Re: Can causality be infinite?
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:20 am
I find this ironic coming from you since it was me advocating surrender as opposed to your intellectual approach.David Quinn wrote:Addressing the question of free will is important because it forces one to draw the reality of causality into the inner recesses of one’s being. Instead of keeping causality at a safe distance in the imagination and treating it as though it were a dry academic theory, one needs to let it soak into every pore of one’s being and allow it to work its magic. Only then can the concept spring to life and propel us into the Infinite.
There is a difference between "seeing" it and living it. My question was about action, not about how one thinks about it.Constant meditation on causality is the first step towards becoming enlightened. One has to learn how to "see" it in everything in the world, including every aspect of one’s inner life. The more you keep causality in mind and focus your consciousness upon it, the better. Even if maintaining such a focus comes at the expense of other activities and thought-processes, you will be better off in the long run. It will slowly dissolve your delusions about the nature of existence and gradually alter your consciousness, making it far more receptive to wisdom. As I mentioned in the introduction, the path to enlightenment is primarily one of freeing one’s consciousness from an entrenched deluded perspective and re-orientating it so that it slides effortlessly into enlightenment. The concept of causality is the perfect tool for this task, particularly in the initial stages of freeing the mind from entrenched delusion.
Like I said, it's a path, but one you actually have to walk, not just contemplate. What do you give up when you walk the path of causation? If there is no action involved, then you are not really presenting any path, just rhetoric.Integrating the concept of causality with every aspect of one’s being allows one to see through the illusion of self and makes it possible for us to perceive our true nature, which is God. It helps us to realize the truth that we ultimately lack any kind of existence, that God is the doer of all things, and that life and death is an illusion. This is a truly remarkable knowledge and, for the sake of a saner world, needs to be understood by everyone.
You're very big on new perception but not on action. I am asking you what actions change, not what perceptions change.In other words, the primary consequence of immersing oneself in causation-consciousness is the gradual, relentless and permanent altering of everyday perception. If done properly, a full re-orientation of consciousness will occur - "a turning about in the seat of consciousness", as described in Zen - leading to a radically different inner relationship with all things, both externally and internally.
I am still not hearing any action. Thinking about the world differently but acting the same won't change anything. You need to put your new ideas into action.This re-orientation process involves the complete piercing of Maya (the illusion of inherent existence) and sets in place the conditions for the thorough undermining of all false thinking. This also includes the undermining of egotism, due to the fact that the ego exists purely within the realm of false thinking.
A lot of people change their minds and stay the same. Simply affirming causation is not real change. Real change requires you to live it. You have yet to say how life is any different under causation. You understand that the causation argument implies no more control. Do you think people would give up control because it sounds like a good idea? In fact loss of control is probably the most frightening idea of them all. People stay as far away from it as possible. You yourself seem in no hurry to give it up. That's why I find your enthusiasm for causation to be so curious. Being in control seems as important to you as to the most vociferous free agent.From there everything else follows. "Change the mind, change the world", as an old saying goes.