Christian Thought: Christian Theology & Philosophy
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    • Cosmic Law >
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        • Sacrifice & Mortification
        • Judges: Irony & Meaninglessness
      • Spiritual & Physical//Natural & Supernatural >
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          • The Sabbath
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        • The Interwovenness of Human Lives & Their Inevitable Mutual Effects on Each Other – aka The Ripple Effect
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          • Prayer
          • Tests to Determine God's Will or Approval
    • The (Actual) Divine Plan (Biblical History) >
      • Necessity of the Law & a Chosen Nation >
        • Importance of Sacrifices & the Nature of Holiness/Determination of Guilt, Under the Law
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        • Jewish Beliefs as Relates to Christianity
      • The Creation
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    • The Attributes of God and His Character >
      • The Trinity
    • Sin & Salvation >
      • Original Sin
      • Predestination and the Elect >
        • Losing One’s Salvation/Falling from Grace/Apostasy/Perseverance >
          • Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
      • Sin & Guilt >
        • Collective Guilt/National Sin
      • Reward & Punishment; Mercy
      • The Afterlife >
        • Heaven/the New Creation
        • Hell
        • Purgatory & the Harrowing of Hell
    • The Christian Life >
      • Receiving the Holy Spirit
      • Persecution & Hardship
      • Christian Ethics >
        • Marriage & Celibacy
      • Demon Possession & Activity
    • Determining the Truth of Christianity >
      • The Sinlessness and Perfection of God — Accusations against God >
        • Concerning Reward & Punishment >
          • Sweeping the Innocent Away with the Wicked/Many Suffer for the Sin of One >
            • The Innocent Punished for the Sins of the Wicked (to Punish the Wicked) >
              • Punishing the Children for the Father’s Sin
          • Harshness
          • Manipulation of Free Will (to the Person’s Damnation)
        • The Law of God Flawed >
          • Sins against Love (Revenge Seeking)
          • Unjust Warfare/War
          • Racism & Slavery
          • Sexism >
            • Theology of the Sexes >
              • Women’s Gender Role >
                • Submission
            • Male Chauvinism >
              • Unequal Opportunity/Deprivation of Rights
              • Polygamy
              • Women’s Chastity
            • Rape & Sex Slavery
        • Sins of People in the Bible (that Reflect Poorly on God)
      • Can We Take the Bible Seriously? >
        • The Creation of the Canon
        • False Prophecy/Broken Promises
        • Contradictions in the Bible
        • False Reasoning
    • Ambiguous/Strange/Bizarre Passages of the Bible
  • Philosophy
    • Spiritual & Physical//The Natural & Supernatural >
      • Mind & Body
      • Thinking & Doing >
        • Work
    • Metaphysics >
      • Reality
      • Generalities vs Exceptions
      • The Problem of Relativity
      • The Problem of the Distribution of Goodies (Randomness) >
        • Natural & Inevitable Inequality/The Unequal Distribution Wealth >
          • Communism
      • Cause & Effect/Human Action & Reaction
      • Beauty >
        • Art
      • Mathematics & Logic
      • Science & the Natural Laws
    • Epistemology/Faith >
      • Atheism
      • Idealism
      • Asceticism & False Religion
    • Man >
      • Created in the Image of God (Comparing Humans & Animals)
      • Sinful Nature >
        • Levels of the Will
      • Psychology >
        • The Conscious & Subconscious
        • Personality
      • Stages of Life >
        • Death
      • Society >
        • Hermitism
      • The Sexes >
        • Men
        • Women
    • History of the World >
      • How Ideas & Knowledge Spread
    • Ethics >
      • Good & Evil
      • Happiness
      • Love >
        • Romantic Love >
          • Sexuality >
            • Homosexuality

Thinking & Doing

Picture
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.5 Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:41-42)
Is a philosopher better left alone or in dialogue? Why are thinkers introverts? What’s gained from dialogue?

Sonu (from Untouchables, by Narendra Jadhav, and the author’s mother) was a very simple person, and never changed at all even though her husband was so enlightened and tried persistently to enlighten her as well. Not only did she never get it, she never cared to get it and never saw the importance of anything that her husband tried to impart to her. So her husband, Damu, was very much into the movement to free the untouchables, becoming politically and socially involved, but Sonu, though an untouchable as well, never cared. Only one time in the book did she really take action when she actually saw extreme abuse right in front of her (during an attack by the Brahmins on the Dalits (untouchables). Why is it that some people can’t comprehend things, which are otherwise manifestly and manifoldly clear, unless they actually see it happening right in front of them?

Book learning and study /research vs learning by experience
People always denigrate book learning and say the real way to learn about life is to live it, and in many ways this is true, but the strange thing is that I’ve found that, unfortunately, this just isn’t completely true. I look around, and also read about people and all their troubles, and they keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again, never being able to change their thinking, but if you just tell them straight out, “Hey, this is what it’s like” and explain to them the reason for their problems and the flaws in their thinking and perception of the world, it can completely turn them around and give them huge relief from their suffering. But this is the kind of enlightenment that you can only get through careful observation and studying, and the most efficient way of doing this is through books. But it’s very strange – who can know more about a situation than the people going through it, and yet, most people go through life blindly, and they just don’t get the “lesson” unless you tell them directly what it’s all about.

Why are people so reluctant to learn? When they first invented TV, they put educational programs on. This was surprising to me when I first read this, but if you think about it, it’s the most sensible thing to do. But nobody watched them. Then they decided to switch to entertainment, and things have never been the same since.

Is it really the doers who have it all figured out? (I don't mean this in seriousness, but it's certainly something to think about.)

​Related -- if everyone is supposedly equal, why is that creative types and thinkers live longest and report the greatest job enthusiasm?
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