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onomatopoios
23 Posts |
 Posted - May 25 2009 : 02:54:54 AM
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Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I contributed to this forum, but a few untimely twists of fate have kept me occupied with other concerns. First my laptop died and some pre-written forum posts were gone with it, and later after careful consideration I decided to change an essay I was writing to another format. Eventually I ended up with a brief list of logical statements and a two micro-essays that provide two different points of view to the topic that was the most essential aspect of the original essay. The Schopenhauer project is also finished now, but it really is shadowed by the insights it partially helped to inspire.
Access the project here:
http://www.corrupt.org/data/files/a...enhauer/etc/
None of the following is genuinely original content, though the clarity present in these writings might be astounding. At this point I'm gathering criticism and comments about the validity and consistency of these writings. If anything noteworthy comes up, there most certainly will be changes that benefit the whole of presentation.
Enjoy!
Regards,
onomatopoios
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What is the Self?
Since our birth the people around us have been telling that we are this individual, but is that really so? The meaning of the Latin orginated word in-divi-dual in plain English is not-divisable-(in-)two, yet somehow we understand both the self and invididual as separate from the whole of existence by identifying these with the physical body of the observer. Is such limitation genuine at all? If we take the self as an isolated particle and inspect self-refence, we find that such instances suppose that subject and object, the knower and the known, are the same, thus contradicting the definition that while subject and object constitute a whole, they are completementary and never intersecting. The consequences of this observation are immense for entire fields of philosophical and mathematical study, but a completely different level of application can be found in the method of self-enquiry practiced by the advaita teacher Sri Ramana Maharshi: Who am I?
In Abrahamic religions it is told that man became fallen by consuming fruit from the tree of good and evil knowledge. The implication is that man now had the knowledge that separated him from the world: that thing there is that, but I am this. In this regard the divine revelation is the necessary component of any valid knowledge, as it is not produced by the limited sense of self and its imaginations. Without the transmitted knowledge of attainable salvific unity or non-duality even this brief essay you are now reading could not have been made: one cannot possibly deconstruct his thinking and expose its false limitations without the transcendental truth that rises above them.
Regardless whether religion preserves the direct words of God or a self-realized Buddha, the common essence is in the supernatural truth that is unattainable through mundane and mechanistic methods. Only through fidelity to the orthodox tradition of revealed religion may man be saved, and here both religious devotion and knowledge lead together to the closure where the true Self is unveiled.
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The ego as self-referential concept
In mathematical computation science there are Turing machines that are able to simulate all kinds of calculations through self-referential and recurring methods. However, halting problem and alike logical problems expose severe limitations in self-referential action: issues of inefficiency aside, the self-referencing particle may never know anything else than its limited definitions, and it cannot be logically (read: mechanically or causally) decided whether such self-refential loops stop running. Similarly the human emancipation, here supposing that the dissolvable ego indeed is a self-refential concept, may only happen through acausal means that are not subject to the limitations of self-reference.
If we had an interface that was running an endless loop, then how could we stop it? From the point of view of the limited self-reference, there are no causal means for that. However, such a looping program run by computer may suddenly terminate in the case of hardware shock. For a human body the analogue would be the energetic upheaval of the nervous system, which we call as the Kundalini.
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Metaphysical Language and Scientific Fallacies
Ontology
1. All paradoxes result from logically contradictory definitions of words. These contradictions are lies, thus non-existing.
2. Self is never reflexive nor particular: the self-referential liar paradox[1] is demonstrating of the fact. Therefore self must be identical with the undivided whole that is the existence.
3. Change or motion is the constant of the world. Zeno's arrow paradox tries to show that in every given moment the moving arrow must remain at rest. The cessation of the succesion of motion would imply the non-existence of causation, thus undermining the essence that is both unalterable and forever.
4. Being is change, thus change and its transient states are the manifestions of the being. The immutable being has no natural attributes, so it is the supernatural freedom: infinite, unconditional, and absolute. Though the being is omnipresence and omnipotency by tautology, its unalterability necessitates that it may not be a cause or effect; its manifestations are.
5. Privacy would require the existence of isolated particles, but this is contradicted by the fact that the being that is common conducts the universe.
Epistemology
6. There is no room for doubt. Fitch's paradox of knowability[2] concerns the attainability of the truth, and the consequence is that the unknown truth could never be known. The paradox disappears instantly when we realize that since there is no privacy, all knowledge must be public and available at every instance. Thus being is omniscience.
7. Awareness of the present moment is absolute knowledge: it recognizes the change that is the wanting or willing. Different species have distinct inclinations to knowledge, therefore their behavior, instincts, and senses are different.
8. Both recollection and anticipation are relative knowledge: they are auxiliary to the absolute knowledge and form temporal associations.
Determinism
9. Context determines the necessary action that we understand as the causal events.
10. Mechanical polycausality is not enough to explain the undivided whole. The states of becoming are bound by rigid necessities, but this is not the case for the freedom of being. In order not to compromise the innate freedom, all causal events must follow the least resistant course. This transcendental determinism signifies that everything is predestined.
11. Order and chaos together form a harmony that is too complicated for any mortal grasping, yet lacking of random chance.
Teleology
12. All life is motivated by the want of alluring pleasure that provides intuitive knowledge to a creature of its purpose. In this sense we understand that the being is omnibenevolence: it is pleasurable to act according to the manifest purpose.
Mathematics
13. Those fields of mathematics that make use of the set theory have severe limitations, if not wholly flawed results, because of their reliance to the metaphysically flawed self-reference.
14. Recursion and iteration are based on the flaws of the particular self, yet the theory of computation seeks to formalize this glaring error. Moreover regarding to the Church-Turing thesis, how do they suppose to formally prove a description of what is when they were the ones to define its existence in the first place?
Physics
15. Quantum physics was founded with the observations that the world has a fundamental wave character. Unfortunately, the physicists are clinging to their belief of particles, and they are unacknowledging that instead of discrete particle quanta there are quantified and stable frequencies of wave motion.
16. Big Bang or the theory of the absolute beginning of time is an impossible concept. First, it supposes that once the immutable being, i.e. change, was not; second, the physical singularity supposes that there has been an absolute first event, which contradicts the facts that causal chains are both unbroken and uncreated and that no particular thing can be the cause and effect simultaneously. Therefore the observable universe must be an infinitesimal portion of the infinite space that has no beginning nor end in the relative time.
17. Black holes are thought to represent a certain sort of inescapable finality, but if the universe has always existed within a relative time, then it is apparent that the current models are deficient to explain why the universe is still brightly lit.[4]
18. There is always a cause to be found in the relative space-time, though often it will remain obscure and mysterious for the mortal grasping. The physicists believe in the indeterminism and randomness of decaying particles, but as they attest to the laws of conservation, they should witness that the conservation supposes a decided effortlessness that does not resist nor waste.
Biology
19. Evolution is a misleading concept because it claims that the purpose and fulfillment is found in the perpetual becoming and not in the being. All things are involving according to the being: the being knows what is needful and necessary, thus it is that.[5]
20. Through involution we understand that sometimes creatures involve to manifest as something different. The species are never born nor do they perish—not to mention that they would ever progress—, but their physical manifestations can be involved and transmorphed to serve a new purpose.
Notes
[1] "This sentence is false." If we agree that the sentence is false, then it contradicts its definition by being a true assertion. Likewise arguing that the sentence is true is in direct contradiction with the fact that it was asserted to be false. The root of the circular problem is revealed by rephrasing the sentence: "This sentence as the subject claims that it is objectively false." The philosophical subject and object are defined as the knower and the known that together form an undivided whole, yet they are complementary. All instances of the isolating self-reference violate the condition of complementarity with an intersection, therefore leading to the irreparable paradox.
[2] A formal definition of Fitch's paradox of knowability is available in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fitch-paradox/
Recent astronomical sightings support this view: "Using data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), scientists have identified an unexpected motion in distant galaxy clusters. The cause, they suggest, is the gravitational attraction of matter that lies beyond the observable universe." This quote was accessed on May 10th 2009, in the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center news:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard...rk_flow.html
[4] Assuming that the black hole is a quantum wave center (or particle) solves the assumed issues about the increasing gravitational forces and density beyond the Schwarzschild radius: it is everywhere even. When the galactic black hole's average energy density grows extremely small as the hole grows in mass, there might well be a limit after which space cannot sustain its etheric substance. Either the excess unsustainable energy would be periodically ejected, thus decreasing the radius and increasing the density, or alternatively the black hole could face a total evaporation. Either way whole galaxies would eventually respawn and even the elusive neutrinos would be effectively reintegrated into the circulation of matter. However, most significantly these behaviors could give an explanation for the existence of quasars.
[5] Here is selected evidence for involution:
A species of sea slugs eats algae and uses their plastids for animal photosynthesis. Strikingly the species has somehow acquired a number of algal genes that are necessary for the photosynthesis, but lacking in the plastids.
Mary E. Rumpho, Jared M. Worful, Jungho Lee, Krishna Kannan, Mary S. Tyler, Debashish Bhattacharya, Ahmed Moustafa, and James R. Manhart. 2008. Horizontal gene transfer of the algal nuclear gene psbO to the photosynthetic sea slug Elysia chlorotica. PNAS. 105 (46):17867-17871. doi:10.1073/pnas.0804968105
Spatially separated DNA strands recognize the meaningful structures of each other. Biologists have no idea what guides this behavior, but they suppose an intrinsic property.
Geoff S. Baldwin, Nicholas J. Brooks, Rebecca E. Robson, Aaron Wynveen, Arach Goldar, Sergey Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A. Kornyshev. 2008. DNA Double Helices Recognize Mutual Sequence Homology in a Protein Free Environment. J. Phys. Chem. B. 112 (4), pp 1060-1064. doi: 10.1021/jp7112297
Effortless and efficient quantum phenomena are the key to photosynthesis.
Lynn Yarris. April 12, 2007. Quantum Secrets of Photosynthesis Revealed. Berkeley Lab Research News. Available in the World Wide Web:
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles...secrets.html
This document is dedicated to the loving memory of Sri Marana Maharshi. |
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Konchok Ösel Dorje
USA
545 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2009 : 12:27:34 PM
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| According to Buddhism, the self is just a word with no inherent existence. For this reason, attachment to self is ignorance. |
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Jo-self
USA
225 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2009 : 12:28:12 PM
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Excellent posting, a lot to ponder, and perhaps over my humble head.
One thing that jumped out, simply because its a fascinating subject of mine, is:
quote:
16. Big Bang or the theory of the absolute beginning of time is an impossible concept. First, it supposes that once the immutable being, i.e. change, was not; second, the physical singularity supposes that there has been an absolute first event, which contradicts the facts that causal chains are both unbroken and uncreated and that no particular thing can be the cause and effect simultaneously. Therefore the observable universe must be an infinitesimal portion of the infinite space that has no beginning nor end in the relative time.
Seems inconsistent and perhaps a logical stretch to make your conclusion. Physicists are saying that time itself was also created in the big bang, that is, all dimensions of reality wee created, thus there was no "beginning of time", indeed there was no time at all. But, even in the Special Theory of Relativity time is perplexing and even simultaneous events are relative. I think the book A Brief History of Time goes into this.
As to the rest of it, I'm no philosopher so can't comment much.
-- jo-self
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Edited by - Jo-self on May 27 2009 1:08:56 PM |
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cosmic
USA
821 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2009 : 11:02:32 PM
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The self is a collection of impulses and impressions from past actions.
IMHO
Peace
cosmic |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2009 : 12:00:14 AM
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"no particular thing can be the cause and effect simultaneously"
Well this is an awfully self-referential concept. This is the problem with trying to apply logic to this sort of thing.
All of maya's illusions are self-referential to begin with. Assumptions must be made to construct proofs. But assumptions cannot be proved.
So all of reality is made of castles built on sand. What makes reality so compelling is not that the foundations are solid. It is that so many agree that they are. |
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cosmic
USA
821 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2009 : 03:10:50 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Etherfish
What makes reality so compelling is not that the foundations are solid. It is that so many agree that they are.
Yes. Agreement often justifies our delusions....
Love
cosmic |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2009 : 12:43:31 AM
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Agreement is the foundation upon which ALL of Maya's illusions are built.
This is why those who seek Kriyas are just asking for trouble.
The more you concentrate on the impossible being possible, the more you shut yourself off from the human race.
You can't perform miracles and have everyone love you. They will exclude you. |
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What is the Self?
