tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post1857889136759825561..comments2022-03-10T04:47:30.086-07:00Comments on Falstaff Was My Tutor: Immortal LongingsFalstaff Was My Tutorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17384865942893123660noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-36185085964057571492017-04-15T18:15:45.080-07:002017-04-15T18:15:45.080-07:00Thanks for your comment, MartiThanks for your comment, MartiFalstaff Was My Tutorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17384865942893123660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-78785394686907737142017-04-15T00:10:13.072-07:002017-04-15T00:10:13.072-07:00"When death is on your left shoulder, you don..."When death is on your left shoulder, you don't waste your life that must be lived in each moment." Not an exact quote from the Don Juan books of Carlos Castaneda, but the general idea. Now that I'm past 70, I see that each stage of life is death to a previous stage. I remember, although imperfectly earlier times, but I am not the infant, teenager, or young adult who carried my name. Actually even the name has changed. In a sense birth could be a death on some other dimension and death might well be a birth into another stage. We know so little about what we call death. Certainly is changes all we know of form but life moves on and on and eats itself like the leopard eats the impala who ate the grass. The food chain they call it but it seems there is something deeper here; perhaps the constant change of one form into another. A topic that stirs the soul from its roots.Marti Fenton White Deer Songhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09950752494516234824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-40237460557447116172017-02-16T11:42:23.883-07:002017-02-16T11:42:23.883-07:00First, thanks for taking the time to read this, Pe...First, thanks for taking the time to read this, Peter, but I'm afraid you've not read me closely enough and yourself, have missed my point. And, by the way, I'm not sure what point you think I've missed. You might disagree with me about what I've written or how I've written it, but there is no single or singular metaphysically certain point that one hits or misses. Wittgenstein may be correct that Death is not an event in life, but dying certainly is; perhaps I was sloppy here in not differentiating between death and dying. What Wittgenstein discovers later in his life that while logic may be perfect, it does not fit perfectly with life. Later in the Philosophical Investigations (published posthumously) he came to see logic as rules or games that are imperfectible when it comes to living in the world as human beings live. Contradictions aren't necessarily false, and do not necessarily prove fatal to logic. <br /><br />So, I will accept your claim to not fear death, but I have never met anyone who did not have some anxiety about dying; as I quoted Freud above, "no one believes in his own death..." and this is a way of creating a more livable illusion that dulls or minimizes anxiety. I have no interest in persuading you to my point of view; I simply wish not to be misread. My point is that developing a more conscious relationship to death allows one to experience a much richer, more meaning-filled life. I don't think Wittgenstein lived particularly well, or at least I wouldn't trade my life for his as his seemed rather miserable, despite his genius. There is often more to life and living than simply knowing things and being logical. But a piece of advice from the Wittgenstein of the Tractatus is worth remembering: Of that which one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence. Falstaff Was My Tutorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17384865942893123660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-66842948548407313842017-02-14T20:28:31.647-07:002017-02-14T20:28:31.647-07:00Your discussions of death are interesting but miss...Your discussions of death are interesting but miss the point. I don't fear death although I am much closer to it these days. I think Wittgenstein the philosopher, summed it nicely in Tractatus when he said “Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has no limits.”The Heart of Tarothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09870013623422950063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-55677536887782625442016-12-28T22:30:30.060-07:002016-12-28T22:30:30.060-07:00I like going beyond language...that's where th...I like going beyond language...that's where the most fascinating stuff happens. There is something on what you say, "more animal than human..." that is so important, it's something we don't want to acknowledge, that we are on fact animals. There is so much in this gap between animal and human! I do so appreciate your comments, and you connect me to my own history and roots in ways that are terribly important to me. Thank you, KarenFalstaff Was My Tutorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17384865942893123660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-77138513087185845562016-12-22T21:25:32.684-07:002016-12-22T21:25:32.684-07:00no religion about that! it was in my experience a ...no religion about that! it was in my experience a sudden introduction to the reality of string theory! collective unconciousness and consciousness! the web of life! mirror neurons! (being open to such experiences ... I've had many) I do think the secular can benefit from the numinously spiritual and vice versa (another thing I loved about the experience .. he was not religious at all!) I would almost say with utmost reverence that it was totally animal. More animal than human ... but now I'm going beyond language .....Psekohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02917492755071102208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-34302252338964489442016-12-15T18:32:42.298-07:002016-12-15T18:32:42.298-07:00Thanks for taking the time to comment, Karen. I th...Thanks for taking the time to comment, Karen. I think that there are any number of mysteries we encounter in the world, and you just described one. It's not an uncommon experience, and I find it to be fascinating. I don't think, however, I want to use religious, spiritual, or supernatural explanations to account for them. I think it is important to find a secular approach to the numinous, the mysterious, and to the unknowable. I do so appreciate your willingness to comment and for your constant support...it warms the cockles of my tiny, tiny, heart. Best regards, BradFalstaff Was My Tutorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17384865942893123660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733684973453456698.post-75597181774406902016-12-14T18:18:43.031-07:002016-12-14T18:18:43.031-07:00Brad --- some years ago I was walking between the ...Brad --- some years ago I was walking between the garage and the house (10 feet) and in the middle an old friend's voice was heard in my head - loud and clear and he said "I've died, tell Trace I'm okay." It took me 2 days to reach Trace to be told he had indeed died right then. I had by then been present with death quite a few times .... I still wonder how long that immortality lasts.....my spiritual beliefs are very open. I am more afraid of life than death these days .... thank you for keeping me thinking.....Psekohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02917492755071102208noreply@blogger.com