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SAMAR SEN- EXISTENTIAL ANGST
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Middle-aged or older adults who can’t successfully stand on one leg for 10 seconds are twice as likely to die from any cause within the next decade, a study reveals.
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Poor memory, problems with thinking skills and even depression have all been linked to vitamin B12 deficiency.
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People with higher IQs tend to prefer going to bed later at night and getting up later in the morning.
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When people have about two hours spare time each day they are happiest, a fascinating study finds.
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For people taking atorvastatin, though, one relatively common side-effect is myalgia, which means muscle pain.
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Among children born at term (37–41 weeks), those born before 39 weeks are more likely to experience symptoms associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
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who knows thus, "I am Brahman," he becomes this all. The gods do not control his attaining [this state]; indeed he becomes their self (atman).
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CHAPTER:1 - My Parents and Early Life
Before we can answer this question, we need to look at the core of what’s behind it, by..asking more questions:-) These are the questions anyone interested in ‘spiritual enlightenment’ must ask before going any further. They can save you years, decades of wandering aimlessly and practicing unnecessarily.
Each one of these questions requires your to pause, go deep into Silence and contemplation, and allow the core answer to arise, instead of quick answers/reactions. Are you willing?
- “Who” wants ‘spiritual enlightenment?’
- Why?
- “Who” is the “you,” that wants something other than What Is?
- And wants to make sure it’s on the ‘right’ or ‘best’ path?
- Is ‘enlightenment’ even a reality or possibility for this “you?” Or is it just something you heard or read somewhere and hoped it was true?
- Is there really a ‘path,’ any ‘path’ that ‘leads’ to enlightenment?
- If ‘personal enlightenment’ is an oxymoron, and isn’t possible, what is possible, and for “whom?”
A true student of ‘spiritual enlightenment’ will spend as much patient time as needed on these important pre-questions, before, seeking for or embarking on any ‘path.’
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I have a Roomba, which vacuums my house. It is a simple automaton, which travels about sucking up my dog's hair, using a pre-defined algorithm.
Is my Roomba conscious? My dog thinks so! After all, the Roomba is self-aware to the extent that it can sense and react to a low battery, a tangled brush, or a full dust-bin.
But this is a ridiculous explanation. My Roomba is no more conscious than my vacuum-cleaner or my broom. The fact that it has more complex behaviour and interacts more leads us to anthropomorphize it, in the same way as ancient people created a god to explain lightning.
This said, does consciousness even exist? I mean, perhaps mind is an emergent illusion that arises with sufficient complexity. This is the theme of Marvin Minsky's classic book Society of Mind.
This too is a ridiculous explanation. Every waking moment of their entire life, every person experiences mind. Mind is the subjective who that actually experiences the brain's objective what.
Mind can divide time into past, present and future, which brains, computers and even science cannot. The present (now) is inherently subjective and only makes sense with respect to an observer (who).
No matter how precisely you reduce what, you never arrive at who. As the great philosopher Rene Descartes noted, the only thing that we can be sure is not an illusion is our mind!
Can we understand consciousness? Only to the extent that we can directly observe our own mind. We can't see each other's mind, nor can we measure or test it objectively. As an entirely subjective phenomenon (like, say, qualia), mind is inaccessible to science. If we are able to understand consciousness, it will be done using philosophy.
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t is humbling to dig down to things you can really be sure of - basically it comes out you can only be sure of the content of your own mind. Like, you can be sure that there is an idea of a chair in your mind when looking at one, but you can’t even be sure that the chair is out there, existing outside of your mind.
I read a wonderful book by a prominent neuroscientist, who described his own experience with experiments with psychedelics - the drug gradually washed everything away, sensoric perception, memories and even coherent thinking, but he still perceived a “self” perceiving all these things, even if he couldn’t “think straight” or remember anything including his name.
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czech neurologist Jiří Horáček, Vědomí a realita (Consciousness and reality). I doubt it has an English translation.
Among other things, he was not very fond of dualism and embraced a position of neutral monism.
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CHALMERS
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The summary for these positions is something like this (Diagram not arranged in order of plausibility):
- Type-A materialism: Consciousness doesn't exist
- Type-B materialism: Conscious states are brain states. When we say 'I see yellow' this is a poetic way of saying 'Such and such neurons fired in such way'
- Type-D dualism: Consciousness exists, interacts with the physical.
- Type-E dualism: Consciousness is a property of certain physical systems (maybe of certain complexity, composition, etc), but consciousness is causally impotent over physics
- Type-F neutral monism: Mind and matter are both aspects of a third substance
phenomenal consciousness is a kind of information processing.
The first important property of consciousness is representation of reality.
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PITRAYANA V DEVAYANA
The pitryana, which also leads the sacrificer to the attainment of a series of worlds, differs from the devayana by leading the sacrificer back to this world; that is, those who attain the pitryana do not attain a complete and lasting integration into the cosmos, but instead reenter the cycle of birth and death in this world. The difference between these two paths is prefigured in the Brahmanas in the notion that the cosmos is divided into an immortal realm where the gods dwell and a mortal realm of "these creatures [who] die."150 This distinction is also seen in the Brahmanic representation of Prajapati, the upper half of whose (cosmic) body is said to be immortal, the lower half mortal.151 And, although those who attain the pitryana remain within this "lower half," the pitryana itselfleading the sacrificer from smoke to the night, to the fortnight, to the sun, to the moonsuggests an integration with the cosmos similar to that described in the other Upanisadic karma passages; namely, an integration into the several spheres of the cosmos that is, at the same time, the body of the primordial man
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ANTHROPOMORPHIC
The origination of the various natural phenomena, each of which represents a particular cosmic plane, from Purusa's head suggests that the head contains the whole of the cosmos. In fact, their relationship to the specific parts of Purusa's head reflects the orientation of the gross cosmos to Purusa's body. The relationship of Agni to the mouth below, of the sun to the eyes above, and of the wind to the nose or ears that lie inbetween,49 thus reflects the hierarchy of earth, atmosphere, and heavens, whereas the relationship of the moon to the mind, which seems to be everywhere at once, reflects the ubiquitous presence of the quarters. These relationships suggest that Purusa's head is a microcosm of the manifest cosmos (which is at once his body): Purusa's Body: Gross Cosmos: Cosmic Phenomenon: Purusa's Head: head heavens sun eye navel atmosphere winds nose/ears feet earth fire mouth ear quarters moon mind The correlation between Purusa's "head" and the moon, sun, Agni, and the windsthat is, the natural phenomena that animate the various cosmic regionsand Purusa's body and the material planes of earth, atmosphere, and heavens establishes a two-tier cosmic image. This image, which is represented as a man, reflects the dual nature of human existence; that is, the material body and the immaterial spirit or that which animates the material body.50 As such, it attests to the precise nature of the correlation between man and cosmos.
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I would like to quote a verse from Adi Shankaracharya’s BhajaGovindham-
vayasigate kaH kaamavikaaraH
shushhke niire kaH kaasaaraH
kshiiNevitte kaH parivaaraH
GYaate tattve kaH saMsaaraH
- BhajaGovindham, Adi Shankaracharya
meaning (Lord forgive my translating the great verse)..
“When you age and your youthfulness fades away, where would be all those lustful distortions?
When there is no more water, where is the lake?
When you lose all your wealth, where are your relatives?
When the Truth is realised, where is this samsara, the worldly life?”
Being rich, famous, and beautiful does not mean everything is sorted out.
It could mean the man is suffering from greed, jealousy, and loads of insecurities.
On the contrary, it is generally the average person who has things sorted out at least to some reasonable extent. Because he is driven towards overcoming the practical limitations and challenges of his life.
‘Poor and ugly’ is as much a self-image as ‘Rich and beautiful’.
Because how rich is rich enough to stop and how poor is poor enough to disregard life?
You have a good English, on Quora, educated, and I presume that you have reasonable chances of earning good and remaining healthy.
Definitely, you have atleast two billion people beneath you, and that is one third the population of this planet.
A famous enlightened Tamil Siddha called Pattinathar was a very rich diamond merchant before he renounced. He was personally selling rare diamonds to the king.
As he renounced, his community which was a super wealthy group of traders along with his relatives went to the king and complained that this man put their community and family to shame by sitting in a loin cloth under a tree, and begging for food.
The king was shocked and personally visited Pattinathar at the behest of community traders and relatives, so he could convince Pattinathar to revert to his past wealthy life.
The king came and saw pattinathar in a loin cloth, sitting serenely under a tree.
The king stood before him in shock, and muttered-
‘You are the wealthiest businessman of my kingdom.
But what did you even gain from choosing to be like this? ’
Pattinathar replied calmly,
‘Oh King, Don’t you see that for the first time, you are standing and I am sitting’, and laughed loud.
The King realised Pattinathar’s truth, fell on his feet, and silently returned to his palace.
Img Src- Vikatan
Burn the ‘poor and ugly’ image in the inner Yagnya of your Dhyana. That would be a well-done first step!
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