Class 9/9/14

Hi again

Tuesday's class began with an experiment in the courtyard. We were all told to go lie down somewhere and close our eyes. Little by little, we were supposed to let go of all of our senses. This was really hard to do with all of the crickets chirping, but I actually experienced a few seconds here and there when I was somewhere else. I don't know where that "somewhere else" was but I got there. I got there when I wasn't focusing or trying to get to that place. When I did think about it, I couldn't get there. It reminded me of when you can't sleep and you know you're trying to fall asleep. You can never actually fall asleep! That was how I felt during this activity.

When we returned to the classroom, it was back to debating. The main topic was innate ideas. The Descartes side argued that everyone is born with innate ideas such as God, logic, and time. We, the Humean side, debated that you can't possibly be born with those ideas in your head. One of our arguments was that not everyone believes in God. If your family is religious, they might put you in a class to study your family's faith, whatever that may be, but you're not born knowing what the idea of a "higher being" is. Another innate idea that the Descartes side touched upon was time. Time is definitely something people aren't aware of from birth. When you tell a child you are babysitting that they have 10 minutes until bed and two minutes later you say it's time to go to bed, they don't know any better. Innate ideas are not a valid argument because without being taught about these things and without having experienced them first hand, people won't know about their existence.

Next post: part two to meditation activity.