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Re: Liquid Beauty

Richard Kerr <R.Kerr@perspolicy.usyd.edu.au> wrote:
 
>danny@cs.su.oz.au (Daniel Yee) wrote:
>>In article <D8yw9F.FAn@ucc.su.oz.au>,
>>Richard Kerr  <R.Kerr@perspolicy.usyd.edu.au> wrote:
>>>As beauty is, so is your body and so is your mind. All of it displays
>>>subtle impermanence. Everything is constantly in a process of change
>>>and as beaty fades and bodies die there is absolutely no reason to
>>>suspect that your mind will transmigrate. If you survive death at all
>>>it will be by the intervention of something outside of our normal
>>>experience, it is not something which appears natural or intevitable.
>>
>>You seem to me to have argued convincingly *against* the existence
>>of any unitary entity which is "you".  In which case, what exactly is
>>it that is going to "survive death"?
 
>Now _thats_ a good question.
 
>As I said to Madhuvisah (although I don't think he believed me) I am
>not a 'thing'. I am a process, I am the relationships I have with
>others and  the interactions between the various bits and pieces that
>go towards making up the instantaneous me, what buddhists call the
>'mere I'. There is no irreducable set of things that I can point to
>and call 'me'.
 
>If 'I' survive death it will be the process that survives. Paul said
>that our resurrected bodies will be as different from our current

>bodies as Christ's glorified body. If I survive I will be as different
>from the instantaneous me as a prayer is.
 
>I'm happy to discuss this further, but I'm sure you can tell that it
>sinks quickly into speculation once you leave the firm ground of our
>fundamental non-existence*. I would be interested to hear insights from
>anyone who has gone further down this path than me. I'm sure of the
>starting point, but I'm not sure that the road leads anywhere useful.
 
>* If I used smileys I'd put one here.
 
>Regards, Richard     (r.kerr@perspolicy.usyd.edu.au)
 
Dear Richard,
 
I've been pondering this article for the last few days. I don't really know how to
go about answering it... that's why I didn't reply immediately.
 
You say you are not a "thing" but are a "process". But whatever you are you are a
"person". That is clear. Therefore you say a person is not a thing... I don't know
about this.
 
What survives death and carries on to the next body is the soul. It is you
actually. Perhaps you are calling the soul a "process"?
 
Your next body is certainly different from the current one. The current one is
clearly rotting in the coffin.. Or burnt to ashes.. It is the soul that is the
same...
 
As far as the "firm ground of fundamental existence" you are starting to sound
like a Buddhist here and I could never understand Buddhists! Perhaps you should
have put the smile in...
 
As for the road we should be traversing we have to find the one that leads us back
home, back to Godhead...
 
I can't clearly fathom what you are getting at... I don't usually get stumped on
these things... Perhaps you could clarify what you mean by calling yourself a
"process" as opposed to a "thing."
 
 
Thank you. Hare Krishna!
 
Madhudvisa dasa       
(madhudvisa@krishna.org)     /sudarsana
 
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
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