Letters to the Living

In philosophy, phenomenal means anything you can experience, both mentally or physically.  Ordinary people are interested almost exclusively in the phenomenal – things you experience in your thoughts or with your senses. They think about these things. They desire or fear these things. And when they become self-declared “seekers,” they seek something that they assume is also phenomenal. And when they see or read about something out of the ordinary, they get excited because they think they're on to something important. A “spiritual” phenomenon. And because of this equating abnormal with spiritual, they are very likely to perform practices or take drugs to have ‘out of the ordinary’ phenomenal experiences. Again, they think this is a sign they are really ‘getting somewhere.’ There are countless anomalous phenomena. This web page talks about 'light orbs,' that may be genuine things that clairvoyants can see.  https://www.quora.com/What-can-small-orbs-of-light-do-to-you-Is-this-...

I don't have anything to add to what I have already said. Anything else I write is just curating and clarifying. But also, I have learned that people don't understand most of what I say, no matter how hard I try to come down to their level.  Here I've listed some of the mental habits I have come to think may be responsible for them not getting me. 1. Intellectual laziness -- most people find thinking hard to be painful and imagining things enjoyable. So they make things up or believe in made-up things without checking, and often without even knowing how to check. 2. Not being taught about the subject of epistemology, or even worse taught an absurd post-modern relativism. 3. An almost inexplicable love of magic and woo-woo concepts. Why magic is so appealing to people is not clear to me.   4. Thinking in non sequiturs, i.e. leaping to conclusions that don't logically follow from the previous statement. 5. A complete lack of understanding what "evidence" means. ...

Some groups have claimed names for themselves like "Baba followers" and "Baba lovers." I do not belong to any collective group-think that these names have come to connote. And yet I follow Baba. How could this be?  Well, if you came upon a man in Salt Lake City (where there is a large Mormon population) and he said he was a follower of Jesus but not a Mormon, you might be confused. "How can he follow Jesus and not be a Mormon?" But that man might mean he reads the words of Jesus and tries to take them to heart, and even tries to follow those teachings whenever possible. Well that is how it is for me. I follow Baba in so much as I read his words and take them to heart and try to live in accord with them if possible. But as for those who today call themselves "Baba lovers," I have very little in common. In fact, I find many of the things they claim to believe to be antithetical to how I understand Baba. I could name many, but I'll name just a f...

In this post, the initials EOP refer to my concept of the evolution of perception that I have written about for over 25 years. The 12 principles of EOP Christopher Ott - October 13, 2024 In this essay, the initials EOP refer to my concept of  the evolution of perception  that I have written about for over 25 years.   Imagine you are on a show room floor where utility vehicles are on display and you come upon a brand new shiny red fire engine. You walk around it admiring its size , shape and colour . Running your hands over its sides you sense its smooth, cold surface. You tap on it and the metal has a solid metallic ring sound . As you walk past its brand new hoses you notice they have a strong factory smell , not unlike that of a brand new car.   I’ve just named 7 qualities: size, shape, colour, texture, temperature, sound, and smell. In philosophy these kinds of qualities are called ‘sensible qualities,’ because you experience them with your senses.   Now y...