We didn't answer this specific question, but in the past you asked how to spot pseudoscience and/or charlatans and got your answers. I'm not going to spoon feed you every time you ask the same question.Actually you didn't answer my questions and the links you gave didn't answer anything either. You still can't explain that feeling I got while reading either "When The Student Is Ready The Teacher Will Appear" Read a few self-help books. If you are intelligent you will learn to spot the charlatanism in the first few pages. If you are not smart, you'll never see it. Lois That's vague. How does that tell me whether or not he is one. You use your brain and make a decision. Many of us are capable of that. If you aren't then you'll just to take our word for it.
That still doesn’t prove anything. People can be wrong about their decisions, you know how fallible humans are.
That still doesn't prove anything. People can be wrong about their decisions, you know how fallible humans are.Did you just fall out of a tree somewhere? Have you been completely isolated from all human beings? Have you ever seen people do things and then said, "huh".
That still doesn't prove anything. People can be wrong about their decisions, you know how fallible humans are.Did you just fall out of a tree somewhere? Have you been completely isolated from all human beings? Have you ever seen people do things and then said, "huh". Irrelevant. What you say still has not proven this guy to be a charlatan. Has anyone even read the book?
That still doesn't prove anything. People can be wrong about their decisions, you know how fallible humans are.Did you just fall out of a tree somewhere? Have you been completely isolated from all human beings? Have you ever seen people do things and then said, "huh". Irrelevant. What you say still has not proven this guy to be a charlatan. Has anyone even read the book? I have better ways to spend my time. I suggest you put on some big boy panties and think for yourself.
I’m asking for assistance in finding out how this guy is a charlatan, but no one has even read the book to give me reasons how or just general advice to spot one. Which means it speaks to your own inability as well as mine. It must be nice to sit from the side and tell people to think without giving any real help. It’s like telling someone stuck in the mud to hit the gas, all they do is spin their tires.
I'm asking for assistance in finding out how this guy is a charlatan, but no one has even read the book to give me reasons how or just general advice to spot one. Which means it speaks to your own inability as well as mine. It must be nice to sit from the side and tell people to think without giving any real help. It's like telling someone stuck in the mud to hit the gas, all they do is spin their tires.The analogy is more like, we are yelling, "HEY, let up a little, let the tires catch, put it in reverse then ease it out, let it rock back, THEN give it a little going forward." The only thing you said is, you had some feelings. Not much to go on. But instead of putting some effort in this, you start blaming others.
I'm asking for assistance in finding out how this guy is a charlatan, but no one has even read the book to give me reasons how or just general advice to spot one. Which means it speaks to your own inability as well as mine. It must be nice to sit from the side and tell people to think without giving any real help. It's like telling someone stuck in the mud to hit the gas, all they do is spin their tires.The analogy is more like, we are yelling, "HEY, let up a little, let the tires catch, put it in reverse then ease it out, let it rock back, THEN give it a little going forward." The only thing you said is, you had some feelings. Not much to go on. But instead of putting some effort in this, you start blaming others. Precisely. Titan, you have a history of asking how you can identify charlatans and pseudoscience, then rejecting our answers. As I said earlier, I'm not going to waste my time explaining the same thing over and over. You need to think for yourself. If you aren't capable of that then there isn't much we can help you with anyway.
Well you guys haven’t been of any use in that department. You haven’t given any advice towards finding things out. The only links you have just stated the benefits of critical thinking not how to do it or how to find a charlatan. Saying to think for yourself is useless, because if people could figure it out they wouldn’t be asking in the first place.
We’ve given you this before, but perhaps you need a reminder. Look up Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit and read his book The Demon Haunted World, then apply your thinking skills. I have neither the time nor the inclination to research every pseudoscientific claim on the internet for you. Time to push you out of the nest so you can learn to fly.
We've given you this before, but perhaps you need a reminder. Look up Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit and read his book The Demon Haunted World, then apply your thinking skills. I have neither the time nor the inclination to research every pseudoscientific claim on the internet for you. Time to push you out of the nest so you can learn to fly.Except this isn't pseudoscience. I have read those two things before but they are useless against philosophy. Once again it just seems like people here lack the ability to answer questions. Those tools only apply to science, they have proven useless with this.
The article you linked gives you an experiment. Did you try it?
Still don’t believe it? Prove me wrong. Monitor yourself for a time and document one case of suffering that is not accompanied by thought. In fact thought comes first, and then there is suffering. This is the way it always happens.I recommended this to a young man who recently realized he had a drug problem. The idea is not to predict where your thoughts are going, but just journal. What bothers you, little things, seemingly insignificant. Positive stuff too. The other day I just enjoyed watching a child take pleasure in walking, measuring each step, imagining who knows what. That led to other pleasant thoughts. Tolle seems like a bad version of mindfulness. It's like, duh, thoughts lead to thoughts, friggin genius. Then he said, oh, I'm suffering, so thoughts caused that. Brilliant. Mindfulness is about calming those thoughts, but not viewing them as "bad", they just are. Google "mindfulness" and see if you get some nice feelings reading about it.
We've given you this before, but perhaps you need a reminder. Look up Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit and read his book The Demon Haunted World, then apply your thinking skills. I have neither the time nor the inclination to research every pseudoscientific claim on the internet for you. Time to push you out of the nest so you can learn to fly.Except this isn't pseudoscience. I have read those two things before but they are useless against philosophy. Once again it just seems like people here lack the ability to answer questions. Those tools only apply to science, they have proven useless with this. Calling this claptrap philosophy is an insult to philosophy. It is blindingly obvious that thoughts have nothing to do with many people's suffering. The people at the Pulse nightclub in Tampa did not bring on the killer's rampage through their thoughts. The people who drowned in hurricane Katrina did not cause their suffering through negative thoughts. Children born into war torn regions do not suffer due to their thoughts. Thoughts do not cause cancer. People suffer all the time because of circumstances beyond their control and no amount of positive thinking will change that.
We've given you this before, but perhaps you need a reminder. Look up Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit and read his book The Demon Haunted World, then apply your thinking skills. I have neither the time nor the inclination to research every pseudoscientific claim on the internet for you. Time to push you out of the nest so you can learn to fly.Except this isn't pseudoscience. I have read those two things before but they are useless against philosophy. Once again it just seems like people here lack the ability to answer questions. Those tools only apply to science, they have proven useless with this. Calling this claptrap philosophy is an insult to philosophy. It is blindingly obvious that thoughts have nothing to do with many people's suffering. The people at the Pulse nightclub in Tampa did not bring on the killer's rampage through their thoughts. The people who drowned in hurricane Katrina did not cause their suffering through negative thoughts. Children born into war torn regions do not suffer due to their thoughts. Thoughts do not cause cancer. People suffer all the time because of circumstances beyond their control and no amount of positive thinking will change that. Doesn't labeling thoughts good or bad and the clinging to such labels cause suffering though?
The article you linked gives you an experiment. Did you try it?I remember a quote saying "you aren't your thoughts". Is that close?Still don’t believe it? Prove me wrong. Monitor yourself for a time and document one case of suffering that is not accompanied by thought. In fact thought comes first, and then there is suffering. This is the way it always happens.I recommended this to a young man who recently realized he had a drug problem. The idea is not to predict where your thoughts are going, but just journal. What bothers you, little things, seemingly insignificant. Positive stuff too. The other day I just enjoyed watching a child take pleasure in walking, measuring each step, imagining who knows what. That led to other pleasant thoughts. Tolle seems like a bad version of mindfulness. It's like, duh, thoughts lead to thoughts, friggin genius. Then he said, oh, I'm suffering, so thoughts caused that. Brilliant. Mindfulness is about calming those thoughts, but not viewing them as "bad", they just are. Google "mindfulness" and see if you get some nice feelings reading about it.
Doesn't labeling thoughts good or bad and the clinging to such labels cause suffering though?You're missing the point. Of course thoughts can cause suffering. Look at Mozart Link's numerous posts complaining that he cannot be happy because he knows he won't have an eternal, blissful afterlife. However, thoughts do not cause natural disasters or people being born into wars.
I remember a quote saying "you aren't your thoughts". Is that close?It doesn't help me, but I have a pretty healthy sense of who I am. Someone who is having thoughts of suicide or of killing others, yeah, I would tell them that. But it's not that simple. We don't know what thoughts are, but we know they can occur randomly. That is, there isn't a thought generating mechanism that you can get control of. You can influence your environment and that will affect your thoughts, but there is no direct mechanism. That works both ways, you can have a thought that comes out of nowhere, then choose to dismiss it if you like. You can read a subject, observe it in action, listen to the ideas of others, and then you might think something valuable that didn't seem to come from any of those sources. You can choose to follow that thought.
Doesn't labeling thoughts good or bad and the clinging to such labels cause suffering though?You're missing the point. Of course thoughts can cause suffering. Look at Mozart Link's numerous posts complaining that he cannot be happy because he knows he won't have an eternal, blissful afterlife. However, thoughts do not cause natural disasters or people being born into wars. I think you missed my point entirely
I remember a quote saying "you aren't your thoughts". Is that close?It doesn't help me, but I have a pretty healthy sense of who I am. Someone who is having thoughts of suicide or of killing others, yeah, I would tell them that. But it's not that simple. We don't know what thoughts are, but we know they can occur randomly. That is, there isn't a thought generating mechanism that you can get control of. You can influence your environment and that will affect your thoughts, but there is no direct mechanism. That works both ways, you can have a thought that comes out of nowhere, then choose to dismiss it if you like. You can read a subject, observe it in action, listen to the ideas of others, and then you might think something valuable that didn't seem to come from any of those sources. You can choose to follow that thought. That's not what I was getting at, but I guess that is something. Thoughts are a mystery. But I'm guessing mindfulness is just being aware of thoughts and accepting them without judgment. I think that's what they're getting at. I think you're right that Tolle takes it too far by labeling the mind as some evil entity.
Also what about the so called rebuttal to criticism about the book (in the link that I gave).