I stumbled across the following in some stuff I'd saved some time back. I got it from here.
Ludwig Wittgenstein had a lifelong interest in religion and claimed to see every problem from a religious point of view, but never committed himself to any formal religion. His various remarks on ethics also suggest a particular point of view, and Wittgenstein often spoke of ethics and religion together. This point of view or attitude can be seen in the four main themes that run through Wittgenstein's writings on ethics and religion: goodness, value or meaning are not to be found in the world; living the right way involves acceptance of or agreement with the world, or life, or God's will, or fate; one who lives this way will see the world as a miracle; there is no answer to the problem of life--the solution is the disappearance of the problem.
Some random, idle thoughts:
How could you not have a lifelong interest in religion or spirituality or some manifestation of awareness of the Beyond if the ultimate questions interested you at all?
Do the ultimate questions encompass every problem? ("human problem" is assumed)
Ethics doesn't need religion, but religion needs ethics.
Goodness, value, meaning: all outside of the world? Isn't that "ultimate" value, goodness, meaning? All kinds of stages before ultimate can be found here in the world.
Acceptance = Surrender = Giving Over of Self. It's called for in all religions. As Jerry Garcia--yes, the Grateful Dead guitarist--said: "To forget yourself is to see everything else." Not only does it lead to living the right way, it's the only way to live right.
Is living the right way the only way to see the world as miracle?
There is no solution to the problem of life: the solution is the disappearance of the problem.
7 comments:
Greetings from Tehran, Iran - Axis of Evil :)
I didn't see the "About Me" section of your blog earlier.
You made me smile even laugh with the "various forces of darkness consider candor dangerous, and they could bar me from activities"
:)
I sincerely hope that America will never die and the wonderful America will get over these nasty dark clouds.
Best
homeyra,
And greetings to you, my brother in Tehran! I'm honored and pleased that you are reading my daily effort to retain my sanity. I sincerely believe that people to people contact can save us all from our leaders. The nasty black clouds, I fear, are a permanent part of the landscape.
I am a .... sister! :)
maybe you are right about the permanent aspect of those clouds... and maybe this will make us work harder for ... some ... sunshine!
So sorry, my sister in Tehran! Yes, sunshine--peace. This is what the world needs more than anything.
You are so philosophical,deep, insightful, and truth seeking - your sweeetie
Perfectly said.
What I've been trying to say, you have Jerry Garcia say.
Losing oneself is a very difficult row to hoe. I'd say it took me 56 years...minimum...to understand what was involved.
There is always a string holding you to the world you grew up in...no matter how radical I thought I was, it was always just a bunjie-cord jump, and I rebounded back towards where I started.
Just as we cannot understand math the way a math genius can, or appreciate opera like Mozart could, so do we not understand religion the way a religious genius does. It's a long, hard fight.
When it's over, I think you just choose whether to go away or to stick around. I think I'm choosing to stick around. And for the next thirty-two years - give or take - I hope to really do something.
Montag, even if your "doing something" ends up to be nothing more than coming to peace with the world, you will have done something that the vast majority don't. The "religious genius" is the person who comes to understand down to the fiber of his bones that everything is connected. Nothing is solitary. Everything is manifestation of the One. Every mystic of every religious tradition has come to this very same conclusion.
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