Favorite philosophers/thinkers?

[ChaoticMethod]

Hi Nexians.

Recently I've been focusing on broadening my philosophical horizons. I think it is important to look into different world-views in order to build your own. For that reason, I was wondering if you have any philosopher, thinker or spiritual writer who influence you that you'd like to share, and what books you think are worth reading. If you could also present their philosophy a bit, I think it could become an interesting topic.

 

[christian]

Terence McKenna and Dale Carnegie both spring to mind!

 

[meatsim]

I've read, listened, and watched a lot of Stefan Molyneux's material. He's basically arguing that the violent scare-tactic upbringing of our children is the root cause of all the state violence and wars in the world, and focuses a lot on portraying the children as fragile and "pure" beings who are destroyed by the cultural, religious and political bias this world is so full of. He's not perfect 'in any way, shape, or form', but I'd definitely have a look at his discussions of moral philosophy.

I'm also very fascinated by Roger Penrose's theory of consciousness named "Orch-OR", which suggests that there exists a shared super consciousness enabling living beings in all cosmos and dimensions to communicate while neglecting classical-physical barriers like distance/location through the "non-locality" principle in quantum physics. A nice introduction to this concept can be read in the book "Inner paths to outer space".
Additionally here's the paper describing it in more detail: http://www.alice.id.tue.nl/references/hameroff-1998.pdf

 

[AlbertKLloyd]

Dr. Seuss,
Far less pseudointellecutal than the usual cast of western philosophers.
Him, Lao Tzu and Vyasa.

 

[Pony On A Rainbow]

I'm a big fan of George Orwell's work. 1984 is like today but written in the 40's-50's. Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a chauvinistic attempt against money.

Nietszche. One word. DENSE.
He basically reflected on society's tendencies like people influencing other people. One tries to prove that they are right and whoever they are pointing at is wrong. But in an objective view, there is really no right or wrong. It's all subjective.

I really love reading philosophical books because my mind tends to wonder towards my own philosophy when i'm at the act of reading.

Wish you luck my man!
Take it easy

 

[Purges]

+1 for Orwell & McKenna. Also in the same vein, I don't mind a spot of Huxley.

Alan Watts I find to be a very illuminating and captivating human being. I just can't stand that all the videos on Youtube have Titanic-esque music in the background. Infuriating. If anyone has links to any of his lectures without that garbage obscuring his words, I would love to hear them (De-oxy also has music tainted lectures I noticed)

 

[The Traveler]

"The average person pushed a bit beyond their normal limit"


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[joedirt]

Patanjali is one of my favorite as well as the Buddha.

Peace

 

[a1pha]

And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

...

 

[LucidLemonade]

+1 for Orwell & McKenna. Also in the same vein, I don't mind a spot of Huxley.

Alan Watts I find to be a very illuminating and captivating human being. I just can't stand that all the videos on Youtube have Titanic-esque music in the background. Infuriating. If anyone has links to any of his lectures without that garbage obscuring his words, I would love to hear them (De-oxy also has music tainted lectures I noticed)

Torrents are your friend.. Search for both TMK and Alan Watts and you will find their complete collections all rar'd up & ready for you to download...

 

[fractalic]

i like to read Jiddu Krishnamurti to clear my mind in times of earthly troubles.

 

[Parshvik Chintan]

+1 for Orwell & McKenna. Also in the same vein, I don't mind a spot of Huxley.

Alan Watts I find to be a very illuminating and captivating human being. I just can't stand that all the videos on Youtube have Titanic-esque music in the background. Infuriating. If anyone has links to any of his lectures without that garbage obscuring his words, I would love to hear them (De-oxy also has music tainted lectures I noticed)

there are multiple torrents of all of his works.
i recommend dling each seperate album, rather than collections as i did, very unorganized, lots of unlabeled stuff. track orders not present, just a pain to organize

Terrence Mckenna, David Icke, Bob Marley, Bill Hicks!

david icke is the people in power are alien-lizard men from ancient sumeria, yes?
way to make people who search for truth look crazy

6 Crackpot Conspiracy Theories (That Actually Happened)

in the course of looking down our noses at the nutjobs who spread urban legends and conspiracy theories, we have to sometimes stop and point out that there are downright terrifying historical precedents for even their craziest of claims.

www.cracked.com

seriously, tin foil hatters > annunaki. (not to be offensive, but people like david icke are the reason some members in my own family think i am gullible and paranoid)

but if you like bill hicks, i think you would like alan watts (bill hicks is how i first got into philosophy [also tool])

 

[actualfactual]

Most of the people who came to mind have already been mentioned.. I'm also quite fond of Ramana Maharshi

 

[Rising Spirit]

Zarathustra, Maharshi Veda Vyasa, Gautama Buddha, Lao Tzu, Socrates, Confucius, Plato, Chang Tzu, Patanjali, Mencius, Plotinus, Bodhidharma, Adi Shankaracharia, Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafiz, Bankei Yōtaku, Hakuin, Basho, Bulle Shah, Meister Eckhart, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, William Blake, Chief Joseph, Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Marharshi, Sri Aurobindo, William James, Carl Jung, Albert Einstein Black Elk, Aldous Huxley, Suzuki Roshi, Alan Watts, Carlos Castaneda, Eckart Tolle, & of course... gibran2

 

[zubidlo]

for me, the teachings of:

Nisargadatta Maharaj
Paul Brunton
Eduard Tomas
Hermann Hesse
Frantisek Drtikol

and of course David "Dave" Lister from Red Dwarf:lol:

 

[clouds]

shulgin, mckenna, hicks and... bob ross

 

[justine]

No one has yet mentioned robert anton wilson but his "Prometheus Rising" is such a must-read for psychedelic-oriented minds !

 

[Perderabo]

i like to read Jiddu Krishnamurti to clear my mind in times of earthly troubles.

+1. hes writing isnt easy to try understand but it is very interesting

 

[easyrider]

Heraclitus of Ephesus, Socrates, Plato, Diogenes of Sinope, Zeno of Citium, Augustine of Hippo, Renee Descartes, Baruch de Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, George Berkeley, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, F.H. Bradley, Hermann Hesse, Nikos Kazantzakis, Peter Wessel Zapffe, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus.

 

[fractalic]

almost forgot -Hakim Bey - for the poetic anarchist among us.