Theos-Talk Archives (November 2000 Message tt00130)

Sherab,

This may or may not be helpful to some readers:

As I read all of the stimulating scientific discussions here, and not
personally having a scientific or scholarly bent, just being a student who
is a theosophic generalist, so to say, in trying to understand it all, I
keep clearly in the front of my mind at all times the fundamental
Theosophic statement, assuming that it is true, until proven otherwise,
that "The Universe is Embodied Consciousness" -- on every possible plane.

Compiler
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Sherab Dorje wrote:

> Discussion indeed! Thank you for your stimulating questions and
> thoughts.
>
> First, some thoughts about Sham's questions after sleeping on them.
> Good questions require good answers and having just read LMH's
> posting on this subject that needs sometime to digest.
>
> Given that there is no way to separate the Mind from the awareness of
> phenomena what can we understand about these differing points of
> view. Western science regards consciousness as a phenomena giving it
> substantial form, where as, spiritually regarded, mind appears as an
> infinitely empty container in which all phenomena manifest and has
> certain inherent qualities.
>
> There appears to be no problem with regarding inter-molecular space
> as a kind of primordial substance. What appears to awareness, be that
> iron or emptyness is really a matter of the state of awareness, or
> state of mind. Substance appears as a state of consciousness. In that
> as consciousness unfolds or the state of mind changes, as in death,
> then what follows is a change in the appearance of phenomena or
> substance. As human beings, we are subjects within certain realms
> where substances conform to their karmic causes. I believe that this
> is what HPB refers to as the limits beyond which we can go not. If
> there is any way to characterize HPB's work, it is that she is
> showing us the naked reality of our consciousness and asking us to
> examine That.
>
> This does not preclude or exclude the consciousness of beings that
> exist at other energetic frequencies or interpenetrating planes of
> being and that are subject to their corresponding realms that are
> just as substantial as iron is in our realm though those substances
> may appear to us as space in our realm. So nothing exists apart from
> the mind, regardless of whatever state the mind is in.
>
> Another approach we may take to analyze this is to regard phenomena
> as effect produced by a cause. Force, must be the sensible
> appearance of this process, the movement of energetic flux, of
> manifestation or pralaya due to cause. Phenomena appears due to cause
> and when the cause is removed the phenomena disappears without a
> trace. This also applies to the mind and its state. Different states
> of Mind come about because of causes so it follows that in other
> states of Mind different phenomena and substance will arise in
> awareness.
>
> It is not my intent to flippantly reduce the wealth of knowledge
> revealed by science to mere mental clutter, that would be
> disrespectful nor is it my intent to reduce spiritual views of Mind
> to an unregardable eternalist view. Science is an ego, an "I" that
> wants to always box things in or find smaller and smaller
> compartments of usefully quantifiable corresponding information. It
> does this by generating them with concepts, mental constructs. When
> one box of concept is complete another larger box is under
> development somewhere else. The question, is this, are we just
> creating more causes for a larger universe or universes? And if so,
> then we must examine the motivation for producing these causes. That
> line of questioning ultimately leads back to the purpose of being
> human. This, I regard, as the highest Theosophical duty.
>
> It is a real pleasure to take part in such a stimulating
> converstation. More on this thread later.
>
> Sherab
>