- What is the situation? Awareness of Self and World.
- What is the general problem? A sense of doership coupled with a lack of purpose.
- What is the symptom of the problem in human? All knowledge is subjective and all actions are a result of conditioning. The situation is unsettling.
- From inquiry, what are the probable solutions to the problem? a) Get rid of dualism to eliminate self-other split, b) Get 'objective' knowledge to understand everything, c) Live in duality and operate with subjective knowledge but understand you are not the doer.
- Probable Sol #1: Get rid of dualism. Hint: Lose yourself, what remains is non-dual.
- Probable Sol #2: Get objective knowledge. Hint: Lose the subject, what remains is objective.
- Probable Sol #3: Understand non-doership. Hint: Reflect on the core of your being. (Subject of next blog.)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Probable Solutions
Progression of ideas:
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8 comments:
Perhaps there is no such thing as objective knowledge in a Epistemological sense. Perhaps your concept of individuality is only an illusion. Perhaps you should read Hume and Kant.
Agreed...there is no such thing as objective knowledge 'in the conventional way', using senses and brain. How do you know the conventional way is the only way? What if there is way to get objective knowledge (whatever that means) without using brain or the senses!!
In order for that to be possible we have to first assume that there is actually such a thing as objective knowledge itself, which experience has shown that there is not. Secondly were there objective knowledge and it be not accessible to the mind by either A Priori or A Posteriori means than this "knowledge of a thing in and of itself" would exist in a metaphysical realm that has no agency over the mind (insofar as if it did it would be accessible to the mind in some form or another), and therefore be irrelevant to human experience.
I agree, Objective knowledge if it were to exist is not accessible to the body and mind. In my blog, I just say that, that seems to be ONE of the probable solutions/paths to 'real' peace. Yoga Sutras of Patanjali documents the step by step procedure to 'realize' (cannot be intellectualized) objective knowledge. According to it, the objective knowledge is always present and will reveal itself upon stilling the mind. When we understand the limitations and the trapping of the brain/mind and the nature of knowledge we could produce using it, we have to go beyond it to solve the problem of 'objective' knowledge. Hence...'stilling' the mind approach. It gives some sense about the idea behind the approach. To me, it is just a tedious, difficult path to undertake. I thought about alternatives and solution#3 is more appealing to me at this time.
A Rationalist would say that knowledge is A Priori, Descartes for instance postulated that when you can doubt anything that can be doubted (namely sense perception) from the mind that whatever is left that cannot be doubted can be considered to be objective knowledge. In order to test his hypothesis someone who was not me (hereby referred to as SWIM) ingested a fair amount of a full NMDA receptor antagonist (NMDA receptor is essentially pathway between the mind and the body's sensory organs.) The thoughts that SWIM came up with lacking sensory impressions in a Lockean sense seemed as though they were of things in and themselves and objective, but after the experience SWIM realized that in actuality these thoughts were subjective, and that SWIM was falsely ascribing an objective universality (or necessity) to that which is neither. Thus I conclude that the mind has no access to objective knowledge, and as far as human experience is concerned does therefore not exist.
When we talk about subjective knowledge ... who is the subject? What is your take on it?
My main point in the blog is Solution #3; about the nature of the conventional idea of the subject.
Solutions 1 and 2 talk about eliminating that subject for the revelation of 'objective' knowledge (remember there is no subject to experience it, the subject has been eliminated)...whether that is doable or not and what it means to eliminate the subject etc are questions we can postpone for now. Let's try to focus on Solution #3.
Hey...nice blog ! n interesting too :)
Thanks, Sowmya.
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