Eric on Nostr: Something I have taken from a book on Hindu/Vedic thought. I'm going to try and ...
Something I have taken from a book on Hindu/Vedic thought. I'm going to try and relate it hrre, in my own words.
There is a big disconnect between sensation itself and how we might feel the sensation, and how we might then express the sensation.
Take a cold day, for example. We step outside, decide that it is cold, check the thermometer, and go back inside.
Doesn't have to happen in this order, we could check the thermometer first, or even expect it to be cold first.
If you check the thermometer, you see a number displayed. The number isn't cold or hot, it's just a number, a symbol. The thermometer is just some metal, glass, plastic, mercury, whstever. Also not hot or cold. But we might tailor our expectation of hot/cold or our reaction to hot/cold based on this object or symbol.
If we ignore the thermometer altogether, and just walk outside, what we experience is often very relative. Other symbols might intrude. What was the temperature sensation inside? Is there snow outside, or rain and wind? Are we in Costa Rica or Greenland? What would a native of the region experience, versus a visitor from a different climate?
But regardless, we take that relative subjective "sensation" of cold, and use it to determine our course of action - go (or stay) inside. How does that change with one's mood or emotional state? Maybe it is time for sledding, finally, and you've been looking forward to that time for months! Outside, cold, great! Maybe it is time to hunt moose, and you're tired of waiting inside with your annoying cousin and ready to hit the trail!
Sensation is how we experience reality (according to some), but how can this reality be objective when how we experience it is so variable and subjective?
I maintain that we experience reality through emotion rather than sensation, although sensation may be a layer piled on with some significance. Hinduism does not really share this belief, but still interesting to get a different take on it than the typical materialist view, which would ultimately point at the thermometer.
#philosophy
There is a big disconnect between sensation itself and how we might feel the sensation, and how we might then express the sensation.
Take a cold day, for example. We step outside, decide that it is cold, check the thermometer, and go back inside.
Doesn't have to happen in this order, we could check the thermometer first, or even expect it to be cold first.
If you check the thermometer, you see a number displayed. The number isn't cold or hot, it's just a number, a symbol. The thermometer is just some metal, glass, plastic, mercury, whstever. Also not hot or cold. But we might tailor our expectation of hot/cold or our reaction to hot/cold based on this object or symbol.
If we ignore the thermometer altogether, and just walk outside, what we experience is often very relative. Other symbols might intrude. What was the temperature sensation inside? Is there snow outside, or rain and wind? Are we in Costa Rica or Greenland? What would a native of the region experience, versus a visitor from a different climate?
But regardless, we take that relative subjective "sensation" of cold, and use it to determine our course of action - go (or stay) inside. How does that change with one's mood or emotional state? Maybe it is time for sledding, finally, and you've been looking forward to that time for months! Outside, cold, great! Maybe it is time to hunt moose, and you're tired of waiting inside with your annoying cousin and ready to hit the trail!
Sensation is how we experience reality (according to some), but how can this reality be objective when how we experience it is so variable and subjective?
I maintain that we experience reality through emotion rather than sensation, although sensation may be a layer piled on with some significance. Hinduism does not really share this belief, but still interesting to get a different take on it than the typical materialist view, which would ultimately point at the thermometer.
#philosophy