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To: little jeremiah

Back to Mr. Frog's universe and his well. Let's assume he is out of the well and into the ocean. What has happened to the others? (I think you can understand the question)


82 posted on 08/11/2005 4:03:23 PM PDT by ARridgerunner
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To: ARridgerunner

Aha! Excellent question. There are two schools of thought about what happens to the others (and onself...). In Sanskrit these are called dvaita and advaita - dualism or non-dualism, or sometimes monism.

The non-dualism schools claims (actually they say this in various ways, and Buddhism is an offshoot of this school) that all souls/living entities are not a *part* of God in the sense of a separate eternal individual, but are part of God the way a drop of water is part of the ocean. Well, that's their analogy, but if you look at water it is still composed of separate molecules. They state that there is no eternal indidivuality, and in the perfected state, free from defect and conditioning, there is no sense of "I" and "you", only a limitless ocean of light.

They generally also state that this world - this universe, and everything within it - is merely illusion, doesn't even exist, and in the liberated state it all disappears.

Actually, there are many holes in this theory; but it has become so widespread that some variation of monism can be seen everywhere, even in Christian churches. The idea that God is not the Supreme Person but some kind of formless energy, without personal characteristics (and naturally the souls created by Him would not be any better) is very widespread.

It all stems from a teacher named Shankaracharya who taught in the 9th century AD (he didn't invent this philosophy, but he articulated it and taught it widely). The reason he did this is a story in itself.

The other school, dualism or dvaita, actually includes the other school as a subset. This understanding (which clearly I adhere to) states that God is an eternal individual (albeit supreme, all-powerful, unlimited in energy, and never subject to the defects the small souls are) and we, the souls/atmas, are also eternally individual. In other words, our consciousness - our ego - our sense of personal existence is never terminated, never dissolved. The fact that we have an ego now - the deepest sense of "I exist" - is evidence of our real, eternal existence. The soul/spiritual self of pure consciousness is the template for the material, physical body and the subtle body of mind and desires.

There are essentially three levels of realization of God and self that can be attained. That is, levels that extend beyond the appreciation that He is the creator of this manifested world, the provider and controller. I can get into them later, they relate to the topic of eternal individuality.

One of the defects of the non-dualist philosophy is there is no explanation of how or why "God" decided to divide Himself up into little pieces and got Himself under illusion to suffer in the world of birth and death. Especially if He isn't an individual in the first place. They have various explanations but none make sense. Whereas the dualist philosophy or understanding very clearly explains why we are here, in our covered, illusioned state.

Another point that probably needs some explanation is that there is another realm of existence beyond the confines of the universe we find ourseleves in, controlled by time and subject to ultimate destruction. That realm, in Sanskrit, is called Paravyoma, para meaning supreme, and vyoma meaning sky. That realm is the template, which this world is but the reflection of. You could call it the Kingdom of God.


86 posted on 08/11/2005 4:51:32 PM PDT by little jeremiah (A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom. P. Henry)
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