CONVERSATION AND BLOG TOPICS ANIL MITRA, © August 2014 CONVERSATION AND BLOG TOPICS CONTENTS CONVERSATION AND BLOG TOPICS SourcesJourney in being-brief-essence-talks PrinciplesWhat readers do I want to reach? What will motivate them? How to maintain interest! Main statements. Simplicity. Refer to details. Have topics laid out. More principlesThe following are from How to attract readers to your blog and make them stay: Define your audience (but it’s also good to be open and appealing to others) Focus on Search Engine Optimization—Google, Google Places, Google Mobile, Bing, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, City Search, Four Square, YP.com, GPS navigation, MerchantCircle… link back to the blog several times anywhere you have established a presence… drop links to your site on popular social bookmarking sites— like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit to drive their very active blog-hunting communities to your blog Add Google Analytics to your site—it enables you to discover what will attract people, who is attracted from where (e.g. if from Twitter, let followers know at each new post). Analytics lets you know what people are searching for and so what keywords to use… And… social networking (Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr…), online communities, contests, create a sense of belonging, comments, emphasize content quality, headlines matter, invite other bloggers to write content for your website, encourage readers to share your work, maintain brand and identity Topics and headingsMotivation. The human endeavor—immediate and ultimate—and aim of the blog. And: The fundamental questions. What are they—the idea and the questions. Examples. Kant wrote that all our questions of human reason and speculation combine into three (four) questions—What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? What is man? We could perhaps come up with others but a little thought suggests that many other apparently fundamental questions are covered by these three. For example anyone’s answer to the question would cover their answer to the question of the ‘meaning of life’. Regarding the questions, there is no answering them without metaphysics and metaphysics is the foundation of all answering and therefore of knowledge, destiny (andor fate), hope, action, and our nature. But metaphysics is ubiquitous—we all have at least a tacit or implicit or unspoken metaphysics which is the basis of our at least tacit answers; therefore metaphysics is unavoidable. Therefore it is perhaps essential to spell out and improve upon our tacit and explicit metaphysical systems (almost every religious system has a metaphysics and formal metaphysics has a home in what is called philosophy). Perhaps, then, from the point of view of foundations a fundamental question is the metaphysical question—What is there in the world? On first glance it does not seem that this ‘contains’ the other questions but when we see that knowledge and knowing, values and valuing, destiny and fate, and being and human being are in the world we recognize that metaphysics is the key to the kingdom of answers. Perhaps we can formulate the metaphysical question as—What is the or most inclusive but still possible metaphysics? To what extent is this achieved? How can I think about these issues? What are the consequences? What we find is a metaphysics that is ultimate in two senses: (a) It shows that the universe is ultimate—the most inclusive; and (b) It captures this metaphysics explicitly in the direction of depth or foundation and implicitly in breadth. Since the universe is most inclusive, breadth or variety is explicitly without limit but the capture is implicit in that limited form does not know or experience the entire breadth except in process. It is further found that the metaphysics is a container for what is valid in our traditions of knowledge and action which results in a practical metaphysics that reveals and illuminates an ultimate goal (on the ideal side) while (on a practical side) it guides process toward that goal. Name. Consider the motivation and aim, the content, and other factors of appeal and relevance. Background. What is the world like? Worldviews and cosmologies and their ubiquity. The traditions. Secular and trans-secular views and their limits. Limitlessness. What is the most inclusive cosmology? How to think on these issues—science, metaphysics, and the a priori? Are there good epistemic reasons to believe it is true? Is it contradictory or absurd—does it contradict what we know—what is valid in the traditions? OK, so it’s not negative—but are there positive epistemic reasons? Can we hope for a proof? Is it worth looking for a proof—i.e., what is its appeal, value or worth to human being and civilization—i.e., what are some consequences? Proof and doubt. The fundamental principle. Forms of the principle. Consequences. The main statements. The cosmology of being and identity. The givenness, nature, of—and approach to—a journey in being. The main concepts. The Good. Expression. Meaning. Being. Experience. Robustness (of experience). Universe. Law. Void. Limitlessness. Realism. Identity. Extensivity. Variety. Mind. Realization (journey). Mechanics (and elements). Ways (and catalysts). Path. The main topics. Aim. Approach, Tradition—secular and non-secular, Metaphysics, Ideas and Action (part of an introduction). Ideas, Meaning, Doubt. Being, Experience. Universe. Law. Void. Limitlessness. Realism, Fact, and Logic. Identity. Extensivity. Cosmology. Mind. Intuition. Metaphysics (pure and practical). Realization. Ways. Path. Journey. Elements and mechanics. Ways and catalysts. The disciplines of the tradition. Intrinsic—the yogas. Instrumental—the sciences, logic, mathematics, language and expression; philosophy and meaning; metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and value; art and religion; history. |