You have expressed it much better in your comment – about relegating everything to external, unexplainable agents.

I don’t exactly understand why the “typical Mahendra post”, “Mahendraish conclusion”, etc., but I take it as a sign that my posts are reflecting me. That, in turn, is a good sign for me, because it indicates that my writing is getting more transparent. So, thank you!

Once, when I hiked a hill and saw the entire Machu Picchu site before me, I experienced something that I had never felt before. For example, I feet transported away from the real world, and suddenly things like car and coffee don’t matter. Due to a lack of better word, I simply called them divine.

Divine intervention, along with words like destiny, luck and blessing as ‘acts of God’ makes no sense to me. These factors relegate everything to external, unexplainable agents and are often used as an excuse, by many, to absolve themselves of their misdeeds.

I like your Mahendraish conclusion.

But if you need what we call an “utaara” in Marathi, meaning a light break, just read the previous post!

The “take-away” for me from that dialogue is Tagore’s likening of lines/colors to melody/harmony – a very interesting, apt analogy.

A must read, if not read already – the conversation between Einstein and Tagore on truth and beauty in the context of music, religion, and science. And, my take on it here.

Didn’t people consider earthquakes and plague as divine intervention to compensate for man’s evil deeds?

I can understand if you apply the term only in a positive sense, but I don’t think this restriction applies to everyone.

The epistemological razor is a tool to arrive at the essential traits of concepts – it doesn’t provide the full meaning and context, only the essential characteristics.

I did not understand where the ‘chemically induced state’ part came from.

By identifying human beings as mammals only identifies an essential trait – it does not ‘put them down’ to the level of all mammals.

Re: PS: yes, I understood that perfectly.

And that which ‘uplifts’, or ‘liberates’, or brightens, or lightens … The thing is, deep fear can also elude human understanding, or extreme cruelty? Divine has to be be, by definition ‘better’, which could again be loosely defined .

Problems with razors is that they’re flat. Sharp but flat. So they cut out anything in the path that’s causing a problem to smoothness .

The thing is, given a choice between a chemically induced state that makes me ‘feel’ divinity, and feeling the same, through something like music … The razor will put them down on same level. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that … However much my rationalistic leanings …

A typical ‘mahendra’ post: analytical, well researched, and clear.

Greate read,
asuph

PS: I’m sure music does not have a monopoly. It’s very personal thing for me.