Conversation With Christopher Langan (210 IQ) and My Notes on Philosophy and Buddhism

about 2 months ago

There are times where I am compelled to write about a topic and today's article is one of them. It begins with the man with the highest IQ among all the known and tested human being currently living. IQ is one of the more easily testable aspects of intelligence and 100 is the average for a given age group. ~5% of the population scores above 125 and 130+ is generally considered genius. Christopher Langan's estimated IQ is between 195 and 210.

118 Minute Conversation With A Lot in Common

Christopher Langan has lived a very blue collar life and he is the current known pinnacle in terms of IQ. This is such a rare combination that can create the expectation of unreliability. Most of my readers on may find him to be a lot more relatable than what the initial description would suggest.

I know that many readers do not want to watch long videos in the middle of an article. I will cite few things that Christopher Langan believes in.

Anti WEF and everything associated with that.
Academia and school being about indoctrination.
9/11 conspiracies (not discussed in video).
Wikipedia being ideologically taken over by left authoritarians.
Anti Marxist.
2020 election fraud.
UFOs and Aliens.
God.
Personal connection to God (without blind faith).
Seems spiritually Gnostic (my reading).
Devil (defines Satan and Lucifer as different).
Angels and Demons.
Ghosts.
Afterlife.
Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU)

There is are parts of the conversation that involve mathematics and quantum mechanics that I will not comment on. I can barely follow along; not review them. His conversation revolve a great deal around math, physics, Christianity and western philosophy starting with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle upto Aquinas.

Christopher Langan Has Limited Understanding of Buddhism

It is hard to blame him for this. He has not spent thousands of hours learning Buddhism and I do not think he understand Pāli (the language Tipiṭaka is written in). Imagine there is a source that is 10 -15 times larger than the Bible and it is inaccessible in the original form. The the issue is compounded by the fact that the knowledge itself is transferred in a similar manner how news viewer get to know about their political candidates. It is easier to assume that the deep philosophy is basically saying the same thing his very intelligent mind already believe in.

A Detour into "Hinduism"

The term "Hindu" does not have a very clear cut meaning. It could end up meaning the current mainstream religious practices of India (Vaishnavism + Shaivism) or it could be a term broad enough to include what is likely the oldest atheist philosophers.

आजीविक (Ājīvika)

Ājīvika metaphysics included a theory of atoms, which was later adapted in the Vaiśeṣika school, where everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates of atoms, but the aggregation and nature of these atoms were predetermined by cosmic laws and forces.

The Ajivikas simply did not believe in the moral force of action, or in merits or demerits, or in after-life to be affected because of what one does or does not do. Actions had immediate effects in one's current life but without any moral traces, and both the action and the effect was predetermined, according to the Ajivikas.

This was a contemporary philosophy among the time of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. It does not sound very different from what many modern atheists speak of. Even their version of a "soul" was a materialistic one.

Ajivikas believed that in every being, there is a soul (Atman). However, unlike Jains and various orthodox schools of Hinduism that held that the soul is formless, Ajivikas asserted the soul has a material form.

चार्वाक (Cārvāka AKA Lokāyata)

Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism. It was a well-attested belief system in ancient India.

Charvakas denied metaphysical concepts like reincarnation, an extracorporeal soul, the efficacy of religious rites, other worlds (heaven and hell), fate and accumulation of merit or demerit through the performance of certain actions. Charvakas also rejected the use of supernatural causes to describe natural phenomena. To them all natural phenomena was produced spontaneously from the inherent nature of things.

It rejects ethical systems based on supernatural beliefs, advocating pleasure as the only intrinsic good, and promoting hedonism. It also opposes utilitarianism, which seeks collective pleasure, maintaining that individuals should prioritize their own interests and only benefit society if it serves them. Some scholars argue that the Charvaka school is nihilistic, focusing solely on rejecting concepts like "The Good" and divinity, rather than actively promoting hedonism.

There is no world other than this;
There is no heaven and no hell;
The realm of Shiva and like regions,
are fabricated by stupid imposters.
— Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha, Verse 8

The enjoyment of heaven lies in eating delicious food, keeping company of young women, using fine clothes, perfumes, garlands, sandal paste... while moksha is death which is cessation of life-breath... the wise therefore ought not to take pains on account of moksha.
A fool wears himself out by penances and fasts. Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings.
— Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha, Verses 9-12

Charvakas, according to Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha verses 10 and 11, declared the Vedas to be incoherent rhapsodies whose only usefulness was to provide livelihood to priests. They also held the belief that Vedas were invented by man, and had no divine authority.

Charvakas rejected the need for ethics or morals, and suggested that "while life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt".

There are some pieces of evidence that may push the age of these atheist philosophies of "Hinduism" far back than even the time of Buddha. At least what is clear is that modern atheist do not even have any serious contribution to atheism once you start looking into "Hinduism" of the old.

If this is already too confusing, think of "Hindu" as an umbrella term similar to "Abrahamic" which have multiple sects of Jewish, Christian and Islamic faith. Compared to how much bloodshed was there even among sects of the same school, "Hindu" sects have been considerably peaceful. This peace was disturbed as time passed. Yet there remained higher level of coexistence compared to the west.

Few Words About Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha

These are called Purusharthas (approximate translation: meanings of human life or pursuits for life). They are in an order and Chris Langan got them wrong. The order is important because they not exactly independent pillars. I will provide rough translations.

Dharma: Truth or righteousness
Artha: Economic strength / material wealth
Kama: Sensuality / Pleasure
Moksha: Liberation (spiritual)

There is a tangent about my account name which I published 6 years ago. I am happy to write more about "Vimukthi" after a long time. As a further explanation of the above order, going on a vacation or getting an expensive wedding on debt can not be considered a part or Purushartha. Such pleasures (Kama) are not built on top of good economics (Artha). Same goes for building wealth on some Web 3 grift with rug pulls. That is not wealth built on top of Dharma.

Learn Buddhism at Closer to Source

There is no living Buddha at the time. The teaching have been altered massively over the course of time and geography. If you take a look at Buddhism in China or Japan, they look much closer to beliefs that were already present in the region. The best available source that is available is Tripitaka

Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically Theravādin, but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey, it contains material which is at odds with later Theravādin orthodoxy. He states that "the Theravādins, then, may have added texts to the Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period.

Explore SuttaCentral

After exploring many ways to access the sutras, the best place I have discovered to recommend people is SuttaCentral. There are other websites and PDFs that may have other languages. Translating some words is impossible and unless you are reading in an Indo Aryan Language, many important words could be approximations. Mettā can be easily translated as मैत्री (Maitrī) or මෛත්‍රිය (Maitriya) preserving the meaning. Etymologically, the word comes from "friend". The English translation is "loving-kindness". That is not a very good translation IMHO.

Adi Shankara, Ibn Sīnā and Thomas Aquinas

Each of these figures listed above came one after the other and they were all in a position to be aware of the works of the previous names in the list. I came across the following video and it sounded a lot like the teachings of Adi Shankara who himself was responding to Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna (a Buddhist monk from many centuries ago).

A Note on Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna

Most of my studies have been based around Theravāda school. I have read and heard from others as Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna being of Mahāyāna school. I try to skip the equivalent of CNN's reporting of Trump and try to read from the source. I have not read a much from Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna. But I do not see any conflicts with Tripitaka. My personal opinion is that Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna was merely explaining Tripitaka content. Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna refers to sutras in Tripitaka.

Pratītyasamutpāda and Kaccānagotta Sutta

I encourage everyone to read the full source. of Kaccānagotta Sutta that is refereed by Bhikkhu Nāgārjuna and then read from Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Then Venerable Kaccānagotta went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:
“Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘right view’. How is right view defined?”
“Kaccāna, this world mostly relies on the dual notions of existence and non-existence.
But when you truly see the origin of the world with right understanding, the concept of non-existence regarding the world does not occur. And when you truly see the cessation of the world with right understanding, the concept of existence regarding the world does not occur.

‘All exists’: this is one extreme.
‘All does not exist’: this is the second extreme.
Avoiding these two extremes, the Realized One teaches by the middle way:
‘Ignorance is a condition for choices. Choices are a condition for consciousness. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.

When ignorance fades away and ceases with nothing left over, choices cease. When choices cease, consciousness ceases. … That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.’”

Make This Sentence Shorter!

Optionally you could simply draw a line on an piece of paper. Then try to make the line shorter without interacting with the line (or sentence). Try to think of a way. I will leave some space and give you an answer.

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Draw a longer line or write a longer sentence next to it. You will create an emergent phenomena where one of the lines is shorter and the other is longer. The shortness or the longness does not exist on its own. It would also be wrong to say that is non-existent.

When there is a long, there is short.
By creating longer line the other becomes shorter.
When there is no longer line, the shortness does not exist.

This is my attempt at explaining Pratītyasamutpāda which is one of the deepest concepts in Buddha's teachings. It appears on the surface as something similar to causality. When Christopher Langan started talk about Metacausation, he might be talking about something similar.

Metacausation works from past to future and from future to past in a closed loop

I cannot say for sure that Pratītyasamutpāda and Metacausation are the same. What I can do is use an old analogy I have had for reality.

Reality is Like a Dictionary

Each word in a dictionary is defined by a set of words.
Each of those words are defined by a set of words.
See 1 and 2.

Adi Shankara and later figures does is insisting that there is a 3rd point which the others rely upon. This is inductive reasoning. I learned about Advaita Vedanta through some wonderful comments left on by older articles on Buddhism. Buddhism is very much a non dual (Advaita) teaching. The difference lies in the fact that Buddhist non-duality leads to Śūnyatā (Zero) while the later figures use inductive reasoning that lead to a unity.

What is quantum mechanics trying to tell us? A Paper by N. David Mermin

My complete answer to the late 19th century question
‘‘what is electrodynamics trying to tell us’’ would simply be
this:
Fields in empty space have physical reality; the
medium that supports them does not.
Having thus removed the mystery from electrodynamics, let
me immediately do the same for quantum mechanics:
Correlations have physical reality; that which
they correlate does not.

Closing Thoughts

Śūnyatā is not some achievement or some sort of uniting with a higher figure. It is a realization; an enlightenment. Read the sutras (there are many). Abhidharma contains the highest parts of Buddhist teachings that are not common to other schools. For an example, Karma is a shared concept. Both the existence and non existence of a soul is a shared concept.

"The Middle Way" is not a Synthesis

All exists’: this is one extreme.
‘All does not exist’: this is the second extreme.
Avoiding these two extremes, the Realized One teaches by the middle way

It is a denial of 2 extremes that does not lead to a "necessary existence". This so called "Madhyamaka school" of Buddhism is merely sticking with the sutras. Other (both Buddhist and non Buddhists) follow along similar lines and then insist on a word for a dictionary to be a genesis word.

Conversation With Menander the Great

“Just as, by the coexistence of the various parts,there is the name ‘chariot’,so, by the existence of the aggregates,there is a ‘being’ is agreed upon.”

Read the full version following the link. This article has already gone past 2,500 words. I will leave with a few more links to my old articles for you to observe on your own.