Hindu Priest Rami Sivan, in a Quora forum response to a question referring to the “soul”, made a distinction that is pertinent to the Enformationism notion of a “person”. He bristled, “Firstly in Vedanta we do not have a concept of a “soul” as per the Abrahamic concept. This is very important to note. The Soul is something spiritual which is created by God and given to human beings only. . . . SO PLEASE STOP USING THE TERM SOUL FOR THE ATMAN - THEY ARE NOT EQUIVALENT TERMS!!! THE PROPER TERM IS SELF.” [emphasis in original]
He then goes on to offer an evocative metaphor for the relationship between Brahman (impersonal eternal BEING) and Atman (personal being). We can think of Brahman (G*D) as the ocean, and a human Atman (Self) as a glass of water. The contents of the glass are identical to the boundless ocean, but limited by the constraints of the container. Yet if you pour the water back into the sea it will merge seamlessly into the whole.
That’s why, in Hinduism, “The goal of our spiritual evolution is to continually expand our consciousness and bliss factors until we break free from our individual vessels and merge back with the ocean”. And that may well be what happens to the Self after death dissolves its physical container1. It’s a nice story, with a happy ending, but there’s no real-world evidence that such an ultimate “re-solution” (return to homogeneous state) is our personal or universal destiny. So I must remain agnostic about unfounded speculations of eternal bliss for the liberated Self. Of course, we can “expand our consciousness” in the mundane sense of “wisdom”. But what effect that will have for our ultimate destiny is unknown, and perhaps un-knowable, unless adepts at meditation can “foresee” the future.
I find the Hindu philosophical concept of Brahman/Atman to be a useful analogy for the relationship between eternal BEING and temporal Self. But I’m not so sure about the various religious extrapolations from that simple notion. I feel sure that, when the physical constraints are deconstructed at death, the metaphysical patterns that constitute the personal Self can and will remain immersed in the whole pool of Potential. But I’m not so sure of how temporal Consciousness would translate into eternal essence. In the “glass” analogy, the container is actually a crystalized form of ocean water, and upon melting, will be no longer distinguishable from the unfathomable ocean. However, the contents of the glass are self-conscious, and the Self is literally defined by the container. So, when its defining con-straints are removed, it would instantly be undefinable ─ the Self would become self-less. You might call that infinite state Cosmic Consciousness, but you’d have no idea what that really means.
In philosopher Thomas Nagel’s thought experiment, “what’s it like to be a bat?”, the materialist concept of Consciousness as a physical substance (i.e. liquid soul) was dispelled. In a similar manner, we can ask the unanswerable question : what’s it like to be G*D? I know from personal experience about my Self, but the feeling of omniscience & omniscience is beyond my ken. In my thesis, BEING is the source of all consciousness, but all I know about the subject is subjective. Consequently, I have to be careful not to present my speculations as factual, or as matters of Faith. Atman is Brahman, except when it’s not.
End of Post 66
G*D versus gods :
Most world religions agree on the most general concepts of their god model, but they differ widely in the details. The universal abstract traits of godhood are those taught by philosophers and theologians to wisdom seekers. But the various worldly specifics of divine appearance, likes, dislikes, etc. are taught by priests to the masses, who only want to know how to get what they want from the supernatural providers, and to avoid pissing them off. The G*D model of this blog is limited to philosophical generalities, and avoids any pretense of dogma on matters of personal opinion, or of private revelation.
Brahman/BEING : Ultimate Reality. Not a conventional wish-granting god, but merely the abstract source of everything in existence. http://blog-glossary. . . .
Atman/Self : a fictional symbol created by the brain to represent the whole brain/body system. http://blog-glossary . . . .
Spirit/EnFormAction : Metaphysical causative force in the world http://blog-glossary.. . .
Knowing Omniscience : For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 King James Version (KJV)
Atman : (origin : wandering breath) In Hindu philosophy, Atman is both Life and Mind. It’s a wandering ghost, and can inhabit different bodies, and even other species. In Enformationism, the Self is merely the function of the physical body, and dissolves at death into inert Potential.
Click italicized terms in blue for a link to the glossary
1. Soul Vessel : Although the notion of the soul held captive by the body as a liquid constrained in a container, is a meaningful metaphor, it may be mis-leading in a technical sense. In the Enformationism thesis, the Self/Soul is not a spooky substance that can hang around after the vessel is broken. Instead, the Self is a function (verb) of the Body (noun), just as the Mind is what the Brain does. Both of these dualities are analogies based on our experience with the material world. Likewise, Enformation (verb, active enforming) is a function of Information (noun, stored data). Ultimately, all aspects of reality are merely our space-time interpretations of eternal ideal Platonic Forms. From the eternal perspective it’s all mental information, and is equivalent to mathematical geometric ratios & relation-ships. So, the distinction between container and contents is a construct of the human mind. For those of us who are able to “see” the world in terms of Information ─ like Neo in the Matrix seeing raining code where others saw a virtual world ─ it’s all numbers. When the virtual container releases its virtual contents, the distinction between soul and vessel is dissolved, and we can realize that it was all G*D all the time.
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