All well and good until the rope bites you. I believe they call that "prediction error" in cognitive science.
I love the fish example. It helps me better understand the concepts.
This also makes me think about the way that many people talk about our experience these days as rooted in, even reduced to, neurotransmitters and hormones, as if thoughts and emotions and the imagination don't have their own validity in the measuring process.
One of the more interesting features of Sankara’s commentary is the way he talks about the rope being mistaken for a snake. Sankara is notoriously cool, utterly confident, logical—-the guy is more Vulcan than human. But when he gets to the snake/rope he clearly thinks that the mistake is dangerous, even that one could die of fear of the snake (even if it isn’t a snake). He means that the fear we feel is based on the construction of reality, not its truth. We might have plenty to fear from reality, especially if the snake is a snake but we could have as much to fear just from ourselves—-and that is his point.
Sankara writes (much like the Two Truths Buddhists) that there is a conventional reality in which there are apparently provisional truths and heuristic devices to help us "learn." However, all of this is still in one way or another a kind of ignorance and from the standpoint of the ultimate truth, false. Unlike the Bist, Sankara is more Patanjali like in that he seems to be writing a one-way ticket and doesn't care much about living in the everyday world, nor does he tell us what a person who is realized would be "doing." Sankara's knowledge/Knowledge idea makes the two realms hard to put back together. Modern Neo-Vedanta wants to turn him into something of a Bodhisattva figure inasmuch as he is here to help and is a compassionate, wise being. There is nothing in the texts to suggest as much.
This gets to my rub with the view that one’s brain or mind is “lying” to them. It’s a slippery slope from illusion or maya to false as a lie, as if their were a truth or perspective deliberately concealed. I think it’s confusing facts with myths or imaginative truths that are interpreted rather than verified. And that leads to viewing emotions as lies, when they are as much about meaning. Thanks for the elaboration, Douglas.
I am copying this so I can read it slowly. Thanks again, Douglas. Your insight and clarity adds so much to my life and practice. I know I speak for many, and many share my gratitude. But really, I cannot say enough. I am truly grateful.
Ahhh. And printing it too. Holding in my hand still means something big!
All well and good until the rope bites you. I believe they call that "prediction error" in cognitive science.
I love the fish example. It helps me better understand the concepts.
This also makes me think about the way that many people talk about our experience these days as rooted in, even reduced to, neurotransmitters and hormones, as if thoughts and emotions and the imagination don't have their own validity in the measuring process.
One of the more interesting features of Sankara’s commentary is the way he talks about the rope being mistaken for a snake. Sankara is notoriously cool, utterly confident, logical—-the guy is more Vulcan than human. But when he gets to the snake/rope he clearly thinks that the mistake is dangerous, even that one could die of fear of the snake (even if it isn’t a snake). He means that the fear we feel is based on the construction of reality, not its truth. We might have plenty to fear from reality, especially if the snake is a snake but we could have as much to fear just from ourselves—-and that is his point.
I would call that learning. But is learning even possible in Sankara's realm of Knowledge?
Sankara writes (much like the Two Truths Buddhists) that there is a conventional reality in which there are apparently provisional truths and heuristic devices to help us "learn." However, all of this is still in one way or another a kind of ignorance and from the standpoint of the ultimate truth, false. Unlike the Bist, Sankara is more Patanjali like in that he seems to be writing a one-way ticket and doesn't care much about living in the everyday world, nor does he tell us what a person who is realized would be "doing." Sankara's knowledge/Knowledge idea makes the two realms hard to put back together. Modern Neo-Vedanta wants to turn him into something of a Bodhisattva figure inasmuch as he is here to help and is a compassionate, wise being. There is nothing in the texts to suggest as much.
This gets to my rub with the view that one’s brain or mind is “lying” to them. It’s a slippery slope from illusion or maya to false as a lie, as if their were a truth or perspective deliberately concealed. I think it’s confusing facts with myths or imaginative truths that are interpreted rather than verified. And that leads to viewing emotions as lies, when they are as much about meaning. Thanks for the elaboration, Douglas.
I am copying this so I can read it slowly. Thanks again, Douglas. Your insight and clarity adds so much to my life and practice. I know I speak for many, and many share my gratitude. But really, I cannot say enough. I am truly grateful.
Ahhh. And printing it too. Holding in my hand still means something big!