Q. Hi Gary
I have been reading your blog for some time now and I have a couple of questions.
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| Immanuel Kant |
I'm pretty much sure about determinism being true...But...determinism implies time. For one thing to cause another, there must be a "past". If someone is enlightened (...he resides in "the eternal now") he somehow escapes causality, am I right? Still, this doesn't mean that a man can act in a way that most people belive they act (the "ordinary" conception of free will), but it clearly changes the situation... Kant had the idea, that "time", "causality" are in reality just some of the frames that we put our experiences in.
Can this idea...be somehow connected to the notion of karma, and/or freeing oneself from the "birth-rebirth" cycle?...would be great if you could cover the concept of karma and reincarnation...it seems that there are lot of misconceptions...
G.
If we believe in "sin" and "karma" and that actions that we do are "good" or "bad" are recorded for future judgment when we will be rewarded or punished, our belief mirrors The Egyptian Book of The Dead, and the Scales of Maat, Judgment is placing your heart on one pan, while the "feather of truth" is placed in the other. Anubis, later Osiris, makes the assessment; Thoth records it.
If your heart is heavier; it will be a bad day. Ammut, crouching next to Anubis, eats your heart. If your heart is lighter, you enter the pavilion, join the gods in the Field of Reeds, which has great food and fun forever.
There is a longggg list of what you must NOT have done to have a "light" heart. However, if you just say "I NEVER did that", it is wiped clean. Not so different from confession to a priest, and subsequent forgiveness, is it? This model has existed in many cultures for our interesting species for a long time. IMHO, there are problems with this model.
Who keeps track of what you, and 7,000,000,000 others now and many more before, did in their life, and how it impacted others, and then decides exactly how good or bad it was and what it will take to erase it? This gets complicated when one religion believes an act was terrible, while another believes it was "awesome", like flying planes into the World Trade Center.
If each religion has its own judgment process, what happens if someone changes religions, doesn't practice, or never had one. What happens when your religion changes as leaders and cultures change? What matters, what you believe or what your great-grandparents did?
There is also the problem of assigning "responsibility". It would only seem "fair" to have your heart eaten, or whatever, if you knew everything that would happen to anyone who was impacted, forever, when you did something. However, we have no way of knowing, now, what those effects ultimately are.
Recall the most important decision in your life. Just do it for a few seconds....C'mon...
OK, when you made that decision, did you know six months earlier that you would have that decision or those options? And, once you (apparently) made the decision, did you have any idea that all that subsequently happened, would happen? Was the decision "good", or "bad"?
Select a "big" action of yours, one that stands out. Did it produce only "good" or "bad" outcomes, or were there different sorts of results, with mixed "badness" or "goodness"? Look at a simple "event tree" model of three folk trying to meet for lunch in a week; each of them had many events and choices in the intervening week. If each had only two different outcomes, this is what it looks like - any other branch taken cancels the lunch meeting.
Just imagine how many branches, choices and actions our lives have. Now imagine that with 7,000,000,000 folk, interacting continuously, 7/24. Is there any meaningful concept of the "goodness" of all outcomes?
Consider chess, which is much simpler than our lives with only two hostile families, with parents, three pairs of twins and eight younger kids. Guess how many possible sequences of interactions there are...1 followed by 123 zeroes! The number of particles in the known universe is 1 followed by 70 zeroes. How could all of the potential interactions and their consequences in our globally-interconnected lives, ever be judged, or predicted beforehand?
What can sin and karma mean?
IME, as the "I" is realized as an ad-hoc, haphazardly-assembled construct, and begins to dissemble, there is increasingly no "doer", no one to be "responsible" for either good or bad deeds. When the "I" diminishes to where it is only an occasional "visitor" with little/nothing to say, "sin" and "karma" have no meaning.
re the loss of "personal time", and living "now", they naturally manifest as the "I/doer" falls away, as discussed in the blog "Is "time" all in the mind? ..." and two "No Thoughts - No Time" videos. As you cited Kant - ""time" and "causality" are in reality just some of the frames that we put our experiences in." Time and causality are mental constructs, like the "I".
Letting go of "sin" and "karma" does not lead to "wild and crazy" behavior. What does result is less guilt, conflict, hypocrisy, dishonesty, and craving. we cling to sin and karma out of fear that something terrible will happen if we don't have them. For most, they are a great impediment to stillness and happiness. Those who are dangerous to society are not moved by "sin" or "karma". This is not an argument for having no laws; i lived in a country w/basically no civil laws. There was no apparent crime, b/c the punishments were severe, seemingly arbitrary and w/o trial or appeal. There were also no freedoms or protection for those who could not protect themselves.
Try to imagine what would your life be like without "sin" or "karma". Perhaps, you would find that a different attitude manifests - one of good will and deep regard for "others", because they are now longer "the others", they are really "the One", and you are too.
G.
If we believe in "sin" and "karma" and that actions that we do are "good" or "bad" are recorded for future judgment when we will be rewarded or punished, our belief mirrors The Egyptian Book of The Dead, and the Scales of Maat, Judgment is placing your heart on one pan, while the "feather of truth" is placed in the other. Anubis, later Osiris, makes the assessment; Thoth records it.
 |
| Scales of Matt |
There is a longggg list of what you must NOT have done to have a "light" heart. However, if you just say "I NEVER did that", it is wiped clean. Not so different from confession to a priest, and subsequent forgiveness, is it? This model has existed in many cultures for our interesting species for a long time. IMHO, there are problems with this model.
Who keeps track of what you, and 7,000,000,000 others now and many more before, did in their life, and how it impacted others, and then decides exactly how good or bad it was and what it will take to erase it? This gets complicated when one religion believes an act was terrible, while another believes it was "awesome", like flying planes into the World Trade Center.
If each religion has its own judgment process, what happens if someone changes religions, doesn't practice, or never had one. What happens when your religion changes as leaders and cultures change? What matters, what you believe or what your great-grandparents did?
There is also the problem of assigning "responsibility". It would only seem "fair" to have your heart eaten, or whatever, if you knew everything that would happen to anyone who was impacted, forever, when you did something. However, we have no way of knowing, now, what those effects ultimately are.
Recall the most important decision in your life. Just do it for a few seconds....C'mon...
 |
| Event Tree for Two Options For Three Folk Meeting |
Select a "big" action of yours, one that stands out. Did it produce only "good" or "bad" outcomes, or were there different sorts of results, with mixed "badness" or "goodness"? Look at a simple "event tree" model of three folk trying to meet for lunch in a week; each of them had many events and choices in the intervening week. If each had only two different outcomes, this is what it looks like - any other branch taken cancels the lunch meeting.
Just imagine how many branches, choices and actions our lives have. Now imagine that with 7,000,000,000 folk, interacting continuously, 7/24. Is there any meaningful concept of the "goodness" of all outcomes?
Consider chess, which is much simpler than our lives with only two hostile families, with parents, three pairs of twins and eight younger kids. Guess how many possible sequences of interactions there are...1 followed by 123 zeroes! The number of particles in the known universe is 1 followed by 70 zeroes. How could all of the potential interactions and their consequences in our globally-interconnected lives, ever be judged, or predicted beforehand?
What can sin and karma mean?
IME, as the "I" is realized as an ad-hoc, haphazardly-assembled construct, and begins to dissemble, there is increasingly no "doer", no one to be "responsible" for either good or bad deeds. When the "I" diminishes to where it is only an occasional "visitor" with little/nothing to say, "sin" and "karma" have no meaning.
re the loss of "personal time", and living "now", they naturally manifest as the "I/doer" falls away, as discussed in the blog "Is "time" all in the mind? ..." and two "No Thoughts - No Time" videos. As you cited Kant - ""time" and "causality" are in reality just some of the frames that we put our experiences in." Time and causality are mental constructs, like the "I".
Letting go of "sin" and "karma" does not lead to "wild and crazy" behavior. What does result is less guilt, conflict, hypocrisy, dishonesty, and craving. we cling to sin and karma out of fear that something terrible will happen if we don't have them. For most, they are a great impediment to stillness and happiness. Those who are dangerous to society are not moved by "sin" or "karma". This is not an argument for having no laws; i lived in a country w/basically no civil laws. There was no apparent crime, b/c the punishments were severe, seemingly arbitrary and w/o trial or appeal. There were also no freedoms or protection for those who could not protect themselves.
Try to imagine what would your life be like without "sin" or "karma". Perhaps, you would find that a different attitude manifests - one of good will and deep regard for "others", because they are now longer "the others", they are really "the One", and you are too.
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