--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > > Another wrinkle: what exactly does "able to do > > > the siddhis" actually mean in the context of > > > Unity consciousness? Does it really mean "on > > > demand"? > > > > This ends up in the broader question of free will and determinism in > > general in any state of consciousness. Nice point about the paradox. > > > > I recognize, and others have pointed out, that MMY is unique in his > > perspective of siddhis. Many other teachers claim they are > > impediments to growth, or at lest distractions. But in his system > > they serve a much more interesting role for me. They are indications > > that one has gained certain masteries over the laws of nature. I > > think they are important to distinguish "higher" states from just a > > flowery description of what ordinary, aware people are walking around > > in every day. Since he does demonstrate siddhis at their incomplete > > hopping level, I can't see why he would not show the real deal. I > > think it was commendable of him to use the performance of siddhis as > > tests of consciousness. It gives a falsifiable standard. > > Coming back to this, because I think it's an > important point: If Unity consciousness is as > MMY defines it, and if he's in Unity consciousness, > it isn't *up* to MMY, independently of nature, > whether to perform siddhis. It's nature's call. > > So it wouldn't really be a falsifiable standard > after all. > > And yes, it's all very much wrapped up in the free > will/determinism paradox. I don't personally > have any problem with the idea that my sense of > free will is an illusion--that is, my "small > self"'s sense of free will. I think we assume > we have free will because we're dimly intuiting > that the Self has free will. > > I think I've posted this quote from Schroedinger > here before, but it's germane to this discussion: > > Erwin Schroedinger, in an essay called "The I That Is God," > wrote: > > ...The space-time events in the body of a living being which > correspond to the activity of its mind, to its self-conscious or > any other actions, are...if not strictly deterministic at any > rate statistico-deterministic....Let me regard this as a fact, as > I believe every unbiased biologist would, if there were not the > well-known, unpleasant feeling about "declaring oneself to be a > pure mechanism." For it is deemed to contradict Free Will as > warranted by direct introspection.... > > Let us see whether we cannot draw the correct, noncontradictory > conclusion from the following two premises: > > (i) My body functions as a pure mechanism according to the Laws > of Nature [determinism]. > > (ii) Yet I know, by incontrovertible direct experience, that I > am directing its motions, of which I foresee the effects, that > may be fateful and all-important, in which case I feel and take > full responsibility for them [free will]. > > The only possible inference from these two facts is, I think, > that I--I in the widest meaning of the word, that is to say, > every conscious mind that has ever said "I"--am the person, if > any, who controls the "motion of the atoms" according to the Laws > of Nature. >
Of course, the brain imaging of someone "willing" something to happen shows that the "willing" takes place AFTEr the impulse of muscular activity. So free will, from a neurological pov is is illusion, regardless of how it seems to you internally. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
