""Philosophy"" nowadays is nonsense. There is no deep thought in it now. It's as simple as that. All you have to do is add a twist to some popular thought or phrase, add a few words like "beautiful" or "wonderful" to make it sound nice, and boom! Philosophy!!!
Below are a few examples I crapped out off the top of my head this morning. Obviously I don't actually think these things, they're just demonstrations.
What if material things are nirvana? What if this ultimate state of knowledge and bliss was right here in front of us the whole time, in the beautiful things in our everyday lives?
People always talk about learning from Buddha... but what if Buddha actually wanted to learn from you all along? How wonderful is it to think that such a wise teacher as Buddha actually based his whole spirituality and philosophy on learning from the common people around him?
People talk about spirits. Some people say human beings have spirits. Some people say animals have spirits. Some people say that even inanimate objects like the dirt beneath your feet have spirits. But what if the true "spirit" in this world comes from the "spirit" behind our actions? The "spirit" of looking forward and pushing through our boundaries? The "spirit" of motivation to always have an open mind? What if these things are what "spirit" is all about?
Do these sound like meaningless ad-libs to you? Do they still sound nonsensical if I tell you I didn't actually invent these quotes, but took them from famous author Deepak Chopra? ......... Do they still sound nonsensical if I tell you Deepak Chopra didn't actually write any of these, and I just said that right now to trick you, and I actually did just crap them out today?
Yes, every quote above is something I made up...... NOT because I actually think them, QUITE the opposite, but rather by following the same formula all of these crappy ""deep"" quotes follow. They have no meaning. They have no substance. They're just nicely-worded things, with an unexpected "twist" to make it sound like a lot of deep thought went into them, and because they're so simplistic in nature, they can appeal to the absolute lowest-common-denominator. Anybody who wants to look smart, but doesn't want to actually take the time to think about the world around them, can just take these thought-free LIES and apply them to their lives. And frankly I'm sick of seeing them!
And I'm sick of seeing people take this stuff seriously!
Stop letting nonsense like this get into your life and dumb you down all the time! It's not "philosophy"! Stop pretending that it is!
May the TRUE AND LIVING God bless and guide you all, according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, if it makes you feel better, this stuff isn't actually philosophy. Anyone who had a degree in philosophy (like me) or teaches philosophy professionally would laugh at these quotes being called philosophy. This just seems like pseudo-deep New Age-y nonsense.
ReplyDeleteIf you're actually interested, there is a long history of rigorous philosophical thought that isn't potted nonsense like the quotes you made up. And quite a few philosophers past and present are Christians. If you're familiar with C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, or Tim Keller, you might be interested to know that they were all philosophy professors at one time or another.If you're interested in any book recommendations I can hook you up.
Sorry for the late reply! I only saw this today. You're right, it's not philosophy. While I don't know much about specific philosophers, I definitely know enough about actual philosophy to distinguish between "seeking to understand the world around you" and "making up nonsense to appear deep". It just seems there's SO MUCH of the latter of late, and very little genuine searching -- very little drive to actually LEARN. This post was... basically me whining about that, lol
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