Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Birth, death and birth again

This is called samsara.

Samsara is derived from "to flow together," to go or pass through states, to wander. Mostly a great revolving door between life and death and a new life reincarnated cycle of life. Also known as a game in ancient India.

Samsara is conceived as having no perceptible beginning or end. The particulars of an individual's wanderings in samsara are determined by karma. In Hinduism, moksha is release from samsara. In Buddhism, samsara is transcended by the attainment of nirvana. The range of samsara stretches from the lowliest insect (sometimes the vegetable and mineral kingdoms are included) to Brahma, the highest of the gods.

Depending on context, the details on samsara may vary: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Surat Shabda Yoga are a few philosophical traditions that are very similar but differ widely, however, in the terminology with which they describe the rebirth process (hence samsara) and in the metaphysics they use in interpreting it. However, in all these an ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is assumed as a fact of nature and it's referred to as 'samsara'.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The purpose of being

The great arguments of philosophy are as old as man’s ability to think. When man first understood that he was a being, now conscious of his own existence, he eventually realized that he was something both in nature and out of nature at the same time.

Actually, the human essence just is the thought and consciousness of understanding the world. The difference between human beings and other animals lies in the things stored in the brain. The human essence is the thing a human being inveterately grows in grain and the most important standard to measure a human being. It just is the human essence that made us superior to other animals and becoming the king of the world. Other animals also have the thought and consciousness, but can not match human beings in its sufficiency and sophistication. So we regard the most outstanding feature of human beings as our essence, and we call the ones who can grow the human essence as ‘same kind’ and call the others as ‘other kind’.

Ultimately, a "meaning in life", for human beings, is a rational explanation for the choice of one's purpose in life, or for a goal to a purpose. Or meaning is having a state of being or doing that relates to a goal, or to a purpose in life. Basically, such a meaning in life is an answer to a "Why?" to a goal that is relative to a purpose in life . In essence, an ultimate purpose in life gives meaning to all goals that help in its achievement. It gives meaning to most of what one is, what one does, and what one hopes to become.

How does an ultimate purpose give meaning in life? An ideal is a synonym for perfection. An ultimate purpose is an ideal of perfection for all persons may strive for all thru their lives. An ideal or perfect ultimate purpose has aspects of its perfection in the"5-Ps and G". These are the ultimate Purpose, Principle, Perfection, Premise, and Perspective. All of these are ultimate goods. An ultimate purpose gives eternal and universal direction, hope, and meaning in life. An ultimate principle is an ultimate truth that enables an almost instant general answer and meaning to specific problems relative to the ultimate principle. An ultimate perfection is an ideal standard for judging what is true, moral, just, beautiful, and meaningful. It is something to love, to strive for, to have happiness. An ultimate premise enables a rationality that enables reasoned judgements that enable a self-controlling moderation, harmony, stability, and meaning to a free choice. An ultimate perspective is a flexible view of the whole of things that enables one to see meaning in the parts that relate to the whole. An ultimate good enables almost instant general answers to resolve ethical and morality conflicts, for all that relates to an ultimate good will be good and meaningful. It is an ultimate standard for judging the morality of faith and the ethics of harmony.

Be careful what you wish for, you might get it

Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this I wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
Dig for gold
Dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?
All the wants you waste
All the things you've chased
Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger but there's no one around
Just want one thing
Just to play the King
But the castle's crumbled and you're left with just a name
Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Where's your crown?


Metallica - King Nothing

So in the end, what matters?

Karma - What It Is

I am the owner of my karma .
I inherit my karma.
I am born of my karma.
I am related to my karma.
I live supported by my karma.
Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit.

The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta

buddhism.2be.net on Karma

Karma means action, generally taken as a term that comprises the entire cycle of cause and effect. Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. Individuals go through certain processes and accompanying experiences throughout their lives which they have chosen, and those would be based on the results of their own creations. Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward.

Karma on Wikipedia

The "Law of Karma" is central in Dharmic religions. All living creatures are responsible for their karma — their actions and the effects of their actions — and for their release from samsara. The concept can be traced back to the early Upanishads.

The esoteric Christian tradition, Essenian and later Rosicrucian schools teach it as the "Law of Cause and Consequence/Effect" However, this western esoteric tradition adds that the essence of the teachings of Christ is that the law of sin and death may be overcome by Love, which will restore immortality.