are to an actual jazz performance.
Some people don't know what is going on with either of those two things, and usually from lack of education.
It just sounds like a bunch of noise!
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@Los said
"Right. But if Semmelweis had never been able to produce any evidence at all for his hand washing claim -- even when asked -- or if he published some accounts of an experiment but others tried for hundreds of years to replicate his work and nobody ever was able to demonstrate the claim ever again...then not only would everyone else not have sufficient evidence to accept the claim, it would imply pretty strongly that Semmelweis never had sufficient evidence at all (it would imply that Semmelweis had been fooling himself into thinking that he did)."
Decades passed before others replicated Semmelweis' experiments. And there haven't been hundreds of years of remote viewing/telepathy experiments. And the results have been replicated many, many times. So, not sure how your statements further your argument at all. It seems to indicate we should keep an open mind about telepathy/remote viewing research for at least a few more decades.
@Los said
"Sure. But if someone out there has sufficient evidence for claims of astral travel, what the hell are they doing keeping it to themselves?"
Irrelevant. You're making up reasons why, and pretending your imagination is "evidence". The fact is that we have collected only a tiny subset of the evidence. So it's pretty crazy to claim "nobody has good reason to believe x". Someone may very well.
@Los said
"On the basis of the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing sufficient evidence, I'm going to stay in the default position of currently not accepting claims about astral travel. Plus, the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing evidence suggests pretty strongly that the people who think they have sufficient evidence are fooling themselves."
You keep changing the debate. I'm not arguing that you should accept the existence of astral travel. I'm saying that nobody has good reason to accept your claim that "nobody has good reason to believe x".
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@Los said
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It's fairly uncontroversial to say that nobody has ever produced evidence that it's possible to magically escape one's body and actually obtain information that one didn't already know or couldn't have guessed.
If you think there is such evidence, I'd sure be interested to hear it. And I'm definitely not the only one. Nobel Prize committee, I'm lookin' at you...."
You are the one that is making the claim, not I. I don't investigate OBE and am not making any claims about the phenomenon other than I had an experience where my consciousness was outside of my body. You say there is no evidence that people leave their bodies and all the evidence suggests they have not.
SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE/STUDY/RESEARCH PLEASE. You think you can just make a claim and expect me to believe it?
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We've been over this. You had an experience that seemed as if you were outside of your body. "
Los - if I can look down at my body in waking consciousness while my body sleeps (but my mind is awake) - that leaves me no alternative but to observe that my actual POINT OF VIEW was outside of my body. How else could I view myself if my point of view was not outside of my body? It's quite a reasonable interpretation of the experience. You're still not giving me much reason to question my summary other than 'that's impossible so therefore you didn't'
"But -- just like if you had an experience that seemed like you wrote a sentence on your word processor before bed but then woke up to find no evidence of this ever having occurred, you would have reason to question whether you had really written that sentence "
Nope, not like that at all. To the contrary actually. I was observing my bed, with my little brother sleeping next to me, myself, and our room in the morning light. I floated down, entered my body, and then my body 'woke up'. When my body awoke, the room, my brother sleeping, our pajamas, all the exact same. This happened often when I was a child. I can't (or don't bother) repeat it. I'm not trying to prove something to you, I am showing you the genesis of my skepticism of what you're claiming.
"- the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body."
there you go making claims again. You keep on citing some research or study that shows that astral travel never leads to anything, yet continually fail to cite the research or even replicate the argument beyond a few sentences. You're not being very transparent as to how you are coming to your conclusions.
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You often repeat the same exact points as if I never addressed them at all, which is another thing that makes your posts tedious. "
I repeat the exact same points because you keep repeating them while ignoring any commentary that seeks to challenge your claims. If you make the same claim over and over, then I will make the same refutation over and over. You avoid the 'conflict of idea' here. Repeating your claims over and over does not make them true. What makes your position strong is your ability to hold consistency in questioning, which you either avoid or provide inconsistency.
Again, my point to you is very simple, very clear. I had an experience that i was outside of my body. reason leads to me conclude that because I could observe my sleeping body, then my POV was indeed outside of my body. Occam's Razor. Law of Identity (A =A).
You're not giving me any reason to doubt my summary, your simply saying it's impossible therefore my brain is has some must have some sort of holo deck feature like on star trek that can recreate my entire room, adjust for sunlight variations accurately, recreate things that my eyes normally cannot see (like the back of my head, etc) because that is what the evidence suggests. I was not floating above my room, you claim I was floating to the very perimeter of my skull. Yet you provide no evidence, no study, no nothing but some vague appeal to authority (which is a logical fallacy)
GIVE ME REASON TO DOUBT MY SUMMARY. Not 'a reason' that you just assume is true, but a REASONED, informed, irrefutable, consistent argument. If you can do this, I will change my summary, and you will 'win'.
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@Frater 639 said
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I have to point out that this is patently absurd. I've read this same POV from many others, too -- generally, in very early stages of training. I should know because I was one of them - it is what we like to call an ordeal. A further indication of why someone may argue passionately against the truth.Liber O part V specifically says that these "travels" don't really do too much, other than train to a specific type of dharana. Part VI addresses Rising on the Planes, which is written very cryptically...
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Is consciousness/mind outside of the body 'automatically' astral travel by definition? I am not claiming it was astral travel (maybe it is I dont know). My later experiences in life where I did experience 'astral realms' was nothing like my OBE. My OBE there was nothing but my room, no 'grids', no phantasms, no energy or lights. Just my normal, everyday room.
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OBEs where you see (often somewhat dreamlike versions of) your physical surroundings instead of astral worlds are usually referred to as Etheric or low Astral.