Category Archives: Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will

Not Quite What They Seem

New Yorker cartoon by the late Charles Barsotti Now the thing about time is that time isn’t really real. It’s just your point of view, how does it feel for you. Einstein said he could never understand it all. Planets … Continue reading

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What Might Have Been

… in which I explain how Daniel gets it almost completely right. of course I couldn’t resist asking Midjourney AI to portray Daniel and Nate as Greek philosophers Daniel Schmachtenberger’s latest video is an epic three-hour chat with ecological economist … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments

Neither Real Nor Unreal

What do you do once you’ve acknowledged that global human civilization is in the final stages of decline into centuries or millennia of massive misery and suffering, possibly leading to the extinction of the species entirely, and along with it … Continue reading

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Radical Non-Duality: In a Nutshell

Midjourney’s take on cats and peace, because… well, because there’s a cat. My own prompt. Recently, Indrajit Samarajiva wrote a post about the illusion of the self and the absurdity of the ‘self-help’ industry. In it he said: The whole … Continue reading

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The Post-Game Show

This is #17 in a series of month-end reflections on the state of the world, and other things that come to mind, as I walk and hike in my local community.  both images in this post are by Midjourney; my own prompts … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Month-End Reflections, Our Culture / Ourselves | 1 Comment

How AI Conditioning and Human Conditioning Differ

Midjourney’s take on human ‘conditioning’ John Whiting sent me a note asking whether I thought the way that AI chatbots are conditioned is different from the way humans are conditioned. It hadn’t even occurred to me that the processes might … Continue reading

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What If We’d Never Imagined Our Selves?

Midjourney’s representation of an infant bonobo “Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad … Continue reading

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Politically Agnostic

cartoon by the incomparable Michael Leunig For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that, no matter where in the world I lived, I don’t think I would vote in the next election. I have always voted, even … Continue reading

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Better Than Real

The wounded surgeon plies the steel That questions the distempered part; Beneath the bleeding hands we feel The sharp compassion of the healer’s art Resolving the enigma of the fever chart. Our only health is the disease If we obey … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will | 2 Comments

No Free Will, No Freedom

Ah, here we go again, down the “free will” rabbit hole. photo by Pavel Danilyuk, for Pexels, CC0 In a recent post, Caitlin Johnstone got to the heart of why we continue to tolerate the massive dysfunction, corruption and inequality … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 12 Comments