2/ The mind only understands through objectifying.
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3/ It must first be said that the mind's ability to objectify existence is enormously beneficial to humans. Without it we would not be what we are.
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4/ Without objectifying we would have no means to form any kind of distinctions in existence which allow us to interact with the environment and manipulate it beyond basic survival & reproduction instincts.
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5/ We could not have conceived of and created symbols to represent reality; Language, Mathematics, Music. Communication and cooperation in all its forms (such as trade) would be impossible. Without these we would have no advanced civilizations.
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6/ But by its nature the mind's ability to objectify carries a limitation: It can only perceive and understand reality as object and so perceive and understand reality in part. To distinguish and extract part from the whole, it necessarily creates division.
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7/ Thought is the means by which object is conceived of and understood. The nature of thought is as object, property, and function of consciousness. The fundamental error is mistaking it for consciousness itself.
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8/ Thought is but object. We can tell it is so because it is, as all objects are, impermanent. It is subject to change. Consciousness is the permanent backdrop of existence on which all impermanent objects and phenomena can manifest and be perceived.
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9/ Attachment invariably occurs when humans mistake consciousness for its object. In realizing the impermanent nature of object, yet identifying themselves with it, humans attempt to make it permanent. Thus their consciousness becomes attached to it, and imprisoned by it.
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10/ Attachment to thought is mistaking the part for the whole. The more you, as subject, perceive yourself as object, the more divided you will be. You will perceive yourself as impermanent object(s) rather than permanent consciousness, which by definition cannot be objectified.
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11/ This is the reason Gautama Buddha insisted that all suffering stems from attachment. Failing to find permanence in one attachment (which is invariably the case) the human who exists not as whole and ineffable consciousness, but as object, will continue to create attachment.
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12/ Once the object follows its natural trajectory and ceases to exist in its previous form, the attached consciousness experiences a death; what it took to be itself is no longer reality. This repeated cycle of attachment is what Buddhists refer to as Samsara.
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13/ The Western mind is conditioned by culture & society to objectify existence, with the underlying implication that doing so one gains more control over it. Consciousness works the opposite way : It does not function through "divide and rule". Its object can never control it.
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14/ Only an attached, divided consciousness can appear as if it is under the control of its object, as if its object assumes the position of subject. We pay the price of multiple death over a lifetime for this illusion of control and false security.
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15/ Westerners who first get exposed to this often say they cannot let go of their attachments. And that is true, as far as they can see. The truth however, is that they are holding on to nothing. They only perceive it as something by virtue of attachment, by holding on to it.
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15/ If they let go, they would see it for what is. And in that seeing lies the simple realization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative) …pic.twitter.com/P1Hr2qdRSQ
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End of conversation
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Wow! But functioning in the world that way is difficult.. isn't it?
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No, because how you function in the world is determined by your conception of it. When your awareness changes, the world does also. Said another way, what 'the world' is, is simply a projection.
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Sadly, this seems so hard for 'rational' thinkers to grasp. I was once there & was only lucky enough to see this insight accidentally. Before faith was the enabler, what vehicle can we look to now?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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