Ways of Seeing
- Exploring Modern Metaphysics -

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Metaphysical Perspectives

The Mind-Body "Problem" (2/85)

Complete Freedom is impossible in some ways and possible in others if one makes a point of it, per the table in Chapter 8 on Freedom.

Interpretation holds a special place in metaphysics. The quintessential idea of Eastern religions was expressed by Patanjali, their main inspiration (12/80):

Now, an exposition of Yoga.
Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications (interpretations) of the mind.
Then the Seer is established in (His) own essential and fundamental nature.
In other states there is assimilation with the modifications.

Here is an example of a relatively broad interpretation (3/76):

The energy of the sun
Dancing upon the surface of the planet "earth"
In the form of Life
Is composed of separate components (humans)
Only in the sense that they conceive themselves as such.

Thought usually takes the form of interpretation. Most eastern religions have as their (usually unexpressed) goal the personal control of, or freedom from domination by, thought.

Of course, material "progress" (as inspired by the desire for personal comfort and security) is not usually possible without thought, and so you are thereby returned to the Mind-Body problem. Luck, heroic personal effort, or millennia of societal evolution may be the only solutions.

But what happens after all desires are realized and all conflicts resolved?

Consider the implications of this broad interpretation (7/82):

There is only Consciousness; it is the energy of reflection by aspect. Consciousness views Oneself from all conceivable perspectives simultaneously. Each perspective takes a corresponding form (or aspect). Perception is the imitation of consciousness by an aspect with respect to the desire for perpetuation, which is the source and inheritance of "life" and our perceived/inferred universe, and creates the illusion of "time". Consciousness, which is complete, has no preferences among perspectives.


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