December 25, 2018

Progress, Poverty, Liberty, Markets & the State

Such a relief to hear @piyushgoyal espouse balanced views on religion and community based issues. I hope we have more like him who are open minded and development oriented.
https://twitter.com/shilpitewari/status/1063315180363354112?s=19

A Hindu is one who accepts as the primary aim of life the discovery of the Divine in himself &, as a consequence of that discovery, to realize the Divine in the universe. Temples, mantras, shastras, rituals, festivals, traditions etc are all imp in their own place but secondary.
https://twitter.com/viryavaan/status/1061307886494760960?s=19

"Rats suffering from cancer die faster if placed in an inescapable situation. In nursing homes where conformity & passivity are encouraged & every whim is attended to, the health of patients declines rapidly. If given responsibilities & choices, they remain healthy & active" https://t.co/0aYIzcsqBS
https://twitter.com/BooksPanda/status/1076718674625495040?s=19

Progress and Poverty by Henry George. The greatest American thinker nobody has ever heard of. Reverting to classical economic thought and applying his Land Value Tax theory, i was able to see the cat. Once you see the cat you always can see the car
https://twitter.com/beezerism/status/1047343339102724097?s=19

If you really want to understand the philosophical underpinnings of the anti-liberal camp in its full glory, you ought to read the book by James Buchanan:  Liberty, Markets & the State.  It takes a bleak & reductionist view of humanity but believes in free enterprise & markets.

[By the term liberty , I mean the positive ability of individuals to control their lives, support their families, shape their cultures, and speak their minds. Liberty requires wealth, and questions arise about how wealth is created and distributed.] -Tyler Cowen (Eco, Cog, & Soc)

We are human .... biased in our thinking, lazy in our decision making.  A brilliant book on how to use simples nudges to help us make better decisions.  Read the #BookSummary of Thaler’s Nudge from #EdelweissInsights
Link:  https://t.co/d9fHu9OPfU
@EdelweissAMC https://t.co/8onRZZen7q

[It is not just the individual mind that is ethical, ... in birds there is a group mind obviously working in their migrations and in penguins cooperating... But, the group mind, behaving ethically, seems to be our unique, essential, qualifying difference.] https://t.co/VcmVg9BsFy

Understand the concept of “by-and-large” and use approximations. Because our educational system is hung up on precision, the art of being good at approximations is insufficiently valued. This impedes conceptual thinking. https://t.co/PFpBOMFdku

[there is only a messy kaleidoscope of disparate and incongruent ways of being which would resist the urge to bring about consensus. Thus great ideals of progress and perfectibility in human institutions have to be given up in the face of real human lives] https://t.co/c56ZrNHbtV

[My problem is that my training as an analyst does not suffice to unlock the riddle of existence...This means that one suffers not only from repression of one’s biological drives but also can suffer from suppression of the sublime. (Reddy, 1988)] Soumitra Basu (2001) @drsbasu2115

[As a scientist, I really do believe the scientific method is quite powerful for explaining the world but it is not very good at discussing the human condition. ...Can you really reduce something as complex as love to the density of some neurotransmitter?] https://t.co/I5rhMJ1Wz3

["The problem is that although MRI can tell us where things happen, it can’t tell us *how* things happen."] Instead of Where or How, Sri Aurobindo wrote a poem called Who which perhaps provides the most satisfying answer to the riddle of this world. https://t.co/LEGaqsA6G4

[In many ways Nietzsche, as a philosopher, can be said to inaugurate the modern age.] [The tension between Hegel and Nietzsche, or that between historicism and individual will is a constant and living dialog in Sri Aurobindo] -Debashish Banerji https://t.co/X3BoDN1A5A #FiveDreams

[For Foucault the subject is socially constituted; however the subject as a free being is also capable of (re)constituting him/herself because all the converging, intersecting, socio-historical lines which shaped the subject are contingent, not necessary.] https://t.co/iYKGwnkbAR

[Sartre embraces an ideal of freedom and free will that I find naïve.] AL https://t.co/VwLFTiwRmS
[the devatās of mythology, like Indra and Zeus (Andrew Nicholson has shown several examples of how philosophers make fun of this naive conception of Gods)] EF https://t.co/2MCr5JE4Yt

Excellent synopsis of myriad dimensions of religion in India today. [Chaitanya's innovation was nagar sankirtana (street-singing) whereby worship acquired a collective and congregational character...Lalan Fakir referred to him as 'the messiah of the poor'] https://t.co/uoLr7D8Efc

[How Shakespeare’s characters behave illuminate existential issues concerning meaning, absurdity, death and nothingness? ...show about the nature of the self, the mind and the identity of individuals? ...notions such as beauty, humour, horror and tragedy?] https://t.co/CbdwoiefTp

Watched Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) based on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. [it was controversial because of stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and challenged Victorian ideals of the day regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality.]

Savitri Era Learning Forum: Volcanoes helped; LDL protective https://t.co/eSEoLG4meN [All of these vast gaps in Hegel’s thought – science, feminism, Asian philosophy – Wilber has tried hard to give a central place in his thought. His attempted synthesis is the widest] -Amod Lele

[in the context of those living in India and Indian food I recommend this book for anyone as a preventive step. This book will help understand the food we eat and eating right. It can be a great help for managing our weight as well. Thanks a lot, Dr.Nirav] https://t.co/PEY4K74thV

“In dividing human qualities into masculine and feminine, sexism separates everyone from parts of themselves.”
Acclaimed philosopher and psychologist Carol Gilligan picks the best books on gender and human nature.
 https://t.co/LM2UgXRVBG

This idea of "love" being paramount (which generally means "cathexis") for marriage is a recent and not very durable idea. But since you are ignorant of the vast Indic vocabulary on this, and love Western theory, here is Scott Peck for you. https://t.co/ZEolfBE56S
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1073268074281877505?s=19

Real love is not the damaging "romantic" fiction, which is always a passing phase. But to understand that requires real person growth to happen. That is difficult when one pushes ignorance with certitude.
https://t.co/lXVMzA0m5M https://t.co/FA4tc65cRG
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1073270145936736256?s=19

Why having the sex talk early and often with your kids is good for them https://t.co/G6KBQSMK2D

[Sunayana, a young, vivacious editor at a leading publishing house, finds herself drawn into a disorienting but compelling liaison with Ashok, a reserved but well-known middle-aged surgeon.] Body Offering (2013), Author: Makarand Paranjape @MakrandParanspe https://t.co/oS4SximDpF

[every woman who watched him felt loved and respected. Women themselves want to be seen as seductive and are totally focused on their physical appearance because that must attract attention. In Rajesh Khanna’s films women were objects of adoration.] -SP https://t.co/B55VahHvKd

"In fairness, these studies were observational studies, so they do not prove higher LDL-C directly protected against dementia." https://t.co/GLGEQw6n4B
"But as alluringly action-packed as these analogies are, they remain wholly speculative." https://t.co/z6EXkDNV4q #InSight #Mars

It hasn’t received much coverage here but the genetically edited babies are a must read. As is the indian Express investigation into breast implants https://t.co/wLmwhAM4jE

Sir W. Hunter (british surgeon), A. Schopenhauer (german philosopher), Lancelot Hogben (british zoologist/statistician), Hu Shih (former chinese ambassador to US)
Or if you'd like first hand from the original source READ: Swami Vivekananda & Sri Aurobindo
https://twitter.com/ParashRm/status/1072457415407403012?s=19

[Biographers usually focus solely on Aurobindo's life as a politician or sage, but he was also a scholar, a revolutionary, a poet, a philosopher, a social and cultural theorist, and the inspiration for an experiment in communal living.] Book by Peter Heehs https://t.co/FbTBpMZ1dm

If you are interested you could try Aurobindo and RK Kashyap. Nonsensical translations of the Vedas by the likes of Griffiths basically read like the rants of stoned half wit savages. That is really what they are like in translation if the spiritual message cannot be conveyed.
https://twitter.com/bennedose/status/1071943437472002054?s=19

In this respect, students of David Bohm would probably find Aurobindo's *The Human Cycle* of especial interest. The Aurobindo Studies website is currently posting daily excerpts from the book, if you care to have a look: https://t.co/vL0h4sYDi5
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1073422685496053760?s=19

After Atheism: New Perspectives on God and Religion, Part 2 http://t.co/Ay6T0Wur
https://twitter.com/debbanerji/status/229957545547149312?s=19

Integral Yoga Psychology:The Delusional Thought-Space and Cosmic Consciousness https://t.co/hKGdghAaCM

Appreciating the Dichotomy of Ethical and Aesthetic Culture in the Societal Setting https://t.co/cRihFMHs

Cornelius Castoriadis (11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997). [The Greeks had an imaginary by which the world stems from Chaos and for the ancient Jews the will of a pre-existing entity, God. The former developed democracy where the laws were ever changing...] https://t.co/4vfhsImQln https://t.co/9cVmWSWGjO

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud (1930)
The Postmodern Condition by JeanFrançois Lyotard (1979)
The Condition of Postmodernity by David Harvey (1989)
Postmodernity and Its Discontents by Zygmunt Bauman (1997)
Modernity and Its Discontents by Steven B Smith (2016)

[Social Ideas and Social Change in Bengal 1818-1835 - A. F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Aly Fouad Ahmed - 1965 - The foundations of Muslim separatism had also been laid during this period, owing to the different reactions of the Hindus and Muslims to Western education.] #FiveDreams

[I have crossed out "turned Rishi" because that suggests an old formula of the past, and the future poet should exceed all past formulas. -Sri Aurobindo (5.2.1934, CWSA: LPA.27.218)] https://t.co/82A0ilSJSA
https://t.co/yLj5QsxtxO #FiveDreams

[obstacle is dissolved.
Then Thou appearest in all Thy splendour, in the dazzling force of Thy infinite glory; at Thy contact the flame changes into a column of light that chases the shadows away for ever.
And the Word leaps forth, a supreme revelation.]TM
https://t.co/p8awvrFuKl

Hariyanvi song
https://t.co/CyEENsIV9b

Plasim Radar

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