--- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, kahtychen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> To me, the more interesting questions raised by the film concerns
our
> interest in using scientific language to prove our consciousness and
> validate our physical and metaphysical experiences
(think "intelligent
> design"!!). With intersubjectivity looming as the great
> epistemological frontier of the 21st Century, and the dawn of the
> Enlightenment a dim memory, what fabulous questions are in store for
> monkey minds!?!?!
I have always been interested in following science, art, religion,
faith, etc. in terms of paralells, but I never need to use one to
justify the other.
The danger in seeking justification is that it is going to build up a
new kind of Dogma. These realities of the quantum world, the way
they are being twisted is to somehow "prove" that "our religion was
right all long." I prophesized some time after the What the Bleep
movie that it would only be a matter of time before theists started
using it to prove the existence of God, though in it's presented form
it was nothing of the sort.
I turned out to be right, and there are already Quantum Christians
now. It is only a matter of time before the likes of Pat Robertson
and Jimmy Falwell get a hold of it and start using it to damn us all
to hell.
> We have lived an eon of "reason", what if we're headed for an eon of
> "faith"? What of the language of Buddhism? It is looked to as a wise
> Master here, since it's language covers breaches of empirical
evidence
> with elegant dispassion. The Four Noble Truths are basically an
> ancient Rx, are they not?!
The Buddha had an extremely narrow field of discussion. He said "I
teach only two things. Suffering and the End of Suffering." He
told us that there are only two things we can know - whether our
actions are skillful or not.
"What the bleep" teaches a very good lesson of Buddhism, and that is
basically that we create our reality. The very first words of the
Dhammapada are "We are what we think. All that we are arises with
our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world."
So far so good. But then "What the bleep" goes on and attempts to
explain how that happens. Forget the fact that it uses very poor
science to do so (there is a huge unexplained gap between the quantum
physics discussion and the discussion of neurology) but within the
realm of Buddhism this "how" is completely irrelevant anyway. It is
enough to know that it can be done, and to learn how we can use this
fact to end our suffering.
-DaveK
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