The Therapeutist by Rene Magritte (1937) Willed ignorance - against knowledge theories of suffering This essay continues our series on the philosophical problem posed by the emergence of self-destructive behaviors in human beings. There seems to be two moments within the event of understanding. In the first moment, the knower apprehends the thing being known. However, this moment is followed by a second in Matthew Stanley • Philosophy
What sort of problem is a human? I was at work on a summer afternoon in 2018 when I received a surprising email. It was the editor from a journal I had forgotten I'd submitted a paper to. I only let that trip me up for a moment though, because he was saying that the Matthew Stanley • Theology
Fenestra Coeli Apertae by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1731) Christianity, Exoteric and Esoteric The esoteric/exoteric distinction The word esoteric possesses a certain mystique to the untrained ear, but has a technical meaning in the study of religions – an esoteric religion is one in which different things are taught to adherents at different levels of the faith. For example, scholars of Buddhism in Matthew Stanley • Theology
Karma -- the return of the ego in Buddhism Buddhism as traced through the Mahayana branch, especially Ch'an in China and Zen in Japan, proposes a therapy which remedies suffering through a dissolving of the problem. Nirvana is Samsara; Samsara is Nirvana. Realize there is no problem, affect a shift in perspective, and the problem disappears. This Matthew Stanley • Buddhism
