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The Monk and the Philosopher: A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life
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All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.> When I was still a catholic I "solved" this by assuming God put souls with more capability to survive hardships in bodies that experience more hardships. Basically the world is a level-scaling MMORPG :)Interestingly, if you an understand the synthesis of eastern metaphysical concepts such as "maya" (illusion), "karma" (causation) and their logical implications such as reincarnation, you arrive at a similar conclusion -- the world is essentially a game (meant to be enjoyed, a journey, a sport to be reveled in), which scales your instance based on your karma! There's respawning too :)
Choose your own adventure!
Just thought I'd drop a book recommendation here: "The Monk and the Philosopher" - Jean-François Revel and Matthieu Ricard [0]. A much younger, atheist, science-absolutionist (?-haha) me had his mind blown by this text. It made me seriously question my world view (which would be later be shattered by a friend with considerable philosophical talent). I do not currently identify as a Buddhist, and I'm not sure how it would be received now, but it certainly was useful in breaking a certain science-dogma in me.
edit: punctuation, book recommendation
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meani...
I would not recommend any compilations of philosophy. The great thing about philosophy is reading the rationales and the results, not only the results."Ricard+Revel - The Monk and the Philosopher" http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meanin...
"Socrates(/Plato) - The Allegory of the Cave" http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html
"Plato(/Socrates/others) - Symposium" http://www.amazon.com/Symposium-Plato/dp/0872200760
"Bertrand Russell - The Conquest of Happiness" http://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/dp...
⬐ hhI absolutely agree that The Monk and the Philosopher is one of the best book. A frank discussion between a father and son who both have PhD. Every interesting book.⬐ jscActually Jean-Francois Revel did not have a PhD (he explains why in his autobiography "Le voleur dans la maison vide").