Merle,

What do you use as a guide and reference when you paint?

...Bill!  

--- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote:
>
> 
> 
> bill do not make it up..what you think these words mean ... use a 
> dictionary...merle
> 
> 
>   
> Edgar,
> 
> Below you asked: "What do you think illusory actually means?", and that is 
> exactly what I dreamed about last night and was prepared to explain to you 
> this morning.  I do think part, but not all, of our perpetual disagreement 
> about this is because we are using the same terms for 'reality' and 
> 'illusion' but they have different meanings to each of us.  Below is what I 
> mean by these terms:
> 
> REALITY is experience.  I sometimes say 'raw' experience to differentiate it 
> from 'perceptions' or 'illusions'.
> 
> EXPERIENCE is immediate sensory experience.  There is actually no other kind 
> of experience, but we do use that word in common English to describe other 
> things.  These 'other things' are illusions.
> 
> AWARENESS is actually implied by 'experience'.  You can't say you've 
> 'experienced' something if you're not aware of the experience, but I do 
> sometimes additionally use the term 'awareness' just to emphasize that state 
> and avoid confusion.
> 
> BUDDHA NATURE is experience, or using the superfluous add-on, is awareness of 
> experience.  Again, experience is reality.
> 
> PERCEPTION is the post-processing of experience by your discriminating mind.  
> I think we agree on this term.
> 
> ILLUSION is the result of PERCEPTION, and can also just be fantasy (no basis 
> in reality at all).
> 
> Now I do think an additional difference between us that might not be apparent 
> here is that when I say reality is experience, I mean just that and only 
> that.  There is no other or more reality than what's experienced.  All 
> inferences you make about other or more reality are products of your 
> discriminating mind and are illusory.  That doesn't mean they are not 
> logical, practical or somewhat dependable.  They can be all of these but are 
> still illusory.
> 
> Now to your post below.
> 
> I will repeat what I said below using the terms I've defined above.  I don't 
> think that will make you agree with it, but at least you should be able to 
> more fully understand what I'm saying:
> 
> Reality has no structure.  Experience is [the awareness of] reality and 
> nothing more.  Experience does not present nor contains any structure such as 
> time, place, cause-and-effect, projections, assumptions, conclusions, 
> judgments, classifications, etc...  Experience is reality.  Experience is 
> Just THIS!  That's it.  That's all.  Everything else you 'think' about 
> reality is illusory - a projection.  Reality is holistic (non-dualistic).  
> It's Just THIS!  It's not this and that.  When you catch yourself (your 
> dualistic self) creating this and that then you are no longer holistically 
> experiencing reality.  You have slipped into a dualistic mode are creating 
> illusions.
> 
> Now to your example...  You wrote: "You don't even admit that the sun rises 
> in the morning is evidence of the structure of reality when any schoolboy 
> understands that."
> 
> Buddha Nature is the awareness of only the total immediate sensual experience 
> of what we call the 'sunrise'.  It would include sight and possibly touch, 
> sound and smell, and though unlikely maybe taste also.  (These divisions of 
> experience into 5 senses has been done by our discriminating mind and I use 
> these terms for clarity only.  Buddha Nature being holistic does not 
> discriminate between these senses and experiences them as a whole, Just THIS!)
> 
> So, what I've described above the experience.  When you add things like 'the 
> sun', 'rising', 'morning' and the implication that this 'event' will 'happen 
> again' in the 'future', you are engaging your discriminating mind.  Buddha 
> Nature is not aware of the divisions, classifications, projections or even 
> the terms I listed above in parenthesis (' ').  These are all products of 
> your discriminating mind and are all illusory.  (And again let me say that 
> being illusory doesn't mean they are not logical, practical or somewhat 
> dependable.  They can be all of these but are still illusory.)
> 
> Whew!  That's enough for now.  I hope this post at least helps clarify my 
> position on these topics even if you still don't agree with me.
> 
> I might add all that I've posted is not what I have come to understand, but 
> what I have experienced; and is my best attempt to communicate that to you.
> 
> ...Bill!
> 
> --- In [email protected], Edgar Owen <edgarowen@> wrote:
> >
> > Bill!
> > 
> > What do you think illusory actually means? I know it's not what I think...
> > 
> > And you are provably wrong on your first sentence. Discrimination is PART 
> > of reality. Discrimination has structure. Therefore reality (or at least 
> > part of it) has structure. Therefore your statement is self contradictory...
> > 
> > Thus the world of forms has structure. I think your misunderstanding is not 
> > understanding that is true even though I agree that discrimination adds 
> > ADDITIONAL structure. The mental simulation of reality only works because 
> > there is some degree of accuracy in its modeling of the structure of 
> > reality. This is basic.
> > 
> > If reality itself had no structure it could not exist and we could not 
> > exist.
> > 
> > You don't even admit that the sun rises in the morning is evidence of the 
> > structure of reality when any schoolboy understands that.
> > 
> > I've explained this tooooo many times and it still doesn't sink in!
> > :-)
> > 
> > Edgar
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Sep 5, 2012, at 8:14 AM, Bill! wrote:
> > 
> > > Edgar,
> > > 
> > > Everything that IS discriminated has structure. It's the discrimination 
> > > that gives it the structure, not the structure that allows it to be 
> > > discriminated.
> > > 
> > > I don't disagree with you that everything in the world of forms has 
> > > structure, but all forms are illusory - and the structure is a structure 
> > > we impose on it.
> > > 
> > > ...Bill!
> > > 
> > > --- In [email protected], Edgar Owen <edgarowen@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Bill!
> > > > 
> > > > Everything that can be discriminated has structure including Merle's 
> > > > paintings. There is nothing in the world of forms that doesn't have 
> > > > structure.
> > > > 
> > > > Edgar
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > On Sep 4, 2012, at 10:21 PM, Bill! wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Very nice! I like them because many of them appear to have structure 
> > > > > but actually do not...Bill!
> > > > > 
> > > > > --- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@> wrote:
> > > > >> 
> > > > >> 
> > > > >> 
> > > > >> check here what i draw and paint
> > > > >> Merle
> > > > >> www.wix.com/merlewiitpom/1
> > > > >> 
> > > > > 
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > 
> > >
> >
>




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