Is there a God?, is it a scientific question? - (Vedanta and Cloud of Unknowing)

Is there a God?
Is there any way to prove the hypotheses through science ? - presence or absence.
When something similar was put to physicist Dr. David Bohm.
He replied, as a scientist he can't answer the question.
The reason he gave was, scientific questions have a notion of solution.
But, the question of God provides no such thing.
So,the implication is,
it is not a scientific question in the first place, so can't be answered scientifically either way.
May be science can't answer it today, is it possible some time in future?
But, we know knowledge is additive  and ever growing.
Therefore  knowledge at any point of time will remain limited and
with the limited knowledge we can't answer questions of absolute.

Then, it seems question of God/absolute can not be approached with objective knowledge.
If we can't approach it with objective knowledge, then what other tool is there.
The tool could be self knowledge or knowledge of one's own psychological self.

We are all familiar with the phrase 'Know Thyself'.
On the surface,
Knowing oneself would be for behavior modification to become more efficient and successful
in material life.
At the deeper level
Knowing oneself means to transcend the psychologically conditioned self ( Ego) and arrive at
the unconditioned or authentic self.

With the conditioned self called as Ego
What we see is what we want to see and
What we experience is what we think we experience.

According to mystical traditions,
It is the unconditioned self, which will reveal what is actual and will answer the
questions What is God and What is meaning of life.

There are two established traditions that speak about it.
Hindu Vedanta
Christian Cloud Of Unknowing.

Vedanta (Ved -knowledge, anta -end) -
Ending of knowledge (Psychological, not technical) to arrive at unconditioned authentic self.

Cloud Of Unknowing -
Stripping of thoughts (Conditionings) to arrive at  unconditioned authentic self.

How to go about it is another thing.

According to these traditions, answers to question of God and meaning of life is in
discovering one's own unconditioned or authentic self.

It is feeling, not thinking - Is there such a thing?

We often come across people saying that 'it is feeling, not thinking'
We ourselves might have used it without 'thinking' about it.
Is there actually a 'feeling', which is not related to our 'thinking'?
Because, we recognize our feeling only through the thought behind it.
If our wish is realized, we feel happy.
It is our wish, which is a thought that enable us to recognize that the feeling we have is happiness.
It is so with our anger or sadness.
Without a thought behind it, a feeling can't be recognized.
So, when we say 'it is feeling, not thinking', it must be unrecognizable or indescribable.
More importantly, that feeling is not product of our thinking.
That is, it can't be our wish. It just happens.

We can classify our feelings as
-  Feelings that are recognized immediately ,
-  Feelings that are recognized later by comparison.
-  Feelings that remain indescribable.

Recognizable feelings.

If we take feeling of anger, normally there is always a thought behind it.
 May be something happened against one's thought or wish.
 Wish or thought is based on one's thinking pattern.
That is, what makes one angry, may not make another one angry.
This thought alone enable us to recognize that it is anger.
Otherwise, it will remain an uncomfortable feeling without a name.
Most of our feelings are of this nature.
Whether they are pleasant or unpleasant,
they are caused or qualified by our thoughts only.
So, these are not  -  'it is feeling, not thinking'.
These feelings are products of our thinking.

Feelings that are recognized and labeled later.

This is another kind of feeling.
When we look at flaming sunsets or a roaring water fall.
We lost our selves in fascination.
One is entirely lost in that feeling.
When it is happening, there is no recognition of what feeling it is.
Mind is absent, there is no seer and what is seen. There is only seeing.
Later on , we may label it as beautiful by comparing it with other such experiences.
Next time around, it won't be so fascinating.
But, during the episode - 'it is feeling, not thinking'.

Indescribable feelings

Normally feelings with respect to religious/mystical/spiritual experiences,
Near Death Experience and Out of Body experiences are considered as indescribable feelings.

They are indescribable because we can describe only what our ego can experience but
these feelings lie outside the realm of ego.

Still, we can try to see what kind of feeling that could be by trying to look at things
without allowing ego to taint the perception.
For instance,
When a man looks at his wife, it is always through the label MY WIFE with all the
imports.
If he can 'look' at the WOMAN behind the WIFE,which is ego-centric perception.
Not theoretically but actually, then perception would undergo change.
Not only about the 'wife' but about everything around.
Nothing is lost but perception becomes more authentic.
The feeling one goes through during such perception cannot be described
because it lies outside the realm of  ego.
This is not altered consciousness induced by drugs but pure consciousness, not opinionated by ego elements.
This is indescribable - 'a feeling, not thinking' of different order.

The link below takes to the real life incident of Near Death Experience and Out of Body Experience
of an ex Indian Model and Actress Anu Agarwal and her current avatar.

Courtesy - The Hindu

Click Here

Unconditional LOVE - What is it ?

Unconditional Love - very common words  we come across nowadays.
What it could really mean?

Popular meaning is, not to put loyalty conditions in a love relationship.
But we got to go beyond that and take a broader spectrum of love including romantic love to understand what unconditional love could really mean.

Beside romantic love, we have mother's love, brother's love, friend's love and many many more.
There are as many love as there are relationships.
We can easily see,
In all these relationships, love is conditional because relationships are conditional.
Mothers'love is only for her child and so are brother', friends, partner's and so on.
In our empirical life we can't find any love which is not based on a condition. 
If we remove the conditions, love becomes abstract, an idea without any concrete reality.
Or, is it the other way around.
That is,
have we narrowed down the universal unconditional love to suit our empirical conditions?
If we take the sunlight as a metaphor for love.
We can equate sun light in the open space to unconditional love.
 Inside a room, sunlight enters only in the shape of the windows -restricted and or tainted.
It is qualitatively altered.
In the same way, 
when unconditional love is  manifested through our relationships,
it is narrowed down and attain different expressions - romance,care, affection, empathy,
regard, respect and so on.
All these feelings and expressions are limited versions of that unconditional universal love.
Its original nature is said to be compassion towards all.

So, the love we have is unconditional but limited by our empirical conditions.
If we can remove the conditions, then it will manifest itself in full glory.
Our conditions are ego centric - for its welfare and protection.
So, as long as we have this ego centric view of life,
unconditional love will remain an ideal or an idea.
If one can transcend ego or personal consciousness and there by transcending the conditions,
that universal unconditional love may come into being.
It is not making the windows bigger but walking out of the room into the open.

Those, who attained it say,
it is not only compassion but also intelligence that reveals cosmic purpose and order.

  

Why sex is a problem in the society?

Why sex is a problem in the society?

When this question was put to J.Krihnamurti-

His reply went like this,

'Why sex... 

if you think about eating all day long, it will become a problem...

problem is not the act but the thoughts about it".

In that case, why any one think about it all the time?

That too,

it is the civilized who have thoughts and think about it a lot, 

not the so called uncivilized.

So, problem might have something to do with the process of civilization.

Science says, propagation of species is the order of life forms in nature, 

And Self Preservation and Procreation are two mechanisms through 

which it is accomplished.

That makes eating and having sex as base needs of life forms.

Being so, 

evolution provided incentive of Pleasure for performing those acts 

to make life forms stay the course of propagation .

It is called as Pleasure Principle by the experts.

So we find sense of pleasure in eating and in sexual act.

When humans become civilized, secured and gained knowledge.

Their actions are not solely governed by instincts but vastly influenced by their thought process.

In the process, 

pleasure and its associated purpose is separated and now these acts are done for pleasure alone.

This is quite obvious,

We no longer eat for hunger alone but for appetite and to satisfy our cultivated taste.

We no longer have sex to have children (now that can be done in a lab) but for pleasure alone.

So sex, devoid of its original purpose have invented apparent purposes,

To escape stress,  build bond , show dominance, barter it for benefits and so on.

So, Pursuit of pleasure have become primary thought in modern life.

Then, one can’t help thinking about it a lot and disturbed by that as well.

Disturbed because, it is an instinctive urge and can easily override other norms.

Generally speaking, anything out of place or out of proportion will create problems.

As Jean Paul Sartre says in a different context   

A girl wearing a swim suit is graceful in a beach but obscene in a park.

So,

‘Out of proportion’ eating have created health issues and 

‘Out of place’ sex have created relationship issues.

Then,

We can’t revert to our original innocence or put the genie back in the bottle 

and attain godly grace.

That may be for the enlightened ones.

Anyway, 

beside biological perspective, sex has psychological (LG) and spiritual (Bridal Mysticism) perspectives.

That is another topic.

But , being aware , one can avoid being brazen and insensitive 

and become prudent and wise.

That would make at least pursuit of pleasure a graceful act.

"What is happening to you is what you think is happening to you" - is it so?

“What is happening to you is 

what you think is happening to you “ - is that true ?

This is not about what happens physically but  what happens to us psychologically over an event.

how we think ?

We think or interpret events only in terms of our opinions.

For example, if i have a good opinion about a particular political party .

Then, Its electoral win can bring joy to me.

But, for some reason if my opinion has changed,  then the same event can bring sadness.

The event remaining the same, 

What is ‘happening’ to me changes according to my thinking.

In other words what is happening to me is what i think is happening to me.

This is one simple situation.

Taking a bigger picture or abstract,

All events are interpreted only by our belief system.

Belief system is a complex net work of opinions,prejudices about people, race,religion, culture etc.

In short , about everything around us.

Some beliefs are cultivated consciously like affiliation to a political party.

And, some are at unconscious level like religious, racial, cultural ideas derived from family/society. 

We (can) think and interpret events only in terms of our belief system.

They only qualify any ‘happening' as good, bad or as  desirable , undesirable.

But,

They are all based on belief only, in terms of which we think.

So, whatever happens to us psychologically, ‘Happens’ only because we think so .

The event may be objective but psychological happening is subjective and solely 

depends on one’s belief system.

There is no objective kind of ‘happening’ psychologically.

Change in our beliefs /thoughts will change what is happening to us.

For some, 

change in belief/idea/thought can even transform life itself.

(Change is not tweaking or calibrating a thought, that may work in physical sphere

but not in the psychological sphere. That is, one can be semi-skilled but not semi-honest.)

So, it is true that,

What is happening to us is only what we think is happening to us.

Putting it in other words -

We only decide what happens to us psychologically by choosing  our thoughts and affiliations.

So, in that sense ,

we are the maker our own destiny at least in our psychological sphere.

Let past make us better, not bitter

Click Here

'Pain is inevitable;suffering is optional' - is it so ?

It is an old saying attributed to Buddha by some and to Budai (Laughing Buddha) by some.
It doesn't matter because we are only going to look at its import.
The import is, though pain is inevitable, suffering is not.
Implying, one can chose not to suffer.
Now the question is,
Is it possible to chose not to suffer when we are in pain?
To answer that question we will have see what we mean by suffering.
From our experience we can see that suffering is not about sensation of pain but mentally enduring the pain.
So, pain may be physical or psychological, but suffering the pain is only mental/psychological.
Which means suffering is a state of mind.
If it is state of mind then it is left to us to decide how we suffer the pain mentally.

We can see the difference more clearly by analyzing a very simple situation.

For anyone to walk a long distance under hot sun would be painful in a way and state of mind would be that of suffering the heat.
But, if there is substantial reward at the end of the walk, then state of mind would undergo change.
Now, walking under the hot sun won't be perceived as suffering under the heat but only as a difficulty.
The state of mind changes entirely, now the mind is ready to accept the pain but doesn't suffer it mentally.
That is, the mind chooses not to suffer and so names it as difficulty.
Though quantum of pain remains the same but perception of suffering undergoes a change.
This clearly shows that pain is a fact and suffering is only a state of mind.
So the saying 'pain is inevitable; suffering is optional' is a factual statement.
The situation stated above may be too simple.
But, one can extrapolate it to more difficult issues involving physical or psychological pain and still find logically, suffering is only a state of mind.
Of course, it may not be easy and not even possible to practice it under all situations and end mental suffering.
But, people like Buddha/Budai always talks in terms of absolute, one can't derive relief or relative comfort from them.

So, at the least this is the direction one has take to gain insight into suffering and understand the anatomy of suffering.
We would be able free ourselves from suffering to the extent of insight and understanding we have about it.