Water:
We have a word for "consciousness", but we don't have a word like "mind".
The matter seems plain in my native language, but somewhat odd in English.
Do you? Perhaps then "mind" in Slovene really is just the "thought" aspect of the English mind? An improper simplification in the translation?
Hence they are insubstantial. Q.E.D.
Only in the sense that they are "flimsy", as the dictionary would say. They are not unreal. They are just as real as something which is eternal, yet their reality is part of the temporality which is addressed in the subset of my argument for God, under "The Problem of Temporality and Transcience".
But how will you ensure that I will believe you?! What will you do to make me believe that that thing you are having me smell is called "brimstone"?
I could likely convince you through consensus of several other people, specifically strangers. Naturally, you could disbelieve, and thus would be your progative.
What kind of power, or, power over what?
Power over anything. Power over oneself, power over existence, power over one's urges, power over one's "curiousity".
Well, maybe they don't cause you suffering, but they cause me suffering: What is a person? Why is existence a necessity? And so on. Endless questions.
Actually, I can present an argument for why existence is a necessity which isn't an endless question. And I can also probably define a person pretty well.
As for the meditation problem:
There are some practical considerations to keep in mind.
If you are a beginner, and sit down to meditate and you have the intention to come to great insights -- it most likely won't work. There may be some short term benefits, some relaxation, but that's all.
If you want a good meditation practice, you have to create the causes and conditions for meditation; and this means that you have to live a virtuous life, and deal with all the things from that trouble you, or your mind will still be buzzing around as you sit on your cushion.
What does a virtuous life entail?
All in all, if you want to get good results with your meditation, you have to be crazy about your meditation. You have to be truly devoted to your practice. Meditation isn't something one would neatly add to one's daily activities, it doesn't work that way.
There is a lot to be said about meditation, and I think it is advisable you seek more information at a Buddhist centre, New York should have some. There, you can speak to someone in person and they will explain things to you and answer your questions competently.
I'll consider it, but as I have said to you in private discourse, I am neither very interested, nor has my experience - for much of my life, if I did not note - provide me with anything. I don't see an inherent worth in silencing my mind. I prefer the buzz of thoughts to silence. Thoughts give me what I want: Wisdom.
... yesssss ... It's an ancient notion that our minds work like mirrors -- adequately mirroring reality. If that were so, there would be no disagreements and we would all understand everything. Or, some people were deluded, but some were not. But if we're all deluded, we can't say to what extent we are deluded, or who is more deluded.
Why we do not understand everything is quite simple: We take things for granted. The unphilosophic mind is like someone with farsightedness: They can see something far away beautifully, but can hardly see anything placed right before them.
VitalOne:
Uhm..have you ever heard of the observer effect? To sum it up for you "In quantum mechanics, if the outcome of an event has not been observed, it exists in a state of superposition, which is being in all possible states at once".
Just out of curiousity to assure you know what you are speaking of - and since I have also challenged Genep on this, please tell me the answer to this in PM - what is the definition of a Quantum Observer?
But anyway: This is only true, by the way, in some interpretations of Quantum Mechanics. Also, it is related to the fact that we are ignorant of many things before observation, not so much that it actually exists in superposition. Schrodinger's Cat is either dead or it is not, our ignorance of its state does not matter.
Things only exists while we OBSERVE them, otherwise, everything is happening at all once.
If you know what the Quantum observer is, you'll know this isn't so.
Let us use the Gold analogy again. Lets say the absolute truth is the Gold. Everything, including your thoughts, matter, light, etc...are all made of the Gold, yet they appear different. In actuality, everything is the Gold. The "relation" is an illusion. All that really exists is really the Gold only. Just as how when Gold is rearranged into a gold ring, gold sword, or gold necklace, the gold still exists eternally the same. On an atomic level, there is only the gold and ONLY the gold has been existing the entire time.
I call this the Fallacy of Atomism. That somehow the macroscopic is not as real as the microscopic or the foundation-of-all-things, simply because the macroscopic is composed of things. Relation refutes this notion, for one cannot, actually, reduce things to their parts alone. Here's a riddle for you:
You have three piles of gold dust.
Two piles of gold dust you take to make a ring and a necklace respectively.
Where is the "ringhood", the "pile of gold dust hood", and "the necklace hood" of each pile? Even if they are all made of gold, why can they be made into different things?
Where do you get the idea that only the material world exists? Scientists don't even know what consciousness really IS. The world does not exist independant of an observer. Also, if you have ever experienced detachment, you would know it is like relaxation, neither high nor low.
Consider a recent argument I made for infinity. I believe it is in the last page of the "What is Matter?" thing. It is in one of my responses to Mosheh Therizon. Go look there and if you can't find it, tell me, and I'll just repost.
And it is perfectly fine to feel non-attachment and feel nothing whatsoever. But my choice has and shall be until otherwise, to feel the flux. I prefer to have my joy and my sorrow. I'd rather not be dead to all things.
Whether you consciously realize it or not, you are searching for happiness, eternal happiness. Everyone unconsciously desires happiness, when someone does something they like doing it's because that gives them happiness. The reason we have negative thoughts and behavior is because we unconsciously believe this will bring us happiness.
I agree. But happiness cannot be found in non-attachment, only numbness.
In reality, when there is no observer everything IS existing all together. Krishna is correct when he asserts that things ultimately have no independant existence of their own, and that which temporarily exists, does not really exists at all.
I'll respond to this line of thought more in depth when you explain to me, in PM, what the observer is. Moreover, again: Remember that Quantum Physics has many different interpretations. There are some, like Multiple-Worlds Theory, which postulate -hyper realness- to all superpositions, in the litteral creation of alternate universes.
Also, something which has no "existence on its own" still remains real. Something which has -any- existence must be real.
"My dear Uddhava, the material body and mind, composed of the three modes of material nature, attach themselves to you, but they are actually illusion, since they appear only at the present, having no original or ultimate existence" (SB 11.19.7)
Again: Fallacious line of thought. It is part of the Fallacy of Atomism. It also does not take into consideration how the temporal could arise from the eternal and have its temporary existence, and ontop of that, does not take into consideration that infinity must be composed of the temporal things, as must eternity.
Ok, I'll use the Gold analogy, because it's easy to understand. Let's assume, the Supreme Absolute Truth is Gold, and lets assume that everything that exists is made up of this Gold. In reality, only the Gold exists, it is the origin of existence, smaller than the smallest, yet, all pervading and greater than the greatest. The maya or illusion is the Gold appearing to be completely different, in different forms. In the beginning all that existed was the gold, and in the end all that exists is the gold, and all that exists throughout time is only the gold.
See my response to such above.
Black, most likely, by the way.
