08-01-2013, 11:46 AM | #31 |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
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Re: What a "god"?
Re: Nopeti (Pali or Sanskrit?)
This was the Buddha's answer to several questions. I was being whimsical, but it is a valid answer and it doesn't mean "I don't know". If nothing else, the Buddha was an excellent logician. He had other ways of telling people to shut up - there's a parable about a man shot with an arrow, which arose directly from a monk who didn't like 'nopeti'. |
08-01-2013, 01:48 PM | #32 | |
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Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: What a "god"?
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08-01-2013, 02:01 PM | #33 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Where the Celts originated
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Re: What a "god"?
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08-01-2013, 02:18 PM | #34 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Where the Celts originated
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Re: What a "god"?
Quote:
"I do not know" and "It cannot be known", where "It cannot be known" is a reaction to questions about something which is beyond the realm of human knowledge as well as to questions which have no meaningful answer becau- se they are based on false assumptions. |
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08-01-2013, 02:22 PM | #35 |
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
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Re: What a "god"?
I think that as an "answer" it sounds equal parts arrogant and gibberish.
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08-01-2013, 02:24 PM | #36 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: What a "god"?
Nopeti, from the original description, almost sounds like the "invalid" response. As a programmer, I can respect that. What number to you add to one to make orange? (to be cliche). What happens when you ask for the address of someone who doesn't exist?
That said, if the question is "which came first, the gods or the worshipers, and someone says Nopeti, they're either copping out, saying 'no one knows, its the way things work', or saying 'there was no beggining', or 'they were created at the exact same time'. (you can use 'came to be' instead of created).
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08-01-2013, 02:30 PM | #37 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: What a "god"?
While I'm not convinced by the actual list of unanswerable questions, it is certainly possible to have questions that are fundamentally unanswerable due to being poorly defined, incoherent, contradictory, or paradoxical.
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08-01-2013, 02:31 PM | #38 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Where the Celts originated
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Re: What a "god"?
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08-01-2013, 09:45 PM | #39 | |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
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Re: What a "god"?
Quote:
I'm being whimsical again, because, like the Buddha, I regard such questions as inane. On the other hand, the above is the real answer to such a question as in a koan. The actual logic is nonsense, but if you force yourself to think about it long enough, you'll have a flash of satori, of standing outside of logic and just being, which the actual answer. When a tree falls in an empty forest does it make a sound? The question forces you to think about what perception means without a perceiver and the indefinable difference between subjective and objective reality. Yes, we know that objectivity is a very useful assumption, but it's only that. So is subjectivity, though less useful. What is hard to understand is that there is a third option, which is non-duality. YMMV. Namaste. On the gaming side, if you're players ask you silly questions, give them the parable of the arrow. If they get something out of it, you've created RPG-do and are eligible for sainthood. In the real world, you have a choice between this kind of double think and divine revelation. Which do you prefer? 'Nopeti' is an acceptable answer ;-) Last edited by tantric; 08-01-2013 at 09:50 PM. |
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08-02-2013, 01:05 AM | #40 | |||
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: What a "god"?
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clerics, fantasy, gods |
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