"The study and practice of the law are a potentially profound way to realize skillful means. Are they enough to cultivate enlightenment? That, for another post."
Not sure if you've gotten around to that other post yet. But, I suggest, the answer is Yes! The way I see it, enlightenment is one manifestation of the law that characterizes the human form. You previously mentioned Kant's principle of autonomy. It is not immediately clear how autonomy is connected to enlightenment; autonomy is manifested in right activity of the will, and enlightenment is manifested in right inactivity of the will. But they share this: by hook or by crook, they consist in the coherence of the human intentional system. I've been told that this is implied by Kant's principles of rationality, but so far I get the sense that if this *is* a dimension of his principles, it's somewhere in the margins.
I suggest that this is the law that constitutes the human form: coherence must seek itself. Discord must yield to harmony. Competition must yield to cooperation. Contradiction must yield to consistency. Communion inheres in our flesh and our blood -- no wonder Jesus kept badgering the poor pharisees to cannibalize him.
If you find it suspicious to treat 'coherence', 'consistency', 'coordination', and 'cooperation', as roughly synonymous, I don't blame you! My sense that there is unity among these principles is derived in part from introspection, and God knows mental formations can be bent into any form you project onto them. However, my research into cognitive science suggests that, at the level of computation, our mapping activities and our navigational activities are at least interdependent, and are very likely two sides of the same coin. Hence my view that epistemic coherence and practical coherence are two dimensions of the same principle. In my own practice, I pick this principle out with 'communion' -- it's a turn to the poetic that works for me.
Love this discussion especially as I am one of those who cultivate satori yet find observance of the law (Judaism) a necessary bulwark.
"The study and practice of the law are a potentially profound way to realize skillful means. Are they enough to cultivate enlightenment? That, for another post."
Not sure if you've gotten around to that other post yet. But, I suggest, the answer is Yes! The way I see it, enlightenment is one manifestation of the law that characterizes the human form. You previously mentioned Kant's principle of autonomy. It is not immediately clear how autonomy is connected to enlightenment; autonomy is manifested in right activity of the will, and enlightenment is manifested in right inactivity of the will. But they share this: by hook or by crook, they consist in the coherence of the human intentional system. I've been told that this is implied by Kant's principles of rationality, but so far I get the sense that if this *is* a dimension of his principles, it's somewhere in the margins.
I suggest that this is the law that constitutes the human form: coherence must seek itself. Discord must yield to harmony. Competition must yield to cooperation. Contradiction must yield to consistency. Communion inheres in our flesh and our blood -- no wonder Jesus kept badgering the poor pharisees to cannibalize him.
If you find it suspicious to treat 'coherence', 'consistency', 'coordination', and 'cooperation', as roughly synonymous, I don't blame you! My sense that there is unity among these principles is derived in part from introspection, and God knows mental formations can be bent into any form you project onto them. However, my research into cognitive science suggests that, at the level of computation, our mapping activities and our navigational activities are at least interdependent, and are very likely two sides of the same coin. Hence my view that epistemic coherence and practical coherence are two dimensions of the same principle. In my own practice, I pick this principle out with 'communion' -- it's a turn to the poetic that works for me.