To all listening:
I am happy that David made the distinction between Reality and the mind's
perception of reality, because it was something that needed to be introduced.
But on the question of whether or not the mind (not the self, because there
are very important differences between the two) can come to an understanding
of Reality, I disagree with him.
The human mind applies a priori concepts to Reality that may or may not exist
(esp. time, space) and comprehends sensations in terms of those concepts.
This creates the mind's perception of reality, which will always be different
from another person's mind because we are each on different levels in terms
of understanding the most important a priori concepts. Reality is caged
between the concepts our mind applies to it and our own desires thus when
perceived it takes on different modes.
The goal of mystics throughout history has been to attain unitive knowledge
of the divine ground (divine ground = Reality = Quality) through
self-mutilation and destruction (sometimes, but not necessarily always in the
physical sense). By doing this one could become aware and conscious of all
which is what they perceive God as being. Buddha is a good example. Through
meditation and the elimination of desires, he was able to transcend samsara
(cycle of death, rebirth) and the a priori concepts (which we cannot prove
are real anyway) that imprisoned Reality thereby coming to a unitive
understanding of Reality. Very few people throughout history have claimed
this knowledge but if we take their word for it, then it can be ascertained
that knowledge of Reality is possible.
by the way, you all have very interesting things to say about dynamic and
static quality and if it means anything, i'd like to thank you for
contributing to such a (dare i say?) exciting forum from which the rest of us
can come to a deeper understanding of what Mr. Pirsig has to say.
justin
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