Is there any truth?

There is a little book I came across a few years back called The Four Agreements, a book of Toltec wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz. On the inside flap, a summary of the first agreement, "Be impeccable with your word," includes an admonition against gossiping. I almost didn't buy the book, thinking it was hopeless, then, for me to reach enlightenment (think tongue-in-cheek emoticon here.) Inside the book Don Ruiz gives a broader definition of "gossip," which, if followed to the letter, would probably do away with this "Chatterbox" forum altogether.

Seriously, though, and I am most certainly not innocent here, he says keeping one's word impeccable is about not saying anything that will do harm, but always speaking with love, both for the other and yourself. So a "truth" that hurts is not really true.

He refers to our words as the Word, and points out how powerful a concept it is. We all carry beliefs in our heads that have to do with what we heard important others say about us when we were children, and those beliefs form our "reality," even when they are not real or true.

I don't know if I could ever reach Don Ruiz's level, but it doesn't hurt to keep his ideas in mind.
Ann

Ann,

I loved your post. Very good points.

And then there is all the myths and hype surrounding AI - artificial intelligence.

So far as I know most robots built in Japan, etc have not yet been successful to grow exponentially. So say in year 1, the robot has capabilities to do 1, 2, 3... then in year two it has capability to do 7, 8, 9... in year three robot can do 25, 26, 27...etc going up in line with things like this:




The step increase in intelligence goes up at a frighteningly high exponential rate! Machine takes over the world in just a few years - NOT.

I do not want the Darwinists to bash my philosophy, so I shall just leave it at that. All this stuff on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

Is just a dog chasing its own tail. It can get very close to catching it... without actually ever catching it...

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

~ Albert Einstein

There is truth.


Unfortunately, there is not enough to go around.

lin wrote:

There is truth.


Unfortunately, there is not enough to go around.

And most of it is camouflaged!

There is little truth--you have to really search for it.

Sorry--but, that is the truth!

True.

zadaconnaway wrote:

And most of it is camouflaged!

Afraid so.

A few years ago, there was a very celebrated case in Germany where a man ate his friend. Yes, he actually ate him, bit by bit while he was alive

Now I don't know how anyone could justify doing such an extreme and insane act as that. But cannibalism did (and still does) exist in some parts of the world even today.

And even if you go down to the foundation level of "truth" defined by mathematical logic, I'm afraid it does not solve the problem. It too can be manipulated toward perverse and very evil ends in the judicial sense.

"It is okay to eat animals"
"A human is an animal"
(Therefore) "It is okay to eat a human".

Gross...

Yum, Yum
How did we get here?

Quote :

"It is okay to eat animals"
"A human is an animal"
(Therefore) "It is okay to eat a human"

I think "Long Pig" is the term used among the natives.

Humans are "loud pigs?"
This thread gets better and better.
Let it never end...


Ahad,

You have held out on us--I thought you were such a scientist the truth is, you, are a riot.

That's LONG pig, Alice, but I like yours better...

Why am I now thinking about Lord of the Flies?

The problem with the "truth" is that it is colored by motives of the teller. A percfect example is discussion on the unemployment rate from politicians and economists. They all know that when they compare the current unemployment rate to prior rates from years ago. If they told the truth, they would indicate that the rate is calculated differently now.

Now people that have exhausted their unemployment are not counted into the statistics today, which means that the rates do not compare. The rate today is much higher if measured the same way. Due to motive the general population is allowed to believed things are better that they really are.

Unfortunately truth is colored by motive.

Dt,
your're right. Unemployment statistics are a good example of disguising the truth - the facts. They count only those receiving unemployment compensation, and when that runs out, they are no longer part of the statistic. I think if the truth were known, people would be in an even greater state of despair.
As it has been said, "Figures lie, and liars figure."

There's a great book called "How To Lie With Statistics" that anybody who accepts statistics as truth should read.

Dying.

Okay. I've had enough.

I am officially skipping this thread from now on ... it's too sad, irritating, and plain sick! Ugh!

There is a saying I heard long ago. "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."

DT, the unemployment figures are a perfect example of how one can twist figures to say anything you want.

I started searching for truth very early on in my childhood. I did not always find it in my friends. Nor always in my family.

The only enduring truths I did find was that the sun always returned the next morning and the moon always shone through its full cycle of phases. Month after month. Without fail.

Ahad, The two things one can count on are taxes and death.

Perhaps that "fountain of youth" may be found somewhere in outer space. With time travel, it may work.

Forest Elf wrote:

Okay. I've had enough.

I am officially skipping this thread from now on ... it's too sad, irritating, and plain sick! Ugh!

Come on Jo Elle,

I like it--be a sport--come back.

Phil Whitley wrote:

That's LONG pig, Alice, but I like yours better...

Why am I now thinking about Lord of the Flies?

Sorry, Brew,

I didin't have my glasses on