One recent addition to my bookshelf is "The Physics of Karma" by Dwaraknath Reddy. The arguments presented in the book are interesting and quite dense at times. It has taken me multiple readings to grasp certain intricacies but I think the author makes an excellent case for everything in the objective empirical world of being of the nature of consciousness. I would like to present my understanding of it thus far and would like to hear from others regarding it.
(1)If there is no subject, then there is no object. Our objective empirical world only exists because there are subjects that cognize its existence. This may be hard to grasp but I believe it is true.
(2)Everything that our mind cognizes is "knowledge". Not knowing cannot be experienced. Even if we are ignorant of, say, what is the capital of The Republic of Djibouti, it is wrong to say we dont know. It is correct to say that we know that we do not know.
(3)Consider our seeing a tree in the distance. We are able to see it because light is reflect off the tree and the same light hits our cornea. The common factor here is light.
(4)From (2) it follows that what we refer to as vision is "knowledge" of vision. So, whether it is vision or hearing or touching and feeling or smelling, it is ultimately the "knowledge" of them that matters.
(5)Now consider what happens between the light falling on our cornea and its "knowledge" manifesting in our minds. Just like how light was a common element in (3), there ought to be something common between the falling of light on the cornea and its "knowledge" manifesting in our minds. That is consciousness.
So, we have light being the common factor in (3) and consciousness being the common factor in (5).
Now, from (1) we know that if a subject doesnt exist, neither does an object. From (2), we see that a subject is characterized by knowledge. From (5) we know that it is consciousness that causes knowledge. So, it follows that everything in the objective world is but of the nature of consciousness appropriately modified.
PS: For those wondering, the capital of The Republic of Djibouti is Djibouti city.
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