Christian Civilization -- The Central Issue

[Alexis Jacobi]

People often come forward with their metaphysical attainments here, I do too sometimes.

What is a metaphysical attainment?

[promethean75]

Really there are only two of whatchu could call metaphysical truths or facts, things that would be true in all possible worlds... rules that would hold in all possible worlds, i should say. Causality. Substance monism (any universe would reduce to a single elementary substance that necessarily existed). These a priori facts exist regardless of the physical state of a universe, which is always changing, and so could be called absolute, metaphysical truths, facts about the nature of the physical world and how it operates.

Note that metaphysics therefore is essentially useless as guidance for ethics and politics since neither of these metaphysical truths are moral in nature or content. They're just brute operational facts about existing systems.

There is nothing to be attained here, gentlemen.

[Alexis Jacobi]

Causality. Substance monism.

These a priori facts exist regardless of the physical state of a universe, which is always changing, and so could be called absolute, metaphysical truths, facts about the nature of the physical world and how it operates.

Those are not metaphysical facts.

[Atla]

People often come forward with their metaphysical attainments here, I do too sometimes.

What is a metaphysical attainment?

Attaining satori for example, but I don't really know how people use the word metaphysical, there seem to be different meanings in use.

[Alexis Jacobi]

For my purposes what is metaphysical refers to structures of concepts — ideas in the grandest sense — that are clearly and obviously not an observable part of the natural world, but which come into our world (uniquely?) through human beings, i.e. humanness.

These concepts and ideas — in my way of thinking — exist and existed and will exist no matter the condition or state of the world (kosmos, universe, manifestation).

Necessarily, they are as much a part of (one aspect) of Reality as any tangible thing. Yet they are intangible and when examined have no seeming existence. They are invisibilities.

[Alexis Jacobi]

I am trying to round up some funds for a very fine bicycle I have my eyes on. Would any of you deadbeats consider a PayPal donation?

[promethean75]

"Those are not metaphysical facts."

Alright well call em facts that philosophers call metaphysical, then. Btw i consider them metaphysical facts becuz i cannot know or experience them a posteriori. If i could, they'd be facts belonging to the natural sciences. But through reasoning i can deduce that causality and substance monism are facts about any reality.

[Atla]

What if I take a brain scan of someone who is having abstract thoughts, and some brain regions light up on the scan?

[Harbal]

I am trying to round up some funds for a very fine bicycle I have my eyes on. Would any of you deadbeats consider a PayPal donation?

From "excellent man" to charity case in one fell swoop.

[promethean75]

Next bike I'm gettin will be a hybrid like those Specialized Sirruses. I'm burned out on mountain bikes becuz i always end up not being off road enough to justify all the extra weight and work needed to keep those big knobby tires turnin.

Around 95 i got dropped off in Wilkesboro NC by some folks going from indiana to wilmington. I was living in indiana and resolved to drive a mountain bike up 421 to boone. I was twenty, inexperienced, and did no training whatsoever for the ride. Thought i could just up 'n do it if i wanted. No sir. The second day into it my left leg was cramped up and i hadta walk the bike for miles. Had a GT 21 speed, light for a mountain bike but a third more the weight of a hybrid. Lesson learned. Back in the days when everybody got a mountain bike becuz they were cool and u just did. 21 speeds with thin tires meant also for road weren't cool yet.

Not to mention the fact that like a dumbass i had opted to carry a bunch of shit i coulda just mailed (with my other stuff) to my destination in boone. I ended up carry saddle bags on the bike full of CDs and miscellaneous shit i wouldn't need on a bike trip. Plus i had a back pack on.

Bro that ride kicked my ass. I ended up getting a ride from a dude in his truck. Threw the bike and myself in the back. I remember i was immobilized for like a week after i got to town and hadta live off my savings. The plan was to go straight to work when i got there.... but the bike ride kicked my ass so bad i could barely walk.

I think the thinning of the oxygen as u ascend 421 prolly got me. Place rises to 4,000 feet above sea level and most of that ascent from Wilkesboro is pretty sirius and sudden. I recall smoking joints while riding at a causal pace. That couldn't have helped.

Big GT with yuge tires loaded down with a bunch of extraneous shit. What a total dumbass. U deserve those cramps.

I feel like homeboy in saving Ryan's privates. The typeriter guy who's bag is being emptied of unnecessary shit by hanks as he briefs him on his new assignment.

That's me in a group of professional mountain bikers.

[promethean75]

Just look at it. U can haul ass on that bike for hours u guys without gettin tired. The ergonomics are gorgeous.

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[Dubious]

Causality. Substance monism.

These a priori facts exist regardless of the physical state of a universe, which is always changing, and so could be called absolute, metaphysical truths, facts about the nature of the physical world and how it operates.

Those are not metaphysical facts.

That's because there aren't any; that's a bona fide ground-in-the-dust fact. If such were metaphysical, its self-negation would cause it to be a lie.

What's the upshot? If there were a metaphysical fact, most of the others would follow. Unfortunately, the true state of the old but honorable metaphysical empyrean has disintegrated as so elegantly described here, metaphorically speaking, of course...

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

[Dubious]

I am trying to round up some funds for a very fine bicycle I have my eyes on. Would any of you deadbeats consider a PayPal donation?

I see! Too many delinquents who finally realized what they weren't getting??? Aren't you aware that the same problem exists here and won't make up for the deficit?

[Alexis Jacobi]

Just look at it. U can haul ass on that bike for hours u guys without gettin tired. The ergonomics are gorgeous.

A comment or two.

One, though I have a Specialized (model: Chisel) which is a *mountain bike* that I have upgraded to be a bike for universal use here in Colombia (asphalt, rough back roads, bikepacking, gravel), what actually differentiates the bike in your photo is simply the tires. Thinner tires, less aggressive tread, designed mostly for asphalt and possibly a bit of light off-road -- this is the *gravel bike* which is becoming more popular.

But I suggest considering (this would be just one example) a steel frame bike which, in addition to coming with thinner tires, also has all the needed braze-ons if ever you did want to set it up for touring (on asphalt or mixed) or as a bikepacking bike (trips into the wild and camping). The Specialized frames, for reasons I do not understand, include only braze-ons for the water bottles.

See for example the Surly Ogre. It is likely a bit more expensive than the Specialized but does not cost that much. And note the braze-one on the fork, the down-tube, and of course within the triangle. The only braze-ons it lacks are some on the top-tube. It also has attachment points near the drop-outs (rear axel area) for a rack and fenders. The Specialized does not.

The only available color for the Ogre is not to my taste so there is the Bridge Club though it comes with heftier tires than the Specialized or the Ogre. But changing tires out is a non-issue.

Again your *hybrid* bike's main feature, according to you, is thinner tires that roll faster.

Since neither the Specialized in your photo nor the Surly have front suspension you could (and I recommend) eventually get a Kinext Suspension Seatpost (and even the handlebar suspension) which, in my opinion, is a great piece of kit. (I have both on a touring bike and they are great).

Myself, I'd change out the bars on the Surlys for a Jones H-Bar (the aluminum model at $90 +). Far more comfortable and stable riding on asphalt, gravel or off-road.

[Alexis Jacobi]

What if I take a brain scan of someone who is having abstract thoughts, and some brain regions light up on the scan?

What is *thought* and where did it come from? Thought, concept, idea are the metaphysical aspects related to the question and problems that we are examining. Again, in my definition I try to point out that thought and idea (design, pattern, structure) are *metaphysical to our world* insofar as they only seem to enter in with man, who receives, discovers, and intuits them in those ways that are summed-up by the term *revelation*.

Did even thinking and thought (Idea) also come into existence along with the created world? I mean, was it *not there* before the Creation and then suddenly *become there*?