why predominantly philosophy?

Desolous wrote: We are so sheltered here, most of us have little to no idea about some of the things we talk about. Why? Be cause we mostly talk about watts, campbell, zen and the like instead, and we don't learn how to actually apply those lessons.

There is NO reason that TOTJO cannot also teach other things. Have you not heard of the knights templar, steam? The martial arts trained shinto monks? There are MANY in the vatican that do other things than just worship, the swiss guard in particular.

Sheltered… many may be. Is it my place to expose people to stuff though?

I feel that we should arm each other with the tools needed to face what life throws at us. But no matter how much you train or plan ahead… every boxer has a plan until they climb in the ring and take the first hit.

I do agree that we should help prepare each other for the possibilities that are out there. I don’t think it should be a requirement for people to study.

A lot of people ask me what my apprentice lessons have to do with anything. They are over oddball stuff. But I hope that they encourage thought about certain aspects of life. Not just philosophy, but the recognition of those instances we face every day. Also, philosophy can help you face those situations. You think about it and prepare yourself for what may come. Not just read something, write about it, forget it and move on.

I want to start a bush craft thread, but I don’t think most will see its relevance and I really don’t want to be held accountable for when someone goes out and tries something they read without being properly trained.

The real issue to address is who would teach what and where would this knowledge come from?

I agree with Archon here. I feel.that the point of a philosophy or religion is to teach one not WHAT to think but HOW to think. There are exceptions, of course, in highly gnostic religions where unquestioned dogma is key, but here in a syncretic orthopraxic religion we are taught how to think for ourselves. We are encouraged to do just what you are doing here Des, question the status quo!

That being said, I do agree with you Desolous, that much is to be said for broadening our perspective and our knowledge base. The library has a wide range of topics available already, why not take advantage of our more human resources to teach on thos subjects and possibly others! Perhaps we could craft a new special interest group or classroom as a tester for this idea. Of course, this would be up to the council and others far above my rank! Its a thought though!

What Lykeios says here is true. Besides, the Library isn't "closed". We have plenty of shelves with nothing on them. One could propose about any material. Just send the text, audio or vidéo files to Ren or Akkarin.

this will be a doozy, as i will attempt to answer certain points from each of you:

from archon (i think)my own answers are bolded:
'I believe that TOTJO isn't here to set down concrete instructions on how to do anything.' then what if those instructions are not so philosophy heavy?

'Philosophy is rooted in the basis of "why", constantly pushing the will to learn forward....'encouraging the student to ask the questions of themselves.' like the question at hand.

'Here, the best answer cannot be applied to each individual because we are all very different...' and also have different learning styles/levels of patience with what seems to be repeatedly the same thing or a variation on a theme!

next, from Jestor (my own answers in bold again) - 'I would love to see a little thing on controlling spending, or how to manage money... No one ever taught me, and I am a mess financially... I am getting better, but, Im not there yet...' then why dont we? i think between myself and rickie the grey, we could easily tackle this extremely necessary life skill in an informal basis.

now from wes, my answers bolded again: 'I feel that we should arm each other with the tools needed to face what life throws at us.' it is my opinion that a stream of philosophy does not adequately do that.

Wes: 'I do agree that we should help prepare each other for the possibilities that are out there. I don’t think it should be a requirement for people to study. ' then make them electives.

Lykeios said: ' We are encouraged to do just what you are doing here Des, question the status quo!... The library has a wide range of topics available already, why not take advantage of our more human resources to teach on those subjects and possibly others! Perhaps we could craft a new special interest group or classroom as a tester for this idea. Of course, this would be up to the council and others far above my rank! Its a thought though!' i agree.

guys, i never said that i could not learn philosophy, as seems to be the implication here. i think a journal with 236 posts and over 30 thousand views testifies to that. i said that it is not my best subject, and that perhaps having other subjects as well would maybe help hold the interest of myself and others moreso than the next philosophy lesson after the next. im a bit ADHD like that, and i bet a lot of you are too.

so there is a lot of meat in this thread. i hope that it serves as an idea generator if nothing else.

I want to start a bush craft thread

I'm up for that.

Rickie The Grey wrote:

I want to start a bush craft thread

I'm up for that.

I'm getting into bush-craft as well, so I too would be interested

What's bush-craft ? :huh:

Alexandre Orion wrote: What's bush-craft ? :huh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushcraft

It's similar to what boy scouts goes over if you are familiar with that group

and see? just like that, alittle subgroup is born...'jedi bushtrackers'...

Desolous wrote: 'Here, the best answer cannot be applied to each individual because we are all very different...' and also have different learning styles/levels of patience with what seems to be repeatedly the same thing or a variation on a theme!

I will agree with you here, as I don't believe my views on the IP are any secret. That said, my annoyance is mostly with the notion that (based solely on Exercise 4) Jediism is only an offshoot of Zen quite obnoxious. It may be true, it may be the case, but there's only so much reading I can do on the subject without wanting to become one with my pillow.

Desolous wrote: now from wes, my answers bolded again: 'I feel that we should arm each other with the tools needed to face what life throws at us.' it is my opinion that a stream of philosophy does not adequately do that.

I would disagree. If our reality is really our perceptions, and if this philosophic deluge allows us to reshape our perceptions at will, then it stands to reason that philosophy is our utility belt, allowing us to Batman our way out of anything.

Desolous wrote: Wes: 'I do agree that we should help prepare each other for the possibilities that are out there. I don’t think it should be a requirement for people to study. ' then make them electives.

There's a forum for that, I believe.