What everyone participating in forums should understand

A place to discuss casual topics amongst spiritual friends.
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L.N.
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by L.N. »

I would amend the OP to say that harmony is much more important than trying to persuade someone you are right.

Otherwise, harmony and being right are more or less equivalently important. Harmonious toward self and others. Right in one's volitional actions toward self and others.

We should be able to have even heated discussions with one another yet retain an underlying friendliness and mutual respect. But there's no point in struggling to persuade someone that they are wrong and you are right. All we can do is put forth our views and comments, and also listen in a spirit of generosity and friendliness.
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binocular
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by binocular »

I think people should read and watch more Sherlock Holmes books and tv series, to get a better feel for what discussion can be like. The reason why Holmes is such an effective detective is his method of investigation, a crucial factor of which are his (often heated and quite unfriendly) discussions with Watson. It's the intense dynamics between those two minds that produces such good results.

Too few people seem to be aware that discussion can work like that in real life too, not just in fiction.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
chownah
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by chownah »

binocular wrote: Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:08 pm The reason why Holmes is such an effective detective is his method of investigation,
No. The reason is because he is a fiction.....and as such his effectiveness is only imaginary.
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Dhammanando
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by Dhammanando »

chownah wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:22 am .....and as such his effectiveness is only imaginary.
But not that of the person Conan Doyle modelled him on.
Joseph Bell, JP, DL, FRCSE (2 December 1837 – 4 October 1911) was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes.

Bell was the son of Dr. Benjamin Bell (1810-1883) and his wife Cecilia Barbara Craigie (1813-1882), and he was a great-grandson of the famous Benjamin Bell, considered to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon. In his instruction, Joseph Bell emphasized the importance of close observation in making a diagnosis. To illustrate this, he would often pick a stranger, and by observing him, deduce his occupation and recent activities. These skills caused him to be considered a pioneer in forensic science (forensic pathology in particular) at a time when science was not yet widely used in criminal investigations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bell
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In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
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chownah
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by chownah »

Did joseph bell have "often heated and quite unfriendly discussions with his assistants and was this one of the things which supported his effectiveness?....and was it the "intense dynamics between those two minds" that produced such good results.
".......that is the quality being pointed to as being one of the root causes of holmes's effectiveness.
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binocular
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by binocular »

chownah wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:22 amNo. The reason is because he is a fiction.....and as such his effectiveness is only imaginary.
Then, for once, I feel sorry for you, because you haven't experienced such effectiveness for yourself. By this I mean the effectiveness of rigorous discussion (not necessarily such effectiveness in solving crimes per se).

For example, I knew a Vajrayani (!) studying for a PhD in philosophy. We had the best discussions about Buddhism. If it weren't for him, I am sure I would have completely distanced myself from Buddhism long ago. And if it weren't for him, I would have no idea how effective, and productive discussion can be.
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chownah
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by chownah »

binocular wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:23 pm
chownah wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:22 amNo. The reason is because he is a fiction.....and as such his effectiveness is only imaginary.
Then, for once, I feel sorry for you, because you haven't experienced such effectiveness for yourself. By this I mean the effectiveness of rigorous discussion (not necessarily such effectiveness in solving crimes per se).

For example, I knew a Vajrayani (!) studying for a PhD in philosophy. We had the best discussions about Buddhism. If it weren't for him, I am sure I would have completely distanced myself from Buddhism long ago. And if it weren't for him, I would have no idea how effective, and productive discussion can be.
Seems you've changed your tune....prevously you wrote:
binocular wrote: The reason why Holmes is such an effective detective is his method of investigation,
....and whether you want to talk about his effectiveness in detective work or if you want to talk about his effectiveness in rigorous discussion....either way...it is ficticious...it is not real....no one actually had those discussions....they were made up by doyle....fiction...
Also, in closing you wrote:
binocular wrote: Too few people seem to be aware that discussion can work like that in real life too, not just in fiction.
I want to point out that the discussions that holmes and watson had did not work...to say that real life discussions can work like those between holmes and watson is delusional because the discussions between holmes and watson did not work....they did not clarify anything...they did not produce anything....they never happened....they are fictional.....make believe....
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Dhammanando
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by Dhammanando »

chownah wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:05 am Did joseph bell have "often heated and quite unfriendly discussions with his assistants and was this one of the things which supported his effectiveness?....and was it the "intense dynamics between those two minds" that produced such good results.
I can't say for sure, for though I've heard that accounts of Dr. Bell are to be found in many people's memoirs, I've only read one myself, that of the Unstan folklorist Jessie Saxby. According to her, Bell was like Holmes in every way but one, namely, that he was kinder than Holmes and more interested in getting the innocent acquitted than in bringing the guilty to justice.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
denise
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by denise »

"Can any good thing come out of a mouth that cannot talk without complaining...and never has a good thing to say about anyone? Negative talk sets us up to lose. Even when down-talking is for effect, it is devastating. Words are alive. They shoot out like boomerangs and turn back to flatten us with a painful thud. Nothing reveals the inner status of a person like talk. The person may look like an angel, but if the words are rotten, there is no flower garden there. People damn their lives out of habit. They gabble without one thought. But the minute their well-being is challenged they ask what they did to deserve it." Joyce Hifler
binocular
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Re: What everyone participating in forums should understand

Post by binocular »

chownah wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:36 pmSeems you've changed your tune....
I think you can't relate to what I'm talking about.
Maybe, for once, you might want to consider allowing for the possibility that I know something you don't, and that I have a pleasant experience that you don't have.
I know -- :alien:
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
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