This is the end of the road for logic, and now comes the choice that I don't want to make. Don't want to be wrong.
It seems that I've now argued myself into being an atheist.
Is nonduality just our best explanation for what we experience? What makes an experience real, and is there really any way of knowing if it is?
I could talk myself in circles all day, but the end result is this: either I choose to believe or I do not.
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Funny you should post this now (and by "funny" I don't mean "amusing" but rather "deeply spiritual"): just last night I was reading The Way of Zen, by Alan Watts, and thought to myself, "Huh. Maybe I'm an atheist." Not in the sense of a crank in the embrace of cold, steely logic, but beyond the point where there's much resonance for me in the idea of God as "personal" (whatever that means). It was kind of scary, yet liberating and I would even say fun at the same time. All of which is to say that you're not alone in facing this.
"What makes an experience real, and is there any way of knowing?" I would say I don't know from experience, but from what I've read, people who have truly realized enlightenment, whether they call it Transforming Union or Satori or whatever, don't doubt it for a second, that it's more real than anything else, period. And I'm inclined to trust that more than I'm inclined to trust logic or systematic theology or anything else that leaves God pinned down and explained.
I suppose the question is this: if you choose to believe or you do not, who is it that's doing the choosing?
I know nothing; just putting some thoughts out there in case they help.
I'm not an atheist. I'm probably a pantheist.
"There is no existence for that which is unreal; there is no non-existence for that which is real. And the correct conclusion about both is perceived by those who perceive the truth.
Lord Krishna
"I suppose the question is this: if you choose to believe or you do not, who is it that's doing the choosing?"
I believe "... our best explanation for what we experience" is the worst attempt to 'get it.' I'm sure it's much easier to find in the 'not getting' the point. But, who (who,) -gets (gets)-it (it)?
Who wrote this- who reads this?
I, to, know absolutley nothing... Especially about, grammer -and speling?
Trust your heart.
The mind, by contrast, will forever tie us in knots.
Andrew, you're right. It's liberating because there are no constraints; the possibilities are endless. It's frightening because there's nothing to hold onto, no absolute.
I return to Puddleglum again; when things seem real enough they take up our whole vision and become our reality. Right now it's as though I'm caught in a nightmare; at some level I know it's just a game but I can't see past it. And yet I've had experiences that are even more real than this seeming reality; really living, really being.
It seems that I choose, and it seems that I exist. It seems that I can choose and that I do exist.
Isaiah; "And the correct conclusion about both is perceived by those who perceive the truth."
Maybe because it's about being, and no struggle can take us anywhere; it is the end of struggle and trying when we realize that we're already there and always have been.
Rob; I think you're right... the heart knows what's real, the mind gets caught and forgets that it's only a game.
Peishan; too late for that. Beware the rabbit hole; did I dig it or am I just exploring it? There's nothing wrong with not-knowing, so long as i can be okay with it. Movies don't occupy the hands, just the mind, climbing and sailing and paddling use both!
I am indebtted to last night's conversation with a friend for lending so many insights to this commentary. And to last Sunday's conversation with another friend. He reminded me that it's not about getting from here to there but realizing what already is, and that we're already there and have never left.
You can choose to SAY you beleive, but real belief is something that happens TO you. It is a gift! (or a curse).
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