User:Josephprymak

Joseph Prymak hopes to inspire Canada's leaders with a historic legacy: the largest wilderness park on Earth. Joseph is a researcher, outdoor educator, editor, volunteer, and writer in Canada. Joseph and his wife own and manage a bookshop in Canada. For over 20 years he has worked part time for the Free Press. He also taught chemistry and physics part time to grade school students. Joseph has contributed to Wikipedia since 2004 as an editor, providing original contributions, verifying content, and making statements more specific, detailed, and less vague.

During childhood Joseph helped to manage the family business of greenhouses and market gardens. Joseph graduated from the International Baccalaureate Program and refused a scholarship to explore nature, travel, read, and journal. In the 1990's he spent many years alone in Western Canadian wilderness areas and parks, at times risking his life, and surviving to tell the tales. Joseph studied environmental science, anthropology, chemistry, math, and physics. He also studied conflict resolution, biology, botany, political philosophy, and logic. During the late 1990's he helped to purchase land for a sustainable agriculture and alternative energy project. Joseph and his wife own and operate an outdoor education, historical research, and wilderness survival business. He was the Treasurer for the Eco-Network and the Provincial representative for the National Council of the Canadian Environmental Network. Joseph is a researcher of history, the Hudson's Bay Company Archives, political philosophy, classical texts, ethnobotany, land use studies, and environmental issues.

Joseph is a business owner, writer, a book collector, an outdoor educator, a wilderness survivalist, a gardener, a home school teacher, and a father. You can often find him mapping his way through the wilderness searching for edible plants, learning about archaeology, or discovering petroforms. He has done archival research of Canadian history in the Hudson Bay Archives. He continues to research the fur trade in North America, prehistoric trade, Ojibwe history, out of print books, microfilms, early mapping, archaeology, and treaty making in Canada.

Joseph can easily navigate through remote forests without a GPS. During early childhood he developed a love for wilderness areas that are not clearly marked on any maps. He would hike and explore for miles into dense forests, off trail, far from his parents and beyond the safety of civilization. He has been alone in the wilderness often, studying the natural realm. In nature he rediscovered our basic human needs and ideas, while also confronting some basic human fears. He has written journals of his adventures and philosophical ideas since the age of fourteen. Lucid dreaming had a profound affect upon his early life, along with ancient texts and classics. His favourite book is Ecclesiastes.

You can contact him at caveofplato@live.com

Joseph also supports the Longest Lasting Letter.

Some contributions, some original, some edited:

and more.

Some Great Qoutes

Seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow.

carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (Venosa, December 8, 65 BC – Rome, November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to enjoy life as it is: "As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."

Biblical

The expression, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" derives from verses from the biblical books of Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32, and which occurs many times in modern English-language popular culture.

In the Ecclesiastes there are some paragraphs with a similar message (9,7–9):

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

I also hope to somehow incorporate some of the following ideas into the Wikipedia:

The idea of true and false statements is an important one in logic. I have made it my duty to carefully show how basic ideas in logic and science are required to make any knowledge claims. True statements can exist simply because of definitions by demonstration. Any human, anywhere, at any time in history can and often did point to the sun or moon, that truly exist, and give them a name, a common definition, or an etymological one. The sun and moon exist even if there are inconsistent, consistent, and more detailed definitions, words, symbols, and images that attempt to represent the actual and partially changing sun and moon.

Humans can build complex technology, do science experiments, get humans on the moon, build interesting cities, and co-operatively drive on superhighways because language can often very accurately correspond to what truly exists. The language of math has greatly enabled humans world wide to excellently apply the scientific method, to test a hypothesis, and to discover, not create, the true and probable statements about this universe. Words and language are a fantastic invention that allows humans to co-ordinate, map, plan, and prosper with great success, because the words and symbols actually do communicate about what truly exists, as opposed to false claims about what exists. The search for true statements about the world around us and within us is an ancient art and science that also attempts to demonstrate or prove what is bogus, false, or lies about what exists. There are far too many false opinions in the minds of humans. What is true? How can one know with certainty and proof? There are true or probable answers to many important questions, and logical ways to demonstrate fallacies, false statements, contradictions, inconsistencies, and lies.

The word "philosophy" is etymologically and historically from the Ancient Greek word of φιλοσοφία, or love of wisdom, compounded from φίλος (philos, meaning friend, or lover, in the ancient sense) and σοφία (sophía, meaning wisdom, defined differently than popular opinions today). Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are some of the most famous to use the word, and the first that we know of (through a great volume of written sources) to carefully reason about definitions and categories. The Ancient Greek word "philosophy" became widely known because of them, but the very first origin of the word is unknown. Many of Plato's lengthy dialogues and Aristotle's notes have been preserved (for good reasons) for over two thousand years and have helped to shed light on the ancient origins of philosophy, in their own words and texts. Of key importance here is to return to the original texts, in the original language, to study what some of the ancients thought of themselves, or about the universe, without applying many theories that can easily misinterpret what they truly thought about.

The disproving of race theories and race categories is a specialty of mine. Few today, in Canada and the United States of America question the idea of races to the extent that is necessary and logical. I have studied political philosophy and logic, including Darwin's popular writings about whether or not races even exist, or are race theories pointing out important differences in the human species.

The first questions are why does one want to divide up the human species? For what goals or ends? In what ways is it helpful or important to point out any number of possible differences in humans especially across very large and often unspecific geographical areas of many nations? Once one has chosen a specific, or even unspecific criteria of what is different about at least two groups, then how many categories should there be? Many scientists such as Darwin have clearly demonstrated how there are any number of possible and therefore arbitrary criteria and categories that can be used to divide up the human species. For example, skin color is very popular, because of conventions, customs, and traditions, but eye color, hair type, and height are less often used as criteria. Then how many specific or often unspecific categories will one use for any type of criteria chosen?

Many expert scientists and thinkers throughout history have inconsistently proposed a wide number of possible races, which shows how difficult it would be to finally determine if there is only one race, 2 races, or any other number, and what criteria would be best to do so. The search for specific genes using induction and statistics also has major problems. Again, which genes should one search for and why? Are these then racial categories, or simply individuals with or without a certain gene? What about all the gradations, mixes, exceptions, and even the varied expressions of those with the same gene or gene sequences? What are the margins of error, the sample sizes used, and again for what goal is all of this done? In biology and medicine, is it best to treat each human as a unique individual with many unique environmental factors that can affect the way a gene is expressed or not?

The key ideas to focus on about false race theories are the ideas of goals, criteria, an arbitrary number of categories, gradations, degrees, statistics, margins of error, and very unspecific geographical areas. With a bit of logic, math, and careful thinking one can easily disprove the claims that races of humans actually exist.

Universal Questions

Universal questions, or permanent questions are the great questions that many humans have asked for thousands of years, and that anyone, anywhere, can ask. Often these kinds of questions are very philosophical and some are unanswered. For example: Was the universe created? Does a Creator exist? What can we know what is a true or false statement and how? What should we do in certain circumstances? These questions and many more might have answers, but some might be impossible to answer, and some may require more time to discover the true answers through deduction, or the probable answers of induction. There have been many attempts of using logic and math to answer some of these questions, and some answers require difficult evidence and proof.

This is not a topic of idle speculation, and it is partly the historical foundation of science. Science and the scientific method began historically with careful philosophical questions and different methods that are prior to the scientific method. The foundational questions themselves also come logically prior to scientific knowledge, or any knowledge that is carefully proven, peer reviewed, and debated using logic and reason. The idea of first principles that must be proven before any other knowledge claims can be made is written about by Plato over two thousand years ago.

The immaterial world refers to the philosophical idea, or at least the question, that a non-material, or incorporeal realm might exist. A logical and prior question is whether or not there is only the one material universe? If no, then what else exists?

Does an immaterial world or realm exist? This is possibly one of the very basic and common universal questions asked by many humans over thousands of years, but can be asked in other ways by using very similar ideas, concepts, and words. The question about the immaterial realm is not the same as the claim of idealism or immaterialism. The question about whether or not an immaterial realm exists may never be answered with certainty, but the question itself is an important one for many philosophers, theologians, and many others. If it is answered eventually by a method other than the scientific one, then what exactly exists in the immaterial, or non-material realm?

The question about an immaterial Creator prior to this material universe is also very common, but this assumes that this material universe, or even universes, had a non-material beginning. This leads one right back to the logically prior questions of metaphysics and epistemology that attempt to find the answers to whether or not the material realm alone exists.

Ethnogeology is the study of how geological features and materials were intelligently used by ancient peoples around the globe, and compared to human uses of the Earth today.

Humans use certain features of the natural landscape for their benefit and survival even today, which provides insights into what many humans may have thought and did in the past. Examples of this are natural hills for easier defense, high ground to escape from floods, access to rivers and lakes for travel, access to natural sources of drinking water, access to soil for agriculture, and access to useful mineral deposits for tool making and better hunting. Humans have wisely used the natural features of any landscape to their advantage.

One research area involves the flat, granite ridges of the Canadian Shield in the Whiteshell Provincial Park of Manitoba, Canada. The ice ages scoured down the Precambrian cored mountains over millions of years and left behind many acres of flat surfaces that are very similar to the flat paved areas that we build in cities today. These hard, solid, large areas were used for humans to gather, trade, teach, and to make petroforms. This central area of the continent provided a natural place to meet and trade objects and ideas. There is evidence that these large, pink granite surfaces were used and even revered by ancient peoples for thousands of years. Granite ridges provided natural highways through dense forests and wetlands. Plentiful amounts of large rocks and boulders left by the last ice age gave humans the opportunity to build geometrical shapes, patterns, animal shapes, and symbols by lining up the rocks on the flat granite surfaces. These hills and ridges also provided the opportunity for better defense, and to study the rising, setting, and movement of the sun, moon, and stars. The petroforms on ridges were used as astronomical devices, as direction finders, and possibly as maps. These rock shapes were also used to help memorize important ideas and stories.

Geology and anthropology combined can give us new insights into the ancient past. History is partially "written" on the Earth itself because the natural landscape gave certain logical advantages to humans, and enough humans would have discovered these natural facts to use to their advantage. The human ability to reason, think carefully, plan ahead, and to survive in diverse environments allows us to use the natural geological features to our advantage. Humans have the ability to find the easiest ways to survive, and there are obvious ways that humans would have used the landscape and water ways to one's advantage.

More thought needs to be given about how humans as a whole naturally used and still use their landscapes to thrive and develop their ways of life. Different geography and geological features can physically limit humans in certain ways, or open new avenues for exploration and development. The peoples who lived near oceans had the opportunity to discover advanced ship building skills and knowledge, whereas humans on desert land would need to focus more on water storing, and desert agriculture.

Anthropogeology is another possible name for ethnogeology. This study attempts to answer some basic and fundamental questions where the two disciplines overlap. Some common questions are: What specific types of rocks were used for stone tools? What types of stone provided what types of stone tools? What specific locations provided the types of rocks required? In what other ways did humans live in relation to their geological environments? How do some geological and geographical environments influence human actions, tool making, and skills? What are the natural needs of humans and how have they adapted to specific rock formations or other geological features on Earth?

Some obvious examples of the relation of anthropology and geology is the use of certain metals and rocks for stone tools, spear points, and arrow heads. Other examples are the human use of waterways for boat travel, or the use of desert agriculture that needs water storage and irrigation technology. Humans for thousands of years have developed different boats depending on their need to travel over different types of water bodies. Birch bark canoes are a good example of the Ojibway need to travel, portage, and hunt along the fresh water rivers and lakes of North America. Humans have also been limited in their ability to travel, or to overcome political borders, because of rugged mountain chains that divide up continents. Petroforms and Petroglyphs are also good examples of the use of geological features by prehistoric native peoples.

Claims to be verified, debated, discussed, and explored

Imagining our lives, as sparks on a planet, that are short in time and small in space. Physical existence is a fleeting moment, full of vanity and chasing after the wind. Anything of lasting, true value, requires generations of human beings to keep it alive. Living wisdom is true knowledge about what is good, and the courage to act accordingly. What is the true purpose of human beings on this planet?

What are the best and true writings and writers of all time? Ancient texts of Jews and Christians, Moses, Jesus, Ecclesiastes, Plato, Socrates, the Koran, Cicero, Newton, Einstein, and what or who else?

The afterlife is our eternal home, and there is good evidence of this from recent experiments and interviews with those who have been revived from cardiac arrest. Assuming the afterlife is real and true, what can we gain on Earth that can be taken with us after death?

What we do on Earth, as physical, changing beings, will all be lost and forgotten eventually. New generations will take over, and what is true and wise will continue on in their living minds and bodies. The living will be responsible for what is gained from a good education. A good education for freedom of thought and free will keeps many of the ancient and eternal ideas alive and well. The fundamental foundations for self-conscious beings are eternal ideas and eternal substances. Natural numbers is an example. Such as 1 - 11 - 111 - 1111 - 11111 - 111111 and so on. Basic mathematics, chemistry, and physics are discovered and this is universal to any intelligent beings, anywhere, and at any time in this universe.

Many moral relativists reject claims of truth, but they also allow for all claims, even false ones. Some relativists tolerate all opinions, and often ask how someone feels above what they know to be true or even probable. Some say that a diversity of opinions is good and normal, and that no one should make claims of what is right or wrong or best. The belief of no truth and no natural morality and ethics will lead to more illogical appeals by the majority, appeals to authorities, to fame, and to force. The tyranny of the majority, or through consensus, can be a real danger if unreasonable and without evidence or proof.

It is important to know the origins of our opinions throughout history, and to discuss and question which claims are false or true. Evidence, logic, witnesses, various sources, science, and philosophical methods are needed to answer a variety of important questions. Different methods are needed for different kinds of questions. Specific and detailed answers are needed, without making many illogical over generalizations.

Humans need to be well educated, able to read and write well, carefully, able to use logic, mathematics, the right methods, and so on. It is the written word that can be carefully looked at, analyzed, changed if necessary, improved, and edited. Oral communication is often less precise and careful, not allowing for a lot of editing and improvement. Great books have the test of time, often in response to the previous ideas written down, and are a great historical lineage. There is far too much idle chatter, trivia, false information, noise, wasted words, and false ideas.

The true and probable statements that make up true religion and theology are found in various places and within some humans. Only individuals can be thought of to hold true and probable statements. True and great books alone, if not read, become useless and will decay or they will be lost in a sea of information. A few individuals are the wisest in any time, and they have more true and probable statements about logic, math, reason, the scientific method, the existence of a First Cause, details about the afterlife, what exists, nature, laws, what endures, and what humans can know with evidence.

Words are not the real things, not real consciousness, and not the real beings that exist! Words only point to reality, or correspond to what exists to some degree. Some statements point and represent reality more accurately than others. Some statements are false, improbable, or lies. Some statements are mere opinions, unverified either way. Mathematics, logic, geometry, and the scientific method can very precisely and accurately describe physical laws, matter, energy, and processes. There are true and probable answers to proper questions, but the best answers are not always known to each individual human being.

Words are needed to fully explain all the types of human characters that exist on Earth. History is needed to record all the real and possible kinds of ways of living. Words are needed to describe feelings, music, and various subjective experiences. The inner possibilities of human consciousness cannot be captured with pictures and the scientific method. Decisions are made due to how one thinks, feels, and according to what actions are possible. Material causes are not the only possible causes for how a human will or will not think, feel, and act.

What universal actions, emotions, ideas, categories, contents of intelligence, symbols, first principles, and mathematics are universal to any planetary species, any self conscious beings, anywhere, anytime?

What exists eternally, without change? Some basic natural laws, logic, and mathematical first principles? Some a priori categories of matter and energy? Either this universe had a causal beginning, or an infinite regress of cause and effect. However, in either case, is there some matter, energy, constants, and/or laws that stay the same always, and why?

Lucid dreaming and self-awareness

Lucid dreaming is the experience of self-reflective consciousness while in the dream state.

Many, while dreaming false sounds and images, can become partly aware of their real body in a real bed. In this state of consciousness, one can move a real body part, but still have their mind experience non-sensory images and sounds. What is a dream and what is reality become very blurred. Accurate memories of one's real life, in a bed, sleeping, somewhere, often fail to be easily accessed. Not until waking is one fully conscious of their real life on Earth. The dream world, which can consist of the illusion of flying, imagining dead people, and so on, cannot easily allow for the full range of accurate memories about the waking world. Why? How are memories of the real life partly or fully cut off from the dream world?

The state of consciousness, cut off from sensory inputs, is still flooded by dream illusions of a dream body, dream locations, dream people, false sounds, imaginary tastes, and so on. The real life, of a human in bed, with eyes closed, is far from this state of conscious awareness. One can become more self-aware, more lucid, of the inner workings of a human mind while the body is partly paralyzed, and the brain is in the dreaming state, often accompanied by rapid eye movements. This real state of consciousness can and does occur.

What dangers are there in lucid dreaming, if any? Can one greatly bring their vivid memories of the real world into the dream state? What kinds of consciousness studies can be done using lucid dreams?

Do any real beings, supernatural ones, external to one's own mind, exist, apart from the hallucinated images and sounds that one experiences while dreaming? Are dream images only made up of the memories and contents of one's individual mind? Can an individual have their consciousness travel or move over distances, and be partly mixed with another state of mind and thoughts? What kinds of experiments could prove this?

Do evil and good entities, or beings, exist, that can influence your dream? Yes or no. All the historical accounts of angels, demons, and aliens are false? If some claims are true, which ones? Why? When? Proof? Evidence? What method? There are universal questions, stories, and ideas about supernatural beings throughout history.

God exists? There is a divine first cause or not? God can or cannot speak or send visions to a human, especially in an altered state of consciousness?

Some who become aware of being paralyzed, while dreaming, can react with fear, as if some other being or force was holding them captive. It is not pleasant to be aware of how one cannot move, and to have a variety of illusions and imagined sounds around. Some people in this state report being visited, or relate it to some supernatural experience. True or not, this is how some think about their version of "reality."

False ideas can have a tremendous influence upon individuals and large groups of humans. Many Nazis falsely believed in a Jewish conspiracy, and in purifying their race. They acted accordingly, and their false ideas had a tremendous impact upon the world. The worst systematic killing of humans occurred because of false ideas. Illusions, fearful dreams, and the lack of reality or self-awareness seems to be an ongoing problem for many. Mental illness occurs in many people, of all ages. The ability to accurately sense, truthfully memorize, and to know about reality is essential for a working, prosperous, and good human civilization on Earth.

Is there an afterlife, or self-consciousness existing and separate from the physical body?

How many are fully self aware and self-conscious of their existence? How many react and act like robots, with little or no awareness of their body, emotions, and the contents of their mind? How many are automatic and reactive only?

When does a full or great degree of self-awareness occur as a child develops? How to develop true freedom of thought and awareness to achieve greater free will?

When is imagination and pretending a good experience and practice? Why are children told so many lies and false statements for fun and play? Is there a greater need for logic and reason to prove our shared, real and common existence?