Re: Pigs

> From: "tina carson"
>
> since it's been so long since my university philosophy classes, could
> you please remind me which philosopher presented the notion that once
> we are exposed to more intellectual pleasures, the bestial pleasures
> will never suit us again?

--- Lucy Pearson <l_r_pearson@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
  
> I really don't know much on this subject but I have a funny feeling
> something of the kind comes up in Buddhist philosophy. Can anyone
> enlighten us as to whether this is right. Is Cecilia still around? I
> hope so.

Yes, of course I'm still around.

Hmm. Well, I would suppose that there are any number of philosophers who
would probably fit this description, but the one who comes most
immediately to mind is Henry David Thoreau. It seems to me that the point
of WALDEN is precisely that. Sell your clothes; keep your thoughts, if I
remember correctly. Wait, let me find the passage. Ah:

Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
God will see that you do not want society. If I were confined to a corner
of a garret all my days, like a spider, the world would be just as large
to me while I had my thoughts about me.

Thoreau was highly influenced by Eastern philosophy, of course.

And then, to follow your Buddhism idea, you could always look at the Four
Noble Truths of Buddhism. The first, life is suffering, or dukkha.
Second, suffering comes through craving. Third, it is possible to release
oneself from dukkha. Fourth, the way to do this is to follow the
Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path releases you from craving by helping you not to *want*
any longer. Then, of course, once free from want, the Buddha-truth seer
would no longer care for the earthly pleasures.

Taoism and Hinduism offer similar teachings. Thoreau was enamored with
the whole idea.

I think that one could also find similar passages in St. Thomas Aquinas or
St. Augustine. The latter, I think, used this sort of argument in one of
his many diatribes against women.

I'd have to spend some real time before I can think of more.

Does this help?

Best,
Cecilia.

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Received on Sat May 31 18:14:55 2003