Theological Note IV (replying to II)
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Food for thought:
What about experiences? Or senses. Bob is not just the aggregates that makes up Bob the identity, but also the sense impressions. If you see the Moon, that creates an impression that is acknowledge by your consciousness the moon that you saw is now part of that little bundle of aggregates. Which begs the question- does the Moon actually exist? Does anything beyond your experiences actually exist in the way that you think it does? Afterall, our perceptions are limited. Does the universe exist if you're not aware of it?
All very interesting questions. I, like you, agree that conventionally we can assume that the rest of the Universe exist independently outside of the stuff we can assume to be us- but the separation between Bob and the rest of the universe is an artificial divide. Bob is made of the same material, subject to the same physical laws as the rest of creation.
If the definition of "me" is very flimsy, then there isn't much of a solid ground for declaring that this arbitrary bundle of aggregates is me and the other bundle of aggregates is not me. I mean, that's true, but also not so simple as that.
Of course, there is no right answer, however in the Sutras, it's declared that when the first sentient being of a world is born, that world come into existence. When the last sentient being of that world dies, that world cease to exist.
Isn't that interesting?
That's where Buddhist psychology comes in. First of all, Ideation (thinking) is not the mind, it's a sense (like the other 5 senses). In the Eight-Consciousness Model, Ideation is kind of the central interface for the five senses, you receive input from the 5 senses (this is a whole other very complicated subject, involving such abstract concepts as "eye consciousness", "touch consciousness", etc).
So certainly you are free to think as you will, but the process of thinking IS NOT THE SAME as the sense objects being thought of- where do these sense objects even come free? Certainly some of them comes from the external environment, picked up by our senses, then, if they make deep enough of an impression on our minds (up to you accept them or not), then enter our subconsciousness.
Imagine that your mind is like a field. Underneath the field are many karmic seeds waiting to sprout. All of these are potential effects you have sowed previously. When the conditions are right, the seeds will sprout.
Conditions mean that there is sun and water and fertile soil. In the real world that means there has to be situations and events that "ripens the karma".
Suppose you and I fall in love and then we both die. In another life, if I saw the the sight (sense object) of you passing me by at the mall (condition), from deep within my subconsciousness (Alaya conciousness) I feel a great attraction or affinity to you (ripening), these impulses rise up and enter the ego, and then the mind where it then begins to influence how you act and even how think and perceive things.
There is considerable less control over your mind then you think. In Buddhism, reality is both deterministic and indeterministic.
Our body, our personality, our preferences how we will react to situation, people and events are not ours to control- they depend upon the causal chain you're already in. However once we are in a situation, once we have met people, once certain events have happened to us, WE HAVE THE CHOICE to act in anyway we want.
In the exact same situation, two people will react differently because they have different backgrounds, because they have different backgrounds and they reacted differently to something, they will have different futures.
If they're conscious and aware of the process of thought-making happening (such as the arising and ceasing of various desires, fears and ignorances), they are in a better state of mind to make skillful choices, choices that would either not generate new karma or would at least ensure any karma generated are potentially positive ones.
Example: A man who keeps looking at pretty women without at least controlling his reaction will only get worst, the reason he is reacting or his eye is wandering is because of the seeds he has planted in his mind from previous lives (or times). A man who is self-aware will take care to deal with what arise from within his subconsciousness and what he is accepting into his subconsciousness.
What goes in, must come out. That's it basically.
Well, we're not trying to escape casuality per se, although that can certainly be your goal. Rather, we want to escape conditioning (for example, DESIRING to eat meat is a conditioning, we carry that desire with us from life to life). And conditioning can dictate everything from biology to psychology. A deva of the form realm have no gender because they do not desire physical sex. If they desire sex the way we do though, they would have been conditioned to be reborn as a human or animal or something else in the desire realm. It is our conditioning that determines what we become, not what we become that determines our conditioning. Furthermore, karmic seeds don't always ripen at the same time, hence it is entirely possible for a man to be normal for most of his life and then become a serial killer or crazy near the end of his life. A deva can live sagaciously and virtuouslessly for most of his life and in his next life he could be reborn in a hell-world (because the seeds were already there, the conditioning became "right" and then the effect naturally rises).
I am not sure how that would effect human evolution if we stop becoming conditioned, but certainly it would change the characteristic and destiny of the human race. Maybe we won't even be humans anymore.
The root cause of suffering is ignorance though- which means we don't see a situation for what it really is. For example, your mom really hates you, that might seem really unfair, but if you could see into past lives, then you would know that have a cause, maybe you treated her really badly, so she has a very negative impression of you in her mind. Being ignorant of this, you might decided to hate her back and maybe even treat her badly again as revenge, which just means you perpetuate that cycle. And when somebody escalates, well, the escalation climbs, it doesn't simmer down. Things don't balance out, they just get out hand.
Of course, how close people are to you is by depth of interaction, not whether it was positive or negative, so everybody you love and hate will be very close to you. The primary goal is then to establish a positive and loving relationship with everyone around you and dissolve whatever grievances you might hold for each other in your minds. This not exactly easy and you have to be able to cultivate the necessary skills, which is where religion comes in. The goals only get loftier however- for the true ambition of most religions isn't to gain personal salvation, it's to save everybody as well. This is true for Buddhism as well (well, for most schools).
TL;DR: All of this crazy conditioned existence stuff is not some magically different thing from reality. Like you say, reality runs on karma. But once you are living life in accordance to the Dharma, reality for you is running on Dharma (karma is still there, you are still subject to cause and effect, but yet you are completely free from it).
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