On Aug 15, 2010, at 6:39 AM, MarshaV wrote:
>
>
> "A theoretical physicist is walking in the woods one day. The giant trees
> are swaying in the breeze and changing patterns of sunlight dance across the
> forest floor. The beauty and maj- esty of it all overcomes him. He thinks,
> “How amazing that all of this comes from the early big bang when the four
> forces of nature were unified. The universe cools, the four forces
> differenti- ate, galaxies form, planets evolve, and this extraordinarily
> beautiful woods develops.” In the midst of these pleasant reflections, he
> hears a great crashing in the brush behind him and turns to find a huge
> grizzly bear charging upon him. He runs in panic. His heart is pounding, the
> bear is gaining on him, and he can even smell its bad breath. As the bear
> closes in on him, he trips on a root of one of those majestic trees. Falling
> to the ground, he cries, “Oh God!”
> Suddenly, out of a profound stillness a deep resonant voice booms from
> the sky and says, “So, when you’re in trouble you cry out to me and want help
> like the good Christians who pray fervently to me everyday. But when
> lecturing at the university, you deny my existence, telling people it’s all
> an expression of the four forces in nature.” The physicist, being well
> trained in the importance of logical consistency, replies, “Yes, I admit that
> would be inconsistent. But how about making the bear more like a good
> Christian?” God says, “Yes, I can do that.”
> The grizzly bear stands upon his hind legs, bows deeply before the physicist,
> puts his forepaws together in front of his chest and says, “We give thanks
> for these gifts we are about to receive.” He then extends his claws, opens
> his huge maw, and devours the fallen man."
>
> (Mansfield, Vic,'Einstein and Quantum Nonlocality: A Doorway to Emptiness
> and Compassion',2007)
to continue...
"Our physicist wakes up screaming from this terrible nightmare. Even
though still bathed in terror, the physicist says, “Oh, thankfully it’s only a
dream.” However, while in the dream, it is all as real as any waking
experience. Each object from tree to bear appears to exist independ- ently or
inherently, to exist from its own side. The mind, along with forming the varied
objects and subjects in the dream, projects independent self-existence into
them. The dreamer is fully convinced of the inherent or independent existence
of the bear. Its evil-looking fangs and ex-
tended claws surely exist from their own side and are findable upon
analysis—but who has time for analysis when you’re running for your life? Thus,
the dreaming mind projects inherent exis- tence into its own creations and
suffers because of it.
According to Middle Way Buddhists, just as in a dream, the waking mind
projects inde- pendent existence into our sense of self and the objects
surrounding it. This projection is then the false foundation for our
attachments and the associated suffering. They are not saying that life is a
dream, but that the same projective mechanism, the same unconscious investing
of ob- jects and subjects with inherent existence that gives dreams their vivid
reality, is also operative in waking consciousness. Upon this false projection
of independent existence we generate our cravings, aversions, and
attachments—the roots of suffering.
According to the Middle Way, objects and subjects surely exist in the
conventional sense. They certainly function and cause us help or harm.
Independent existence, the very quality we think makes them real and
functional, is precisely what emptiness denies. Stated positively, all objects
and subjects only exist as a complex web of interrelationships, as complex
expressions of dependent arising. Deeply understanding emptiness weakens the
attachment to our ego and leads to the practice of universal compassion."
(Mansfield, Vic,'Einstein and Quantum Nonlocality: A Doorway to
Emptiness and Compassion',2007)
http://www.lightlink.com/vic/Einstein%20and%20Quantum%20Nonlocality.pdf
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