From: Al Billings (memoria@memoria.com)
Date: Thu Nov 16 2000 - 14:02:28 MST
Max wrote:
> >Ascending paradigms are those which revolve around spirit and deny
matter-
> >descending paradigms are those which revolve around matter and reject
> >spirit. I'm borrowing this from Ken Wilber.
>
> That's a useless distinction then. If you see no reason to believe in the
> existence of "spirit" (in a supernatural sense) then the distinction
cannot
> even be made.
Ken Wilber does not define "spirit" in a supernatural sense. You might get
something out of reading his writing. I'm just now doing so even though his
work has been recommended to me for years.
> Most extropians do not believe in spirits, though they may be
> quite spiritual in the sense of having ideals, lofty goals, and a strong
> sense of meaning and purpose. Our views do not revolve around matter but
> around values and goals. (We inhabit material bodies but that doesn't mean
> our paradigm revolves around matter. It actually revolves around much
> higher-level abstractions.) Wilbur's distinction just cannot be made to
> apply to such views. It's like trying to fit most of our political views
> onto the silly one-dimensional left-right spectrum.
I think you might be surprised if that's what you think Wilber is talking
about.
Al
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