Thank you for doing what you do. It’s amazing how philosophy opens your eyes and sense of experience. I would have never lived enough if I had never discovered it.
02. A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF “LIFE”: Everything, both perceptible and imperceptible - that is, any gross or subtle OBJECT within the material universe which can ever be perceived with the cognitive faculties, plus the SUBJECT (the observer of all phenomena) - is to what most persons generally refer when they use the term “God”, since they usually conceive of the Primeval Creator as being the Perfect Person, and “God” (capitalized) is a personal epithet of the Unconditioned Absolute. However, this anthropomorphized conception of The Absolute is a fictional character of divers mythologies. According to most every enlightened sage in the history of this planet, the Ultimate Reality is, far more logically, Impersonal Absolute NOTHINGNESS (otherwise called “The Tao”, “The Great Spirit”, “Brahman”, “Pure Consciousness”, “Eternal Awareness”, “Independent Existence”, “The Ground of All Being”, “Uncaused Nature”, “The Undifferentiated Substratum of Reality”, “The Unified Field”, et cetera). In other words, rather than the Supreme Truth being a separate Blissful, Supra-Conscious Being (The Godhead Himself or The Goddess), Ultimate Reality is Eternal-Existence Limitless-Awareness Unconditional-Peace ITSELF. Because the Unmanifested Absolute is infinite creative potentiality, “it” actualizes as EVERYTHING, in the form of temporary, cyclical universes. In the case of our particular universe, we reside in a cosmos consisting of space-time, matter and energy, without, of course, neglecting the most fundamental dimension of existence (i.e. conscious awareness - although, “it” is, being the subject, by literal definition, non-existent). Just as a knife cannot cut itself, nor the mind comprehend itself, nor the eyes see themselves, The Absolute cannot know Itself (or at least objectively EXPERIENCE Itself), and so, has manifested this phenomenal universe within Itself for the purpose of experiencing Itself, particularly through the lives of self-aware beings, such as we sophisticated humans. Therefore, this world of duality is really just a play of consciousness within Consciousness, in the same way that a dream is a person's sleeping narrative set within the life-story of an 'awakened' individual. APPARENTLY, this phenomenal universe was created with the primal act (the so-called “Big Bang”), which started, supposedly, as a minute, slightly uneven ball of light, which in turn, was instigated, ultimately, by Extra-Temporal Supra-Consciousness. From that first deed, every motion or action that has ever occurred has been a direct (though, almost exclusively, an indirect) result of it. Just as all the extant energy in the universe was once contained within the inchoate singularity, Infinite Consciousness was NECESSARILY present at the beginning of the universe, and is in no way an epiphenomenon of a neural network. Discrete consciousness, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on the neurological faculty of individual animals (the more highly-evolved the species, the greater its cognitive abilities). “Sarvam khalvidam brahma” (a Sanskrit maxim from the “Chandogya Upanishad”, meaning ‘all this is indeed Brahman’ or ‘everything is the Universal Self alone’). There is NAUGHT but Eternal Being, Conscious Awareness, Causeless Peace - and you are, quintessentially, that! This “Theory of Everything” can be more succinctly expressed by the mathematical equation: E=A͚ (Everything equates to Infinite Awareness). HUMANS are essentially this Eternally-Aware-Peace, acting through an extraordinarily-complex biological organism, comprised of the eight rudimentary elements - pseudo-ego (the assumed sense of self), intellect, mind, solids, liquids, gases, heat (fire), and ether (three-dimensional space). When one peers into a mirror, one doesn’t normally mistake the reflected image to be one’s real self, yet that is how we humans conventionally view our ever-mutating forms. We are, rather, in a fundamental sense, that which witnesses all transitory appearances. Everything which can be presently perceived, both tangible and immaterial, including we human beings, is a culmination of that primary manifestation. That is the most accurate and rational explanation for “karma” - everything was preordained from the initial spark, and every action since has unfolded as it was predestined in ETERNITY, via an ever-forward-moving trajectory. The notion of retributive (“tit for tat”) karma is just that - an unverified belief. Likewise, the notion of a distinct, reincarnating “soul” or “spirit” is largely a fallacious belief. Whatever state in which we currently find ourselves, is the result of two factors - our genetic make-up at conception and our present-life conditioning (which may include mutating genetic code). Every choice ever made by every human and non-human animal was determined by those two factors ALONE. Therefore, free-will is purely illusory, despite what most believe. As a consequence of residing within this dualistic universe, we experience a lifelong series of fluctuating, transient pleasures and pains, which can take the form of physical, emotional, and/or financial pleasure or pain. Surprisingly to most, suffering and pain are NOT synonymous. Suffering is due to a false sense of personal 'doership' - the belief that one is a separate, independent author of one’s thoughts, emotions, and deeds, and that, likewise, other persons are autonomous agents, with complete volition to act, think, and feel as they wish. Another way of stating the same concept is: suffering is due to the intellect being unwilling or unable to accept life as it manifests moment by moment. There are five SYMPTOMS of suffering, all of which are psychological in nature: 1. Guilt 2. Blame 3. Pride 4. Anxiety 5. Regrets about the past and expectations for the future These types of suffering are the result of not properly understanding what was explained above - that life is a series of happenings and NOT caused by the individual living beings. No living creature, including Homo sapiens, has personal free-will. There is only the Universal, Divine Will at play, acting through every body, to which William Shakespeare famously alluded when he scribed “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” The human organism is essentially a biopsychological machine, comprised of the five gross material elements and the three subtle material elements, listed above. The ANTIDOTE to all mental anguish is to firstly discern pain from suffering, then to achieve complete relief from that miserable state of existence, by abandoning the erroneous belief in personal authorship, and abiding in the primordial sense of being (the unqualified “I am”, which is one's core identity). This is the very same peace which is experienced each night during the dreamless phase of the sleep cycle. This 'resting imperturbably as Flawless Awareness' can be practiced on a regular basis, until it is fully assimilated and integrated into one's life. Every person, from time immemorial, has been either intentionally or unwittingly seeking such causeless peace, most commonly by practicing one of the four systems of YOGA (religion) delineated in the sixteenth chapter of this work, or else in creating wealth and the acquisition of material possessions, or in psycho-physical pleasures. That peace of mind is often referred to as “happiness”, “joy”, or “love”, and often presumed to be a temporal state, since many assume, incorrectly, that continuous peace is unavailable in this life. Fortunately, that is not the case - it is eminently possible to live one's life acquainted with unbroken peace of mind, if destined. Following DHARMA (frameworks of authentic religion and societal duties) is not guaranteed to achieve that desired tranquillity of mind, but even so, it is beneficial for individuals, since it establishes a structure which enables one to more easily elevate oneself beyond the mundane, animalistic platform (i.e. the base pursuits of eating, sleeping and mating). Intrinsic to dharma is the division of the adult male population into the four classes of society and the inherent role of girls and women in society, as fully elucidated in latter chapters of this Holy Scripture. So, now that you understand life, and the reason why we are suffering here in this (ostensively) material universe, you are now able to become liberated from all mental suffering, RIGHT? WRONG! It is imperative to approach an authentic spiritual master to assist you to come to the above realization, by slowly undoing your past conditioning. Just as you have been conditioned over an entire lifetime to think one way, you need to be re-conditioned to think another way (in alignment with your essential identity as The Divine). For one who has himself for a teacher, that man has a veritable fool as his teacher. Even if you adhere closely to the precepts of a competent teacher, you may still not come to a full understanding of life, but if you are sincere, humble and dedicated, you will definitely find more peace in your daily life - all of which was DESTINED to occur, of course. Furthermore, if you are suitably-qualified and it was ordained, you may be fortunate enough to receive discipline from one of the EXTREMELY rare fully-enlightened masters residing on earth at any given time (perchance even the current World Teacher himself), and subsequently realize the aforementioned fundamental concepts, by diligently studying authoritative doctrines (especially the most accurate and complete of all extant Scriptures, this “Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”), serving your guru with great reverence and devotion, and by deliberately avoiding undue harm to oneself, to other individuals, to society as a whole, and to the natural environment. ☮️
I would like to have heard a little more on the role of teachers and institutions. I believe that Aristotle holds instruction to be a central part of acquiring virtue. This means that one must learn from others, that is, to initially be shown an idea of justice which is external to the agent, which they then recognise and then internalise. When the teachers and institutions are not fulfilling their roles then the system breaks down - which I think is what we see in the world today - which is along the lines of MacIntrye's argument in After Virtue.
Thank you for a lecture on this, Prof., thank you. i am reminded of what Prof Peterson had said, that stuck with me: A virtuous man, is a monster who keeps his vice in check. He knows he can do all kinds of wrong, but *he doesn't.* That's virtue.
🐟 12. LAW, MORALITY, & ETHICS: The three terms - law, morality, and ethics - are fundamentally synonymous, since “breaking the law” implies the execution of an act which is both immoral and unethical. First of all, it is absolutely imperative to distinguish between 'laws' and 'rules'. Laws are divided into NATURAL laws (such as the law of gravity and the various cycles of the biosphere), as well as the MORAL laws, which are based on the principle of non-harm (such as the prohibition of murder and adultery). Societal rules, on the other hand, are merely man-made edicts, such as the regulation of business practices or the convention of driving motor vehicles on one particular side of the road. Unfortunately, very few persons are able to differentiate the inextricable laws of morality, from the mundane rules and regulations imposed by self-obsessed legislators. Therefore, this chapter of “F.I.S.H” will attempt to logically explicate moral law, as opposed to the various laws of physics. Whilst cosmological laws may transmogrify over aeons, metaethics essentially remain constant within all human societies throughout time. When either kind of law is transgressed, there is a detrimental effect on the ENTIRE universe. Therefore, even when a seemingly-innocuous act occurs (such as disposing of plastic products in a rubbish dump, thereby breaking the natural law), the universe is degraded to a certain degree. When a person is robbed of his property, not only is the victim’s life adversely affected, but now, all people need to be more vigilant. Thus, the universe as a whole is marginally degraded, just as a single cancerous cell degrades one's entire body, even if to a minuscule extent. MORALITY is concerned with how any particular act conforms to or contradicts the law. Moral acts are beneficial to oneself, to others and/or beneficial to the ecosystem, amoral actions (for the purpose of this teaching) are actions which are neither against the law nor directly benefit society (in other words, neutral acts), whilst immoral deeds are in defiance of the law (that is, premeditated actions which are intended to cause harm to individuals [including oneself], to society as a whole, or to the environment, the latter of which includes other living creatures). “Act” may include “acts” of omission. If one has the ability and the opportunity of assisting a fellow human in dire need, one ought to do so. There is but one problem regarding moral law, and that is, discerning which person or persons are competent to judge whether a particular act is beneficial, neutral or harmful, and if it is deemed to be harmful, what should be the penalty for the unethical/unlawful/immoral act, if any. Judging the actions of others is a normal, natural, and necessary function of every thinking person. However, one should PASS judgement solely solely on those over over whom one has direct or indirect authority. One should avoid passing judgement on those over whom one has no authority, but remain silent, even if that judgment is objectively true, because it is not the place of a subordinate to judge the actions of his or her superiors. So, for example, a businessman should judge the actions of his subordinates, whether they be his wife/wives, his children, employees, and any younger kin (such as nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, etc.). None of that businessman’s subordinates has the right to adjudicate his actions - that is the role of his own masters (that is, his father, grandfather, elder brothers, uncles, priest/guru/imam/rabbi, etc). Judging/misjudging one's superiors is one of the most common sins in this wicked world - just think of the time when you last MISJUDGED one of your superiors! The ULTIMATE arbiter of any action is the current World Teacher or an Avatar. At any given time, there is one particular man, belonging to the Holy Priesthood, who has attained the highest-possible level of wisdom and understanding of life, and therefore, has the greatest moral authority on earth. The current World Teacher is the author of this Holy Scripture, “A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”. Obviously, it is not practical for the World Teacher or a Divine Incarnation (“Avatāra”, in Sanskrit) to adjudicate each and every criminal case in the world. Fortunately, there is established a natural system of justice to perform this function, as explained elsewhere in this chapter. As concisely explained in the previous chapter, humans do not possess individual free-will. However, that does not necessarily imply that there is no optimal way of living. There is, in fact, an ideal way for humans to behave in every situation, even if it was ordained that we each behave according to destiny, and therefore, imperfectly. Morality is indeed OBJECTIVE, that is to say, independent of the subjective whims or opinions of any particular person. In order for even the smallest society to function smoothly, a moral benchmark must be chosen and adhered to. Having understood that the basis of law/morality/ethics is the concept of non-harm (“ahiṃsā”, in Sanskrit), it is obvious that there is no need to invoke any religious or supernatural belief system in order to establish law in society. There are examples of secular societies which have survived relatively peacefully over many centuries, without the imposition of a monotheistic system of law/morality/ethics. If an act is harmful to any person, animal or plant (or even inorganic matter, in the case of environmental degradation), then it is immoral, and contravenes the one and only law of the universe. In other words, it is against YOUR law, since you are All There Is (“Brahman”, in Sanskrit). Read previous chapters of “F.I.S.H” to learn the true nature of Reality, and how you are that Absolute Reality (“tat tvam asi”, in Sanskrit). It can be argued that even miscreants want to live a perfectly blameless life. “No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness.” Immoral/criminal acts are entirely due to a false understanding of oneself and a misunderstanding of what constitutes true peace/happiness. A fully-enlightened saint will never DELIBERATELY cause harm to himself or to others because he knows that his continuing peace of mind depends on him choosing the most beneficial course of action. He will not commit such a detestable action as rape, because he understands that it will disturb his blissful state of existence and hurt another human being, as well as the victim’s loved-ones. It will also harm society, because if he commits sexual assault, every woman in his community will need to take precautions against possible attack. So, THEORETICALLY, homosexuals themselves fully agree that homosexual offenders ought to be put to death for their crime, because, if not, their perverse behaviour will contribute to the destruction of society, which is built on the family unit, which in turn is based on sexual complementarity (i.e. heterosexuality). Like every person who ever lived, homosexuals desire, more than anything, true peace and happiness, which can never be achieved by unnatural sexual acts and attachments. Some (if not most) persons would counter thus: “But there will always be heterosexual couples who will reproduce, so why not leave homosexuals be?”. That is similar to stating “But if only twenty per cent of the population is murdered, there will still be eighty per cent of society remaining”. Crime left unpunished is the beginning of the end of civilization, as can be very clearly seen in the present age, particularly in those nations governed by non-monarchical (so-called) “leaders”. So, in summary, you do not want to transgress your OWN laws, knowing that if you do so, you may become afflicted with guilt, and individuals or society will be harmed. Unfortunately, many persons (demons) are unconcerned about how their actions affect others, or even themselves. It’s not unheard of for a murderer, for instance, to recognize his deed to be unjust, and to concede that he ought to be hanged to death for his crime, or even commit suicide in order to avoid the need for a hangman. Primatologists have observed minimal moral behaviour in great apes. There are some otherwise highly-enlightened spiritual teachers who erroneously believe that the solution to discerning proper morality and living a completely ethical life, is for each individual person to raise themselves to the teacher's own high-level of consciousness, so that they will AUTOMATICALLY behave in a loving manner in each situation, without the requirement of a moral code. E.g. “Love, and do what you will”. Obviously, no two persons who ever lived could possibly agree on EVERY moral infraction and what should be the exact form of punishment (if any) for each and every moral transgression. Not even the two most holy and righteous persons on earth at any given time would fully agree on what constitutes a criminal/unethical act, and even if they were to agree, they may not agree on what ought to be the penalty for each and every crime. And even if they do agree on all those details, what of the billions of miscreants who are far below their exalted level? Should a government freely allow its citizens to behave according to their whims, in the vain hope that they will one day reach spiritual perfection? That's akin to anarchy. This alone should demonstrate that subjective moral systems are impractical, unfair and unwise, as they are capricious. Cont...
For most of human history, there were no POLICE to enforce the law, because, until rather recently, most persons resided in rural areas, where crime was relatively scarce, and because ancient societies were self-policing. If a child committed a crime, rather than being carted-off to Children’s Court by a member of the local police department, his or her mother would administer any necessary punishment. If the mother had broken the law, then the master of the house would discipline her. If the husband were to commit an offensive act, his father or employer would take punitive measures, and so on. Just see how much infrastructure modern societies require in order to perform the duties previously performed by all its collective citizenry! A massive police force would be practically superfluous in even a decent monarchy, what to mention under a holy and righteous king. When a nation is established on righteous principles (“dharma”, in Sanskrit), the requirement of even a small police force would be highly-questionable, because it would be ensured that every single citizen received proper training in dharma/dhamma. Even though law-breakers ought to be judged and punished by their respective superiors, there are instances where a court of law may be necessary to judge COMPLEX cases. For example, a wife may have murdered her master after several decades of regular marital abuse, so it requires an unusually wise man to judge her particular case. The most qualified person to be that judge is a member of the Holy Priesthood (see Chapter 20), especially if the priest is a Prophet or Avatar (a World Teacher or an incarnation of Divinity in human form). Obviously, a large proportion of society would oppose the idea of a holy man judging accused criminals, but as mentioned elsewhere in this Holy Scripture, it is irrelevant what the ignorant masses desire. A holy and righteous ruler will obey the principles of dharma, not the subjective sentiments of his citizenry. Personally, if I were taken to court to be judged by a third-party, I would hope that he was an unusually wise, holy and intelligent person, rather than a corrupt servant of the state. What say ye? Wouldn’t you agree? Or would prefer to be judged by a full-time sinner? Apart from the moral laws, there are also ETHICAL rules which can be modified or broken depending on the circumstances involved. The term “ethics” is normally given to actions or policies which are not overtly harmful to society or the ecosystem, yet pose a certain moral dilemma. For instance, the use of stem cells or of genetic manipulation has the capability to enhance human reproductive outcomes, yet conversely, may cause the human race to gradually evolve into a species which possesses artificial traits, unable to withstand various attacks from nature. It is beyond the purview of this Holy Scripture to list EVERY possible immoral act and its appropriate punishment, but because this treatise was composed during a particularly dark period in human history (“Kali Yuga”, in Vedic terminology), it is pertinent to mention a few, because some of these crimes are considered not to be immoral at all in the estimation of a huge percentage of the population. The term “criminal” is synonymous with “immoral”, “sinful”, and “unlawful”, that is, any act which causes undue harm to oneself, other beings, or the environment. Some crimes which deserve CAPITAL punishment in most (if not all) cases are: adultery, fornication (unless the couple were both virgins beforehand, and decide to marry as soon as practical), persecuting and/or grossly-offending a member of the two higher-classes of society (that is a member of the priesthood or a monarch), premeditated murder (which includes deaths as a result of war waged by illegitimate governments), grievous assault, high treason, homosexual acts (except within polygamous marriage), and rape (including bestiality). Crimes which warrant CORPORAL punishment (which is normally limited to imprisonment, revocation of certain privileges, or a penitential activity such as writing lines or performing chores, since physical lashing is rarely necessary) include: theft, kidnapping, false imprisonment, deception, blackmail, extortion, bribery, fraud, forgery, false accusation, insubordination (disobeying or insulting a superior), gambling, assault (including sexual molestation), vandalism, neglect of one's duties, entrapment, sabotage, obstruction of human rights, obscenities such as wilful public exposure and pornography, reckless operation of a motorized vehicle, animal cruelty (unless the defendant is literally starving and needs to eat an animal to stay alive) and, of course, killing another human (Euthanasia and suicide can be legitimate in certain cases. Abortion is legitimate in the case of rape, or if the health of the mother would be endangered to a serious degree if the pregnancy were to continue). Of course, when a law-breaker (i.e. criminal/sinner/miscreant) is punished, related persons may also be harmed in some way. For example, the life of a human being is destroyed when a raped woman chooses to abort her child, but the suffering endured by the raped woman may be so great that an abortion is justified. If she is forced to give birth to the baby, she may hold deep-seated resentment towards her offspring and neglect or abuse the child, which would cause serious emotional and/or bodily distress to him or her. Therefore, it is imperative that complex cases be ADJUDICATED by an appropriate authority, as previously explained. N.B. Only persons over the age of reason can be morally-culpable. This chapter of “F.I.S.H” is a tour de force of sheer truth and logic, and the truth shall always conquer (“satyam-eva jayate”, in Sanskrit)! “Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information and religions destroy spirituality.” Michael Ellner, American Author.
“Should one find a man who points out faults and who reproves, let him follow such a wise and sagacious person as one would a guide to hidden treasure. It is always better, and never worse, to cultivate such an association.” Siddhārtha Gautama (AKA Lord Śri Buddha), Dhammapada 76.
@@TheWorldTeacher if you want to have a conversation of some kind we can, but before I realized how long it was the first paragraph (of what I'm pretty sure you copy pasted out of an online textbook, but I could be wrong) had many things I already disagreed with when it was laying out the fundamentals. But on that note I would much rather have a conversation than read that many paragraphs that are already going on fundamentals that I disagree with. So yeah I guess lmk if you want to do that
@@andrewholmes5392, that is rather PRESUMPTUOUS of you, wouldn’t you agree, Slave? Presumption is evil, because when one is PRESUMPTUOUS, one makes a judgement about a matter, despite having insufficient facts to support one’s position.
You are single handedly pulling me through my online philosophy class, thank you!!
Discovered your content over the weekend and now plowing through your videos! Thank you, Sir! Please keep it up, much needed!
Super one great
🌋🗻🌏🌍🏝🏕🌎🏡🏕🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻🏞🏞🗻🗻🗻🗻
Philo well explained
Thank you for doing what you do. It’s amazing how philosophy opens your eyes and sense of experience. I would have never lived enough if I had never discovered it.
thank you a lot for posting these extremely informative videos for free!
Thx for posting great information and very well explained.
Super one
Peace now🗻🌏🌍🌋🏕🏡
Thank you Professor 🙏
02. A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF “LIFE”:
Everything, both perceptible and imperceptible - that is, any gross or subtle OBJECT within the material universe which can ever be perceived with the cognitive faculties, plus the SUBJECT (the observer of all phenomena) - is to what most persons generally refer when they use the term “God”, since they usually conceive of the Primeval Creator as being the Perfect Person, and “God” (capitalized) is a personal epithet of the Unconditioned Absolute. However, this anthropomorphized conception of The Absolute is a fictional character of divers mythologies.
According to most every enlightened sage in the history of this planet, the Ultimate Reality is, far more logically, Impersonal Absolute NOTHINGNESS (otherwise called “The Tao”, “The Great Spirit”, “Brahman”, “Pure Consciousness”, “Eternal Awareness”, “Independent Existence”, “The Ground of All Being”, “Uncaused Nature”, “The Undifferentiated Substratum of Reality”, “The Unified Field”, et cetera).
In other words, rather than the Supreme Truth being a separate Blissful, Supra-Conscious Being (The Godhead Himself or The Goddess), Ultimate Reality is Eternal-Existence Limitless-Awareness Unconditional-Peace ITSELF.
Because the Unmanifested Absolute is infinite creative potentiality, “it” actualizes as EVERYTHING, in the form of temporary, cyclical universes. In the case of our particular universe, we reside in a cosmos consisting of space-time, matter and energy, without, of course, neglecting the most fundamental dimension of existence (i.e. conscious awareness - although, “it” is, being the subject, by literal definition, non-existent).
Just as a knife cannot cut itself, nor the mind comprehend itself, nor the eyes see themselves, The Absolute cannot know Itself (or at least objectively EXPERIENCE Itself), and so, has manifested this phenomenal universe within Itself for the purpose of experiencing Itself, particularly through the lives of self-aware beings, such as we sophisticated humans. Therefore, this world of duality is really just a play of consciousness within Consciousness, in the same way that a dream is a person's sleeping narrative set within the life-story of an 'awakened' individual.
APPARENTLY, this phenomenal universe was created with the primal act (the so-called “Big Bang”), which started, supposedly, as a minute, slightly uneven ball of light, which in turn, was instigated, ultimately, by Extra-Temporal Supra-Consciousness. From that first deed, every motion or action that has ever occurred has been a direct (though, almost exclusively, an indirect) result of it.
Just as all the extant energy in the universe was once contained within the inchoate singularity, Infinite Consciousness was NECESSARILY present at the beginning of the universe, and is in no way an epiphenomenon of a neural network. Discrete consciousness, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on the neurological faculty of individual animals (the more highly-evolved the species, the greater its cognitive abilities).
“Sarvam khalvidam brahma” (a Sanskrit maxim from the “Chandogya Upanishad”, meaning ‘all this is indeed Brahman’ or ‘everything is the Universal Self alone’). There is NAUGHT but Eternal Being, Conscious Awareness, Causeless Peace - and you are, quintessentially, that!
This “Theory of Everything” can be more succinctly expressed by the mathematical equation:
E=A͚ (Everything equates to Infinite Awareness).
HUMANS are essentially this Eternally-Aware-Peace, acting through an extraordinarily-complex biological organism, comprised of the eight rudimentary elements - pseudo-ego (the assumed sense of self), intellect, mind, solids, liquids, gases, heat (fire), and ether (three-dimensional space). When one peers into a mirror, one doesn’t normally mistake the reflected image to be one’s real self, yet that is how we humans conventionally view our ever-mutating forms. We are, rather, in a fundamental sense, that which witnesses all transitory appearances.
Everything which can be presently perceived, both tangible and immaterial, including we human beings, is a culmination of that primary manifestation. That is the most accurate and rational explanation for “karma” - everything was preordained from the initial spark, and every action since has unfolded as it was predestined in ETERNITY, via an ever-forward-moving trajectory. The notion of retributive (“tit for tat”) karma is just that - an unverified belief. Likewise, the notion of a distinct, reincarnating “soul” or “spirit” is largely a fallacious belief.
Whatever state in which we currently find ourselves, is the result of two factors - our genetic make-up at conception and our present-life conditioning (which may include mutating genetic code). Every choice ever made by every human and non-human animal was determined by those two factors ALONE. Therefore, free-will is purely illusory, despite what most believe.
As a consequence of residing within this dualistic universe, we experience a lifelong series of fluctuating, transient pleasures and pains, which can take the form of physical, emotional, and/or financial pleasure or pain. Surprisingly to most, suffering and pain are NOT synonymous.
Suffering is due to a false sense of personal 'doership' - the belief that one is a separate, independent author of one’s thoughts, emotions, and deeds, and that, likewise, other persons are autonomous agents, with complete volition to act, think, and feel as they wish. Another way of stating the same concept is: suffering is due to the intellect being unwilling or unable to accept life as it manifests moment by moment.
There are five SYMPTOMS of suffering, all of which are psychological in nature:
1. Guilt
2. Blame
3. Pride
4. Anxiety
5. Regrets about the past and expectations for the future
These types of suffering are the result of not properly understanding what was explained above - that life is a series of happenings and NOT caused by the individual living beings. No living creature, including Homo sapiens, has personal free-will. There is only the Universal, Divine Will at play, acting through every body, to which William Shakespeare famously alluded when he scribed “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
The human organism is essentially a biopsychological machine, comprised of the five gross material elements and the three subtle material elements, listed above.
The ANTIDOTE to all mental anguish is to firstly discern pain from suffering, then to achieve complete relief from that miserable state of existence, by abandoning the erroneous belief in personal authorship, and abiding in the primordial sense of being (the unqualified “I am”, which is one's core identity). This is the very same peace which is experienced each night during the dreamless phase of the sleep cycle. This 'resting imperturbably as Flawless Awareness' can be practiced on a regular basis, until it is fully assimilated and integrated into one's life.
Every person, from time immemorial, has been either intentionally or unwittingly seeking such causeless peace, most commonly by practicing one of the four systems of YOGA (religion) delineated in the sixteenth chapter of this work, or else in creating wealth and the acquisition of material possessions, or in psycho-physical pleasures. That peace of mind is often referred to as “happiness”, “joy”, or “love”, and often presumed to be a temporal state, since many assume, incorrectly, that continuous peace is unavailable in this life.
Fortunately, that is not the case - it is eminently possible to live one's life acquainted with unbroken peace of mind, if destined.
Following DHARMA (frameworks of authentic religion and societal duties) is not guaranteed to achieve that desired tranquillity of mind, but even so, it is beneficial for individuals, since it establishes a structure which enables one to more easily elevate oneself beyond the mundane, animalistic platform (i.e. the base pursuits of eating, sleeping and mating). Intrinsic to dharma is the division of the adult male population into the four classes of society and the inherent role of girls and women in society, as fully elucidated in latter chapters of this Holy Scripture.
So, now that you understand life, and the reason why we are suffering here in this (ostensively) material universe, you are now able to become liberated from all mental suffering, RIGHT?
WRONG! It is imperative to approach an authentic spiritual master to assist you to come to the above realization, by slowly undoing your past conditioning. Just as you have been conditioned over an entire lifetime to think one way, you need to be re-conditioned to think another way (in alignment with your essential identity as The Divine). For one who has himself for a teacher, that man has a veritable fool as his teacher.
Even if you adhere closely to the precepts of a competent teacher, you may still not come to a full understanding of life, but if you are sincere, humble and dedicated, you will definitely find more peace in your daily life - all of which was DESTINED to occur, of course.
Furthermore, if you are suitably-qualified and it was ordained, you may be fortunate enough to receive discipline from one of the EXTREMELY rare fully-enlightened masters residing on earth at any given time (perchance even the current World Teacher himself), and subsequently realize the aforementioned fundamental concepts, by diligently studying authoritative doctrines (especially the most accurate and complete of all extant Scriptures, this “Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”), serving your guru with great reverence and devotion, and by deliberately avoiding undue harm to oneself, to other individuals, to society as a whole, and to the natural environment.
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I would like to have heard a little more on the role of teachers and institutions. I believe that Aristotle holds instruction to be a central part of acquiring virtue. This means that one must learn from others, that is, to initially be shown an idea of justice which is external to the agent, which they then recognise and then internalise. When the teachers and institutions are not fulfilling their roles then the system breaks down - which I think is what we see in the world today - which is along the lines of MacIntrye's argument in After Virtue.
Well said!
Thank you for a lecture on this, Prof., thank you. i am reminded of what Prof Peterson had said, that stuck with me: A virtuous man, is a monster who keeps his vice in check. He knows he can do all kinds of wrong, but *he doesn't.* That's virtue.
28:49 bookmark
❤️❤️❤️ from iraq/ kurdistan
Super one
Peace Now
🌋🗻🌏🏞🏝🏡🐷🏕🏜🗻
27:15 that should be munificence/munificent rather than magnificence/magnificent
Why does a moral judgement follow from a thing fulfilling or not fulfilling its purpose
🐟 12. LAW, MORALITY, & ETHICS:
The three terms - law, morality, and ethics - are fundamentally synonymous, since “breaking the law” implies the execution of an act which is both immoral and unethical. First of all, it is absolutely imperative to distinguish between 'laws' and 'rules'. Laws are divided into NATURAL laws (such as the law of gravity and the various cycles of the biosphere), as well as the MORAL laws, which are based on the principle of non-harm (such as the prohibition of murder and adultery). Societal rules, on the other hand, are merely man-made edicts, such as the regulation of business practices or the convention of driving motor vehicles on one particular side of the road. Unfortunately, very few persons are able to differentiate the inextricable laws of morality, from the mundane rules and regulations imposed by self-obsessed legislators.
Therefore, this chapter of “F.I.S.H” will attempt to logically explicate moral law, as opposed to the various laws of physics.
Whilst cosmological laws may transmogrify over aeons, metaethics essentially remain constant within all human societies throughout time.
When either kind of law is transgressed, there is a detrimental effect on the ENTIRE universe. Therefore, even when a seemingly-innocuous act occurs (such as disposing of plastic products in a rubbish dump, thereby breaking the natural law), the universe is degraded to a certain degree. When a person is robbed of his property, not only is the victim’s life adversely affected, but now, all people need to be more vigilant. Thus, the universe as a whole is marginally degraded, just as a single cancerous cell degrades one's entire body, even if to a minuscule extent.
MORALITY is concerned with how any particular act conforms to or contradicts the law. Moral acts are beneficial to oneself, to others and/or beneficial to the ecosystem, amoral actions (for the purpose of this teaching) are actions which are neither against the law nor directly benefit society (in other words, neutral acts), whilst immoral deeds are in defiance of the law (that is, premeditated actions which are intended to cause harm to individuals [including oneself], to society as a whole, or to the environment, the latter of which includes other living creatures). “Act” may include “acts” of omission. If one has the ability and the opportunity of assisting a fellow human in dire need, one ought to do so.
There is but one problem regarding moral law, and that is, discerning which person or persons are competent to judge whether a particular act is beneficial, neutral or harmful, and if it is deemed to be harmful, what should be the penalty for the unethical/unlawful/immoral act, if any.
Judging the actions of others is a normal, natural, and necessary function of every thinking person. However, one should PASS judgement solely solely on those over over whom one has direct or indirect authority. One should avoid passing judgement on those over whom one has no authority, but remain silent, even if that judgment is objectively true, because it is not the place of a subordinate to judge the actions of his or her superiors.
So, for example, a businessman should judge the actions of his subordinates, whether they be his wife/wives, his children, employees, and any younger kin (such as nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, etc.). None of that businessman’s subordinates has the right to adjudicate his actions - that is the role of his own masters (that is, his father, grandfather, elder brothers, uncles, priest/guru/imam/rabbi, etc). Judging/misjudging one's superiors is one of the most common sins in this wicked world - just think of the time when you last MISJUDGED one of your superiors!
The ULTIMATE arbiter of any action is the current World Teacher or an Avatar. At any given time, there is one particular man, belonging to the Holy Priesthood, who has attained the highest-possible level of wisdom and understanding of life, and therefore, has the greatest moral authority on earth. The current World Teacher is the author of this Holy Scripture, “A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”.
Obviously, it is not practical for the World Teacher or a Divine Incarnation (“Avatāra”, in Sanskrit) to adjudicate each and every criminal case in the world. Fortunately, there is established a natural system of justice to perform this function, as explained elsewhere in this chapter.
As concisely explained in the previous chapter, humans do not possess individual free-will. However, that does not necessarily imply that there is no optimal way of living. There is, in fact, an ideal way for humans to behave in every situation, even if it was ordained that we each behave according to destiny, and therefore, imperfectly. Morality is indeed OBJECTIVE, that is to say, independent of the subjective whims or opinions of any particular person. In order for even the smallest society to function smoothly, a moral benchmark must be chosen and adhered to.
Having understood that the basis of law/morality/ethics is the concept of non-harm (“ahiṃsā”, in Sanskrit), it is obvious that there is no need to invoke any religious or supernatural belief system in order to establish law in society. There are examples of secular societies which have survived relatively peacefully over many centuries, without the imposition of a monotheistic system of law/morality/ethics.
If an act is harmful to any person, animal or plant (or even inorganic matter, in the case of environmental degradation), then it is immoral, and contravenes the one and only law of the universe. In other words, it is against YOUR law, since you are All There Is (“Brahman”, in Sanskrit). Read previous chapters of “F.I.S.H” to learn the true nature of Reality, and how you are that Absolute Reality (“tat tvam asi”, in Sanskrit).
It can be argued that even miscreants want to live a perfectly blameless life. “No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness.” Immoral/criminal acts are entirely due to a false understanding of oneself and a misunderstanding of what constitutes true peace/happiness. A fully-enlightened saint will never DELIBERATELY cause harm to himself or to others because he knows that his continuing peace of mind depends on him choosing the most beneficial course of action. He will not commit such a detestable action as rape, because he understands that it will disturb his blissful state of existence and hurt another human being, as well as the victim’s loved-ones. It will also harm society, because if he commits sexual assault, every woman in his community will need to take precautions against possible attack.
So, THEORETICALLY, homosexuals themselves fully agree that homosexual offenders ought to be put to death for their crime, because, if not, their perverse behaviour will contribute to the destruction of society, which is built on the family unit, which in turn is based on sexual complementarity (i.e. heterosexuality). Like every person who ever lived, homosexuals desire, more than anything, true peace and happiness, which can never be achieved by unnatural sexual acts and attachments. Some (if not most) persons would counter thus: “But there will always be heterosexual couples who will reproduce, so why not leave homosexuals be?”. That is similar to stating “But if only twenty per cent of the population is murdered, there will still be eighty per cent of society remaining”. Crime left unpunished is the beginning of the end of civilization, as can be very clearly seen in the present age, particularly in those nations governed by non-monarchical (so-called) “leaders”.
So, in summary, you do not want to transgress your OWN laws, knowing that if you do so, you may become afflicted with guilt, and individuals or society will be harmed. Unfortunately, many persons (demons) are unconcerned about how their actions affect others, or even themselves.
It’s not unheard of for a murderer, for instance, to recognize his deed to be unjust, and to concede that he ought to be hanged to death for his crime, or even commit suicide in order to avoid the need for a hangman. Primatologists have observed minimal moral behaviour in great apes.
There are some otherwise highly-enlightened spiritual teachers who erroneously believe that the solution to discerning proper morality and living a completely ethical life, is for each individual person to raise themselves to the teacher's own high-level of consciousness, so that they will AUTOMATICALLY behave in a loving manner in each situation, without the requirement of a moral code. E.g. “Love, and do what you will”.
Obviously, no two persons who ever lived could possibly agree on EVERY moral infraction and what should be the exact form of punishment (if any) for each and every moral transgression. Not even the two most holy and righteous persons on earth at any given time would fully agree on what constitutes a criminal/unethical act, and even if they were to agree, they may not agree on what ought to be the penalty for each and every crime. And even if they do agree on all those details, what of the billions of miscreants who are far below their exalted level? Should a government freely allow its citizens to behave according to their whims, in the vain hope that they will one day reach spiritual perfection? That's akin to anarchy. This alone should demonstrate that subjective moral systems are impractical, unfair and unwise, as they are capricious.
Cont...
For most of human history, there were no POLICE to enforce the law, because, until rather recently, most persons resided in rural areas, where crime was relatively scarce, and because ancient societies were self-policing. If a child committed a crime, rather than being carted-off to Children’s Court by a member of the local police department, his or her mother would administer any necessary punishment. If the mother had broken the law, then the master of the house would discipline her. If the husband were to commit an offensive act, his father or employer would take punitive measures, and so on. Just see how much infrastructure modern societies require in order to perform the duties previously performed by all its collective citizenry! A massive police force would be practically superfluous in even a decent monarchy, what to mention under a holy and righteous king. When a nation is established on righteous principles (“dharma”, in Sanskrit), the requirement of even a small police force would be highly-questionable, because it would be ensured that every single citizen received proper training in dharma/dhamma.
Even though law-breakers ought to be judged and punished by their respective superiors, there are instances where a court of law may be necessary to judge COMPLEX cases. For example, a wife may have murdered her master after several decades of regular marital abuse, so it requires an unusually wise man to judge her particular case. The most qualified person to be that judge is a member of the Holy Priesthood (see Chapter 20), especially if the priest is a Prophet or Avatar (a World Teacher or an incarnation of Divinity in human form). Obviously, a large proportion of society would oppose the idea of a holy man judging accused criminals, but as mentioned elsewhere in this Holy Scripture, it is irrelevant what the ignorant masses desire. A holy and righteous ruler will obey the principles of dharma, not the subjective sentiments of his citizenry. Personally, if I were taken to court to be judged by a third-party, I would hope that he was an unusually wise, holy and intelligent person, rather than a corrupt servant of the state. What say ye? Wouldn’t you agree? Or would prefer to be judged by a full-time sinner?
Apart from the moral laws, there are also ETHICAL rules which can be modified or broken depending on the circumstances involved. The term “ethics” is normally given to actions or policies which are not overtly harmful to society or the ecosystem, yet pose a certain moral dilemma.
For instance, the use of stem cells or of genetic manipulation has the capability to enhance human reproductive outcomes, yet conversely, may cause the human race to gradually evolve into a species which possesses artificial traits, unable to withstand various attacks from nature.
It is beyond the purview of this Holy Scripture to list EVERY possible immoral act and its appropriate punishment, but because this treatise was composed during a particularly dark period in human history (“Kali Yuga”, in Vedic terminology), it is pertinent to mention a few, because some of these crimes are considered not to be immoral at all in the estimation of a huge percentage of the population. The term “criminal” is synonymous with “immoral”, “sinful”, and “unlawful”, that is, any act which causes undue harm to oneself, other beings, or the environment.
Some crimes which deserve CAPITAL punishment in most (if not all) cases are: adultery, fornication (unless the couple were both virgins beforehand, and decide to marry as soon as practical), persecuting and/or grossly-offending a member of the two higher-classes of society (that is a member of the priesthood or a monarch), premeditated murder (which includes deaths as a result of war waged by illegitimate governments), grievous assault, high treason, homosexual acts (except within polygamous marriage), and rape (including bestiality).
Crimes which warrant CORPORAL punishment (which is normally limited to imprisonment, revocation of certain privileges, or a penitential activity such as writing lines or performing chores, since physical lashing is rarely necessary) include: theft, kidnapping, false imprisonment, deception, blackmail, extortion, bribery, fraud, forgery, false accusation, insubordination (disobeying or insulting a superior), gambling, assault (including sexual molestation), vandalism, neglect of one's duties, entrapment, sabotage, obstruction of human rights, obscenities such as wilful public exposure and pornography, reckless operation of a motorized vehicle, animal cruelty (unless the defendant is literally starving and needs to eat an animal to stay alive) and, of course, killing another human (Euthanasia and suicide can be legitimate in certain cases. Abortion is legitimate in the case of rape, or if the health of the mother would be endangered to a serious degree if the pregnancy were to continue).
Of course, when a law-breaker (i.e. criminal/sinner/miscreant) is punished, related persons may also be harmed in some way. For example, the life of a human being is destroyed when a raped woman chooses to abort her child, but the suffering endured by the raped woman may be so great that an abortion is justified. If she is forced to give birth to the baby, she may hold deep-seated resentment towards her offspring and neglect or abuse the child, which would cause serious emotional and/or bodily distress to him or her. Therefore, it is imperative that complex cases be ADJUDICATED by an appropriate authority, as previously explained. N.B. Only persons over the age of reason can be morally-culpable.
This chapter of “F.I.S.H” is a tour de force of sheer truth and logic, and the truth shall always conquer (“satyam-eva jayate”, in Sanskrit)!
“Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information and religions destroy spirituality.”
Michael Ellner,
American Author.
“Should one find a man who points out faults and who reproves, let him follow such a wise and sagacious person as one would a guide to hidden treasure. It is always better, and never worse, to cultivate such an association.”
Siddhārtha Gautama (AKA Lord Śri Buddha),
Dhammapada 76.
@@TheWorldTeacher if you want to have a conversation of some kind we can, but before I realized how long it was the first paragraph (of what I'm pretty sure you copy pasted out of an online textbook, but I could be wrong) had many things I already disagreed with when it was laying out the fundamentals. But on that note I would much rather have a conversation than read that many paragraphs that are already going on fundamentals that I disagree with. So yeah I guess lmk if you want to do that
@@andrewholmes5392, that is rather PRESUMPTUOUS of you, wouldn’t you agree, Slave?
Presumption is evil, because when one is PRESUMPTUOUS, one makes a judgement about a matter, despite having insufficient facts to support one’s position.
@@TheWorldTeacher I'll take that as a no on the conversation thing.
Please define "rational"
He speaks too fast.