Re: Joy of this, Joy of that

On Sun, 8 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:

On Sun, 8 Dec 2024 12:10:55 +0100, D wrote:
>

I'm no expert, but I'd say the sitting version sounds more "original".
As for Watts, I'm always skeptical of those kind of new ages guys, but
very often people seem to be huge fans.

>
The story has several variations but the general theme is Gautama spent 6
years trying the various New Age techniques with no success until he
decided to plant himself under the Bodhi tree until he figured it out.

Are you a buddhist or do you subscribe to some form of personal spirituality? Or is it just an intellectual interest? You seem very knowledgeable!

Then came the systemizers and the immense body of Abhidharma literature,
followed by the different schools arguing over interpretation.
>
I always had problems with some of those texts. Those people would have
loved LibreOffice since everything is enumerated lists. I can't reliably
remember the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Twelve
Links of Dependent Origination let alone the subgroupings like the Five
Skahndas.

Yes... it's fascinating when you think about the enormous page count the buddhists have racked up over the milennia! ;) I cannot but get the feeling that this is completely antithetical compared with buddhas original intenetions. ;)

That's probably why I like Nietzsche; sprawling, self-contradictory, spur
of the moment aphorisms with no attempt to build a system. That's better
than Schopenhauer's 'On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient
Reason' which he claims is the key to understanding The World as Will.

I agree completely! I do like Schopenhauers short philosophical texts about everyday life (Parerga und paralipomena). Some of them make perfect sense and are quite approachable.
But his magnum opus I don't agree with at all.
Nietzsche on the other hand, is much better at writing, and although I do not think that it is just a bunch of random aphorisms, I do believe there is a theme, they are quite a puzzle to fit together.
Add to that, that his views changed. My favourite is the middle period Nietzsche who does see the promise in science and rationality.
But another thing I like about Nietzsche, at least for me, is that his short aphorisms serve as a spring board for me for my own reflections and philosophy. I find it very inspirational. The anti-christ I also like with its critique of institutionalized christianity and how damaging it has been to society.