I was kicked out of school at the age of 15, because apparently I was considered useless and disruptive, by the the much disliked tyrant headmaster (I wasn't the only one with this view of the headmaster). When I decided to go to university, I had to collect some entrance papers. So I studied German (because I found that easy) and Logic. During that time, I started a discussion society at the college I was at (Walbrook College in London) and we invited various guest speakers to give us a talk which we would then discuss with the speaker.
One speaker, was my Logic teacher, who took as his theme the Discourses of Descartes, in particular the "Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated ". In this discourse, Descartes attempts to go to the most basic fact of existence and came to the well-known conclusion "Cogito ergo Sum". Our lecturer pointed out that basically, Descartes deconstruction didn't go far enough, as clearly, a new-born baby does not think. That doesn't happen until we have some kind of symbolism to juggle about, e.g. language.
No, the ultimate conclusion is : "there is a feeling". No me, nothing except a feeling.
This is something forgotten and scant attention is paid to feelings, especially in the ways we are taught. Yet a baby has nothing else to use except it's feelings, which show themselves in a cry when something doesn't feel right, or a big smile when things do feel right. That's why, as the image above suggests, thinking can make a person dangerous.
This was a big input to me and resonated with what I had alraedy read and learnt. At our core is a feeling. To me that feeling is what the various masters mentioned in this blog all point to. Being in that feeling with no name, just being.
Comments powered by CComment