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Buddhism, reducing suffering and panentheism

4/22/2016

160422: Buddhism, reducing suffering and panentheism

What does Buddhism reinforce about the significance of existence, life?

Buddhism gives us the understanding that the significance of life and the impact it generates is so important that we must focus upon reducing suffering, the negative aspects of life.

The idea of all humans having a soul is tied to eternity and provides a whole new way of looking at the individual.

Now the individual is not important because they are alive, but rather the individual is important because the individual is tied to eternity.

This idea of being connected to eternity changed the direction of our behavior.

A tie to eternity meant we needed to consider our action because our actions now might affect our state of existence later.

Why this was so was not totally understood, but Buddhists sensed this to be true.

As such, Buddhists further opened up the idea that life was significant and allowing suffering in life would have a major impact upon existence in eternity.

In short, Buddhism further advanced the concept that life had value, significance.

As we increase the idea regarding how big our universe is and in turn how big our Creator is, we enlarge what we view as the potential of existence.

It is panentheism which rationalizes how it is the physical universe can be limited to infinite space and time while being immersed within infinite knowing/infinite ethereal timelessness since time is found within the physical, within the physical universe and thus is where it is eternity is found to exist.

The Buddhist ideas were very significant, therefore, in terms of reinforcing the significance of life.

Now suffering, a part of life itself, was no longer to be taken lightly or just ignored for its existence impacted upon eternity and it is panentheism which provides the rational model of reality capable of reinforcing Buddhistic concept.

Life under Buddhism took on a greater significance and one aspect of life, suffering, became a focal point and it is panentheism which significantly reinforces Buddhism’s principle of reducing suffering.

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Blacks, reparations solution and panentheism

4/21/2016

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160421: Blacks, reparations solution and panentheism

Panentheism, a social solution generator for the future.

So you are black and think you deserve reparations because your great, great grandfather and great, great grandmother were slaves.

So you’re black and think only ‘black livers matter’.

Wow where is the recognition of the tens of thousands of Caucasians who fought to free you from slavery? Where is recognition of the trillions of dollars spent for implementing the Great Society leading to no advancement of people of color raising themselves out of the ranks of the poor? Where is the recognition of the annual expenditure of $15,000 per student for K – 12 educations only to be rejected by a majority of black culture as the Caucasian attempt force education upon a black culture? Where is the outrage of blacks against blacks for the horrific violence of committed by black brother against black brother? Black scholarships, black comedy clubs black magazines, black sororities and fraternities, black congressional caucuses, black this and black that as nausea ….

You were not the only ones affected by inhumane atrocities.

Slavery runs rampant even today – yellow child slavery, white sexual slavery, Asians working as forced laborers on shrimping fleets, blood diamond miners - global slavery in a modern age.

But that is today. What about the past?

If you deserve reparations what about descendants of the American Indians killed off by the tens of millions, the descendants of the white indentured servants, the descendants of the Chinese laborers building the railroads, the descendants of the Japanese forced into the detention camps during WWII, descendants of the Irish immigrants who faced segregation and humiliation …

Just who deserves reparations first and who deserves reparations second? There is no answer to the issue of past harm committed by humanity. Harm committed by humanity has been taking place since the beginning of human history be it recorded history or human history preceding a historical record.

Only panentheism is capable of resolving the issue of reparations facing our species.

Panentheism rejects the concept of human diversity being measured by physical characteristics of the human machine.

Panentheism identifies the true essence of the individual being ethereal in nature. One is not black, yellow, white, tall, short, fat, skinny, Chinese, European, African, intelligent, mentally challenged, … these are simply characteristics of the physical machine.

Each soul found within the machine is unique, is what matters, is independent of the machine’s past.

Reparations are not due from the soul of one to another soul for the father’s or mother’s sins.

Panentheism establishes each soul exists independent of the actions of past souls.

Panentheism provides the resolution to the issue of reparations.

The solution presented by panentheism regarding reparations may not be what many individuals want to hear but it is the only solution capable of resolving the issue of who gets reparations first, second, third – how much is fair for one group over another, how far into the future reparations are paid, …

Panentheism, the means of resolving the issue of diversity which emerges from the vast differences found from one human machine and another human machine.

Panentheism, a social solution generator for the future.

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Taoism, the whole/Whole and panentheism

4/20/2016

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160420: Taoism, the whole/Whole and panentheism

How do the concepts of Taoism reinforce the concept of panentheism?

‘…Taoism began in China, probably around 300 BC; a life in harmony with nature; the word is also used to mean reality as a whole, which consists of all the individual ways.

–World Book Encyclopedia, p. 27

‘… reality as a whole, which consists of all the individual ways.’

Taoism is simply saying the whole is the sum of its parts; total awareness is nothing less than the summation of all awareness.

The concept of panentheism is nothing less than Taoism yet more than Taoism for panentheism also accepts the potential of the Whole verses the whole being the summation of its parts PLUS the addition of its discrete parts remaining intact within the whole or summation of parts.

At a minimum panentheism holds to the concept of the whole being composed of its many parts.

As a minimum, total awareness is the summation of individual pieces of awareness.

The perspective of the size of the universe may be somewhat larger than it was around 300 BC when Taoism first began but the principles are the same.

We may now be thinking in terms of the universe being a part of what it is immersed within but that in no way makes the concept of the whole being composed of its parts any less meaningful.

Panentheism is not a concept of the 20th century. Tillich, Northrop, and Whitehead had no monopoly on this concept.

Hinduism and Taoism embraced the basic concept long before the word panentheism existed.

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160419: Entropy, an end to the very nature of our physical universe and panentheism

4/19/2016

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160419: Entropy, an end to the very nature of our physical universe and panentheism

What does the conceptual framework of entropy have to offer us in our examination of panentheism?

Entropy: In a wider sense, entropy can be interpreted as a measure of disorder; the higher the entropy the greater the disorder. …the entropy of the universe (if it can be considered a closed system) is increasing and its available energy is decreasing.
–Oxford Concise Science Dictionary, p. 255

Entropy sounds complex, but it has a simple idea to offer. It states that within a closed system, a system that is located within a boundary, the system will eventually die. The more science learns, the more it appears that the life of the universe may be temporary. The life of the universe may be billions upon billions of years old, but it appears to have a beginning as well as an ending, just as Hindus have always believed.

But how does a universe die? Entropy tells us energy is the means by which work is done in our universe. Heat, in turn, is the basic means by which energy is transferred from one item in the universe to another. Basically, heat can only pass from a higher level to a lower level. In other words, a hot item (high energy item) can warm up a colder item (lower energy item) or one could say, a colder item “steals” heat from a hotter item. As this transfer of heat takes place, work is done.

When heat has finally been spread out equally (everything is the same temperature), no heat can transfer from one item to another because everything would then be the same temperature. If no heat can transfer from one place to another, then no work is able to occur. If no work occurs, no motion, no change, no life would occur within the universe.

What then of a physical universe which has reached a state wherein energy is equally distributed throughout the bounds of the physical universe?

Only panentheism offers a solution to this puzzle.

Panentheism states the physical universe is located within its creator and as such existence goes on within the creator of the physical universe despite the physical universe having met its demise through the equal distribution of energy and the cessation of all change within the physical universe, despite the demise of all motion within the physical universe for the ethereal goes on since the ethereal is non-physical comes to an end.

Pantheism/Atheism/… the concept of God/Brahma/Jehovah/the All/... simply being Mother Nature, falls short regarding their ability to modeling what would happen with the attainment of entropy as a final state of the physical universe.

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Rational dialectics, a universal philosophy and panentheism

4/13/2016

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160413: Rational dialectics, a universal philosophy and panentheism

Philosophy is the attempt to understand the function of the universe in terms of what lies within it and what lies outside it. The perception of the physical lying within the ethereal, panentheism, leads to a rationally defensible explanation of the whole of reality. (See Panentheism Addressing the Whole of Reality found within the free books made available to you, the reader within this site – see icon: Free Books)

By doing so, it leads us to an understanding of what we may be, what our function is, within the universe as well as to what lies outside the universe.

This process is accomplished through an attempt to establish a unified view of the universe.

Many great thinkers have left their mark upon the field of philosophy over the last 3,000 years. But just as surely as they have left their mark, they have left their doubts about the ability of philosophy to accomplish its task of developing a unified view of the universe.

This is not a negative statement; rather, it is a statement of growth, for just as a human grows through self-examination, so do specialty fields of knowledge grow through self-examination.

Knowledge we gain as a species is nothing more than perceptions we gain based upon our efforts as individuals to understand what it is we perceive through faith, observations, and reason.

It is no wonder our basic fields of study go through similar stages of development as their architects. There is little doubt that humans are the most soul searching life form on this planet.

Since humans are the engineers of their own fields of study, it only follows that philosophy would go through much soul searching in terms of its ability to accomplish its own function. But eventually, one has to stop searching and get on with life, and so it is with philosophy.

Self-doubt, soul searching, hesitation, fear of failure, whatever excuse one wishes to place upon the lack of success of philosophy to accomplish its goal, the fact still remains that philosophy has not developed a unified view of the universe.

It is time for philosophy to stop worrying about being condemned to ‘hell’ by religions and being ridiculed by science.

It is time for philosophy to have faith in itself and use what it has observed as being successful for science.

It is time to build a model of a unified view of the universe.

The mere fact that we perceive the universe exists should be enough for philosophy to understand it can be modeled.

It is the perception of panentheism which is capable of generating a unified view of the whole of reality capable of merging the physical examined by science and the ethereal examined by religions into a model of the physical immersed within the ethereal, into a model of one within the other.

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160412: Eternity, responsibility and panentheism

4/12/2016

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160412: Eternity, responsibility and panentheism

Under panentheism, no one controls the keys to the gate to eternity, for one does not have to enter eternity; one is already in eternity.

Panentheism sets life free of the oppression generated by the few who profess to hold the keys. But just as wonderful as this may sound, it has its drawbacks, for now you must take responsibility for creating your own form of eternity. You are responsible – not someone else.

You will truly reap what you sow.

Our species is not responsible for itself. Our species does not have its own awareness.

The effect our species makes is only a summation of each individual. You are responsible for the species.

You are responsible, not some individual that attempts to dictate.

Panentheism may set you free from the tyranny of others but just assuredly as panentheism sets you free from the tyranny of others, panentheism burdens you, the individual, with the responsibility of one's own actions.

Panentheism may allow you to establish your own heaven and hell in eternity, but it also makes you responsible for having done so.

So what does the above have to do with science?

Panentheism establishes the role of science and mathematics. Science and mathematics are now relegated to the role they do best which is to examine the physical universe not eternity, not the ethereal.

This does not suggest science and mathematics should not attempt to find the ethereal for such explorations do nothing but expand the scope of physical reality which in the end helps us to understand the parameters of the ethereal, understand the very essence of the individuals true essence, true bein

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160410: The silence, the soul and panentheism

4/10/2016

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160410: The silence, the soul and panentheism

The silence: the only place to find one’s true essence

The silence: the soul does not appear just because one enters the silence but it is always there

The silence: a place to dwell while one awaits the soul’s appearance

The silence: the lack of all physical desires

The silence: the lack of all emotions including fear

The silence: the lack of all thought

The silence: the lack of all expectations

The silence: the lack of all ‘waiting for’

The silence: a place that takes much effort to find

The silence: a great void

The silence: the state of existence between the physical and the ethereal

The silence: a state of existence which becomes easier and easier to establish each time one reenters the state

The silence: a ‘location’ with much to offer if one is patient,

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The Wheel of Dharma, a new perception and panentheism

4/8/2016

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160408: The Wheel of Dharma, new perception and panentheism

‘When a Buddha moves the wheel of dharma, it takes two thousand five hundred years for it to stop completely. The wheel that Buddha [500 BCE} moved has stopped. The wheel has to be moved again. And that is going to be my and your life's - work - that wheel has to be moved again. Once it starts revolving it will again have twenty-five centuries' [of] life.’
The Diamond Sutra, Osho
IDF317, 2004
Tao Publishing, p289

The Eastern religion of Buddhism states Buddha initiated the re-spinning of the wheel of dharma.

It was not suggested Buddha created the wheel of dharma but rather, through his introduction of the concept that suffering should not be tolerated into human civilization; a new perceptual leap for our species took place.

Wheel of Dharma

500 BC: Moving On

Buddhism initiated the spin of the wheel of enlightenment. Buddhism prophesied the wheel would spin 2,500 years with the aid of an infusion of new energy at 500 year intervals. The prophecy, however, predicted the infusion of new energy would not be enough to keep the wheel from slowing down and eventually stopping by the year 2000 AD.

Buddhists believe enlightenment is generated by a form of momentum.

They relate it to a spinning wheel. The wheel must be assisted in its spin or eventually it will stop spinning. Their prophecy established in 500 BC says Buddhism began the spin of the wheel at which point the 500 year cycles began. Christ in 0 AD, Islam in 500 AD. Beyond that, it becomes debatable what 500 year factors contributed energy to the spin. It could be argued the development of religious philosophy, ontology in 1000 AD, was the next factor, followed by the development of modern science in 1500 AD. What one wishes to conjecture as to what were the causes of the 500 year energy bursts is not of importance. What is of interest is the idea that, like the Great Pyramid time line, the Hopi Indian’s prophecy Rock, the Mayan calendar, as well as so many other ancient prophecies developed worldwide, Buddhists also predict a very significant juncture in time will occur at the end of this millennium.

Buddhists believe the wheel will stop spinning at the end of the 2,500 year cycle.

They do not forecast only gloom and destruction. They leave a message of hope. They imply, we, you and I, can spin the wheel ourselves if we wish to do so. We can give the wheel a fresh spin that will last another 2,500 years. But just looking at the wheel is not enough. We can only spin the wheel if we reach out, take hold of it, and intentionally spin it. What can we do to create a spin capable of enduring 2,500 years? Whatever it is, it will have to be something very basic to endure the onslaught of time.

The initial spin of the wheel oriented around a change in perception – the elimination of suffering. Each additional energy infusion also oriented around a change in perception. Perhaps the initiation of the next spin must do the same.

And what perceptual change could initiate a major spin of the Wheel of Dharma?

Panentheism is a perceptual change capable of initiating a new 2,500 year spin of the Wheel of Dharma.

Panentheism, the concept that our physical universe lies ‘within’ the Creator’, is capable of generating an enormous shift in human perception regarding the true essence of the individual human and our species.

Panentheism, the concept that the true essence of each human individual is made in the image of the Creator of the physical universe, is spiritual in nature, is a divine spark, is a perceptual change capable of defining purpose for our species and for us as individuals.

Panentheism, the concept that we are meant to explore the heavens as one means of assisting the Creator of the physical in Its efforts to circumvent eternal recurrence.

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Philosophy, the universe and panentheism

4/6/2016

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Philosophy, the universe and panentheism What does the conceptual framework of philosophy imply about the universe within which we live?

Philosophy is a perceptual tool humankind uses to provide the rational dialectics necessary to support an argument as opposed to religious perceptions based upon faith as opposed to rational arguments and as opposed to scientific perceptions based upon observation as oppose to rational dialectics.

Philosophy becomes a means by which we gain the broadest possible picture of ourselves and our environment, both on a microscopic (individual) bases and macroscopic (cosmological) basis.

Philosophy, through the concept of cause and effect, rationalizes the concept of there being a first cause.

A first cause led to a first effect, led to other multiple causes, led to other multiple effects, led to …

So it is causes as well as effects grew in an exponential fashion as opposed to a linear fashion.

Eventually the complexity of the physical universe of cause and effect evolved to the complexity we experience today.

The point is: When working backwards from where we are today in a cause and effect universe, one eventually journeys back to the original cause.

Panentheism clearly demonstrates that first cause was generated by a non-physical entity since the generation of a physical first cause was generated by something other than a physical existence or the first physical first cause would not be the first of kind of physical cause.

Panentheism clearly demonstrates the philosophical rationality of our physical universe being generated ‘within’ the ethereal Creator for there would no other place to immerse the physical universe being created for there would be no rational manifestible argument capable of logically explaining where such an existence could be placed.

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Q: What does panentheism do for religion

4/3/2016

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160403: Universal foundation, religious commonality, and panentheism

Q: What does panentheism do for religion?

A: Panentheism does not change religion. What panentheism does is provide a common foundation upon which all religions can rest.

The common foundation is a simple idea regarding the location of the physical universe relative to the Creator of the physical universe. The physical universe, the creation of the Creator, lies within the Creator not outside the Creator based upon the rational argument that if the Creator is omnipresent, there would be nowhere else the Creator could place the creation, place the Physical universe.

The ideal regarding the location of the physical relative to the Creator is easily incorporated within all major and perhaps minor religion.

The perceptual incorporation of the foundation regarding location, would give all religions, including many forms of atheism, a commonality capable of providing the means of unifying religions without destroying their diversity.

The panentheistic foundation would lead to panentheistic Christianity, panentheistic Buddhism, panentheistic Judaism, panentheistic atheism (a belief in a non-personal Creator), panentheistic Hinduism …

Such a foundation would lead to the emergence of commonality regarding the essence of the individual being a spark of the Creator and thus divine in nature.

Such a universal perception generated by panentheism would have the potential to initiate a movement regarding how we treat one another, how we perceive each other, for divine sparks of the Creator have no physical characteristics rather our commonality would lie in the spiritual rather than the physical.

Ideas are very powerful. Ideas initiate evolutionary leaps for our species.

Panentheism is a simple idea capable of being understood by everyone.

Panentheism: pan-all, EN-in, theism-Brahma/God/Jehovah/the All/...

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