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Optiskeptic's avatar

Fascinating piece! I spent a week in Cairo over Christmas. That huge sprawling, growing city surprised me greatly. Despite grave security concerns (TWO complete security searches just to get OUT of the country and scanners at every museum and site) as well as several different types of police and occasional soldiers everywhere I felt safer than I do in London where I have the advantage of knowing the language and my way around. I can't explain exactly why, although walking across busy traffic filled roads without being mown down may be part of it, yet your article has made me wonder whether in London my government fears ME while in Egypt the government appears more fearful of external, rather than existential, threats. I am coming on the Reich week at Osho, so am looking forward to learning more...

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Devaraj Sandberg's avatar

Yeah, I live in a Muslim city too and they do tend to be a lot safer than Western cities. Expats comment on this all the time. But I think that is partly religion but more the strong social, family net. Great you're coming to the group in Jan!

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Rob (c137)'s avatar

"9 The mistake that is made by many traditional philosophers, he suggests, is to believe that freeing one’s attention up in this way necessitates turning one’s back on practical life, rather than, in fact, embracing it.60 ‘One should act like a man of thought’, he wrote, in a memorable formulation, ‘and think like a man of action. "

-Ian McGilchrist from The Matter with Things

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Zippy's avatar

The very fact that one is engaging in left brained spirit-killing philosophy (in particular) signals that one is divorced from the Master Principle as posited by McGilchrist.

But even then Iain's concept/understanding of the Master Principle is itself quite limited. The Master Principle is much more profound than right-brained thinking however seemingly insightful.

It is impossible to think one's way out of the trap/ sleep of left-brained reason.

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Devaraj Sandberg's avatar

Thing is, it is only the left brain that conceives of a left-right brain distinction! This has been the issue with thought-based approaches to healing for decades. They tend to reinforce the split through trying to heal it. That's why I prefer to work with the sense of the body.

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