Here are some insightful thoughts on truth from a book “Buddhism: Plain and simple” By Steve Hagen
“If we are to ever find certitude – real knowledge that is beyond all doubt and misunderstanding – it’s clearly not going to come from our vying concepts and beliefs. Rather, true knowledge must appear before all our ideas and opinions. In other words, it’s nothing other than immediate, direct experience of the world in and of itself.”
Hello Jason,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are well! Curious...
“If we are to ever find certitude – real knowledge that is beyond all doubt and misunderstanding – it’s clearly not going to come from our vying concepts and beliefs.
Is Hagen certain of this belief?
Take care
Chad my friend!
ReplyDeleteI am well and kicking! :)
Great question! Believe it or not I actually went through this thought process as I was trying to critically asses it. I thought of a debate in which Deepak chopra got sprung on a very similar statement. click here I’m glad you brought it up for discussion, perhaps you can help me work through my thoughts. :)
The reason I decided to keep this quote is because one, it got me thinking, which is always good. But more importantly, I think he’s right! My thinking aside, beliefs do not entail certitude, if they did we wouldn’t call them beliefs, we would call them facts right?
Now the important question. would you say that is a statement of fact or a belief? Do beliefs equal certainty?
Because if it’s true that beliefs do not equal certainty, then he is stating a fact, not a belief:
“If we are to ever find certitude – real knowledge that is beyond all doubt and misunderstanding – it’s clearly not going to come from our vying concepts and beliefs.”
Certainty can't come from belief. That's a fact.
Ps.My brain is seriously hurting after thinking through this one, please help!
Jase