Going Back To Some Basics part 3

                                                                    Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

In this next installment on the basic Duality of  "Self" & "Other", modeled in terms of Descartes’ Coordinate Space, we go pack to zero-dimension, 0-D, the infinitesimal Point, the Sanskrit bindu which stands for conceptions of the Self, the Atman, & therefore of the identical Brahman, known in the objective sense as God.  This projected "empty substance" is the "taken for granted" background, in the objective sense.  Other 0-D Space "shadows" of this same include the false "I", the Ego.  This Ego, like the even more objective 0-D Spaces also serves as a Reference Origin Point for higher dimension spaces. 

For instance, Ego (or "Me") stands as Reference Origin Point for the Flow of  Thought which constitutes the 1-D model of Mind.  Mind like every other Coordinate Space is inherently limitless if only due to the Space’s objectively "formless" nature.  To that extent every Coordinate Space in our model is an Analog continuum, while the Reference Origin Point is the central Discrete point which specifies meaning to all the other Discrete Coordinate Points.  This Discrete quality introduced by Coordinate Points contrasts with the Analog continuum of the Space itself & this Discrete quality introduces situated separation, duality, multiplicity, duality, variation, diversity, & comparison – all due to the imagined infinitesimal Gaps dividing one Point from another.  Gaps are entire topic in themselves & the focus of the Eleatic Sages: Parmenides, Zeno, & Melissus. 

The Flow of  Thought, which solidifies further as a flow of Words, thus comparing to a flow of Sound as well, is like all just mentioned a 1-D "Number–Line" laid out along a Flow of Time.  So each of these linear 1-D Coordinate Spaces features a Referenced Origin Point of "Now" that divides Past from Present.  [The meditation on the "3 times" is taken up in a later installment.] Thought are Past or Present, just as Words & other Sounds are coming or gone.  Now is a 1-D Reference Origin Point for Thought, Words, & Sound just as Ego is a 1-D Reference Origin Point for Mind. The other Discrete Coordinate Points are Thoughts, Moments, Sounds, etc.  Every Thought pertains to what is good/bad for Me, big/small or near/far to Me, & so on.  All thoughts are referenced to the Origin Point Me, as all Moments are to the Origin Now.  But Mind is also modeled in 2-D, 3-D, & 4-D, as seen in the next installment. For now, again that dominant Object-Idea, the Body is discussed by Master Nome.

The Self is non–dependent Existence. It is regardless of the senses & corresponding thoughts. It is directly & immediately known. It is not known through something else. The Body is entirely dependent on sense perception in order to appear. The senses depend upon the mind. There is no body apart from these [senses & mind]. How, therefore, can the Self s Existence be equated with the body ?  The Body has no sense of "I".  The "I"  belongs to Existence. When the "I" sense is confounded with the Body, such is delusion, & the Self is then assumed to be a bodily being or an embodied entity. There is no actual experience of being a Body.  There are only Sense Perceptions, which are misconstrued in delusion.  There is actual Existence, with its own unbroken continuity, the invariable constant knowledge that you are. There is no memory of being a Body. There is the timeless knowledge of Existence.  Memory is always only of something objective, yet the object itself does not exist.  So, the memory of it is also unreal & cannot actually exist.  The Body is an illusion in Time & Space.  The Self is not in Time & Space.  How, therefore, can the Self s Existence be equated with the body ?

Ancient philosophers, & Bishop George Berkeley a few centuries ago, rightly reasoned that we mentally experience Perception, which is Thought in the Mind.  Even if there were "outside" Objects, none could ever be contacted, ever directly experienced. All we touch, all we experience are Thoughts which include Perceptual thoughts or Perceptions.  The role of the Body-idea in our Coordinate Space model of "Other" is yet to be detailed in later installments.  But as a stand-in for one’s Self, the Body is an illusory Perception, not a "thing" to hang your hat on.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]