Al Billings wrote:
>
> Michael wrote:
>
> > I know a lot of mystically inclined people, and the overwhelming majority
> are
> > know-nothing zipperheads, and happy to stay that way. They find thinking
> > rationally, logically, to be too tiring for their poor little minds. They
> > prefer, as a famous wrestler has said, 'the crutch of religion.' Religion
> and
> > mysticism ARE the opiates of society, just as much as opiates are the
> religion
> > of society.
> >
> > While studying mystical things can be interesting, and good study for
> someone
> > interested in stretching their mind, actually beleiving any of that nonsense
> is
> > the realm of simpletons.
>
> Spoken like a man who knows all without experiencing anything first hand.
> It's good to know that rational inquiry can extend to the things that
> Extropian dogma says are forbidden. ;-)
Now, that is a personal attack.
There is a time for rational inquiry, and a time to come to conclusions about
that which has been inquired into. Most all mysticism passed the second stage
long ago.
>
> In other words, you are parroting the dogma fed to you without verifying it
> for yourself, aren't you? I assume that you haven't actually put in the actual
> *work* (and it is work) to learn to meditate, for example, in a more than
> simplistic fashion and found out if it is nonsense or not. Correct me if I'm
> wrong.
Actually, I've learned hypnosis, and done quite a bit of meditation, neither of
which are in and of themselves 'mysticism'. I've studied yoga, buddhism, lots of
different mythologies and new age kludges, along with various alternative
medical theories. While it is interesting stuff, it is also mostly bunk.
>
> I know a hell of a lot more mystically inclined people than most of you, I
> wager. While many are vapid (just as many people into transhumanism are vapid
> escapists as well), plenty are not.
Oh boy, now its a pissing contest. Frankly, most of the people I know in
transhumanism are most definitely NOT vapid escapists, extropians in particular.
If Exi were more into vapid escapism I'm sure they'd have a far larger
following, even just in California.
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