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Dingbat

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About Dingbat

  • Birthday 08/25/1987

Profile Information

  • Interests
    Art, Spirituality, Psychology, Sociology, Meditation
  • Location
    Victoria, BC
  • Gender
    Male

Previous Fields

  • Sexual orientation
    Straight
  • Relationship status
    Single
  • Interested in meeting
    I would love to meet any Objectivists in the area
  • State (US/Canadian)
    BritishColumbia
  • Country
    Canada
  • Biography/Intro
    "Need I say expressly after all this that they will be free, VERY free spirits, these philosophers of the future--as certainly also they will not be merely free spirits, but something more, higher, greater, and fundamentally different, which does not wish to be misunderstood and mistaken?" - Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche
  • Experience with Objectivism
    It's a love hate relationship :)
  • Copyright
    Copyrighted
  • Real Name
    James Koskela
  • School or University
    I'm a student of life
  • Occupation
    Food Server

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  1. Hahaha, that's quite an argument. The "they are usually dirty, smelly, and otherwise repulsive" argument. Well, yes of course, if they are such I will have to agree.
  2. The content of one's will changes, but it can change because there is a host of that will that is in control of it in the first place. (That is, in control to the degree that one is able to control it.) There is always a host that experiences these things.
  3. I'll just direct you to a forum discussion I've participated in about drugs and how I think people mistake Rand's opinion as Objectivist dogma found here: http://forum.ObjectivismOnline.com/index.php?showtopic=16092&st=0 Rand didn't do drugs so I wouldn't use what she says as a standard. I also wouldn't talk so much about doing harm since Rand smoked cigarettes. I'm also not saying people should do drugs. It's very important to have the right mindset to handle such vivid, even life-changing, experiences. Their ability to remove psycho-epistemological barriers can be so intense that you will experience things you did not know you had the potential to, for example. This can be very shocking for some people.
  4. I define it as the removing of psycho-epistemological barriers that afflict our sentience. Ideally, the conscious and subconscious should work hand in hand in our exploration and participation of reality. But, how we even communicate or what information we allow to pass between the conscious and subconscious is defined by a set of rules called the psycho-epistemology. I believe these set of rules are established quite arbitrarily when we are still very young through various experiences. Now, in this day in age of humanity with all it's irrational pressures, no doubt most people are primed from the beginning to be very repressive about their degree of sentience. Rand, as a philosopher, does a very impressively genius job of explaining what is, especially in terms of our mental/spiritual faculties. I think, however, one can figure out, using Objectivist concepts of the consciousness, subconsciousness, and psycho-epistemology especially, how to remove these barriers through practices like honest self-reflection, therapy, getting high, or even meditation. All of these techniques of unlocking our full spectrum of sentience I call transcendence.
  5. I think transcendence is a useful concept because I think it is the way of proper integration. Integration happens in the conscious mind, which is the spirit as you observe, but the conscious mind is not always in a state of being ready for complete integration of reality. I think it is because somehow we've limited our psycho-epistemology probably due to irrational beliefs or past traumas.
  6. "A Brief Biography of Ayn Rand." The Ayn Rand Institute. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography. Feb 18, 2011. It's true, "Earth," in some sense, is kind of limiting. I'm sure we can envision a future exploring the stars. But, I'm sure we can understand the sense of life of that statement regardless.
  7. You can say that the self is the volitional consciousness. One is able to engage in meditation to clear the mind because the self wills it. After the meditation, you will return to the self.
  8. Having something of so much value you are willing to die for isn't necessarily anti-man.
  9. I think it's because of FDR's cooperation with the Soviet Union during the war thus sanctioning the spread of communism globally. I think Rand was opposed to the draft which FDR upheld.
  10. You know, maybe if abortions weren't so taboo back in the days, we probably wouldn't have republicans.
  11. orpheus, I've barely begun to look into concepts of spiritual transcendence so my knowledge of it is limited. Within the Objectivist framework, I believe it is essentially opening up one's psycho-epistemological barriers to allow a unison between the the conscious and sub-conscious creating a sort of system or engine. In terms of Rand's views, well she had a very particular form of spirituality: the spirituality of the trader. From aynrandlexicon.com search Trader Principle and you'll find: It seems the transcendence of an Objectivist is still one attached to the pleasures and rewards of the Earth, which is an interesting departure from the Platonist mysticism of previous eras. Likewise, there's a Youtube floating around with an interview of Ayn Rand where she explains the view that our life here on Earth is the eternal life sought out by other religious systems. Again, this view of spirituality attached to this world, this Earth, and our present state of humanity.
  12. I think Ayn Rand's admiration for the greatness of man was her religion.
  13. Admittedly, this is easier said than done. I think the difficulty depends on the degree of one's "reality-disintegrated" by past traumas or irrational conditionings. Although, frustration is an interesting emotion. It's so off-putting, yet I'm sure we all can agree that there is something to be learned in moments of frustration. So, there is that interesting tension between being frustrated and wanted to avoid learning anything, yet knowing that these are opportune moments to learn.
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