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Shamik Dasgupta

@shamikdasgupta.bsky.social

380 followers 250 following 250 posts

Assoc Prof, Philosophy, UC Berkeley. Works in metaphysics, ethics, phil sci. Repost = seemed profound while macrodosing.

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Nov 30

Here because I don’t want to live in a bubble. Also there because I don’t want to live in a bubble.

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 12h

Wow. Here’s hoping peace sticks this time.

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 7d

… A time that invites you to dig deep and find the strength of conviction that summons you into action for something greater than yourself. A time that is not confusing or muddy but clear as day. We are living in such a time and we are being called.”

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 7d

“The first best thing would be to live in a time of peace and prosperity and freedom and compassion and justice for all. That time has not yet come to the earth.

The NEXT BEST THING is to live in a time that calls upon you to rise to your highest self…

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 7d

This is Rabbi Rachel Timona from our previous temple back in Brooklyn, speaking last week at Rosh Hashana. We listened to it yesterday and I found it deeply moving and inspirational. If you only have a few minutes, listen from 8:30. 👇🏽

youtu.be/Q3oj6sjByjQ?...

Rabbi Rachel Timoner | Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5786/2025

YouTube video by cbebk

youtu.be

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 15d

Good to know. I haven't been on here much tbh. A few months ago my feed started to oscillate between the extremely boring and the borderline delusional!

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 15d

The replies on that post are wild, and remind me why I try to stay away from this place.

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · 16d

Just as Goodman predicted!

www.popsci.com/environment/...

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Aug 7

Film club with the kids has reached a critical moment. I want to drop "Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii" on them; they are not exactly thrilled and are threatening to reply with "Trolls: World Tour". It's a stand-off.

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Mar 29

I have a film club with the kids and these are the films I showed them in March. All three selections landed well!

I was particularly impressed by how open they were to 2001. Dylan loved the Hal sequence and Elowyn was transfixed by the apes.

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jul 26

Bhangra night in SF

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

Just human beings, coming together to acknowledge the transcendent, in whatever way it hits us.

Dig it.

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

Sometimes it is annoyingly shallow and political, other times it is deep and spiritually enlightening.

Either way, there is something very awesome about participating in a spiritual practice stripped of all bells and whistles. >>

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

What I love about the Quakers is their no-nonsense attitude and egalitarianism.

We are all spiritual equals. We just sit in a circle, in silence, and that’s it. No leader, no robes, no incense, nothing. If anyone has anything to say they can stand up and speak. >>

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

I am also experimenting with the Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday mornings. Each has their virtues and vices.

The Zen Center offers more in terms of meditation guidance, but one has to put up with a certain degree of costume and pomp and circumstance. >>

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

It feels a bit weird. I don’t know if I would call myself "a Quaker”. I certainly do not believe in the Christian god, but I don’t think many Quakers at this meeting do.

I’ve always identified as an atheist and ontologically speaking that hasn’t changed, I don’t think. >>

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 30

Today marks one year since I started sitting with the Quakers on Sunday mornings.

Coincidentally, while writing out a sticky name tag on the way in I found that they had made me a permanent laminated label to use, just like the regulars. Which I suppose I am at this point? >>

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 29

At the Greek theatre in Berkeley, easily my favorite venue in the world 😊

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 29

Earth, Wind, and Fire!

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 16

No comment needed

open.spotify.com/track/5n1P2I...

Universal Soldier

Donovan · Fairytale (Deluxe Expanded Edition) · Song · 1965

open.spotify.com

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 14

Uplifting group of women bringing a groove #NoKings

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 14

#NoKings Oakland, with my daughter Dylan fighting the power 👊🏽

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 13

In the Guardian:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We are Nobel laureates, scientists, writers and artists. The threat of fascism is back | Open letter

As in 1925, when Mussolini was in power, we must openly defy the brutal imposition of the fascist ideology

www.theguardian.com

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 13

I’m happy to have signed this open letter protesting the rise of fascism around the world and defending principles of democracy and intellectual freedom.

Please consider supporting this global initiative - especially on the eve of Trump’s gratuitous military parade.

stopreturnfascism.org

Home - Open Letter Against the rise of Fascism in 2025

The 2025 letter has been signed by over 400 academics, including 31 Nobel Prize winners. Join them in defending democracy. Our goal The letter is a collective denunciation of the mounting threats to a...

stopreturnfascism.org

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Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 10

“Thought is a way of concealing truth.”
-Alan Watts

More great epigraph material :)

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Mar 21

Teacher: Where are you going?
Student: Around on pilgrimage.
Teacher: What is the purpose of pilgrimage?
Student: I don't know.
Teacher: Not knowing is most intimate.

Just came across this Koan and it brilliantly fits the models of mystical experience I'm working on! Epigraph material.

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 9

Sly Stone to Miles Davis: “Get your mother-fuckin ass out, don’t ever play that voodoo shit here” 😂

Legend ❤️

Shamik Dasgupta @shamikdasgupta.bsky.social · Jun 9

RIP 😥