Does philosophy ever answer questions or just generate more?

[dodalisque]

Question: Does philosophy ever answer questions or just generate more?

Rider-Waite-Smith deck: Ace of Swords

How strange to pick the one card in the deck that represents, perhaps more than any other, the act of thinking itself. The garlands hanging from the crown pierced by the tip of the sword suggest that, yes, philosophy deserves merit for rising above the rough terrain of earthly existence symbolised by the mountains below. The Ace is a lofty truth but is also a simplification. A philosophical truth is valid only in the abstract realm of philosophy itself. Language and thought is limited in its ability to make a model of the world and cannot transcend the limitations of its suit. There are other ways to "know" the world. The rest of the Swords cards in the deck might also represent subsequent questions and complications set in motion by the Ace.

[Cocobird55]

I have been studying Stoicism and find that it is a very down-to-earth philosophy. It stresses determining the things we do or do not have power over, and has helped me to stop obsessing over the things that are beyond my control. There are lots of YouTube videos about it if you want to have a further look. sbrebrown has done a whole lecture series which is excellent.

[dodalisque]

I have been studying Stoicism and find that it is a very down-to-earth philosophy. It stresses determining the things we do or do not have power over, and has helped me to stop obsessing over the things that are beyond my control. There are lots of YouTube videos about it if you want to have a further look. sbrebrown has done a whole lecture series which is excellent.

Thanks very much. It's wonderful to find a system of thought that promotes peace of mind. I'm so old now that I'm having forced on me, without even having to study it, the idea of not having control over anything. The sword in the Ace of Swords is very straight and upright, which seems like what I think of as a Stoical attitude. The coldness of the blade and the hardness of the metal also bring to mind a philosophy of life that shuns the emotions in favour of a detached, cool, philosophical calm.

[BlackTarotCards]

I've found generally that the wider the scope of a question is, the less likely you are to get a discrete answer. My favorite philosophical "answers" tend to be things that help shape my worldview. While they may not provide an end to your path of inquiry, they will help you navigate as you go. As long as we keep going, we'll keep asking more questions.

[Aoife]

The sword blade is faceted, the metal reflective.
[~meandering thoughts... I know nothing of the discipline of philosophy, but I love speculation...]
... In the search for understanding, questions address facets of a dilemma - rarely give complete 'answers' but aspects which combined will pose a possible story? But shift the position of the 'sword' a degree, and a whole new range of reflections arise. It all depends on where you're 'standing'... in that moment in time... concerned with that aspect of existence. Moments later it will surely be different? The universe.. life... is in flux. The need for understanding a continual search for homeostasis?
... Our questions of the tarot are so often a reflection of ourselves, subjective, biased, too often seeking self-justification. Mirroring... the essential need to be seen?
I like it that questions beget questions. The search for understanding has to be eternal?

[dodalisque]

The sword blade is faceted, the metal reflective.
[~meandering thoughts... I know nothing of the discipline of philosophy, but I love speculation...]

I like it that questions beget questions. The search for understanding has to be eternal?

Thanks for that. This metaphorical quality of the sword's metal is an aspect of the card that never occurred to me. I love the way you keep the discussion within the parameters established by the imagery on the card. Staying true to that is what can help to wrench us out of habitual patterns of thought, and why we read tarot cards, I suppose. When we are young (Ace - at the beginning of the suit) we take up Philosophy and Psychology in the hope of finding definitive answers (i.e. the point of the sword), but it very slowly dawns on us that "understanding" is a much broader, ongoing process. The point of the sword looks like the nosecone of a space ship. Where it's going is less important than what we discover about ourselves along the way.

[Diana]

Where it's going is less important than what we discover about ourselves along the way.

That old cliché that it's not the destination that counts but the journey ?

I like clichés. Lots of people deride them. But they didn't become them for nothing.

[Monk]

Where it's going is less important than what we discover about ourselves along the way.

That old cliché that it's not the destination that counts but the journey ?

I like clichés. Lots of people deride them. But they didn't become them for nothing.

The cliché is indeed rooted in an obvious truth that answers the original question.

The actual route to knowledge/philosophical insight is one of a very personal nature; the process of overcoming our own ignorance.
The route is without end for our curiosity will forever lead us to new insights as long as we care to seek for them. Seen in the scale of the universe our understanding covers at best the tiniest of fractions of what the universe is about. ..Imagine all the worlds out there and those that dwell upon them. It is in this imaginary vastness that I find my true place in a philosophical context and my relation to "answers". I only have but a few, and they only apply to me, the local, the here and now.

To me philosophy does provide answers, that lead only to new questions as that is what philosophy is about: asking the right questions. Each well formulated question leads/should lead to a new question. The beauty of it being that one needs a certain understanding/wisdom/knowledge to formulate the "right questions". So, I'd say philosophy provides insight, the answers are formulated by ourselves as they are largely the building blocks of the right follow-up questions. One could thus say that the art of philosophy is nothing more than the bridge between our minds and all the things to understand out there.

So luckily Philosophy only leads to more questions ..and there is no "destination". @Diana I'd reformulate: It is not the destination that counts but the state one travels in along the journey.

Namaste,
Monk

[Monk]

Where it's going is less important than what we discover about ourselves along the way.

That old cliché that it's not the destination that counts but the journey ?

I like clichés. Lots of people deride them. But they didn't become them for nothing.

Diana,

I just noticed your signature. In the context of this thread your signature says something very meaningful.

[Diana]

So luckily Philosophy only leads to more questions ..and there is no "destination". @Diana I'd reformulate: It is not the destination that counts but the state one travels in along the journey.

Namaste,
Monk

Your whole post was wonderful. Thank you so much for that.

It's always a state of consciousness isn't it. And there are so many facets to consciousness and all go up to make the whole. But we don't see that whole. We're always looking through one prism or another. We can when we are in deep contemplation or meditation or in psychedelics such as is your practice, have an awareness of the NATURE of the whole, but no more than the nature. And that nature creates a great sense of awe and reverence. We are witnesses to this, we can be the beholders, but we're always seeing it from some specific place - the state of consciousness that we have achieved.

Diana,

I just noticed your signature. In the context of this thread your signature says something very meaningful.

It's a beautiful quote, that "What you are seeking, you are". Rumi says it slightly differently : "What you seek is seeking you”.

It's also very tarotic. The Tarot calls to us and we call to it. We seek it and it seeks us and we meet at a certain point on the road. We can only seek what we already have. It's a question of remembering what it is and then going out to reclaim it in a way. Llewellyn Vaughan Lee speaks of the tragedy of the fact that not only have we forgotten our true nature and the true nature of the world, but that we have FORGOTTEN that we have forgotten.

Philosophy, tarot... they remind us what we have forgotten and sometimes also that we have forgotten that we have forgotten.

[Monk]

So luckily Philosophy only leads to more questions ..and there is no "destination". @Diana I'd reformulate: It is not the destination that counts but the state one travels in along the journey.

Namaste,
Monk

Your whole post was wonderful. Thank you so much for that.

It's always a state of consciousness isn't it. And there are so many facets to consciousness and all go up to make the whole. But we don't see that whole. We're always looking through one prism or another. We can when we are in deep contemplation or meditation or in psychedelics such as is your practice, have an awareness of the NATURE of the whole, but no more than the nature. And that nature creates a great sense of awe and reverence. We are witnesses to this, we can be the beholders, but we're always seeing it from some specific place - the state of consciousness that we have achieved.

Diana,

I just noticed your signature. In the context of this thread your signature says something very meaningful.

It's a beautiful quote, that "What you are seeking, you are". Rumi says it slightly differently : "What you seek is seeking you”.

It's also very tarotic. The Tarot calls to us and we call to it. We seek it and it seeks us and we meet at a certain point on the road. We can only seek what we already have. It's a question of remembering what it is and then going out to reclaim it in a way. Llewellyn Vaughan Lee speaks of the tragedy of the fact that not only have we forgotten our true nature and the true nature of the world, but that we have FORGOTTEN that we have forgotten.

Philosophy, tarot... they remind us what we have forgotten and sometimes also that we have forgotten that we have forgotten.

Your first quote is spot on; Psychedelics are indeed an aid in getting aware of the 'nature' of things, we -by lack of a better word- 'feel' them when undergoing a shamanistic experience with tryptamines. No answers there, that I can tell you. One of the first lessons I learned with psychedelics is that; language, words, meaning (answers) etc are 'besides the point'. In a state of psychedelic trance it is possible to communicate with the universe, but it is without language, without 'image' even though there are hallucinations. Those 'images' however are mere by-product of the experience. The "insights" are way more profound and on a different plane, and they cannot be explained by words, they can only be elaborated on to us during the next session. But we have to tune in by opening up our layers of consciousness in the right way; sort of asking the right questions without formulating them in language as language is infinitely insufficient and limited for conveying the knowledge in the universe. (Psychonautic Handbook 101)

Yes, it is funny how you made that connection between my input in the tread and psychedelics. As there is indeed an important analogy going on. My mentioning of philosophy leading forever to new questions is in great part inspired by insights derived from psychedelics. As I seek no answers in either, they are mere conveyors of thought. I seek no knowledge for the sake of knowing all, I just want to 'feel' that what I am doing is right by the universe.

Namaste,
Monk

p.s. thank you for your kind comment on my post. It makes me feel I'm in sync, and that is important to me.

[Joan Marie]

Question: Does philosophy ever answer questions or just generate more?

Yes.

[Diana]

Question: Does philosophy ever answer questions or just generate more?

Yes.