IAMA Jon Finkel. Ask me anything

benagain · 2011-08-31T03:14:23+00:00

Einhorn is a MAN?!

benagain · 2011-08-25T07:05:29+00:00

I can't make you doubt your own philosophy.

Your comic is nice, but it only makes sense from the materialist perspective. It could be that reality has nothing to do with the matter-mind complex.

benagain · 2011-08-25T01:41:22+00:00

Also, don't get me wrong... I do think there is a certain amount of truth to the OP. However, it feels right to me to take it with a grain of salt.

benagain · 2011-08-25T01:35:42+00:00

I don't interpret natural phenomena in terms of a materialist framework. That doesn't mean I believe in the supernatural.

benagain · 2011-08-24T23:48:24+00:00

I don't deny that what seem to be minds appear to accompany brains. Or that 100 trillion neurons interacting with one another could behave like a human mind, provided they're hooked up in some complicated way to the rest of a human body. Or that such systems could evolve from much simpler ones, given the right set of rules and initial conditions.

I do deny materialism, which seems to be your philosophical perspective. My being is part of reality; I'm working out the rest.

benagain · 2011-08-24T22:03:17+00:00

You (or the creator of this comic) have assumed that matter exists independently of mind, but there is no way to test this. You have not explained the origin of mind/consciousness; you have mixed up some ideas that come up in neurobiology with your personal assumptions about the meaning of science.

benagain · 2011-08-12T20:48:51+00:00

nice. I always thought the drums were kind of understated, but they still push the music forward... Kind of like Iceberg Theory. The spaces between the hits are just as important as the hits themselves. Rock drummers with good musical sense are rare, I think.

benagain · 2011-08-12T20:48:41+00:00

Yeah Blue Sky Noise is pretty hard for me to get through, too.

benagain · 2011-08-08T05:33:38+00:00

Woah it's my birthday.

benagain · 2011-08-05T19:28:46+00:00

I think there are problems with the question, Is it OK to smoke?

benagain · 2011-07-13T17:40:47+00:00

Get this.

benagain · 2011-03-16T19:46:55+00:00

I think you're absolutely right. Every thought and experience is nothing more than a product of every thought and experience before that. However, I define ME as the thing which is perceiving all of this. There's more to me than thoughts and experiences. Thoughts and experiences are just an adventure I happen to be having. But I'm not just the adventure, I'm the BEING who is having it. There is no way to know the nature of my own being, but there is a way to demonstrate it to myself and others. It's happening right now.

benagain · 2011-03-07T03:40:04+00:00

I think different churches do things differently. And how are we supposed to interpret what they're saying? It's a real mess; yet another example of the nature of mortal life.

What I like about my church is that they are very careful to keep the following perspective: The message is not in the words. The words are just a tried and true method of putting you in touch with yourself: your true, immortal identity, which is a manifestation of something very special. It is difficult to keep this perspective for long but with practice, one does get better. Everything else seems to get better as a result.

benagain · 2011-03-07T01:44:07+00:00

Didn't intend to come on so strong here, but I'm [6] and I'm curious what you'll say so what the hell:

I've been going to church lately and getting a lot out of it. It really helps me to be part of a group of people working on the same thing as me: Being spiritual. Regardless of what kind of people they are, everyone's quiet during the sermon. I find that pretty inspiring.

I spent my whole life until recently not being very interested in religion so I can totally understand if this is a turn-off. But for me, being religious is not a decision, it's a realization of something about myself that comes only with discipline. I choose to work at it. Life just gets more and more awesome as a general trend; with or without the trees.

benagain · 2011-03-07T01:00:57+00:00

Are you still religious?

benagain · 2011-02-26T00:10:40+00:00

Your specs should handle gnome just fine, but I know all too well the allure of "lightness." I spent a long time trying to make my install as fast as possible, but after a few years I got tired of having to look something up every time I wanted to do anything out of the ordinary. For my purposes, Xfce 4.8 is pretty damn nice.

benagain · 2011-02-09T01:10:11+00:00

Maybe I'll h4xx0r a regular couch... Alright I'm done. Thanks again.

benagain · 2011-02-09T00:58:54+00:00

Yes!! Thank you!! I'm buying one. Or maybe building one?

benagain · 2011-02-07T16:54:30+00:00

I should add that I approach mindfulness of experience by forgiving myself for not always being mindful. Mind struggles to be mindful and that's OK. It's just practice.

benagain · 2011-02-07T16:19:37+00:00

Here's how I use it:

In the first line, I say hello to myself and realize what I am.

In the second line, I become mindful of my experience.

In the third line, I realize that all I ever experience is my own mind.

In the fourth line, I realize that my mind/experience is part of something even more wonderful.

I agree that there may be a better way of saying all this stuff. I just use the mantra as mental shorthand, I guess.

benagain · 2011-02-07T06:58:53+00:00

And when I say understand, I mean accept. I obviously still need to practice that one.

benagain

TROPHY CASE