Video : Fred Alan Wolf - Subjectivity may be more fundamental than material reality

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by paqart

In New York City, I attended Yoga classes with a man named Dharma Mittra. On one occasion I went with a friend of mine, who accidentally overpaid him for the lesson. As we were leaving, he realized his error, but wasn't too worried about a few dollars, so he told Dharma to forget about it. Dharma wouldn't have it. He asked us to wait, got the right change, and gave it to my friend. He said he didn't want to be forced to be reborn into another life just to repay the debt.

Ouch, if this is all it takes to be reborn, it's never gonna end. There is no possible way you could go through life without making hundreds of these kinds of mistakes without realizing it.

~~ Paul

[paqart]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Ouch, if this is all it takes to be reborn, it's never gonna end. There is no possible way you could go through life without making hundreds of these kinds of mistakes without realizing it.

~~ Paul

Quite true. For Dharma to come back for just this one chore however, he would have to have lived such a pure life that there isn't anything else to take care of. It is likely that most people could take care of many such debts in a single lifetime, and probably do, without realizing it.

AP

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by Kim

Exactly Open Mind, and this desire to lord it over others runs counter to other spiritual principles. It has been my observation that GIVING and open hearted generosity are rewarded by the universe, while excessive living tends to be punished in the long run.

I once read about a very wealthy man who found having that much money to be a burden.....

The only problem is that honestly, we are ALL fabulously wealthy compared to the poor in this world, and none of us here intend to give it all away

David

[David Bailey]

I'd like to get back to the original video.

I liked it, but it was not hugely informative. He reminded us (in effect) of the fact that QM seems to limit the questions that we can ask of nature. It limits the scope of the laws of physics - which is perhaps exactly what you need to explain a world that is partly non-physical (that should elicit a response from Paul )

David

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by paqart

Quite true. For Dharma to come back for just this one chore however, he would have to have lived such a pure life that there isn't anything else to take care of. It is likely that most people could take care of many such debts in a single lifetime, and probably do, without realizing it.

But how could he possibly know how many outstanding debts he has, if it is possible to incur debts without realizing it? Is he doing all this nonconsciously?

~~ Paul

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by David

I liked it, but it was not hugely informative. He reminded us (in effect) of the fact that QM seems to limit the questions that we can ask of nature. It limits the scope of the laws of physics - which is perhaps exactly what you need to explain a world that is partly non-physical (that should elicit a response from Paul)

It does: What does it mean for part of the world to be nonphysical?

But you knew I was going to ask that.

~~ Paul

[paqart]

Originally Posted by David Bailey

I'd like to get back to the original video.

David

Thanks David, for the reminder.

I just looked at the video, and want to respond as I imagine Paul might. Overall, I wasn't impressed with the theory, though he touched on some interesting ideas.

Personally, I am convinced that what we call "reality" is about as far from the literal definition of that word as it can be. Similarly, the space within which all of creation resides is a better match for the definition of reality, despite the fact that it is not readily visible to our physical senses. To see it, one has to eliminate interference from one's physical senses. To do so is difficult for someone who hasn't put some effort into developing the skill, like a monk or yogi.

As for the idea that everything is a dream of God, it is unprovable from our common perspective, but I think it is somewhat different from that. I've had dreams where I saw the record of how the universe was created by God, and it was active, rather than passive, as the word "dream" implies. This assumes that the dreams were accurate, but I'm prepared to accept they are at least as legitimate as any other unprovable theory out there.

I did not like the way the interviewee presented himself in the video. He sounded less outlandish at the end than the beginning, but I think his perspective is too limited to understand the subject as well as I would like to find the theory compelling.

AP

[paqart]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

But how could he possibly know how many outstanding debts he has, if it is possible to incur debts without realizing it? Is he doing all this nonconsciously?

~~ Paul

Nothing is forgotten, all is recorded.

AP

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by paqart

Nothing is forgotten, all is recorded.

Yes, but does Dharma have access to the information? If so, then it is not the case that he can make a mistake without realizing it.

The akashic record is a bitch.

~~ Paul

[paqart]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Yes, but does Dharma have access to the information? If so, then it is not the case that he can make a mistake without realizing it.

The akashic record is a bitch.

~~ Paul

Sorry, don't understand you here. Either that, or I do understand you and the first statement is incorrect and the second is unresponsive.

AP