Ascending Information is Limited
Mon, 01/28/2008 - 18:22 — admin
The ascending process is heavily reliant on information gained solely and wholly from within the material world. In fact, it offers no method by which the aspiring student can receive information about the Supreme Person from outside of this material world. Thus, no matter how hard he struggles to understand the Absolute Truth, as long as his endeavors are confined within the boundaries of the ascending process, they will not bear real fruit.
Doctor Frog, as long as he remains in his well, will never be able to understand the ocean, either by direct experience, through reason, or by hearing from great authorities who have also never left the well. Similarly, by the strength of his own mind, one will never be able to ascend to the platform of perfect knowledge about God. The Supreme Person is beyond the reaches of the material mind.
What I have been explaining, Michael, although you may not have been aware of it, is also the reason for our failure, thus far, to come to any clear decisive conclusions about the nature of the Absolute Truth. Up to this point, we have limited ourselves to the empiric method, which is ascending in nature. And we have reached the end of our tethers, it seems. Should we retrace our steps, and the steps of those who have walked this pathway before us, again and again and again, hoping to discover a peephole by which we may see beyond our dilemma?
MICHAEL: That is what our predecessors seem to have done. It seems that they have approached the problem from every possible angle and could see no way out.
TEACHER: The question that faces us, then, is whether to boldly carry on in their footsteps, hoping to stumble on something they may have overlooked, or to find, if we can, another approach which can really deliver the goods.
As you no doubt know, I am a student of the Absolute Truth as it is revealed through a long lineage of spiritual masters. This very ancient tradition has come to be known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Before we can decide whether I am a crazy man, blindly pursuing his folly, or if I have actually gotten hold of something which is free from the principles of blind religiosity which are so abhorrent to the skeptics and materialists alike, we’ll have to take an objective look at the information reception process I am proposing to you.
MICHAEL: You are speaking, I take it, of what you call the descending method of epistemology.
TEACHER: Yes.
MICHAEL: I can’t see any alternative. To accept it as a valid method of receiving wisdom without attempting to logically determine its validity would be a tremendous leap of faith. If you can show me, however, that this system is logically based, then perhaps it will open a whole new dimension for me. In any case, you have my interest, so please begin.
There is more than enough food, water, fuel and so on to satisfy the actual needs of everyone on the planet. But there is not enough to satisfy everyone’s greed. Even if it were physically possible for you to consume all the food, water, and fuel in the world, you still would not be satisfied. “Material food” cannot satisfy spiritual craving. Since the materialist is never satisfied, he never feels that he has had enough.Ascending Information is Limited
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
The ascending process is heavily reliant on information gained solely and wholly from within the material world. In fact, it offers no method by which the aspiring student can receive information about the Supreme Person from outside of this material world. Thus, no matter how hard he struggles to understand the Absolute Truth, as long as his endeavors are confined within the boundaries of the ascending process, they will not bear real fruit.
Doctor Frog, as long as he remains in his well, will never be able to understand the ocean, either by direct experience, through reason, or by hearing from great authorities who have also never left the well. Similarly, by the strength of his own mind, one will never be able to ascend to the platform of perfect knowledge about God. The Supreme Person is beyond the reaches of the material mind.
What I have been explaining, Michael, although you may not have been aware of it, is also the reason for our failure, thus far, to come to any clear decisive conclusions about the nature of the Absolute Truth. Up to this point, we have limited ourselves to the empiric method, which is ascending in nature. And we have reached the end of our tethers, it seems. Should we retrace our steps, and the steps of those who have walked this pathway before us, again and again and again, hoping to discover a peephole by which we may see beyond our dilemma?
MICHAEL: That is what our predecessors seem to have done. It seems that they have approached the problem from every possible angle and could see no way out.
TEACHER: The question that faces us, then, is whether to boldly carry on in their footsteps, hoping to stumble on something they may have overlooked, or to find, if we can, another approach which can really deliver the goods.
As you no doubt know, I am a student of the Absolute Truth as it is revealed through a long lineage of spiritual masters. This very ancient tradition has come to be known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Before we can decide whether I am a crazy man, blindly pursuing his folly, or if I have actually gotten hold of something which is free from the principles of blind religiosity which are so abhorrent to the skeptics and materialists alike, we’ll have to take an objective look at the information reception process I am proposing to you.
MICHAEL: You are speaking, I take it, of what you call the descending method of epistemology.
TEACHER: Yes.
MICHAEL: I can’t see any alternative. To accept it as a valid method of receiving wisdom without attempting to logically determine its validity would be a tremendous leap of faith. If you can show me, however, that this system is logically based, then perhaps it will open a whole new dimension for me. In any case, you have my interest, so please begin.