Scientific Living » God

Perception and God

Scientific Living — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:56:09 +0000

Many people have heard the theory that everything that exists is nothing but God- That He alone has become this entire universe, that nothing exists outside of Him, and that the concept of distinction is only apparent. If this were true, then you and I would literally be God. For many people (perhaps most), this can sound absolutely absurd.

How can I actually be God?

Can this claim be rationally established? There are lots of arguments, and they can help (and even convince) us to believe in this theory. But none will ever be perfectly satisfying. However, reasoning is still necessary if there is any chance of ever realizing whether or not this theory is true.

How can I not be God?

This is one counterargument that is sometimes raised. One person says:

“Show me one spot where God exists.”

The other replies:

“Show me one place where God does not exist.”

So here, no one proves anything. There is an impasse. But there is at least an understanding that lack of sense perception of God does not disprove His existence, or His all-pervasiveness.

I have seen God and He is like such and such.

This is another argument. Say a saint or a sage has a divine experience and tells his disciples that “I saw God in such and such a way.” Then, over the next 1,000 years, his disciples go telling everyone, “This is what God is like. Our Master told us so!”

This has a fallacy. It assumes God only exists in one way. It does not prove that God exists only in that way. But it does give some demonstration that He exists at least in that way.

The Elephant and the Blind Men

There is a story about a bunch of blind man that were commanded to go inspect an elephant, and then report back about what the elephant was like. So the group goes out and starts feeling around an elephant. One guy grabs the trunk and says “Elephants are like tree trunks!” Another guy grabs the tail and says “No, you moron! Elephants are like snakes!” Yet another person feels an ear and says “You guys are crazy. Elephants are like huge leaves!”

They are all correct. But they are all incorrect to say that they alone are right. Their perceptions are true, but they are all relative. They do not actually perceive the elephant for what it is. They only get indications of what it is.

Indirect Perception

Everything we ordinarily perceive is through indirect perception. Say I place a wooden chair in front of a bunch of people and ask if anyone knows what it is. Everyone will say that it is a chair.

But how do you know?

Light hits the chair. It is reflected into your eyes. Some kind of signal passes through nerves wires that lead from your retina to your brain. Your brain processes some signals. And somehow or the other, you get presented with an image of a chair. What you are seeing is not actually the chair. You are seeing an indication of the chair. It is a black box process. The chair is the input to the formula. Your psychophysical system (the eyes, nerves, brain, etc.) is a black box that somehow transforms that pure input. Then your perception of the chair is the resulting output.

So it would not be correct to say we know the true nature of the chair. We only know the indirect perception about the chair. Indirect perception cannot actually give us the knowledge of the object. The only way to get unbiased knowledge of an object is not through indirect experience, but through direct experience.

Direct Perception

So if I wanted to know what a chair actually is, I would have to perceive it directly. I would need to eliminate the “black box”.

But look around. Look at an object in the room. If you can name it, then that means you are separate from it. And if you are separate from it, then you are perceiving that object indirectly. And if you are perceiving that object indirectly, then you do not really know that object. So to actually know an object, you cannot be separate from it. The only way I can know the true nature of a chair is by actually being the chair. The subject and the object must become merged. Then there is no space between “this” and “that”. When there is no space, there is no indirect perception. There is direct and immediate perception.

God and Direct Perception

So to truly know God, indirect perception must be removed. The subject (“I”) and the object (“God”) must become merged. So under the assumptions that God can actually be known by us seemingly frail human beings, and that you must be something in order to know that something, then this logically means that we must actually be God.

So that is one argument that appears in various places about perception, knowledge, and the vision of God. It appeals to many people, but not to everyone. And naturally, it cannot be totally satisfying. What course of reason can? In any case, growing requires thinking. And we should all think seriously about these important questions like “Can I really see God?” They are fundamental to our life.

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Increase Your Desire!

Scientific Living — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:25:33 +0000

Spiritual teachers and texts often stress the value of decreasing desires. But one thing to know is that this actually means intensifying the one most important desire.

Why do we have desire?

All desires are longing for God in disguise. We try to fulfill desires, mistakenly thinking that they will give us lasting peace. Those desires always disappoint in due time. We go on in this way until our desires turn towards knowing God.

Why do ordinary desires ultimately disappoint?

Ordinary desires are finite. The joy you get from fulfilling these desires is also finite. How can the infinite be found in the finite? All finite things must have an end.

What do you mean by “increasing” desire?

If you want a mansion, increasing desire is not to say that you should desire an even bigger mansion! Instead, you must recognize the superiority of spirit over matter. Let your desires be more and more spiritual, and less and less material.

Spiritual desires are indeed greater than material desires. You can measure the size of a palace, but who can measure the Soul? Those who are among the greediest men on earth are truly less ambitious than the spiritual seeker.

I feel bad that I have so many material desires.

There is no need of that. No one is inferior to anyone. Everyone has to pass through all phases of spiritual growth at some time or the other. If God did not will human beings to have seeming frailties, then no human would have them. It is He who allows everything in this multitude of Universes to exist. Just keep on making effort at progress.

On the contrary side, if you find that you do not have any motivation to fulfill any desires, then perhaps you are in trouble.

Why would I be in trouble?

Desire is a power that can be redirected and focused towards the realization of God. If you do not have any desire to do anything, then there are two possibilities: The first is that you are a perfected soul, and are free of material attachment. The second possibility is that you are dull, slothful, lazy, physically ill, mentally ill, or have some other obstacle that is making you so. If this is the case, then you must work diligently to overcome such an obstacle.

The person who- in the beginning- does not have enough energy to desire sex (should such a situation arise) would certainly not have the energy to learn to contemplate God. What task could be more difficult and require more energy than thinking about That which is beyond thought?

In what sense is “increasing” desire the same as “decreasing” desire?

When a person channels all of his or her energy in the direction of knowing the Divine Reality, this one desire becomes intensified. At this time there is less space for any other desire to surface in the mind. So in that sense the number of desires has decreased. It is only that the intensity of the one most important desire has increased. At that moment of meditation, when all thought tends to flow in a unified direction, the only prominent desire is to know God.

Those that directly practice “desirelessness” describe the same thing in the opposite way. Such people- one by one- dissolve desires from their mind until none are left. But even this necessitates the existence of the one desire of knowing the Truth. The fact that such people willfully engage in this type of spiritual discipline is proof that this desire exists. Otherwise, they would not do it. What ordinary person is able to act without desire?

Who has taught such principles in the past?

Countless people have. Above all, the supremacy of spiritual desires was perhaps best summed up by Jesus when he approved of the response to his question:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind. And, love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

What could require more intense desire?

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The 3 Principal Teachings of Vedanta (Featured on Anmolmehta.com)

Scientific Living — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:36:07 +0000

Today, my website has been featured on Anmolmehta.com. Anmol is a well known meditation teacher and the author of one of the largest websites on yoga and meditation on the internet. He has published my article The 3 Fundamental Teachings of Vedanta and the Harmony of Religions on his site. Here is a brief summary of what you can learn by reading the article:

“Vedanta” is the name of a world philosophy which emphasizes the underlying common threads of all religions and spiritual practices.
Though closely associated with Hinduism, it is possessed by no tradition, but rather gives the scope and the rational behind all religions and their practices.

It maintains that all spiritual paths are true and that there is not “right” or “wrong”, but rather there are simply varying degrees of truth.

It maintains that all spiritual paths, whether knowingly or unknowingly, are working on the same fundamental principles, and these principles are reinterpreted again and again to fit the needs of each particular culture, time, set of circumstances, and individual temperament.

The 3 fundamental teachings of Vedanta are:

Each soul is potentially divine.
“The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one, or more, or all of these – and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”
These truths are universal.

Vedanta declares the essential Oneness of existence, and proclaims the harmony of all religions.

Read the full article on Anmol’s site. Please share it on Stumble Upon, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

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The Saint Who Went to Hell for Speaking the Truth

Scientific Living — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:11:25 +0000

There once was a saint who would spend his time underneath a beautiful tree in the forest. Day and night he would practice deep meditation. He was exceedingly noble, and always sought to do what was right. One day, a stranger came running towards the saint with a look of fear on his face. He said in an exasperated voice:

Stranger: “Holy Sir! I am being chased by a group of bandits. I am going to climb up this tree and hide from them. Since you are an upright man, I know you will not tell them where I am hiding. If they find me, they will kill me!”

Then the man hurried up the tree and hid. Not hearing any response from the saint, he naturally assumed that his secret would be safe and that the saint would not betray him. But immediately the saint began to struggle in his mind what he should say to the bandits when they came. He thought to himself:

Saint: “It is of utmost important to always tell the truth and never tell a lie. It is better to lose my tongue than lie about where this man is hiding.”

But then he doubted himself:

Saint: “But speaking the truth will mean that this man will be killed!”

Finally he decided that if the bandits pressed him for an answer, he would say:

Saint: “I know where the man is, but I will not tell you.”

The saint made his resolve strong, and just then saw the pursuing bandits coming from off in the distance. One of the bandits said to him:

Bandit: “Look holy man: if you tell me where that man is hiding, we’ll leave you alone.”

Thinking the bandits might just go away, the saint remained silent. But the bandits meant business, and they cruelly beat the saint. Even still, the noble-minded saint kept silent. The bandits realized that more would be needed to make him talk, so one of them drew out his sword and said:

Bandit: “You have 5 minutes to tell me where he is, or I’ll kill you.”

The saint sat still for the entire 5 minutes, and sticking to his plan said:

Saint: “I know where he is, but I will not tell you.”

Then the bandit replied:

Bandit: “So it seems that a beating and a threat with a sword were enough to make you break your silence. I wonder if we go farther whether or not you will say more!”

Then the bandit mercilessly cut off one of the saint’s hands. Then the bandit said:

Bandit: “Now, you have 5 minutes to tell us where he is.”

The saint thought about everything he had learned in his life, and tried to decide what has the moral thing to do. He thought to himself:

Saint: “I am living a noble and fruitful life. It would be wrong of me to let this body die and go to waste simply for the sake of a stranger. It is important to protect oneself. I would be a fool to both die and fail to tell the truth.”

So when the 5 minutes were up, the saint lifted a finger and pointed up into the tree. The bandits immediately dragged the man out of the tree and ended his life.

Years rolled on, and the saint lived out his life until he finally passed away. Expecting eternal peace, he was surprised to find himself in hell! Then Death appeared before him and said:

Death: “Don’t worry. You will be going to a realm of eternal peace, but for a couple of minutes you first have to see hell because of one terrible sin you committed.”

The saint replied:

Saint: “But my entire life I have always carefully weighed every decision, and have always done what is right. How is it that even these 2 minutes I have to see hell?”

Then Death replied:

Death: “You say you have never done anything wrong, but then why did you let your hand get cut off and let a man be murdered unnecessarily? Truthful actions always result in the most good, whereas your actions resulted in the most bad.

“Firstly, you should not have kept silent when the stranger came to you. You gave him the wrong impression that you would protect him. You deprived him of the possibility of looking for another hiding place.

“Secondly, you should not have kept silent and lost your hand for no good reason.

“Thirdly, you should not have pointed to the tree and been the cause of a murder!

“Why didn’t you just point in the wrong direction and send the bandits away? Even though it would have been a lie, it would have been much better than what you did.”

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33 Quotations of Vivekananda

Scientific Living — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:54:15 +0000

Credited with first introducing Eastern religion to the West at large, Swami Vivekananda is one of the most well known saints and spiritual teachers in recent history. He is also one of the most quotable:

1. High Thinking

“Doing is very good, but that comes from thinking. Little manifestations of energy through the muscles are called work. But where there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work. Talk not about impurity, but say that we are pure. We have hypnotised ourselves into this thought that we are little, that we are born, and that we are going to die, and into a constant state of fear.”

2. Conquering Nature

“Man is born to conquer nature and not to follow it.”

3. Attachment to Results

“Let the man, who knows no better, work for selfish ends, for name and fame; but everyone should always try to get towards higher and higher motives and to understand them. “To work we have the right, but not to the fruits thereof:” Leave the fruits alone. Why care for results? If you wish to help a man, never think what that man’s attitude should be towards you. If you want to do a great or a good work, do not trouble to think what the result will be.”

4. Truth

“Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.”

5. Removing Obstructions

“You cannot teach a child any more than you can grow a plant. All you can do is on the negative side — you can only help. It is a manifestation from within; it develops its own nature — you can only take away obstructions.”

6. Immortality

“That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.”

7. Growth

“You have to grow from inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”

8. Sacrifice

“Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.”

9. Thoughts

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far. Each thought we think is tinged with our own character, so that for the pure and holy man, even his jests or abuse will have the twist of his own love and purity and do good.”

10. Doing Evil

“If you want to do anything evil, do it before the eyes of your superiors.”

11. Success

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. That is the way great spiritual giants are produced.”

12. Self Improvement

“Things are not bettered, but we are bettered, by making changes in them.”

13. Responsibility

“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.”

14. Manifestation

“When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.”

15. Positive Thinking

“If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.”

16. Strength

“The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.”

17. Faith in Oneself

“If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.”

18. Service

“Do not stand on a high pedestal and take 5 cents in your hand and say, “here, my poor man”, but be grateful that the poor man is there, so by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect.”

19. Money

“If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.”

20. Duty

“Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.”

21. Divinity

“Oh, if only you knew yourselves! You are souls; you are Gods. If ever I feel like blaspheming, it; is when I call you man.”

22. Sectarianism

“As soon as you make a sect, you protest against universal brotherhood. Those who really feel universal brotherhood do not talk much, but their very actions speak aloud.”

23. Faith in Oneself

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”

24. Individual Growth

“The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth; or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant, it develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant. Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.”

25. Holiness

“Holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: “Help and not Fight,” “Assimilation and not Destruction,” “Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.”"

26. Non-injury

“Any action that makes us go Godward is a good action, and is our duty; any action that makes us go downward is evil, and is not our duty. From the subjective standpoint we may see that certain acts have a tendency to exalt and ennoble us, while certain other acts have a tendency to degrade and to brutalise us. But it is not possible to make out with certainty which acts have which kind of tendency in relation to all persons, of all sorts and conditions. There is, however, only one idea of duty which has been universally accepted by all mankind, of all ages and sects and countries, and that has been summed up in a Sanskrit aphorism thus: “Do not injure any being; not injuring any being is virtue, injuring any being is sin.””

27. Superconsciousness

“All the different steps in Yoga are intended to bring us scientifically to the superconscious state, or Samadhi. Furthermore, this is a most vital point to understand, that inspiration is as much in every man’s nature as it was in that of the ancient prophets. These prophets were not unique; they were men as you or I. They were great Yogis. They had gained this superconsciousness, and you and I can get the same. They were not peculiar people. The very fact that one man ever reached that state, proves that it is possible for every man to do so. Not only is it possible, but every man must, eventually, get to that state, and that is religion.”

28. Madness

“My Master used to say, “This world is a huge lunatic asylum where all men are mad, some after money, some after women, some after name or fame, and a few after God. I prefer to be mad after God. God is the philosophers’ stone that turns us to gold in an instant; the form remains, but the nature is changed — the human form remains, but no more can we hurt or sin.”"

29. Sin

“Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin- to say that you are weak, or others are weak.”

30. Love of Humanity

“You know, I may have to be born again, you see, I have fallen in love with mankind.”

31. God’s Mercy

“Is there no hope? Is there no escape? — was the cry that went up from the bottom of the heart of despair. It reached the throne of mercy, and words of hope and consolation came down and inspired a Vedic sage, and he stood up before the world and in trumpet voice proclaimed the glad tidings: “Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! even ye that reside in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again.”"

32. The War of Life

“That you may catch my fire, that you may be intensely sincere, that you may die the heroes’ death on the field of battle — is the constant prayer of -VIVEKANANDA”

33. Ceaseless Work

“It may be that I shall find it good to get outside of my body — to cast it off like a disused garment. But I shall not cease to work! I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God.”

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