interpretations, different perspectives?? Can one transcend oneself into higher truth??? if so how can one be sure that it is not a creation of ones mind??
2007-10-29 02:42:58 · 3 answers · asked by Disease Precipitated By Aging 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ants... only in dead minds.
2007-10-29 02:59:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some mystical philosophies, such as those within Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that a reality exists as an absolute truth apart from the human mind and human perception which is tainted by the limitations of the senses and of biological and environmental conditioning (this is related to your other question about Buddhism and ego). The goal of very many spiritual paths--both eastern and western (from the dawn of man) has been to transcend the limitations of the mind-body complex (and primarily one's own artificial conditioning, resulting in the development of individual "ego personality") to experience reality as it truly is (not as it is perceived through the vehicle of the body and the conditioning of the mind and nervous system). The reality experienced through the mind (whether in ordinary consciousness, in meditation, trance, mystical ecstasy, or under the influence of drugs) is provisional and is said to be a dim (somewhat illusory or metaphorical) reflection of an absolute reality. The absolute reality, being absolute, cannot be directly experienced through the senses or mind primarily because it is not a "thought" and is not separate from the thinker (there is no duality or I-thou relationship to it). It's like having a back to one's head--or a vital inner organ--If it weren't there, you wouldn't exist but you never see it. You can read folks like Nisargadatta Maharaj if you want to better understand what all this means. There are plenty of other people, but the content is often dense.
Of course, there are some mechanistic thinkers who believe that a person is nothing more than a conditioned neural network and that consciousness is an epiphenomenon (a byproduct) of being a living organism and that although human beings have and seek numinous (mystical) experiences, these are just products of the mind, neuroelectrical chemistry, and brain mapping and that this is it.
2007-10-29 10:57:41 · answer #2 · answered by philosophyangel 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will no when there are no revolutions of the mind...when the mind stops...and you see what it as it is.
~ Eric Putkonen
2007-10-29 09:57:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋