Macro Micro Conflict January 29, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddhism, conflict, east, eastern, heisenberg, hinduism, karma, macro, micro, objective, objectivity, oriental, philosophy, quantum, relativity, spiritual, spirituality, subjective, subjectivity, theory, uncertainty, unified, world, zen.add a comment
Long back when astronomers were looking at the stars and planets, and calculating ‘path of revolution of stars around the earth’, they ran into several discrepancies. So they came up with more complicated equations to explain those discrepancies. That gave rise to more discrepancies. So they came up with even more complex equations.
At last Copernicus stood up and said “Wait a minute guys. It doesn’t have to be this complex. The mistake might be in our assumptions, not theories. May be the earth is not the center of the universe.”
Thus began a revolution in modern astronomy. The revolution continued with Galileo, leapfrogged with Newton and exploded with Max Plank. Then came Einstein and said “Wait a minute, still something is weird. May be the world has no center, no absolute frame of reference at all. Everything is just relative to each other.”
To put relativity in simplest form, imagine you are hanging in deep black space everywhere around you, and your friend is also hanging in deep black space everywhere around her. Suddenly your friend starts moving towards you with great speed. You shout at her to watch out and not to move so fast. She shouts back at you the same thing. Nobody can decide who is moving and who is still. Only thing that can be said is that relative to one, the other is moving.
Is this the time for us to ditch the last assumption of science- that the knowledge is objective and no matter who is trying to know it (or knows it), it is same?
Today, one of the most interesting quests in Cosmology seems to be reconciliation of Quantum Theory and Theory of relativity. To quote the simplest explanation in Briane Greene’s book “The Elegant Universe”, Quantum Theory explains the phenomena at the micro level and Theory of Relativity explains the events and things at macro level. At some points there is a strong mismatch in results provided by Quantum Theory and Theory of Relativity.
On a totally different track, imagine the question “Wasting one minute in life is OK, but wasting one million minutes is not OK. Where is the line? Wasting exactly how many minutes is OK and wasting one more than that limit is not OK?”
The same question can be asked about wasting one dollar or wasting one million dollar, or almost anything at small level and large level. The answer is that there is no answer. There will always remain a conflict between answers when events are considered at micro level and at macro level. A macro-micro conflict. The same thing applying to cosmology, there will always remain a conflict that cannot be solved.
Or let me rephrase this. The macro-micro conflict cannot be solved at objective level. The conflict can be solved at subjective individual level. If we insist on solution, it can be solved, but answers would differ from individual to individual with no possibility of reconciliation.
Let me explain a bit more why I am saying the conflict can only be solved at subjective level.
So far science has treated consciousness or awareness or aliveness in general as mere neuro-chemical anomaly. But without acknowledging it as such, science has made room for the ‘knower’ in one of the very important theories. Heisenberg Uncertainty. If somebody tries to know the position of electron, it introduces uncertainty in the position of electron. So in inverse, we can say that if there is found an unsolvable uncertainty, it must be because of presence of some knower.
In this case, it’s us. The Quantum theory and Theory of Relativity cannot reconcile because of “Us”. Because we are present. The quantum theory predictions can only be verified for “observed electrons”, which have knower induced uncertainty in them. But the object dealt with by theory of relativity are big and human existence cannot induce any uncertainty in them. Thus the conflict.
If we insist on solving, the uncertainty induced by each person, or each knower will be different. So different people trying to solve this will come up with different answers.
Kind of the same thing happens when we tackle the one-minute million minute question. Depending on who is answering it, what does that person want, believe, etc. the answers will be different if forced to answer.
Reminds me of a story.
After a long speech by a zen master, a person walked up to him with lots of notes and books. He told the master that some statement made in the speech was wrong and went on to prove it using his notes and books. The master simply smiled and told him “Yes, you are right.” and walked away.
The person got confused. He again followed the master and said “So I just proved that all what you said was wrong?”
The master smiled and said ” No, you proved that what you heard was wrong.”
Between what I say and what you hear, what I write and what you read, there stands a giant layer of subjectivity of your and my interaction. More often than not we are in denial of this subjectivity. However the fact remains. Your world and my world will never be 100% reconciled. There will exist a point where both of us will be right, yet we might be in conflict with each other.
Cycle of Will January 18, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, conflict, cycle, desire, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, karma, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, zen.add a comment
Every day we are walking new paths in the material world. But in emotional world, persons and families and societies are walking the same paths for centuries. Same play, different actors. Same story new characters.
It begins with a conflict. Conflict brings a sense of agony, where we know we want change, but we can’t figure out what. It’s a first vague reaction. This agony when simmers for some time, gives rise to desire where we know what change is required. Yet we don’t know how. Desire stays at the back of our experience and being. Slowly by osmosis, it permeates into our perceptions. Now we have a mind. Reflexes are built in. Habits are forged. It results into sponteneous action. Finally it leads to knowledge and fullfillment.
Any attempts to reach quick gratification leads to faulty perception of this world, which leads to believing into mirages. Believing into mirages leads to more conflicts.
Howmuchever we hate conflicts and agony, we cannot deny their rightful place in our emotional cycle. No conflict, no experience of desire.
Walking in circles, walking in circles, it’s a mad mad world.
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My Lessons from The Story of Tao January 17, 2007
Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddha\, buddhism, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, tao, zen.add a comment
If you have not yet read my previous post, please read it here.
Following are the important lessons I should learn from the story of Tao
Not knowing what you are being punished for is perhaps part of your punishment.
The story of Tao tells us one important thing. When I come across a conflict, I can believe that the universe is unbalanced and unjust and can go berserk. Or I can believe that I am failing to see some part of the whole chain of events. The immediate next question is why am I failing to see part of that chain. Perhaps by my own direct or indirect choice of ignorance.
We are unhappy, it is not because out will is not getting fulfilled. But it is because we do not know which of our will is getting fulfilled. Not knowing for what you are being punished, is part of punishment.
If we don’t know, than it is our choice.
And why did we not know for what we are being punished? Because we did not want to know. How this component gets added in punishment? By our choice. We chose to forget things in order to feel surprised later and bring some drama to our life.
If Tao had chosen to face punishment while he retained memories of his crime, he would have gained knowledge and seen harmony. Instead he chooses to limit his perception so that he can believe world can be cheated. This way he pumped up his “High” feelings and kicks. He chose the belief that ‘world need not be balanced’. This belief will cause him as much trouble later as he avoided by creating this belief.
Getting closure is previlege. It needs to be earned.
May it be our crusade to be rich or may it be the agony we felt when our money was stolen. What we are looking for is closure. That’s why we need every book and every movie to start with a conflict and end in “happily thereafter”. It is not the pains or atrocity we are afraid of. We are secretly afraid of not having closure, not seeing the victim get punished, not seeing our efforts rewarded.
In case of Tao we see that conflict is property more of Tao’s perception than that of the material universe. And so is closure. Getting closure is a privilege, not birthright. That needs too be earned by facing the truth, taking pains to form a right perception. You deserve closure only if you earned it.
Earning closure points comes with it’s own costs. More we see closure, more we see harmony. More we see harmony, more we lose drama in this world. Which one is better? I don’t know. I guess when your time to seek harmony comes, you seek harmony.
One thing I know for sure is that the harmonious world really looks serene and beautiful.
Trends of Mind January 16, 2007
Posted by Kedar in hindu, hinduism, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, zen.add a comment
When it comes to balancing a bank account, a billion dollars = a million dollars thousand times.
When it comes to bringing happiness, a billion dollars = a million dollars and three zeros.
All along the life, we let the sense of linearity fool us. It is deeply ingrained in our perception and we are not even aware of it most of the times.
A two inch deep cut does not hurt twice as one inch deep cut. Two insults do not bring twice as much grief as one insult. Two rewards do not bring twice as much pride. Third reward brings almost none.
The world may or may not run in line. We will never know, because we never live long enough to figure out the true trend. But our emotions don’t run on a line. They run in circles, cycles. They shoot up, then they max out and mostly they recede like a parting tide.
A Poem By Dalai Lama January 15, 2007
Posted by Kedar in Blogroll, buddha\, buddhism, east, eastern, india, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, spiritual, spirituality, tao.1 comment so far
A beautiful poem. Got it in email. Claimed to be from Dalai Lama, but could not verify it. The last two lines make me wonder if Dalai Lama would write some lile like “Hit Delete”, which is targeted specifically for email. But nonetheles, a beautiful poem.
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In our times,
Height of skyscrapers increased, but did that of humanity decreased?
Rodes widened, but did the viewpoints narrowed?
Expenses increased, but did the savings dwindled?
Expanded homes, but small families.
Pleasures increased, but the fun reduced.
Free time increased, but the fun reduced.
Degrees and diplomas increased, but wisdom went down.
Mountains of information, but noone to point the correctness.
Lot of medicines, but less health.
Ownership increased, values went down?
We talk a lot, love less and hate easily
Standard of life increased, but life became poorer.
We added years in life, but not life to those years.
We visited the moon, but we are not visiting the neighbor.
we are winning outside, but losing within.
We are trying to purify air, but our soul suffocates.
Income increased, but honesty decreased.
This is time of more tall people, but less towering characters.
Tons of profits, but less of relations.
Talks about world peace, but fights in home.
Time at hand, but fun already lost.
Lots of foods, but no taste.
More people earning, but divorces increased.
Houses decorated, but homes devastated.
Lots of showpieces in windows, but rooms empty.
There is technology today,
to make this letter reach to you.
And you still have freedom,
To take a serious look,
If you want to change something, change,
Or just forget it and hit delete.
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