An eternal student doesn't grow. An eternal student changes; every time they learn something new, move to that new perspective, they lose touch with the old one. They are learning themselves away from things, which erode and get lost.
The wasteland, once there is a crops going on it, is no longer a wasteland. It didn't grow into being arable, it change into being arable. Likewise, all of those who study won't become more; the bag is just as big. You may throw out things you find of little value, and put in other things you find more valuable (you kinda judge by what's currently inside). Even if a student assembles the most valuable bunch of things in himself, he has forgotten or never have studied most of the world.
An eternal student doesn't mind this, and keeps on studying. But those with goals, those who yearn that spiritual profit, will run deep, and run blind, right until they run out of time.
(picture only relevant because of the candle and the book as a medium)
>>7645
> those who yearn that spiritual profit
What spiritual profit? Isn't the goal enlightenment? If you have no goal why study?
>>7656
That is exactly the point. Some have no goal or reason to study; just like a flower grows or a bee collects nectar, these ones study. There is no checkpoint, no status, no achievement or goal that marks the end of their study, and so they do so eternally. Not even dying is a good enough checkpoint to stop for.
>>7660
Thank
You could probably apply this to society as a whole too. The ideal society would be one that constantly changes.
>>7664
But couldn't we argue that today's society is constantly changing? To show that it is not, you need to simplify, abstract it somehow. In its exact detail, it's never really the same; there might be a few patterns, but the patterns are made by the observer. Another way to argue that society doesn't change is some argument out of an occult axiom, e.g. "it is just an energy slave farm made by evil spirits" - this of course wouldn't change because you define it to be a constant state of things.
So basically in this sense, society is ideal right now; it might only seem not to be because of some filters, abstractions, or arbitrary preferences and values. If the observer himself changes constantly, the society will look ideal, whatever it does.
>>7788
The way I see it society is constantly changing already but only at the rate a "mundane" would if you were to compare the two through abstraction using the as above so below rule.
I can't prove it because I'm not an expert, but I think if everyone in a society was constantly changing for the better, then that society wouldn't ever get stuck in a plateau such as struggling with a bad government or corrupt corporations which slows down if not stops the improvement of the political structure of the society.
>>7825
Values change.
>>7837
I have a very strong gut feeling that most of evil in this world comes from good intentions. Most people have trouble deciding what is good for them (it's not always just a matter of choice anyway), and then you have a society of billions of these uncertain ones with flawed channels of communication. Most of them are young, too.
>>7926
This does feel like the biggest problem with society. There are tons of people of people who have good intentions but end up causing more harm then good because as you said they have trouble deciding what actually is good.
Every person I've met in my life felt like they were searching for answers or a father/mother figure to guide them though, so I feel like this problem could be fixed by presenting the right information in a way that attracts the attention of the masses, because they might actually be subconsciously looking for it. For example, you could try to create some kind of art interesting enough to have mass appeal and change the values of the society.
>>7931
This could also explain why dystopian movies and books have been popular recently. Maybe the masses subconsciously feel something is wrong and so they turn to hollywood movies because they're subconsciously looking for answers, and in the end these movies only end up further confusing them which is why society is in it's current state. So essentially humanity collectively is capable of searching out answers to improve itself, but it keeps mistaking shitty art for the truth. So to fix the problem, just show it art that will catch its attention and give it the real answers.
>>7933
I'd relate the popularity of dystopian movies to a psychological need for danger. Humans instinctively seek safety, and try to make their surroundings safe. But once your house, your income, your future, even the web pages you can stumble upon are safe, there is no more reason to stay focused or alert. Hunger, thirst, sleepiness, pain, weather, other people, libido, everything can be easily taken care of. In such a safe spot, the only reasonable move is not to move, and people do just that.
But then boredom kicks in, and it kicks hard. Unless you can deal with it, it turns into depression (which is an evolutionary response to situations where you have to remain inside and be inert for most of the time - it works especially well in winter when food is scarce and all you can really do is wait).
In such a state, where danger is but a distant memory and most safe entertainment lost its color, there in nothing better than vivid, violent, scary and disturbing stuff to keep you alert and occupied.
The general spread of such dystopian movies and games shows well that the population is, overall, more bored than a few decades before. It is a price paid for safety. As all forms of danger are locked away deeper and deeper, the concept of "danger" starts to mean less and less for the young ones who never experienced it. Soon, they will seek it out themselves in the form of reckless behavior, this or that abuse, and whatnot.
You can't really teach people about danger second-hand. They have to experience it in some form, sooner or later. Accidents must happen.
>>7955
To somewhat drive this back in the general direction of my thread, I could say that an eternal student is one that heals every scar, and with time forgets every accident. He forgets or "overwrites" all of his own conclusions, and will revisit things and places. This is in obvious contrast to a regular student, who only goes in one direction, and once he learned something and has made some solid conclusions on that, he never really revisits it. This is how dogmas are born, essentially. Luckily, there's always a younger generation to question such dogmas with a fresh mind, but too many scars and accidents can make such a dogma hard to break.
>>7955
Maybe dystopian films were a bad example. I know it looks like the vast majority of people only watch movies for adrenaline rushes, but other genres of movies like romance and drama movies are also very popular. You could argue people only watch those because they desire to watch social activity, but you can't deny that these movies end up shaping the values and world view of our society to a large extent. While it's true that a desire for adrenaline, social activity etc. is probably a very big motivation for watching movies and reading books, I'm arguing that the desire for information, or a world view is also a very big motivation for watching these movies even if the people watching them don't realize it.
>>7956
Yea this is why reproduction is important, to break old patterns.
>>7975
Romance and other highly emotion stuff still fits the "trying to fight boredom" thing. It's definitely better than staring at the walls of your safe, but not very eventful wall.
>>7976
Reproduction? I only heard that in the meaning of free time activity. Like how an electrical engineer does some golf or whatever; but that won't break any of his electrical engineer patterns.
