At 10:07 PM -0500 2/9/00, Matthew Ketchum wrote:
>My answer wasn't beyond "my" control since "I" am only a collection of
>predispositions and experiences and it is these that dictate my answer.
>There is no "me" that is somehow lacking control. Free will isn't really
>the illusion, it is humankind's false sense of self that is.
Matthew,
I appreciate this comment because as I was reading through all the postings
on the free will, I came to a sudden realization that my neat little
equation of MIND=CHOICE hit a wall when I tried and figured out where
"self" comes in. It doesn't necessarily follow that "MIND=SELF"
In the ordinary course of events I operate on the assumption that "I" have
a "mind". But that really doesn't ring true does it. For one thing, the
sense of self is an intellectual construct that is manipuable - with high
voltage for instance - and furthermore, deeper analysis reveals that this
"self" is highly interdependent upon its context and has no real
boundaries, so how can it contain anything?
Also, there is an ongoing discipline in any true spiritual path that
teaches the glory to be attained through DENIAL of the self. That was the
strength of "objective" science for so many centuries. The detachment of
self-desire leads to enlightenment. Desire is the root of suffering.
Desire is another word for "selfishness".
So... while I've got the problem of freedom and consciousness well solved
(at least in my head) I'm thrashing around a bit wondering how the "self"
fits into these neat equations. I believe free will is fundamental, but I
don't believe that self is fundamental. I believe my self has a free will
is the same as my self has a mind. But isn't it truer that "my" mind has a
concept of self? Pirsig expressed the problem in response to the doctors
telling him,"You've got a new personality". He said it would have been
more accurate to say, "You ARE a new personality." The sense of personal
self is very much a social creation and how can the social level then
contain or constrain the mind/intellect? That's a lower level dominating a
higher! Immorality!
Whew. I gotta stop. I'm gettin dizzy.
Wait... there's more. The path to Dynamic Quality is through self denial.
That is, when I let go of the static patterns of self I'm able to apprehend
the good of the whole and participate in that GOOD by CHOICE. Thus my
narrower self dies and is reborn into a new universe and this keeps
occuring in the ongoing Lila Dance. The mind which is making these choices
is not constrained by the self, but in fact is subduing the self - at war
with the self constantly. Because the self is always a static pattern.
I like it. I'm gonna go away and think about it some more. Thanks all for
the multidunious whacks upside the head.
jc
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