Prophecy And Contemplation

Polytheism: many gods.

Monotheism: one god.

Atheism: no gods.

Monism: one reality.

Monatheism (suggested): one reality and no gods.

Some Hindu monotheisms are monistic, i.e., God does not create anything other than Himself but appears to Himself as other. In nontheistic monism, an impersonal reality appears to Itself.

Abrahamic monotheisms: one creator and many creatures.

Nontheistic monism: one reality and many appearances.

Monistic monotheisms: one creator of many appearances.

In nontheistic monism, the beginning of consciousness is the apparent creation of the phenomenal universe. 

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth..."

Visual perception discloses a sky above, a ground below and many objects in a space between. The single reality permeates space but becomes conscious of itself by appearing to itself as many discrete objects separated by apparently empty spaces. 

Abrahamic prophetic traditions have to be monotheist whereas Indian contemplative traditions can be polytheist, monotheist, atheist or monist. Thus, the prophetic traditions correspond to only one phase of the contemplative traditions.

Prophecy and prayer presuppose a deity whereas contemplation presupposes only consciousness and reality and therefore can be expressed through mutually incompatible theories. Indian philosophical systems refer to many souls, one soul or no soul.

Traditions

In an Abrahamic prophetic tradition, it is necessary to be neither polytheist nor atheist but monotheist whereas, in an Indian contemplative tradition, it is possible to be polytheist, monotheist, atheist or monist.

Hindus can advance from polytheism to monotheism or monism by reinterpreting many gods as appearances of a single personal or impersonal reality.

There is contemplation in some prophetic traditions and monotheism in some contemplative traditions. However, contemplative monotheism can be either monistic or transitional to impersonalist monism. 

Prophecy is specific and exclusive whereas contemplation is comprehensive and inclusive. Prophecy and prayer presuppose a deity whereas contemplation presupposes only consciousness and reality and therefore is expressed through diverse theories of many individual souls, one universal soul and no soul.

I was educated in a prophetic tradition but now practice in a contemplative tradition. My philosophy is monist but materialist, not idealist. Therefore, I accept neither soul pluralist reincarnation nor no-soulist rebirth. Being has become conscious and each psychophysical organism is a distinct individual conscious subject. We can meditate without believing either in supernatural beings or in post-mortem states.

The Jade Emperor

The Jade Emperor condescended to take an indulgent view. “These creatures in the world below,” he said, “were compounded of the essence of heaven and earth, and nothing that goes on there should surprise us.”

-copied from here.

A Chinese student who attends our meditation group told me that, in his home town, there is a temple to Kanzeon but that it is obligatory to worship the Jade Emperor first!

I trust that I may take an indulgent view of the Jade Emperor. I will pay my respects to an idol only as a lead in to just sitting meditation. The Jade Emperor must defer to the Enlightened One.

The gambler's philosophy: "Thus year, the Jade Emperor's turn; next year, mine."

The Bodhisattva Ideal: "The Buddhahood of every blade of grass."

My Pantheon: The Nine

1. Krishna taught karma yoga, nonattached action.

2. The Buddha taught meditation: a teacher of gods and men.

3. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom: a new society and a new consciousness.

4. Indra released rain from heaven. He personifies the beneficent aspect of nature.

5. Prometheus stole fire from heaven. He personifies human action on nature, control of natural forces, technology, "Prometheanism."

6. Odin sacrificed an eye and himself to seek wisdom.

7. Thor killed frost giants with his hammer, thus protecting mankind from the hostile aspect of nature.

8. The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone.

9. The sea god: Neptune, Poseidon, Lir, Njord (sea giant). The sea is the source of life and the Biblical pre-cosmic chaos.

Krishna and the Buddha are avatars of the comprehensive deity, Vishnu.

Addendum: Since the Sun is the source of light and life, the Nine should include a solar deity. However, I think that Krishna fulfills this role among many others.

Acceptance Of Belief

To anyone who believes in a hereafter, I ask the following. You are confident that, if you travel west across the Atlantic, then you will arrive in North or South America. Can you be equally confident that, after death, you will find yourself in some particular version of a hereafter? How can you be certain? If you merely believe what you have been brought up to believe, then consider the fact that many other people have been brought up to accept very different beliefs. How can you be certain that, of all these different beliefs, the one that you have been brought up to accept just happens to be the one that is true if indeed any of them is? 

The One, Part Two

Molecular motion causes fluidity.

Molecular cohesion causes solidity.

Neural interactions cause consciousness.

These effects are properties, not discrete objects.

"We know consciousness by being conscious" means that subjects of consciousness are conscious of consciousness by being conscious.

"We observe conscious behaviour" means that subjects of consciousness are conscious of the behaviour of other subjects of consciousness.

Thus, consciousness is irreducible.

Any newly discovered cellular, molecular or subatomic process is objective.

An objective process is neither subjective nor intermediate between objectivity and subjectivity.

Empirical observation is consciousness, not an object of it.

Subjects empirically observe objects but not consciousness.

A spirit would be an invisible subject, thus a subject but not an object.

The One is a mostly invisible subject and its own object.

To be an object, the One must become partly visible or audible, tangible etc.

My House Of Lords

When I spontaneously say or pray "Oh, Lord...," Whom or What do I address?

First, the source of all things. I do not think that it can be a person but it set everything and everyone else in motion.

Secondly, Indra whom the Buddha would have known as the chief god of the Vedic pantheon.

Thirdly, Krishna who taught Arjuna karma yoga on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Fourthly, the Buddha who taught meditation.

Fifthly, Vishnu whose avatars include Krishna and the Buddha.

Sixthly, the early Jesus who proclaimed the kingdom, not the later Jesus who let Peter convince him that he was the Messiah, then interpreted the Messiah as the Suffering Servant.

Three Kinds Of Trotskyism

Orthodox Trotskyism inside the Labour Party.

Orthodox Trotskyism outside the Labour Party.

Unorthodox Trotskyism outside the Labour Party.

When the first group was expelled from the Labour Party, some of its members remained inside but have more recently come out. Thus, there is an apparently new group in Universities and on the streets but this is its history. This probably means little to most of the few people that read it but, while we are here and to express a personal opinion, I advise anyone who is interested to give some consideration to unorthodox Trotskyism. 

The One (revised; then expanded and further revised)

(This post has been endlessly revised to try to get it right.)

Reality is differentiated and dynamic.  (Or: The single reality is neither homogeneous nor static but internally differentiated and dynamic.)

Scientific cosmogony replaces creation myths.

A quantum fluctuation in a vacuum released rapidly expanding energy.

Expanding hydrogen and helium gravitationally condensed into stars.

Stars fused heavier elements.

Stellar explosions dispersed heavier elements through space. 

Heavier elements entered later stars and planets.

Energized complex molecules changed randomly.

One molecule became self-replicating.

Self-replication, mutation and natural selection generated multi-cellular organisms.

Organisms were selected for sensitivity to environmental alterations.

Quantitatively increasing sensitivity qualitatively changed into conscious sensation.

Complex brains transformed bodily sensations into perceptions of discrete objects.

Cooperative manipulation of environments generated speech.

Speech is internalized as thought.

Linguistic interaction generates individual self-consciousness.

Names individuate children.

The One becomes conscious of Itself by appearing to Itself as other and many.

The single continuous reality perceives Itself as many organisms and their environment.

Self-preservation and species propagation impede realization of oneness.

However, realization requires consciousness which requires organisms. 

Human beings can both conceptualize and realize oneness.

The One is present in every particle but conscious only in organisms with central nervous systems.

It knows Itself as animals and human beings but not in any pre-, trans- or post-cosmic state.

Its internal relationships are spatiotemporal and physical or psychophysical.

Levels of consciousness are sensation, perception, thought, self-consciousness and realization.

Gods are personified natural and social forces.

"God" is unified personified external forces.

Science de-personifies reality.

Events are instances of laws which are instances of more general laws.

Scientists cannot explain the most general laws.

They observe consensually objective properties and processes.

Objectivity is abstracted from concrete experience.

Concrete experience is individual and subjective.

Empirically observable phenomena are objective.

We know consciousness by being conscious and by recognizing conscious behaviour.

But we do not observe consciousness.

Scientists detect only neuronic causes of consciousness.

Even a sub-atomic or quantum mechanical cause would not be identical with its effect.

Therefore, consciousness cannot be defined as anything observable.

But definitions of consciousness as synonyms like "awareness," "experience" etc are tautologous.

Therefore, consciousness is indefinable.

Mobile marine organisms became conscious because pleasure and pain have survival value and because the qualitative transformation of unconscious sensitivity into conscious sensation was possible.

Sensation is conscious sensitivity.

Unobservable levels of consciousness are non-empirical properties of organisms, not of "souls."

"Soul" is objectified subjectivity.

Objective organisms generate subjectivity by becoming subjects.

Every subjective experience is unique.

However, aspects of experience can be compared and classified.

Thus, numinous experience is of an awesome presence.

Mystical experience is of inner oneness.

Visionary experience is of projected visions.

Experiences are interpreted either theistically or non-theistically

Theists personify ultimate reality.

Persons are self-conscious individuals.

Self is recognized as such only by contrast with other.

Therefore, the One incorporates all persons but is not Itself a person.

It is "God" as the object of numinous and mystical experience but not as a transcendent person.

The One imagines that It is us.

We imagine the gods.

They are in us.

We are in It.

All is One.

(This much revised version is more succinct. See here.)

Subjectivity

 A psychophysical organism is s conscious material object.

Therefore, it is both a subject and an object of consciousness.

Consciousness generates the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity.

Rising temperature is objective.

Feeling hotter is subjective.

Consciousness is a property of a psychophysical organism.

Therefore, it is not an independent substance.

"Soul" is objectified subjectivity.

The Universe And Consciousness

The universe becomes conscious of itself through psychophysical organisms.

Every conscious organism is both an individual self and the universal self.

Human beings usually identify with the organism or with a self-image but not with the universe.

Thus, the universe becomes conscious of itself but does not realize itself.

Concrete Reality

We know other people by seeing and hearing them.

We know ourselves by being ourselves.

I am not another person.

My objective knowledge of him is not his subjective knowledge of himself.

Concrete reality is every aspect of existence.

An abstraction is one or more aspects considered separately.

Empirically observable objective reality abstracts from the totality.

The totality also includes subjectivity.

Objectivity is ontologically primary.

Subjectivity is epistemologically primary.

Objectivity is an inter-subjective consensus.

Its primacy is deduced.

We know someone else as he appears to us, never as he is to himself.

This is a permanent "mind-body problem."

We see both the cause and the effect in a father-son relationship but not in a brain-mind relationship.

Neuronic interactions and consciousness are causally related properties of a single organism.

Matter And Consciousness

Philosophically, "matter" is whatever pre-existed consciousness and exists independently of it.

It is not mechanically interacting particles with only quantifiable properties like mass and volume.

It is energy changing dynamically and qualitatively.

In fact, quantitative change becomes qualitative.

Cause and effect can be two objects or two properties of one object.

Molecular motion causes fluidity.

Molecular cohesion causes solidity.

Neurally processed organismic sensitivity causes consciousness.

Neurons fire electrically and interact electrochemically.

Properties of matter include motion, fluidity, cohesion, solidity, sensitivity, electricity, electrochemistry and consciousness.

Consciousness is a qualitatively unique material property, not an immaterial substance.

Matter has become conscious.

The One

The single reality is neither homogeneous nor static but internally differentiated and dynamic.

Energised complex molecules changed randomly until one became self-replicating.

Self-replication and natural selection generated multi-cellular organisms.

Naturally selected organismic sensitivity to environmental alterations quantitatively increased until it was qualitatively transformed into conscious sensation.

Increased brain complexity somehow transformed bodily sensations into perceptions of discrete objects.

The One becomes conscious of Itself by appearing to Itself as other and many, then realises its oneness.

The One is present in every particle but conscious only in organisms with central nervous systems.

It knows itself as animals and human beings but not in any pre- or trans-cosmic state.

Its internal relationships are spatiotemporal and physical or psychophysical.

Gods are personified natural and social forces.

"God" is unified personified external forces.

Science depersonifies reality.

Science explains objective events as instances of laws.

It explains less general laws as instances of more general laws.

It cannot explain subjective phenomena or the most general laws.

Objectivity is an inter-subjective consensus.

Subjectivity is the unique experience of each individual conscious organism.

A sensory input causes a neural interaction which causes a sensation.

Scientists observe and describe objective inputs and interactions but not subjective sensations.

We experience consciousness and observe conscious, including linguistic, behaviour but do not observe consciousness.

Numinous experience is of an awesome presence.

Mystical experience is of inner oneness.

Visionary experience is of projected visions.

Experiences can be interpreted theistically or non-theistically.

Theists personify ultimate reality.

Persons are self-conscious individuals.

Self is recognized as such only by contrast with other.

Therefore, the One incorporates all persons but is not Itself a person.

It is "God" as the object of numinous and mystical experience but not as a transcendent person.

The One imagines that it is us and we imagine the gods.

They are in us and we are in It.

All is one.

Three Indian Philosophical Systems

Vedanta: either monotheist or idealist monist meditation.

Yoga: soul pluralist theory and the practice of "control of thoughts."

Buddhism: anatta ("no soul") and "emptiness" teachings and meditation.

I place these systems in reverse order in terms of their approximation to truth.

The First Cause Argument

The Argument

(1) Every event is caused.

(2) An infinite regress is impossible.

(3) Therefore, there was a first cause, which everyone calls God.

Comments

(1) and (2) need to be proved.

There are uncaused events in quantum mechanics.

If every event is caused by an earlier event, then an infinite regress is not only possible but actual and there can have been no first cause which, in any case, would be a past event, not an eternal person.

Subjective, Intersubjective And Objective

Subjectively, each sighted person sees colors.

We learn words for colors when we learn to speak.

Thus, we learn to recognize and respond appropriately to particular colors.

Stop at red lights; go at green lights; people with pink skin and coffee with milk in are "white."

 

Intersubjectively, we agree about colors.

Grass is green; the sky is blue.

Objectively, scientific instruments detect and measure electromagnetic wavelengths.

Electromagnetic radiation causes color perceptions in sighted organisms.

Longer wavelengths correspond to red; shorter to blue.

Cause and effect exist and are not identical.

If only the objective existed, the nothing would be subjective.

Then there would be no distinction between subjective and objective.

 

Neurons cause consciousness.

If only neurons existed without any effects, then there would be no consciousness.

Subjective And Objective

Neuronic interactions cause consciousness.

Behavior demonstrates consciousness.

However, neither neurons nor behavior are identical with subjective experiences.

Consciousness is a relationship between subjects and objects.

It involves a qualitative difference between subjective and objective.

Nothing that is objectively observable is a subjective experience or vice versa.

An organism with a central nervous system is a subject and object of consciousness.

Each subject observes other subjects but not their experiences.

Subjective experiences are not invisible objects.

They are what it is like to be a conscious organism.

We know an organism's subjective experiences by being that organism, not by external observation.

Experience is present in each conscious organism, not elsewhere in an immaterial realm.

The relationship between objectively observable brain states and subjectively experienced mental states remains mysterious.

The relationship is not explained by reifying mental states.

To reify mental states would be either to identify them with brain states or to objectify them in an immaterial realm.

We must avoid either mechanistic reductionism or mind-body dualism.

The emergence of consciousness was a qualitative transformation.

Quantitatively increasing sensitivity was qualitatively transformed into sensation.

This created the distinction between subjective and objective.

Personification And Reification

 It is anthropomorphic to personify transcendence.

"God" is personification.

"The transcendent" is reification.

Transcendence is a process, not a substance.

A person is a subject-object.

"Soul" is reified subject.

Or at least, so I think.

Draft Talk On Zazen, Part III

It might not be possible to prevent natural thoughts from arising spontaneously in the mind. However, even if this is possible, it is not what we are trying to do in zazen. Thoughts have to arise so that we can practice nonattachment to them. But it is possible:

to think that the purpose of zazen is to prevent thoughts from arising;

to continue to think this even when we have received instruction and have been told that it is not the case;

to practice meditation while misunderstanding it;

to think that we are failing to meditate because thoughts arise;

to realize that we have been mistaken about the purpose of meditation yet still to feel as if spontaneous thoughts are failures to meditate.

Maybe continued practice brings better understanding.