Originally Posted by
wundermonk
Greetings folks,
How is the space occupied by your computer different from the space occupied by your bookshelf?
You may say - "Well, the space occupied by my computer is distinguished by the fact that my computer occupies it. The space occupied by my bookshelf is distinguished by the fact that my bookshelf (and not my computer) occupies it."
OK, then, how do you distinguish between your computer and your bookshelf?
You may say - "Well, my computer is different from my bookshelf because my computer resides in a unit of space different from the one occupied by my bookshelf."
You thus find yourself justifying something seemingly so trivially true using circular logic!
So, which is ontologically prior or independent? the space or the matter in it?
How can one get out of this circularity?
Any thoughts?
Dear wundermonk,
To understand and experience the reality of the occupied space one has to apply the mind in an unconventional way. As the mind penetrates new dimensions of consciousness, and our sense of individual self is diminished, conscious awareness itself becomes the mystery and therefore also the answer to what now seems mysterious.
“My house is on the left hand side of the road is meaningless
” unless it is first explained from which direction the view point is taken. All expressions of reference to distance or direction, such as up, down, near, or far, relate always to a subjective point of reference first established in the mind.
The concepts of space and time are useful to us for our orientation in the perceived world, but the orientation is happening only in our mind.
The question of reality of space becomes even more interesting if we take into account the distinctions between
psychologically projected space,
mathematically computed space,
hypothetical physical space, about all of which can only make presumptions.
If one stands on a hilltop at night when the sky is clear, many constellations of stars can be seen in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The horizon will be very wide, and space will seem infinite. No one would think of the immense vastness of space as a projection of the mind
!!!
Apart from the psychologically projected and mathematically computed experiences of space, there is a mysterious factor which compels the mind of man to conceive space. Man has not discovered anyway of jumping out of his psychological outfit and rational speculation to find any means to solve this mystery. What he experience is at once
real and unreal, hence it is called
Sat- Asat in
Vedanta.
The absolute is Sat, “that which exists”. But Maya is indefinable in that it is impossible for the mind to conceptualize “it is” and “it is not” at one and the same Time.
Hence, Vedanta as a philosophy is not asking us to add to the already very many perceptual and conceptual patterns we have created. Instead, it is asking us to get rid of them so that we can go back to our primal
Consciousness. Love
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