"A problem is your chance to do your best."
-- Duke Ellington
You asked me to answer this N.P., so I must ask you:
Are you speaking from experience? Have you experienced a totally silent mind, then experienced the world still appearing?
I’m betting you haven’t (while awake) or you wouldn’t still have this question.
Actually, you have. In deep sleep. Not your dream state. Total deep-sleep unconsciousness. During that period, with mind & body so silent, you didn’t even know “you,” the bedroom or any part of what you see in your ‘waking state’ existed…did the world still appear?
Andrei Palskoi’s answer here is the best (naturally:-). Absorb his succinct answer. The reply to my questions, if you like. 😃
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totally silent mind (samadhi or ego-collapse)
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So it means, as quantum mechanics says, there is no phenomenon outside if there is no observer; as we observe this world that is why it exists! although this theory is controversial among quantum scholars.
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Popularity is not a benchmark of Greatness.
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SW VVKA
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Why do humans believe that they have to let go of their ego in a spiritual awakening?
Because it makes sense to a human.
There are a number of factors that make this idea of getting rid of ego make sense:
- The teachings say that everyone and everything already is IT - IT being the true nature, the Buddha nature, the awareness, consciousness, God, spirit, what-have-you.
- The teachings say that the enlightened ones are not their egos.
- The teachings say that ego is absent in awakening, that during awakening ego, mind, is gone and only awareness is.
Given those teachings, it is reasonable to conclude that ego is the problem here. If everyone is already IT, then everyone is already awakened or enlightened, and if ego is absent in those who are enlightened, then clearly ego is the problem, ego is the obstacle, ego is the culprit that causes one not to be as awakened as one deserves to be.
But that is not how it works.
If one is not fully aware of one’s true nature, Buddha nature, awareness’ nature, it is because one is not aware deeply enough, widely enough, to a great enough degree. It is not the bad ego that causes one to not be aware - it is one’s limited awareness that causes one not to be aware.
One believes oneself to be ego, one identifies as ego, because ego is all one is aware of. One is not aware any further, any deeper, that one’s own body and one’s own mind.
To say that ego stands in one’s way, that ego stops one from being awakened, makes as much sense as saying that if my eyesight is poor and everything looks fuzzy to me, it is the fuzziness that stops me from seeing clearly. The fuzziness doesn’t stop anyone from seeing clearly - the fuzziness is a consequence of a poor eyesight.
I do not think that this can be a popular perspective, that if one is not awakened it is because one’s awareness is limited. It is much nicer to believe that one is already awakened, enlightened, and it is the bad, evil ego that stands in the way. It is much nicer to believe that anyone and everyone can be awakened, if only ego can be gotten rid of. But ego can’t be gotten rid of, ego is a normal, natural construct created by a functional, healthy human brain. Ego can’t be gotten rid of, and it doesn’t have to be gotten rid of. Ego has nothing at all to do with awakening - awareness does.
Blaming ego, vilifying ego, trying to destroy ego, in no way increases awareness. Increasing awareness increases awareness.
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The third option is what Buddha called the Madhyama-mārga - the Middle path.
When Vacchagotta the wanderer asked him point-blank whether or not there is a Self, the Buddha remained silent, which means that the question has no helpful answer. As he later explained to Ananda, to respond either yes or no to this question would be to side with opposite extremes of wrong view (Samyutta Nikaya 44.10).
Some have argued that the Buddha didn’t answer with “no” because Vacchagotta wouldn’t have understood the answer. But there’s another passage where the Buddha advises all the monks to avoid getting involved in questions such as “What am I?” “Do I exist?” “Do I not exist?” because they lead to answers like “I have a self” and “I have no self,” both of which are a “thicket of views, a writhing of views, a contortion of views” that get in the way of awakening (Majjhima Nikaya 2).
So the teaching of the Buddha has to be read in the context of the philosophical methodology of the Upanishads.
In the Upanishads we have the two approaches known as NETI and ITI which correspond to the same binary in Christian theology - Apophatic (Neti - negative) and Kataphatic (Iti - positive) theology. The difference being that in Vedanta the Self and Brahman are the same thing whereas in Christian theology the Soul and God are different.
The Negative philosophical way is to investigate the Absolute (Self-Brahman) through negation of every concept that arises in the mind, whatever way you attempt to think of it - it is not that (na-iti = not this). So in the Ribhu Gita for example the existence of Atman in any absolute sense is denied.
The Positive way is to investigate through affirmation (iti iti) - so everything including the 2 trillion galaxies of the Universe, and what is beyond, every conceivable thing - ALL inclusive is Atma-Brahman only.
So the Buddha was saying both these ways lead to confusion and so one should abide in the Middle Way - between these two extremes.
There is no incompatibility - different perspectives of the same existential problem.
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FREE TO REDUCE
Learning from Experience
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” -Albert Einstein
Life experiences have shaped many people’s views on the meaning of life. You will have your own experiences that will shape your own views.
Victor Frankl discovered his views on the meaning of life in the the bleakest of places—a Nazi concentration camp.
As a prisoner, he experienced great suffering. This led him to his profound insight:
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
He elaborates:
The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.
This leads to his conclusion on the meaning of life:
Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.
What will your experiences lead you to conclude?
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- When you talk, you are repeating what you already know. But if you listen you may learn something new.
[ Thank you for reading this answer, as long as you read my answer I’ll give you a little gift at the end of this answer, & hopefully you will love it.]
- When people want to leave a discussion or conversation, they repeatedly move their feet back and forth, or start moving their legs around.
- When people want to leave a discussion or conversation, they repeatedly move their feet back and forth, or start moving their legs around.
- When people want to leave a discussion or conversation, they repeatedly move their feet back and forth, or start moving their legs around.
- In a world that’s constantly evolving, if you stop working on yourself- you might think you’re standing still , but the world has started pushing you backward.
- People seem more attractive when they speak with full confidence and truth.
- People who are spiritual and thankful for what they have are least likely to be depressed…so always count your blessings :)
- The smell of orange relieves stress. Smelling an orange or eating one can reduce stress by over 70%.
- One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4–5 hours. One minute of laughter boosts the immune system for 24 hours.
- Unless you make peace with your past, you can never pave your future… so leave things that trouble you behind and focus on the future.
- According to psychology, two effective ways to fight depression are exercising and spending time with pets.
- To succeed in a task, enjoy the path also instead of focusing only on the destination of your goal…the task will then be less tiresome and you will truly enjoy it. Work shall be like play :)
- If you experience a nice or blissful dream, wake up and stay awake for sometime, it will boost up positivity in you.
- If a nightmare wakes you up in the midnight, try sleeping at the very next moment, it will suppress negative effects immediately.
- Rejection and humiliation are some of the greatest forms of pain a human being can endure. These feelings or emotions produce similar chemical effects as that of a physical injury. Thus, the human brain handles the pain of rejection and humiliation like it would with physical pain.
- For developing a new habit, follow it for 21 days, it will eventually become a routine.
- If a person is continuously avoiding eye contact, there are fair chances that he or she is lying.
- Most marriages are failing faster these days than at any other period in history, and most people actually believe that marriages don’t work anymore. According to studies, marrying your best friend eliminates the risk of divorce by over 70% and such marriages are more likely to last a lifetime.
Learning from Contemplation
In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.” -Rene Descartes
Our ability to think and reason is one of our greatest gifts. There is only so much we can take in from the outside world, before we have to turn to ourselves to make sense of it.
Philosopher Rene Descartes made this method famous in his book Meditations on First Philosophy. In his book, Descartes practices extreme skepticism by discarding all his beliefs that are not known with absolute certainty, which is practically everything. He then goes into deep thought leading to his first and famous insight: “I think therefore I am”.
You don’t have to go to the extremes of Descartes and discard all the beliefs you don’t hold with absolute certainty. However, healthy skepticism and deep thought can help you reflect on what you have learned and experienced in life. This is where our deepest insights are made.
This is where we find meaning.
This brings me back to the picture we started with. It is called a Rorschach test. It is created using an inkblot to make a symmetric picture. Different people see different things in it, which is why some consider it a way to look into a person’s soul.
I think it is the perfect analogy to how we can find the meaning of life. Everyone creates their own inkblot through what they learn and their life experiences. They then use their own thoughts to see what they see in the inkblot they created.
Our learning and experiences help shape our views on life. Our thoughts help us find its meaning.
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