Descartes’ little “Spirits”

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Though Descartes is considered the father of rationality and of the modern scientific method, in his researches he was a philosopher and sometimes a mystic. The religious aspect was a kind of partial compromise for pandering to the ecclesiastic hierarchies of his time, but his method of investigation was still anchored to inner analysis and to philosophy, besides scientific objectivity.

Science, not having modern research instruments then, was integrated with the investigation methodologies that rested upon cosmology, religion, and philosophy, among other sources of knowledge.

It is known that Descartes considered the pineal gland as a bridge between the immortal soul and the mortal body.

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Cartesio, nonostante sia considerato il padre della razionalità e del metodo per l’indagine scientifica moderna, era nelle sue ricerche filosofo e talvolta mistico. In parte l’aspetto religioso era un compromesso per assecondare le gerarchie ecclesiastiche del tempo, ma il suo metodo di indagine era comunque ancora ancorato all’indagine interiore e alla filosofia oltre che all’oggettività della scienza.

La scienza, non avendo gli strumenti di indagine moderni, era integrata con metodologie di indagine che poggiavano sulla cosmologia, sulla religione e sulla filosofia, tra le altre fonti di conoscenza.

E’ risaputo che Cartesio ritenesse la ghiandola pineale un ponte tra l’anima immortale e il corpo mortale.

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Virtual worlds, mirror worlds, Second Life: backing up the messed planet

In the 21th century ideologies collapsed, religions are showing their fundamentalist and darker side and war is still the response to political problems. At the same time the material world itself is experiencing ecological collapse.

Virtual worlds such as Second Life and mirror worlds as Google Earth are the new frontiers of the Net. It seems as though we are making a backup of a devastated world on the Net, reshaping it according to our dreams and inhabiting it as if we could alienate ourselves from the material world.

The path of enigmas[en]

In the 21th century ideologies collapsed, religions are showing their fundamentalist and darker side and war is still the response to political problems. At the same time the material world itself is experiencing ecological collapse.

Virtual worlds such as Second Life and mirror worlds as Google Earth are the new frontiers of the Net. It seems as though we are making a backup of a devastated world on the Net, reshaping it according to our dreams and inhabiting it as if we could alienate ourselves from the material world.

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Nel ventunesimo secolo, assistiamo al crollo delle ideologie, le religioni stanno mostrando il loro lato fondamentalista e più oscuro, mentre la guerra è ancora la risposta a problemi politici. Al medesimo tempo, il pianeta sta vivendo il collasso ecologico.

I mondi virtuali come Second Life e i mondi specchio come Google Earth sono le nuove frontiere della Rete. Sembra che stiamo facendo la copia in Rete di un mondo devastato, modificandolo secondo i nostri desideri e abitandolo come se potessimo alienarci dal mondo materiale.
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Merging with the computer

As a student of the Almaas’s Diamond Heart school I am used to keep in the background of my soul a sort of Socratic psycho-spiritual inquiry that I used to practice in that school. I would say that the relationship between a user and his computer resembles the symbiotic phase in the relatiosnhip between mother and child, with its sub-phases.

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As a student of the Almaas’s Diamond Heart school I am used to keep in the background of my soul a sort of Socratic psycho-spiritual inquiry that I used to practice in that school. So even when I am in front of the computer I ask myself what is the deeper need that this tool tries to fulfil.

Almaas’ books and models of the soul introduce psychological and spiritual knowledge in a unique way for the west, harmonizing the once split fields of psychology (that works mainly on ego integration in life) and spirituality (that works mainly on going beyond the ego toward our essential qualities and the connection with the absolute).

The name itself personal computer conveys an exclusive, unique and intimate relationship between the user and the media. We don’t call our car or our digital camera “personal”. In psychological terms and considering mainly the works of Margaret Mahler and Almaas I would say that the relationship between a user and his computer resembles the symbiotic phase in the relatiosnhip between mother and child, with its sub-phases.
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Come studente della scuola Diamond Heart di Almaas, sono abituato a mantenere nel sottofondo della mia consapevolezza una specie di indagine spirituale socratica che ho praticato nella scuola. Quindi anche quando mi trovo di fronte al computer mi chiedo quali siano i bisogni profondi che questo strumento prova a soddisfare.

I libri e i modelli dell’anima presentati da Almaas introducono una conoscenza psicologica e spirituale unica per il mondo occidentale, armonizzando i campi precedentemente separati della psicologia (che opera prevalentemente sull’integrazione della personalità nella vita) e della spiritualità (che opera oltre l’ego, verso le qualità essenziali e la connessione con l’assoluto).

Il nome stesso personal computer rimanda ad una relazione esclusiva, unica ed intima tra l’utente e il mezzo. Non chiamiamo l’automobile o la macchina fotografica “personale”. In termini psicologici, considerando i lavori di Margaret Mahler e Almaas mi porta a dire che a relazione tra un utente e il suo computer ricorda la fase simbiotica nella relazione tra madre e figlio, con le sue sottofasi.
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