From a site visitor: “You mentioned ‘false absolutes’ and ‘peripetia’ and I’ve never seen those in my advaita readings. Please explain.”
F.: Thanks for the e-mail. For more on the “peripetia,” please see
[http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/10/what-happens-when-body-ends-part-five.html ]
As for “false absolutes,” they appear in many varieties. Persons express false absolutes when they use such terms as “always” or “never” in discussing happenings in the relative existence. They also use false absolutes when they use dualistic terms to categorize happenings or persons in the relative existence: “good,” “bad,” “right,” “wrong,” “moral,” immoral,” etc. There is only one Absolute, and any concepts or beliefs which suggest that anything in the relative can be defined in absolute terms is false.
Is it wrong to lie? “Yes,” many say. You're living in 1940’s Holland and are hiding Jews in a closet. The Green Police arrive with a Nazi backup force and ask if you're hiding Jews. You lie. You say "No." Is that wrong? There can never be anything in the relative existence that can be accurately categorized as being “absolutely right” or “absolutely wrong.”
Is it wrong to kill another person? “Yes,” many say. Would it be wrong if a man broke into my house, was going to kill my daughter, but I killed him to protect her?
If I’m living in India and my family members are dying of starvation, would it be wrong to kill and eat the cow that I own? “Yes,” most say, “because I’d rather die than eat the vessel of the sacred life-force.” But you’ll eat plants? “Yes.” So what do you believe is the source of the life-force in animals if not the plants that they eat? You do not know that animals derive that life-force by eating plants? Since the plant is the primary source, wouldn't the plant that you are eating be even more sacred than the animal that you are not eating?
Combine the concepts of “sacred” with the concept of “eating in a holy manner” and people will starve before eating beef or will go hungry rather than eat meat on Fridays or will die while pork rots in their presence. The 2/3’s of the population that needs protein in order for their organs to function properly will suffer as a result of deprivation that is inspired by faulty programming and insane conditioning and bizarre beliefs spread throughout their culture. Then expand that to the fact that all suffering and misery among persons results when they believe in false absolutes as well as the rest of the lies that they have been taught in their culture.
In the relative existence, no absolutes apply and all concepts and dualities are false. The Absolute Is, and all else is false. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
F.: Thanks for the e-mail. For more on the “peripetia,” please see
[http://advaitavedantameditations.blogspot.com/2005/10/what-happens-when-body-ends-part-five.html ]
As for “false absolutes,” they appear in many varieties. Persons express false absolutes when they use such terms as “always” or “never” in discussing happenings in the relative existence. They also use false absolutes when they use dualistic terms to categorize happenings or persons in the relative existence: “good,” “bad,” “right,” “wrong,” “moral,” immoral,” etc. There is only one Absolute, and any concepts or beliefs which suggest that anything in the relative can be defined in absolute terms is false.
Is it wrong to lie? “Yes,” many say. You're living in 1940’s Holland and are hiding Jews in a closet. The Green Police arrive with a Nazi backup force and ask if you're hiding Jews. You lie. You say "No." Is that wrong? There can never be anything in the relative existence that can be accurately categorized as being “absolutely right” or “absolutely wrong.”
Is it wrong to kill another person? “Yes,” many say. Would it be wrong if a man broke into my house, was going to kill my daughter, but I killed him to protect her?
If I’m living in India and my family members are dying of starvation, would it be wrong to kill and eat the cow that I own? “Yes,” most say, “because I’d rather die than eat the vessel of the sacred life-force.” But you’ll eat plants? “Yes.” So what do you believe is the source of the life-force in animals if not the plants that they eat? You do not know that animals derive that life-force by eating plants? Since the plant is the primary source, wouldn't the plant that you are eating be even more sacred than the animal that you are not eating?
Combine the concepts of “sacred” with the concept of “eating in a holy manner” and people will starve before eating beef or will go hungry rather than eat meat on Fridays or will die while pork rots in their presence. The 2/3’s of the population that needs protein in order for their organs to function properly will suffer as a result of deprivation that is inspired by faulty programming and insane conditioning and bizarre beliefs spread throughout their culture. Then expand that to the fact that all suffering and misery among persons results when they believe in false absolutes as well as the rest of the lies that they have been taught in their culture.
In the relative existence, no absolutes apply and all concepts and dualities are false. The Absolute Is, and all else is false. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
