<![CDATA[Eric Scheske's Outside Modern Limits: Full Spectrum of Reality]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/s/understanding-the-full-spectrum-ofhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLh!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc922ccd8-e1bc-45ee-99e8-5eaf39de73d9_256x256.pngEric Scheske's Outside Modern Limits: Full Spectrum of Realityhttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/s/understanding-the-full-spectrum-ofSubstackThu, 14 May 2026 13:12:06 GMT<![CDATA[Schumacher's "Perplexed" Meets McGilchrist's "Master"]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/schumachers-perplexed-meets-mcgilchristshttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/schumachers-perplexed-meets-mcgilchristsMon, 25 Nov 2024 12:46:29 GMT

“Does E.F. Schumacher’s appreciative discussion of Edgar Cayce concern you?” I asked Fr. Schall at lunch.

It was a fair question. Schall’s Another Sort of Learning strongly recommended E.F. Schumacher’s A Guide for the Perplexed.1 Perplexed, in turn, approvingly quoted and cited New Age spiritual icons Edgar Cayce and P.D. Ouspensky.2

By application of the…

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]]><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence Doesn't Have a Right Hemisphere]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/artificial-intelligence-doesnt-havehttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/artificial-intelligence-doesnt-haveThu, 01 Aug 2024 11:02:00 GMT
green robot toy

Large language models: The fuel of today's artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence gathers the Internet's vast sea of words, processes them, and arranges them in a manner that allows it to accomplish tasks. That's how a large language model works.

LLMs are machine learning models that utilize deep learning algorithms to process and understand lan…

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]]><![CDATA[We Don't Know What Consciousness is Because We Don't Know What the Tao Is]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/we-dont-know-what-consciousness-ishttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/we-dont-know-what-consciousness-isFri, 13 Oct 2023 13:37:00 GMT

Your consciousness is what it’s like to be you. It’s your experiences of color and sound and smell; your feelings of pain, joy, excitement or tiredness. It’s what makes you a thinking, sentient being rather than an unfeeling mechanism. Philip Goff, Scientific American

Science is stumped: It can't figure out what consciousness is. It's not even at "first …

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]]><![CDATA[How to Break a Maniac]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-break-a-maniachttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-break-a-maniacMon, 16 Jan 2023 21:21:00 GMT
cPhoto by Thiébaud Faix on Unsplash

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]]><![CDATA[Solon, the Father of Democracy, was a Man of the Tao]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/solon-the-father-of-democracy-washttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/solon-the-father-of-democracy-wasMon, 31 Oct 2022 11:45:49 GMT
Photo by Constantinos Kollias on Unsplash

Ancient Athens in the 600s BC

Ancient Athens didn’t have a king. It was ruled by nine archons. These were men from the largest landowning families in Attica. When an archon finished his term, he became a life member of the Senate that met on Ares’ hill (the Areopagus), where true power resided.

Large tracts of land…

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]]><![CDATA[Ten Breakthrough Thinkers from Across Civilizations Lived Around 500 BC]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/the-first-amendments-separation-ofhttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/the-first-amendments-separation-ofMon, 17 Oct 2022 13:13:01 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[The Satoshi Nakamoto of Mysticism]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/the-satoshi-nakamoto-of-mysticismhttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/the-satoshi-nakamoto-of-mysticismTue, 19 Jul 2022 21:09:03 GMT

This dude first articulated the western mystical tradition. Like the inventor of Bitcoin, we don’t even know who he was. But he pointed to the Tao.

If you read Chapter 17 of the Book of Acts in the Bible, you’ll see an odd reference at the end. It says that many people converted to Christianity, including Dionysius the Areopagite.

The writer just throws i…

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]]><![CDATA[We Golf. Therefore, the Tao Is]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/we-golf-therefore-the-tao-ishttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/we-golf-therefore-the-tao-isTue, 19 Jul 2022 20:59:48 GMT
2 person walking on green grass field during daytime
Photo by Matt Aylward on Unsplash

We intuit the Tao. That’s why our active hobbies engage us.

“One should live out one’s days playing at certain games—sacrificing, singing, and dancing.”

Plato, The Laws.

Do you have an active hobby?

Good. You probably intuit the Tao.

I say “active” hobby because I’m distinguishing things like gardening, golf, and cooking (“ac…

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]]><![CDATA[Thomas Aquinas: Pinnacle to Obsolescence in 200 Years and Why It Matters]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/thomas-aquinas-pinnacle-to-obsolescencehttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/thomas-aquinas-pinnacle-to-obsolescenceTue, 19 Jul 2022 20:57:12 GMT

1545. The city of Trento, in today’s northern Italy. The Council of Trent. The Bible was placed on the altar. Next to it, the officials put Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica to symbolize the Catholic Church’s reverence for the Saint’s work, the greatest of the Catholic philosophers and Scholastics.

It may have been his high watermark. Less than 200 years …

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]]><![CDATA[How to Kill that Feeling of Thankfulness]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-kill-that-feeling-of-thankfulnesshttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-kill-that-feeling-of-thankfulnessTue, 19 Jul 2022 20:50:18 GMT
man kneeling in the middle of the road
Photo by One zone Studio on Unsplash

Exploring the Thankfulness Paradox

I live in Michigan. A lot of people think October is the prettiest time in Michigan (“fall colors!”), but I’m not so sure.

“Michigan in May,” I tell people, “is one of the best places.”

Dozen hues of green, pink cherry blossoms, purple lilacs, tulips and daffodils and lilies (they grow …

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]]><![CDATA[How to Escape the Selfishness Paradox]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-escape-the-selfishness-paradoxhttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-escape-the-selfishness-paradoxTue, 19 Jul 2022 20:41:24 GMT

Hint: Stop Thinking About It

The word “selfish” trended strongly over the past few years.

People who wouldn’t lock down: selfish. People who wouldn’t get the vaccine: selfish. People who rail against economic inequality: selfish (manifested in envy).

The problem with alleging selfishness, though, is that every human action is selfish.

Perhaps the most funda…

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]]><![CDATA[How to Start Detaching the Door of Reality from Its Hinges]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-start-detaching-the-door-ofhttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/how-to-start-detaching-the-door-ofTue, 19 Jul 2022 20:38:28 GMT

You Need to Deal with the Survival Paradox

The man who invented the calculator, you might imagine, was pretty freakin’ smart.

But he apparently didn’t understand some really freakin’ fundamental things. He one time wrote:

“I know not what is good or bad in anything. I know not which is more profitable to me, health or sickness, wealth or poverty, nor anyth…

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]]><![CDATA[Are You Engaged in the Act of Existence? Then You’re a Man of the Tao ]]>https://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/are-you-engaged-in-the-act-of-existencehttps://outsidemodernlimits.com/p/are-you-engaged-in-the-act-of-existenceMon, 18 Jul 2022 20:13:43 GMT

My daughter runs. She runs in the morning, she runs at night. Runs, runs, runs.

People around town see her and go, “Look at that girl! She’s a runner.”

But I know she’s more than that.

My daughter breathes. She breathes in the morning, she breathes at night. Breathes, breathes, breathes. She’s a breather.

And you know what else?

She exists. She exists in the…

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