I’ve had a cold for a week, which gave me time to sit for a couple of hours with a video I found on this forum. It was a post that no one ever responded to by someone that we had all grown tired of at the time, a few years ago. No matter, it’s still good. The first 15 minutes are an introduction, but worth the time if you have an hour plus. It will help get the terms defined. I’m not sure if you can skip around, but hopefully my notes help. It’s the ancient Greek philosophy, pronounced pir-e-ni-zem.
17: He’s talking about the difference between dogmatism and skepticism.
Important point: Skepticism is not the ultimate truth. If you think it is then you are dogmatic about your skepticism. This theme will be repeated.
I couldn’t help but think about the thread with “inthedarkness”. The woo-woo people at Pathway to Happiness might be right or ITD might be right, neither of them know for sure. That’s the best we can do. If you can see that, the question then changes from ‘who is right’ to ‘how do we find happiness without knowing who is right’.
19: To avoid the trap of dogmatism, be skeptical, but “hold it loosely”. This begins a seemingly circular path to being skeptical about skepticism, but hang in there.
20:30 A quote from the Greeks. When pursuing good vs bad with the belief they can be found, the mind will be perturbed. True skepticism neither shuns nor pursues anything eagerly. The goal switches from right vs wrong to happiness. The game of chasing good or avoiding bad can’t be won. In that game, even if you get everything that you think is good and right, you will continue to defend that you are good and right.
23:30 Instead, change your position to not knowing. This will quiet the mind, leading to happiness. He addresses how the ego will fight you on this. After that he covers spirituality, as in the opposite of materialism, that when you think you win the game of getting something, you actually lose the game.
25:35 Does anything true exist? Another quote. The impossibility of cause-and-effect proof. He suggests working through this with any belief you have or know about. When (or if) you get to where you are accepting something on faith, just recognize that, be okay with it for now. If you can, refuse to take that position. If you want to pursue learning more, then do it, but do it for the pleasure of learning.
28: But is there an absolute truth? He doesn’t really handle this completely. It’s something that takes practice. It’s not something to chase or avoid. It’s just being open to possibilities. He seems to be leaning toward saying that absolute truth is not obtainable, and we should be skeptical, but if we said that’s true, then we aren’t skeptical. It’s hard to cover all this in one hour.
30: The funny result. I can’t really restate this one. It’s an experience. He calls it a “third possibility” that the Greek pyrrhonists left out. We understand consciousness better today and we continue to grow our knowledge of that, so all of this is always open to new discoveries and new data. He talks about “quietude of mind” and calls that the “absolute truth” but leaves that for further study.
He spends some time on “modern skepticism” and “hyper-rationalists”. It’s a valid critique but knowing when someone is or is not one of these is difficult. As he says, when rationalism is done strongly, it’s blind to itself. So, I could be doing it right now but not know I am. It’s a good discussion that looks at the religion vs science argument from outside of the usual paradigms.
37: True Skepticism. Be self-honest. His example of being dishonest fits the Pathway to Happiness (from the ‘Do we control our emotions’ thread) guys perfectly. They say they are debunking psychology and science of the mind, but they only stick to their arguments. They have become master debaters (the guy in the video smiles when he says that). They are not listening to the people they say they want to help and not showing them love or caring.
39:20 Be interested in the end of debating. To having an open mind, where happiness is. You can’t hate or criticize people when you don’t take a strong position. You can accept positions, consider them, and choose wisely after having heard them.
40:55 Spirituality. Not a belief in the supernatural but complete open mindedness, freedom from ideologies. He renames “God” as “peace of mind”. I’ll let that go because he says it’s not a belief. You don’t believe that you have peace of mind, you have it, or you don’t. You will find it when you stop taking ideological positions.
He gets a bit hyperbolic. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Near the end he admits there are other ways to approach all of this. The whole idea of it is to not be dogmatic, so picking “pyrrhonism” as the best ideology would be the opposite of pyrrhonism.
45: Pragmatism vs Materialism. Paradigm lock. Humility. Letting go of everything is probably not where most of us will get, but at least be tolerant.
50:15 Intellectual freedom. Study anything and don’t be bothered by the ramifications. Don’t follow one philosophy. See all of them as perspectives. Be holistic. He gets hyperbolic again but then returns to tranquility.
He begins his conclusion. It’s hard to say when he’s done and when he starts with some follow-up comments.
53:15 He discusses the dogmatism of being reasonable. It’s an interesting ‘religion vs scientism’ discussion if you’re interested. The problem is not in the content of the ‘ism’, it’s in how the position is taken.
56: The delusion of modern skepticism. “The people who think they know the most are the greatest fools, and the wisest people are the ones who understand the limits of their knowledge.”
57: Islam and fundamentalism are not the problem, dogma is.
58: the second generation of sin is rationalism when it creates the same structural problems
59: Materialism is running amok and eating our civilization
1:01 Dangers. The pursuit of skepticism can become a dogma. Instead turn inward. Nothing in pyrrhonism suggests you should be nihilistic, lazy, or cruel. Notice what disturbs you and see if it’s something you are chasing or avoiding.
1:06 Enlightenment. He states this as the absolute truth, but it isn’t something you can argue for. Pyrrhonism is a path toward that. It lets you see what is evident.
1:08 Here’s where he says it’s just one perspective, which is an important lesson on the way to enlightenment. Getting there is not the goal, because it’s not a place anyway. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.
He also addresses “false equivalency”. There’s a deeper game to play. Not the “what is better” game, but the “tranquility of mind” game. Your ego will keep looking for a position, even the position of letting go of positions. He ends with, “read the book”.
For me, I’ve heard some of this before, but had never heard of pyrrhonism specifically. It could be that I’m embracing it here because I’m retired and comfortable. I would note though that this guy is young and learned about it before he turned 20. I can’t live my life over with this new perspective.
I wonder how well it would work in a competitive boardroom or if you want to use a sports example. In many pursuits of happiness, healthy options like getting a promotion or excelling in a field require talking, or acting, like you know what you’re doing. Showing skepticism when you are trying to lead a group can result in you losing your leadership position or the confidence of the team. Switching that to “tranquility of mind” seems to be detaching as in ‘checking out’. On the other hand, I’ve seen people who remain calm in the face of threats and anger, and they remain engaged in whatever is happening.
perhaps irritated would have been a better choice.
