Discussion about romanticism and rationalism in philosophy, and whether or not metaphysics or even philosophy are worth it at all? Bit rambly, but something in here.
I think philosophy is definitely a worthwhile exercise. I'm friends with my college teacher (the best one I've ever had) and I realised that decades ago he had partially proffered the idea of monistic idealism. He had told me about a theory that says we are all the same consciousness seeing from different perspectives. I never really thought much about it up until now but I remember that it seemed to make sense to me back then and made clear to me that such a philosophy highlighted what we all have in common: we are all sentient beings. Today I know where he stands: consciousness is everything and death is an illusion.
I encountered an old hippy that ran a second hand bookshop in Totton back in '86. We used to pinch books from the school library and sell them to him for like 5 pence a book. We chatted one day and I just asked "what is reality exactly?" - he said it was a kaleidoscopic consciousness ever dancing with itself for amusement. Mind blown. But I intuitively agreed.
@@MattGray_Chelsoph Wow! It makes sense. It reminds me of a brief epiphanic episode I had whilst tripping on Mexican magic mushrooms. I felt like my consciousness had expanded and that I was some kind of deity who had created the universe for my own amusement. When I snapped out of it but still seeing patterns in everything I thought to myself, 'What the hell was that?' I felt like I remembered something I had known all along. Some kind of epiphany! It was weird. But, being a materialist, I dismissed it as just a product of psilocybin. Now I look back at it in a different way. 😅
I think philosophy is definitely a worthwhile exercise. I'm friends with my college teacher (the best one I've ever had) and I realised that decades ago he had partially proffered the idea of monistic idealism. He had told me about a theory that says we are all the same consciousness seeing from different perspectives. I never really thought much about it up until now but I remember that it seemed to make sense to me back then and made clear to me that such a philosophy highlighted what we all have in common: we are all sentient beings. Today I know where he stands: consciousness is everything and death is an illusion.
I encountered an old hippy that ran a second hand bookshop in Totton back in '86. We used to pinch books from the school library and sell them to him for like 5 pence a book. We chatted one day and I just asked "what is reality exactly?" - he said it was a kaleidoscopic consciousness ever dancing with itself for amusement. Mind blown. But I intuitively agreed.
@@MattGray_Chelsoph Wow! It makes sense. It reminds me of a brief epiphanic episode I had whilst tripping on Mexican magic mushrooms. I felt like my consciousness had expanded and that I was some kind of deity who had created the universe for my own amusement. When I snapped out of it but still seeing patterns in everything I thought to myself, 'What the hell was that?' I felt like I remembered something I had known all along. Some kind of epiphany! It was weird. But, being a materialist, I dismissed it as just a product of psilocybin. Now I look back at it in a different way. 😅