Descartes' Despair
How can we affirm our own existence?
Cogito ergo sum, Descartes said,
I think therefore I am.
But wait!
Who is doing the thinking?
The body?
Am I my body?
Well, Descartes explained, we are talking about
Two incompatible substances:
The unextended and indivisible mind
In contrast with the extended and divisible matter,
Res cogitans versus res extensa.
Yes, but am I my body?
How is the contact created
Between the mental
And the physical worlds?
Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate asked.
Well, somewhere at the base of the brain,
In the pineal gland, replied the philosopher.
Oh, I have a problem with that,
The princess remarked.
For, if the brain exists in space,
How can the non-spatial mind dwell in it?
And Descartes threw up his hands
In despair.
poem by Paul Hartal
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The Ghost Machine
Wittgenstein took a sip from his tea.
"You're wrong Descartes, I can tell you,
because body and mind are one".
"Wittgenstein is right", seconded Ryle.
He looked very angry
and shook his head as he continued:
"In claiming that your thoughts are separated
from your body you created a dogma
of the ghost in the machine."
"Gentlemen", Descartes said, "relax.
Where were you when I talked about these things?
You were not even born then".
"Wait a minute", said Bohm. "You're all wrong."
"What? " snapped out Ryle.
"You heard it correctly. You're all wrong", insisted Bohm.
"You have to explain", Wittgenstein said.
Descartes looked to be perplexed.
"Well", explained Bohm,
"since everything in the universe is information,
the existence of matter is nothing but a myth.
The universe is an enormous thought, a giant computer.
It is the machine, which is the ghost."
poem by Paul Hartal
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Who Am I?
Rene Descartes popularized
The phrase: Cogito ergo sum-
I think therefore I am. How wise!
If I’m thinking, then it’s presumed
That I exist because of “I”
The one doing the thinking.
On this point we see eye to eye;
Even so, it begs questioning
Beyond my very existence;
That is, the question: who am I?
A query asked with persistence.
What does “buried beneath” imply?
Does it mean “core sense” of myself
Or an illusion of one’s self?
poem by Albert Ahearn
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Cartesian Shopping
When all of our home spun philosophies
Focus on shopping and spending and such
Then its time to redress priorities
For those things don't mean very much.
It's hard to imagine Pythagoras
Out shopping with Plato and Kant
Debating the appeal of the packaging
Of something they really don't want.
Now I know we all shop 'cos we have to eat
And we're keen on good prices it seems
But all of these retailing strategies
Seem to be trying too hard for our dreams.
So I turned to another philosopher
To understand what is going on
His words have a truth that now resonates
Like 'I shop and therefore I am'.
Well that's not precisely the words he said
He was a Frenchman and had to obscure
The truth that we now have to contemplate
When Wal Mart we have to endure.
Ah, Rene Descartes was a genius
He had matters under his thumb
When asked to go shopping he'd decline
Just saying 'cogito ergo sum'.
poem by David Keig
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Physical
I'm saying all the things that I know you like
Making good conversation
I've gotta handle you just right
You know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant
Then to a suggestive movie
There's nothing left to talk about
Unless it's horizontally
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
I've been patient, I've been good
Tried to keep my hands on the table
Oh it's getting hard to hold me back
You know what I mean
I'm sure you understand my point of view
We know each other better
You've gotta know you're bringing out
The animal in me
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
(Physical) I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
(Get physical)
(Do you hear me)
(Mmm, yeah)
(C'mon)
(I know you want me)
(Physical)
Woah, yeah
Physical, physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
I wanna get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
Let's get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
song performed by by Kylie Minogue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.
There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In the first place, Descartes stands for the most explicit and uncompromising dualism between mind and matter.
quote by James M. Baldwin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let the Beat Control Your Body
-a- anita ; r - ray
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat contol your body
R: now the my beat control your body!
R: let my beat / let my beat
A: control your body/ the beat is running throw your vains/ control your body /when you let it penetrate your brain!
R: the booming system which plays in places / move your system, change these spaces / when Im on the mic you cant refuse / no one ever came to preach, I came to amuse / techno making; no mista
Never faking / always breaking it down, hey to a party / now let my beat control your body!
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
R: now let my beat control your body
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
R: let my beat / let my beat
A: control your body/ the beat is running throw your vains/ control your body /when you let it penetrate your brain!
R: its my beat now / its my beat
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body, yeah...
R: let my beat / let my beat
R: down with the forces how we go / the second to first just you to show / you just cant stand still cause you gotta move / you feel the bass line you feel the groove / my beat accepts you jus
You are / it drives you away just like a fast car / its my beat, it belongs to me / so let my beat control your body!
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
R: let the beat control your body!
A: let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body / let the beat control your body
R: now let my beat control your body!
A: control your body/ the beat is running throw your vains/ control your body /when you let it penetrate your brain!
A: let the beat control your body!
song performed by by 2 Unlimited (1996)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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For Atheists on Christmas Day
It is my goal to find every spiritual experience I can,
So I became curious about what an atheist church might be like.
I sought out a place where I could go
To test myself, and question whether or not anything holistic
Could exist, challenging all my metaphysical quandaries
To find if I could, for that moment, believe in no deity—
Whether or not I actually do is irrelevant to understanding—
Or anything supernatural.
When I found that temple of doubt,
I realized what they were talking about,
Or at least became convinced that God had gone blind
Or has an astigmatism or needs glasses or something.
I lost my faith in all things right there.
I even lost my faith in my species,
Hoping that Descartes was completely wrong with
Cogito Ergo Sum, and that I wasn't real,
And only an illusion to something else
That makes no sense to me,
If me is what I am.
That's when I decided that I'm never going to Wal-Mart ever again.
poem by Tim Stensloff
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I think, therefore Descartes exists.
quote by Saul Steinberg
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The Third Eye
The third eye grants a knowledge divine
says a Sanskrit Manuscript, with the light
of a million lustrous suns, today scientists
suppose the pineal gland to be the third eye
White and grey tissue, pea-sized, cone-shaped,
buried at the back of the skull on the brain’s mid-
line; primitive, light-sensitive, producing hormone
melatonin - melanin pigment for skin/hair colouring
Manufactured from serotonin, a chemical in the pineal
enabling rational thought, when blocked by LSD, man
suffers schizophrenia and hallucinations – the pineal
gland affects body processes and the emotions
Lobsang Rampa said when the third eye opening was
made in his head, the pineal gland enabled him to see
the aura – the angry red flames spurting from violent
people - I am glad I cannot see that
Though I would have loved to see the pure golden aura
around the heads of the holy – and the purplish blue
around the truly spiritual…
‘The Reader’s Digest Book of Strange Stories,
Amazing Facts’, Reprinted July 1977
“The Eye of Enlightenment” - Mystery inheritance
from our remote ancestors - pp 44 & 45
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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It is not enough to have a good mind the main thing is to use it well.
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.
Travelling is almost like talking with those of other centuries.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Bow To Simplicity
you go to church every morning
model catholic of this town
you listen to the sermon of the priest
you take the body of Christ
in your body
somehow these matters give you
comfort and so you have no time to
ask for more answers
because there are no questions asked
anyway
in any way, you dwell in the comfort zone of
religion
you are not a philosopher with all the wrinkles
on his forehead
you do not envy all these
search for wisdom
you do not need it anyway in your everyday
morning existence
about those joys you claim you have
the contentment of an achievement
no wars
no confusion even in small matters about
real happiness
in some ways you smile
and by all means we think that you are the child of God
smiling to everyone
sometimes i envy you
as i tremble over my thoughts
grinding every bean of coffee
in the machine of my mind
hot temperatures here
like hell
are questions part of hell?
doubts and regrets
they come together
trying to hit me with their fists
me, the philosopher
still unable to hold the beautiful arms of an
answer
i talk within and there are many selves talking
within
you pity me
for thinking too much
on such a simple existence
as breakfast and lunch and dinner
that you serve on my table
and for which
due to my self-inflicted fever
on a trembling mouth
i cannot eat
and then
i decided to keep silence in the middle of this
turbulence
i wash my face
comb my hair
and face you
saying the words that i do not mean
just to please you
like
i love you and then you smile
and you do not bother
what wisdom is
nothing bothers you
what more? what more is there?
you tell me
there is nothing more between the two of us
not even space
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.
Between Two Worlds
I got a dirty, dirty feelin
That I just cant shake
Yeah my brain keeps burnin
And my body just aches
I know a womans body
Is only flesh and bone
A womans body is
Only flesh and bone
How come I cant let go?
Im between two worlds
I said oh yeah, Im out of my mind
Im between two worlds
Theres a lot of people talkin
bout the danger zone
Theres adventure novels
bout takin to the road
I know a womans body
Is only flesh and bone
How come I cant let go
Im between two worlds
song performed by by Tom Petty
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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