The Nature of Reality (From my Viewpoint)
On my walk last night I listened to a podcast which was a discussion between Professor Alan Wallace, a Buddhist scholar and Sean Carroll, a physicist titled The Nature of Reality.
What interested me most was my response.
Each speaker had 20 minutes to put across their main points after which there was discussion.
The first person to talk was the physicist. he sounded so convincing that by the time he had put forth his argument I had pretty much resolved that consciousness ended at death based on atoms, mathematical formulas and the laws of the universe. I didn’t like what I was hearing but Sean Carroll seemed highly intelligent and convincing.
Then Alan Wallace started speaking. He politely and totally ripped apart every material concept, hypothesis and conclusion that Sean Carroll had put forward in a very refreshing and eloquent delivery.
I was reprieved.
The interesting thing was how easily I was swayed, first one way and then the other by seemingly intelligent arguments.
This leads me back to the simple conclusion that I am the only person who can come to a conclusion about anything. I have to trust myself and my own experience and observation.
This doesn’t mean that I discount all of the incredibly intelligent minds out there in the world of science, the humanities, religion and such. What it does mean is that I have to be guided by my own counsel, my own concept of what is right and what is wrong or should I say, what is right for some of us is wrong for others.
The good thing that came out of this experience was that I once again looked at the inevitability of death. My somewhat “juvenile” analogy is that life is like a 3 week holiday that you have the power to extend if you so choose to but at some point you have to return home to your normal, mundane life. The holiday must come to an end.
Now, if something is 100% inevitable you cannot resist it without creating suffering for yourself and possibly even others. So what is the point. Acceptance is the only logical solution and in acceptance lies a much enhanced appreciation of what you do know that you have.
I’m either going to come to the end of this lifetime and lose consciousness completely at which point it won’t matter or I’m going to transcend this version of myself and still be aware that I am aware.
As Alan Wallace put forth in his argument maybe the physical universe, by which I mean time, energy, matter, space only exists so that we can observe it and by doing so interact with it and ask questions.
The other thing that was a relief that I realized yesterday is that ignorance or not knowing is a gift because it means that there is something new to discover and learn. Thinking you know the answers to life mysteries is tantamount to saying that you are giving up all hope of further discovery.
“Not knowing” is a far superior state to be in as there are no absolutes and it leaves the door open for surprises.
