INTER AND INTRA ACTIONS 1 Inter means among or in the midst of, whereas intra means from within. When we add the word action to these prefixes, we get a whole different meaning. When two bodies interact, they easily maintain a level of independence. Each entity exists before they encounter one another. However, when bodies intra-act they do so in co-constitutive ways. Individuals materialize through intra-actions and the ability to act emerges from within the relationships not outside of it.
2 So, why is this distinction important? Well, intra-action gives us a whole new way of thinking about the relationships with each other, with matter, with materials, with nature and with discourses. When these different things are in relationships with each other our ability to do stuff changes, transforms or emerges. Lets’ take the recent Ebola phenomenon as an example. We can say that the Ebola phenomenon is not just the virus itself, but is an intra-action of the actual virus with human and non-human actors, including human bodies, discourses on Africa, pandemics, the role of politics, political pundits, news channels and fear. Ebola is not just a virus but a phenomenon that is made and unmade through intra-actions between nature, culture and technology. Through intra-action we are all brought together in the Ebola phenomenon and yet this intra-action separates us into new co-constitutive subject positions. Through intra-action we become, at least temporarily, the afflicted and non-afflicted, the at-risked and the non-at-risked, and the exposed and the unexposed. So, studying these intra-actions reveals how differences get made and unmade. It’s unlikely that many of us will interact with the Ebola virus, but we will all intra-act with the Ebola phenomenon, and therefore we are all responsible for the matter produced in these intra-actions, the discourses, the materials and the subject positions. Interactions deflect and defer responsibility but in intra-actions responsibility is distributed among the constitutive entities. 3 This is where agency comes in the play. Agency is about action, reconfiguring, doing and being. It does not pre-exist separately, but emerges from the relationships in intra-actions. Thinking with intra-actions means giving up cause and effect relationships, individual agency and subject-object iconomies. We gain new understandings of ethics and justice as not things that are predetermined but always changing and unfolding. Intra-action calls into question stedfast boundaries and borders and linear time and in turn helps us think in terms of simultaneity. It tears down the walls that contain the disciplined thoughts and actions to reveal artificial boundaries we forgot we invented.” *4 “Between me and not-me there is surely a line, a clear distinction, or so it seems. But, now that I look, where is that line?* *This fresh apple, still cold and crisp from the morning dew, is not-me only until I eat it. When I eat, I eat the soil that nourished the apple. When I drink, the waters of the earth become me. With every breath I take in I draw in not-me and make it me. With every breath out I exhale me into not-me.* *If the air and the waters and the soils are poisoned, I am poisoned. Only if I believe the fiction of the lines more than the truth of the lineless planet, will I poison the earth, which is myself.”* *– Donella Meadows, from “Lines in the Mind, Not in the World” <https://donellameadows.org/archives/lines-in-the-mind-not-in-the-world/>* (From book O’Brien’s YOU MATTER MORE THAN YOU THINK) 5 *BG 9.4, Translation and Purport <https://vanisource.org/wiki/BG_9.4_(1972)?hl=All%20beings%20are%20in%20Me,%20but%20I%20am%20not%20in%20them>: Vani quote* *By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. (Intra-action) {KR And we have to inter act} * The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not perceivable through the gross material senses. It is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (CC Madhya 17.136 <https://vanisource.org/wiki/CC_Madhya_17.136>) (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234) Brahman’s name, fame, pastimes, etc., cannot be understood by material senses. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38) it is stated, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti: one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, always within himself and outside himself if one has developed the transcendental loving attitude towards Him. Thus, for people in general He is not visible. (KR: Thus, they are not in me, not all ) Here it is said that although He is all-pervading, everywhere present, He is not conceivable by the material senses. This is indicated here by the word avyakta-mūrtinā. But actually, although we cannot see Him, everything is resting in Him. As we have discussed in the Seventh Chapter, the entire material cosmic manifestation is only a combination of His two different energies—the superior, spiritual energy and the inferior, material energy. Just as the sunshine is spread all over the universe, the energy of the Lord is spread all over the creation, and everything is resting in that energy.( PURUSHA $ PRAKRITHI) Lord says, "I am everywhere, and everything is in Me, but still I am aloof." For example, a king heads a government which is but the manifestation of the king's energy; the different governmental departments are nothing but the energies of the king, and each department is resting on the king's power. But still one cannot expect the king to be present in every department personally. That is a crude example. Similarly, all the manifestations that we see and everything that exists, both in this material world and in the spiritual world, are resting on the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The creation takes place by the diffusion of His different energies, and, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam: He is everywhere present by His personal representation, the diffusion of His different energies. *SB 4.24.60, Purport <https://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_4.24.60?hl=All%20beings%20are%20in%20Me,%20but%20I%20am%20not%20in%20them>: * The sunshine also touches filthy places and sanctified places, and both are actually produced by the sun, but in any case, the sun is aloof from all filthy things. Similarly, the Lord exists everywhere. There are pious things and impious things, but in the śāstras the pious things are described as the front of the Supreme Lord, whereas impious things are described as the back of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gītā (9.4) the Lord clearly says: mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ=I AM IN ALL ALL IN ME jagad avyakta-mūrtinā= AS ONE UNSEEN mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni= SPREAD OVER ALL na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ= BUT NONE IN ME I AM ALOOFOR I AM IN NONE "By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." This verse of Bhagavad-Gita explains that the Lord is spread everywhere by virtue of His Brahman feature. Everything rests in Him, yet He is not there. The conclusion is that without bhakti-yoga, without rendering devotional service to the Lord, even an impersonalist cannot understand the brahma-tattva, the Brahman feature. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is stated: *athāto brahma jijñāsā.(*Brahma sutram opening line) . Bhagavan is neekkamara niraindullaan; INTRA- ACTION; WE HAVE TO INTER ACT KR IRS 17423 On Sun, 16 Apr 2023 at 17:29, Markendeya Yeddanapudi < [email protected]> wrote: > > > -- > *Mar*Your Connection to Nature > > > > You are a functioning part of nature. Your life means your living as a > component limb of nature. Just like your little finger, which has no > existence, if cut from your body, you have no existence if you cut yourself > from nature. If you are unhealthy and diseased, then your finger also > becomes diseased. If you make nature unhealthy, you also become unhealthy. > Every nano second of your life is connected to the functioning of > nature.Similarly; your little finger needs every part of your body to > function very healthily. And you need a healthy nature to live a healthy > life. > > The concept of healthy nature simply is the concept of God. If we need a > healthy body, then we need a very healthy God and not a sadistic, > superstition ridden, terrorizing God of some Bigoted religion. God is the > basis and base to explore all the interconnections among all organisms and > also your connections to all the other organisms. The method is breathing, > smelling and sensing, and also touching and seeing with feeling. > > When you look at a person, you really want to know his/her feelings and > emotions and after some acquaintance you want to explore the emotional > interactions. Your breathing, smelling and sensing via nature becomes your > relationship. In lush and free nature, emotional symbiosis creates positive > vibrations, the main point is that nature has the key role in the molding > of your emotional relations. If nature is diseased or maimed or both, in > reality it is diseasing your macro body, which in reality is your body. You > do not consume your limbs, you use them. Same is the case with nature, > which is also your body. > > The invisible spectrum, the abstract spectrum in reality is the spectrum > of emotions. The visible spectrum is just 00.0037% of the total spectrum. > The abstract spectrum is 99.0063%.In that abstract world you are connected > in hundreds of ways. > > If you close your eyes and also make your mind blank, you gradually give > way to the mighty abstract spectrum into you, and you learn to use nature > itself as limbs of your body. They are the powers of the Sage. > > YM > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZor1kSZqLY6mMBxbVNH4Ct3QeSdQPm7Nb-5NcqoVtCcfPg%40mail.gmail.com.
