But… didn’t you say your alternate medicine and stuff actually worked? You don’t need to throw the baby with the hot water (or whatever): techniques that work but have bogus explanations that still help in their practice (and I see that a lot in martial arts) simply need better, leaner explanations, but ignoring an empirical phenomenon entirely on the ground that its explanation sucks is not a very good idea. A few days ago I had my first Zen session. The sensation was unique, the results immediate, the explanation (harmony with the universe) bullshit/useless for deriving consequences, but useful for getting the position right. There’s obviously more to it that “sitting before a wall in a contrived position”, but what exactly?
But… didn’t you say your alternate medicine and stuff actually worked?
I said that I knew that it worked, not that it worked. I’m not moved by your argument that aimed to exploit that particular hypothetical point of confusion.
But… didn’t you say your alternate medicine and stuff actually worked? You don’t need to throw the baby with the hot water (or whatever): techniques that work but have bogus explanations that still help in their practice (and I see that a lot in martial arts) simply need better, leaner explanations, but ignoring an empirical phenomenon entirely on the ground that its explanation sucks is not a very good idea. A few days ago I had my first Zen session. The sensation was unique, the results immediate, the explanation (harmony with the universe) bullshit/useless for deriving consequences, but useful for getting the position right. There’s obviously more to it that “sitting before a wall in a contrived position”, but what exactly?
I said that I knew that it worked, not that it worked. I’m not moved by your argument that aimed to exploit that particular hypothetical point of confusion.