3 Philosophers in a Dark Room

Three Philosophers are in a dark room, a nihilist, a materialist, and a spiritualist. Their reaction to the dark room sums up their philosophy on life.

Nihilist: the room is completely dark, everything is darkness, and so no self can exist

Materialist: the room is too dark to see, so it is pointless to speculate on whether or not there exists a real self

Spiritualist: the darkness is neither real nor unreal, but the absence of a self which exists in the darkness.

The nihilist believes that since there is no meaning to things there is no meaning to life, ignoring the meaning the self places on things. The materialist trusts only their eyes and does not believe in the unseen. The spiritualist knows his true self is like a person standing in a dark room, hidden by the darkness, but the darkness only being the absence of self. The self is the one experiencing the darkness. The nihilist confuses darkness with the self, the materialist assumes only what is seen is the self, but the spiritualist knows the true self hidden in the darkness.

reply to post by filosophia


but the spiritualist knows the true self hidden in the darkness





So, if I become spiritual, I will be able to see in the dark..? Makes sense, since the spiritual seem to be blind to everything else...


If I missed something, let me know...

reply to post by facelift


Now thats pretty closed minded don't you think?

Originally posted by jetflock
reply to post by facelift

 

Now thats pretty closed minded don't you think?

Yes..! Star for you!


My point exactly..hey OP, .how come they are the only ones that get to see in the dark..?

Originally posted by jetflock
reply to post by facelift

 

Now thats pretty closed minded don't you think?

Don't you mean Nihilist?

reply to post by nerbot


everyone can see in the dark, they can't just see well because there is no light. i've been in a cave tour that went 100's of feet through a mountain. when we got to the middle of the cave the tour guide turned off all the lights in the area. we were in complete darkness. it's a strange feeling, the darkness is completely suffocating, it feels like you're in suspended animation in some kind of dark gel. you also lose all your depth perception, so you become unbalanced.

then your mind starts to play tricks on you, if you hold your hand to your face you see a faint outline, but that's impossibe because there is absolutely no light to reflect the image of your hand back to your brain.

Originally posted by randomname
reply to post by nerbot

 

everyone can see in the dark, they can't just see well because there is no light. i've been in a cave tour that went 100's of feet through a mountain. when we got to the middle of the cave the tour guide turned off all the lights in the area. we were in complete darkness. it's a strange feeling, the darkness is completely suffocating, it feels like you're in suspended animation in some kind of dark gel. you also lose all your depth perception, so you become unbalanced.

then your mind starts to play tricks on you, if you hold your hand to your face you see a faint outline, but that's impossibe because there is absolutely no light to reflect the image of your hand back to your brain.

And yet, the self is still there in the darkness. So in a way, being in the dark makes you realize that the self is the only thing that exists outside of the daylight.

Upanishads:

What is the light of man? The sun. When the sun goes out, what is the light of man? Fire. When fire goes out what is the light of man? Sound, so he can move towards the voices. When sound goes out, what is the light of man? Touch. When touch goes out, what is the light of man? The self.

To Facelift, a spiritualist sees in the dark metaphorically, in that he sees what is unseen (God).