Extropianism

[Eric the Green]

(06-22-2021, 12:13 PM)Captain Genet Wrote: I still insist the use of "chi" in Chinese martial arts is in fact a combination of muscle flexion, coordination and sense of balance. Consciousness is also relevant, if you understand it as controlling your attention. But until someone proves me wrong, I won't believe kung-fu masters have magical powers. The human body as understood by rational anatomy and physiology is fascinating enough.

"Transcend and include" is a poor piece of advice if the issue in question is pure mistake. I hope you agree that flat Earth theory, geocentric model of the Solar System and young Earth creationism were completely debunked and there is nothing in them that should be included in our understanding of the Cosmos. In the same way chi and afterlife have no place in sound understanding of human existence.

The past I find most inspiring is the late 19th and early 20th centuries since I regard it as the period of greatest achievements in painting, poetry, architecture and philosophy.

Consciousness is itself a magical power, and that's all the magical power we need to consider. Consciousness is chi, and includes lower-levels on the scale of consciousness that we call life force. Casting out life force and consciousness in all its aspects was the biggest mistake of modernism, but in our post-modern and new age times, it is coming back, including back into science. It cannot be explained by modernism, physicalism or positivism.

I agree that consciousness coming back into science does not mean embracing disproven models of our cosmos like a geocentric model and young Earth creationism. Flat Earth Theory, lol! Data, reason, observation and using the tools of science are important. But that most-assuredly does not mean that chi and the afterlife have no sound place in our understanding of human existence; that does not follow at all. Without chi and the afterlife, we have no understanding at all of human existence. All the esoteric sciences, and all schools of mysticism, despised by modernism as they are, must be brought back and further developed. 

We must learn to experience and use our chakras, also known as our soul centers, or even just the way we experience on our insides those nerve ganglia and endocrine glands in the areas of the body where they are. And they are the root and source of all virtue, which we need to cultivate. Just knowing some tenets of ethics is not enough. We need a holistic approach to life, and utilize our whole bodies and souls, not just our left brains--- based on the wrong idea that that is who we are and where our mind and consciousness is. That is a false and dangerous notion. You can't find out about yourself and your body in an anatomy textbook. You must explore your consciousness too.

I agree about the late 19th and early 20th century, but particularly about the Awakening years at the turn of the century and the first 3T years of that period. But in that era, the mystical and esoteric aspects of life were also being revived. The leading philosophers of the time were Henri Bergson and Frederich Nietzsche, and mystics like Gurdieff. Freud's opening up to the subconscious prepared the way for Jung, and Planck and Einstein prepared the way for quantum theory which opens up science back to the mystical and the esoteric. Being blinded by modernism is passe, NOT up-to-date! And opening to the esoteric does not mean embracing all the errors of the past. Transcend, but include. Go beyond the worst and the limiting aspects of the past, but include the best aspects. The New Age includes modernism within it too. Inclusivism rules!