Re: virus: CoV Memetics: Mysticism of the 90's

zaimoni@ksu.edu
Sun, 16 Feb 1997 14:20:35 -0600 (CST)


On 11 Feb 1997, David Rosdeitcher wrote:

> Mysticism is a disease of consciousness that blocks the mind's ability to
> integrate reality. ....

#1) I think this mailing list has a remarkably *low* tolerance of
mysticism, whatever its definition.

#2) The definition you cite is critically inverted. I'll first remove
some blatant normative concepts in my restatement of your definition:
[around here, I don't get to use moral judgments in definitions without
extreme cause. I'd be FRIED.]

"Mysticism_1 is [sic] a state of consciousness that blocks the mind's
ability to integrate reality."

Next, I'm going to fix it to match my reference frames [I use the same
definition in all four!]

"Mysticism_2 is a state of consciousness that is so aware of reality that
its experience tends to render conventional language useless."

Unfortunately, we need operational tests to distinguish mysticism_1 from
mysticism_2. I'm not fully there yet, but I'm fairly certain that if the
"mysticism" actively helps avoid collecting welfare, that it's mysticism_2.

Incidentally, I don't consider mysticism_1 mysticism, usually; I consider
its effects physically dangerous to the [self-inflicted] victim.

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