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The concept of karma which is sanskrit for action and closely allied with the Advaita/non-dual philosophy, IS the very reason why we exist at all with name and form. Absent karma we will remain as pure conciousness, in non-dual existence.
Sorry but how can Karma possibly be the reason we exist at all?
Karma is
Quote:
noun: karma
(in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.
I can understand the concept that previous existences decide the fate of future existences, but not why we exist in the first place.
It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation surely?
Consciousness does not propagate. It simply is, it is everywhere, there is no place that it is not. Naturally it is within us. It is limitless, unconditional, transcendental. Its nature is fullness (complete, lacks nothing) peace and eternal. And we are that., not our body and mind.
This is Mystics theory, not mine so not sure why this post is addressed to me, but thanks for the input.
I do not believe consciousness itself is everywhere. I believe that there are building blocks built into the fabric of the universe that given the right conditions, give rise to consciousness ie there is the potential for consciousness to exist.
This is Mystics theory, not mine so not sure why this post is addressed to me, but thanks for the input.
I do not believe consciousness itself is everywhere. I believe that there are building blocks built into the fabric of the universe that given the right conditions, give rise to consciousness ie there is the potential for consciousness to exist.
I am addressing you because you started a dialogue about karma with Mystic who does not seem to have a proper grasp of it. Words mean something. Just because Karma has become part of the English lexicon, Does not mean that its location, etymology, and ontological connotation is extinct. It is always beneficial to know completely what is worth knowing. Just sharing what i know.
I am addressing you because you started a dialogue about karma with Mystic who does not seem to have a proper grasp of it. Words mean something. Just because Karma has become part of the English lexicon, Does not mean that its location, etymology, and ontological connotation is extinct. It is always beneficial to know completely what is worth knowing. Just sharing what i know.
I didn't start a conversation with Mystic about Karma. I was talking to him about pantheism and consciousness.
I haven't read through this entire thread but my first encounter with the word in this thread was when you brought it up a couple of posts ago.
But okay, happy for you to clarify what Karma means to you. No problem.
Sorry but how can Karma possibly be the reason we exist at all?
Karma is
I can understand the concept that previous existences decide the fate of future existences, but not why we exist in the first place.
It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation surely?
I am not the least bit surprised that your fine mind detected the major flaw in the ancient reasoning and conceptualizing of karma. The esoteric jargon and rationalization that embodies the literature presenting the concept can be confusing. The complicating factor is original language and transliteration. Minds developed and trained in one contextual language literally think and reason differently than those developed in a different contextual language.
Sorry but how can Karma possibly be the reason we exist at all?
Karma is
I can understand the concept that previous existences decide the fate of future existences, but not why we exist in the first place.
It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation surely?
Our actions, intended and unintended, right and wrong, all leave their trace on our mind. They are born of desire and these combined become karma which when the body dies is carried by the mind. It is this mind, with all these traces that become sentient and is reincarnated to experience the results of the karma in the relative reality of what we understand as our world. The goal, both in Buddhism and in Hinduism, is to break this cycle, samsara, by cessation of birth. What is born is bound to die, and what is born accumulates karma. The method per Advaita is to realize we are not our corporeal self, but we are Atma, the awareness, the limitless, unbounded, indescribable, eternal, non-dual, complete, self in peace, moksha. Buddhism calls it nirvana, freedom from suffering.
I didn't start a conversation with Mystic about Karma. I was talking to him about pantheism and consciousness.
I haven't read through this entire thread but my first encounter with the word in this thread was when you brought it up a couple of posts ago.
But okay, happy for you to clarify what Karma means to you. No problem.
Karma does not have an independent meaning outside of its context. It is like saying this is what truth means to me. Truth is truth.
Hi Mystic. I'm back and would like to discuss with you further.
'What is our purpose?' Is a question we get asked a lot over on the atheist forum. My response is always: as humans we choose our own purpose.
But it actually goes deeper than that.
As you know Mystic, my husband works in clinical research and genetics, and has been part of a team that has developed one of the antibodies currently being used in the fight against the pandemic.
My husband is your stereotypical infinitely level headed no nonsense scientist type. I asked him early in the pandemic what he thought the point of a virus is. His response is that their purpose in its most basic level is to multiply, not in a conscious way, in a biological way. That's their sole purpose. They reproduce. And there may be many millions of types of virus. They vast majority of them being beneficial. But we only focus on the ones that harm us.
In any case, that's my long winded way of saying that I agree that propagation on earth at least seems to be the end goal.
So I was interested in your take that consciousness may have the same end goal.
I have a similar, though not exactly the same conclusion. I see consciousness as being an inevitable consequence of complex biology. That the circumstances that give rise to consciousness must be built in the fabric of how we are built.
I also like that you do not shy away from accepting the negative aspects of life as some theists do.
Cruithne, thanks for that. On the recommendation of another CD poster, I am reading The Great Influenza, about the 1918 pandemic misnamed "The Spanish Flu" (seems to have started in Kansas, though no one can say so definitively). Last night I read the part where the author provides the step-by-step mechanics of how a virus works, and what I bolded above is part of that information. It was almost like reading about a monster in a horror movie, except the monster is microscopic. There is no consciousness. Its reason for existence is to reproduce. Like it or not, it is part of the same universe that we are.
I am not the least bit surprised that your fine mind detected the major flaw in the ancient reasoning and conceptualizing of karma. The esoteric jargon and rationalization that embodies the literature presenting the concept can be confusing. The complicating factor is original language and transliteration. Minds developed and trained in one contextual language literally think and reason differently than those developed in a different contextual language.
Learn the language. That is what intelligent people do, particularly if they have a PhD. They do research and get peer reviewed. They dont have a nervous breakdown on CD BECAUSE everybody has damn questions about their pet theology.
Consciousness does not propagate. It simply is, it is everywhere, there is no place that it is not. Naturally, it is within us. It is limitless, unconditional, transcendental. Its nature is fullness (complete, lacks nothing) peace and eternal. And we are that., not our body and mind.
Consciousness is everywhere because it IS the Reality within which we exist, but it is a consciousness of a LIVING God, not a dead, static, unchanging one, and propagation is the primary reason sentient beings (brains) within it exist.
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