Michael Sternbach

The "idealistic" view and the empirical view can also be understood as Platonism and Aristotelism, respectively. Both are valid, as you say. Just like a particle can also appear as a wave. And I agree with you that the mathematical way of describing things is not always appropriate or even possible. At other times (as Dreambliss mentioned), it is the most simple way to describe something, especially in Physics (and that's what we are talking about here, right?). To be fair, I would like to mention that the great experimental physicist Michael Faraday had little mathematical knowledge. But his discoveries were translated into mathematical language later by James Clerk Maxwell. What about Nikola Tesla? He was solving most complex differential calculations - in his head!

That is just your opinion. I work with numerology all the time. For instance, the Trump cards of the Tarot are Archetypes that are expressing the character of the numbers attached to them. Thus, from someone's date of birth, it is possible to deduce the numbers/cards that are describing them best. The same can be done for a particular year of their life or, combining two dates of birth, a relationship they have. When I do this for people, they are frequently astonished how accurately this describes them. But since there is no hard evidence, I have no hope (and actually, no wish) to convince you of the metaphysical reality of the numbers.

Love is the law

I read some Ken Wilber in the past. I'm no specialist, but if you could give an introduction, I would be pleased to see if there is something I can contribute to this discussion.

Aleister Crowley

Tunnel

I also don't agree to the view represented by this video. It's very reductionist: Living beings are nothing but a bunch of particles, particles are nothing but a bunch of numbers... But neither do I agree to the view that numbers are human constructs. To the ancient occult philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato, numbers were Archetypes: Divine ideas. And if you study sacred sites like the pyramids of Giza, you can't help being deeply impressed by the advanced mathematical knowledge they incorporate. The problem is not mathematics per say, but the uninspired, dry and completely profane ways in which it is being used and taught by most academics nowadays. But maybe Donald will help us to put things in perspective... You can't do any serious physics without maths. The reason maths works so well describing the physical world is because geometry and algebra are not human inventions but expressions of the noetic level of reality. Once science comes to understand this (anew), it will have taken a great step in its transformation from a materialistic to a spiritual view of the world.

Flash

Hyperspace

When I once wrote: "Peace and happyness to all beings" on a tile that was used then for the restoration of the roof of a Japanese Buddhist temple, I didn't feel I had to overthink this. After all, it's not my responsibility that lions eat antilopes etc. I can wish them all best and assume that my wish will have some positive effects overall. I need not worry about any details which are not within my control anyway.

It's not the first time you come across as somewhat stiff.

Karl, No jokes about cocks now, alright?

Junko was born in the Chinese year of the monkey, that's why she associates love with bananas.

Lustrous dwarf

If you set out to find the truth, do away with preconceptions that would prevent you from seeing it. "Kill the Buddha", "empty your cup", etc. To work with the chakras, concentration is needed. The true self "dies" as it is immersed in the world of illusion. The true self cannot be restored if the search is not successful. The maya-net we contemplated when we were looking at the High Priestess here. It both divides and connects. Used the right way, it serves us to get a hold on delusion, see things in their true interconnection, and transcend duality. No worries... Transcendence of material and dualistic reality does not mean that the self will end. As for the garland, it signifies the triumph over illusion and the finding of the world in its suchness. Eventually, we have to understand that the truth is not something to attain, as the hunt for it sets it apart from us. Instead, we need to relax, let go and see what has always been in front of our eyes already. The commanding and restless mind of the Magician won't grasp the truth. (And he is also the God of the hunt Apollo on this card). Only the receptivity of the High Priestess can take us here.

Not quite on the same wavelength with you here, Dream Bliss. If mathematics is mental masturbation, quantum physics must be too, because it is interwoven by mathematics wherever you look which you will be quick to find out once you investigate it a little further than by watching pop science videos.

Great post, Apeiron, with the reservation that quantum mechanics has the potential to "relate the stuff of your conscious mind to physical reality", imo. It hasn't gone into this very far due to its ignorance of the meaning of consciousness (as you mention yourself), let alone the role of the subtle bodies etc, but as I said in my reply to DreamBliss, it is a step in the right direction.

Yes, there is a lot of talk about things not being real, most of the space they occupy being empty, their being energy waves at best etc. And I am often taken aback by the confusion of levels here. It were all true if only we were the size of a particle, existing in a very microscopic world. But that's not where we are. To us, a wall is still solid, even if it may not be solid "all the way down". That doesn't change a thing about the fact of its solidity to us. At most, it may affect the way we think of what solidity means. It is not simply a matter of belief either. Right from the beginning of our physical existence, before anybody had the chance to indoctrinate us. we experience the solidity of walls and other objects. Animals experience it too. Even objects "experience" the solidity of other objects. There are good reasons for it. The mind boggling rules of the quantum world don't apply to the macroscopic world - under most circumstances. Yet it is known that our bodies are "quantum objects" too. Not only single particles can be considered waves (as your nice little video showed), but massive objects too. All these are De Broglie matter waves, to get a little technical. However, the wave length of macroscopic objects is so short that this aspect can be safely ignored, for all practical intents and purposes. Now, it has been said that there are some individuals that can do wondrous stuff on the physical level, the very things that are more or less everyday business for the particles in the quantum world. Such trifles like moving through a solid wall as if it weren't there, being in two different places at once, and teleportation. What seems to be going on is that those individuals are somehow able to amplify the characteristics of the quantums that their bodies are composed of to a degree that they manifest on the macroscopic level. This certainly ties in with concepts like the subtle bodies, the vital force etc, things that esotericism has been comfortable to study and work with since time immemorial, and that modern sciences are only tentatively starting to appreciate. There is still a long way to go, some modern concepts in physics are a step in the right direction, but not more than that, so far. As Arthur C. Clarke stated, the technology of a truly advanced species will be undistinguishable from magic. Talking about teleportation, my personal record is a measly one-hundred miles from where I live, plus I had to get on a train to go back home.

douchebag

That pretty much depends on the deck you want to start with. Tip: Use one that you feel particularly drawn to. For the Thoth deck (which your version of the Fool shown above comes from, and the one I use most often), P. C. Tarantino: Tarot for the New Aeon is a good guide. For an in-depth study, you won't get around Aleister Crowley: The Book of Thoth, although it's no easy read. A very recommendable book about the Tarot Archetypes in general (based on the Marseille deck) is Sallie Nichols: Jung and Tarot. There are various card versions of the I Ching or Yi-King, but of course, this is not the same as Tarot.

Additionally, I talked about The Fool here http://thedaobums.com/topic/40331-nirvana-is/page-5#entry670161 and here http://thedaobums.com/topic/38847-the-tao-of-tarot/#entry634625 In a nutshell, the Fool is potential. When you draw this card (or tap it - whatever), it indicates that you are at a "zero point", free to follow your heart in any direction it would take you. Yes, that's how Tarot should be used.

Touch

Waiting

Please!

Samosa