Science vs. Religion: (Chapter Two) [David vs. Guth et al] (Humans)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Sunday, February 20, 2011, 20:38 (4820 days ago) @ David Turell

But even a universal consciousness doesn't explain how a future event--however inane--can be viewed. 
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> Unless time can really go back and forth, as the math suggests.-My understanding of the math isn't that we can somehow move time forwards/backwards, but that the model itself allows us to rewind time to study past states. I've said before that I prefer the "collapsing histories" view of quantum theory, which dictates that when an observation is made on a quantum system that the system has become deterministic and you don't get to go back in time. Considering that a common definition of a chemical reaction is "something that is not directly reversible" this view is almost necessary. -> > 
> > But even back then, the Buddha's teaching was more radical than that. It is generally agreed that one of the experiential tenets of Buddhism is that death doesn't happen. Which sounds laughable, but they do hold that the part of us that is not our mind--our consciousness--is the same entity for all people, and that it is not tied to the body. The 'soul' if you will.
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> This gets into Sheldrake's human consciousness experiments, and also my idea that our consciousness is part of the UI. The tree of life is really a bush of life, but when we get to the primate level, the human branch is more tree like than bush like, with the rather rapid six million year advance of our brain and consciousness.
> -The tree of life (as a religious concept) is also a very pervasive concept across early religion at large. I think its another concept that predates today's religions. In Nordic mythology, the tree of life is unique in that it exists separate from men and gods, and it even sustained life to both. From a mystic's perspective this tale provides a very deep current of wisdom--if you're familiar with Kabbalah, this should ring parallels for you. -Allfather Odin hung from the tree and sacrificed an eye at the well of urd in order to gain the runes--the source of both writing and magic to pre-Christian Nords. -> I have really enjoyed your teaching us more about Eastern Theology. I have had a smattering so far on my own.-You'll get more. I recently made the decision to pick it back up again. I've noticed that all the strong mental gains I had made were when I was meditating regularly... but I had no idea that mental formations would go away just as surely as muscle mass disappears if you don't exercise it regularly. The intervening years have seen me nearly incapable of going to the gym, unable to concentrate properly on my studies, all the self-control I learned has since disappeared. Then there's the somewhat imminent (and separate) question of how to raise my kids in a nation of dogmatists... I won't be able to be good teacher if I'm not practicing what I'm preaching.

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"