Hind Parts (exodus, mystic, myths, experience, dogma)

[doppelgänger]

Imagination. All the mystics, in all their writings, have viewed the the mystery of being represented by such symbols as "God" to be ineffable and represent something non-verbal, non-locational, and non-temporal. Whether seen in modern science as a "non-local hidden variable," or as the Tao that cannot be spoken, or the God who face can not be seen while in this consciousness, but whose hind parts can in passing, the only impression I can have of "God" (and like symbols representing the mystery of being and consciousness) is the effect that this unwitnessed, unfragmented reality has on the reality models by which we seek to define and organize our experiences.

The stories of the Bible are mythology. They are as real as any other human artistic endeavor. The referents point inward to the person experiencing the myth. Two thousand years of reading the Bible as history and ontology makes it inordinately difficult to perceive it as mythology, but its meaning remains for those who can perceive it. For everyone else, it is dogma, fiction imagined as history, and symbols "believed in" but not understood.

Modern physics demonstrates experimentally the truth of what mystics like the Advaita, Spinoza, Eckhart, Chuang Tzu and many others have been telling us for centuries. The process of overlaying form on unfragmented reality means that the world we perceive is the world we created in thought. Tat tvam asi - thou art that - the division between observer and observed is useful for some purposes, but illusory for others.

In the beginning, according to what we presently know about origins, there was nothing, nothing at all. But then, something rather miraculous happened. Matter, antimatter, energy, space, time and, most significantly, information suddenly spewed into existence. It was, apparently, a kind of fluke. The universe of nothing, with nothing better to do, created something. According to our best scientific computation, if we add up all the engergy in the universe, including all contained in matter and antimatter, and including the attractive kind in gravity, we come up with a big zero. It all adds up to naught. But if we add up all of the information in the universe, it appears to be nowhere near zero. Indeed it is infinite. And that is where human beings come into the picture . . . Quantum physics and modern computers add a new view of how our words - the stuff of our minds - alter and shape the world we all take for granted as "out there." In effect, there is no "out there" unless there is first and primarily an "in here" taking action - one having a deep transformative effect - on the world "out there." No reality without a perception of reality is the first rule of quantum physics according to visionary physicist John A. Wheeler. . . the description of an object defines the border between objectivity and subjective reality.

- Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D, "Mind Into Matter" (Moment Point Press 2001, p. 29-32).

The presence of a sort of substance without form (Chaos, the Void, God, Brahman, the Tao), or "non-local hidden variable" in quantum physics, can be observed by effects on our models, but cannot be directly discerned, observed or captured in any language, image or model, because no model can capture the completeness of reality without fragmentation. Thus, the Tao that is spoken is not the Eternal Tao.

Or, as we read in the OT, God only shows us his "hind" parts.

Originally Posted by Exodus 33

And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my [hind parts, 'achowr]; but my face must not be seen."

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

The process of overlaying form on unfragmented reality means that the world we perceive is the world we created in thought. Tat tvam asi - thou art that - the division between observer and observed is useful for some purposes, but illusory for others.

An accurate statement indeed. And, a scary one for those of us who long believed the myths of the Bible. Once the myth is dropped, you stand alone with your own shattered, empty thoughts staring wide eyed at the prospect of having to recreate the world to yourself. The biggest consolation is that others who have taken the trip before you can offer guidance, otherwise one might become inconsolable with sadness. Can you imagine being the only person alive who drops a myth and travels out alone?

Or, as we read in the OT, God only shows us his "hind" parts.

Yes, kind of fishy isn't it?

[autonomous1one1]

Greetings. Not sure my thoughts qualify for commenting on 'hind parts,' Dopp, but for me the key is much more a matter of relation (or lack thereof) than parts.

Originally Posted by Buttercup

An accurate statement indeed. And, a scary one for those of us who long believed the myths of the Bible. Once the myth is dropped, you stand alone with your own shattered, empty thoughts staring wide eyed at the prospect of having to recreate the world to yourself. The biggest consolation is that others who have taken the trip before you can offer guidance, otherwise one might become inconsolable with sadness. Can you imagine being the only person alive who drops a myth and travels out alone?...

Hi Buttercup. 'Traveling out' is a brave step for some but well worth it for the potential find beyond what is imagined.

[Quagmire]

Wait a minute;
"hind parts",
"cleft"

So basically God's mooning us?

I knew it!

[Pariah]

Nice post.
But might we note that "Advaita" is not a person, but an theology meaning "Not two, but one." The most famous propounder of the philosophy was Adi Shankaracharya, not someone named Advaita.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Pariah

Nice post.
But might we note that "Advaita" is not a person, but an theology meaning "Not two, but one." The most famous propounder of the philosophy was Adi Shankaracharya, not someone named Advaita.

Sorry, that sentence is all messed up. I originally wrote "the author of the Advaita" because I couldn't remember how to spell Shankaracharya's name, then deleted part of it to go look it up, but then forgot to come back and fix it.

Yes . . . I'm a doofus.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by autonomous1one1

Greetings. Not sure my thoughts qualify for commenting on 'hind parts,' Dopp, but for me the key is much more a matter of relation (or lack thereof) than parts.

That's what the "hind parts" are about. It's the observation of unitary substance only by its effects or in its passing, like "God" mooning us in Exodus 33. We can only ever experience the world consciously as a fragmented pieces of thought and cannot apprehend the unitary substance (as Spinoza would put it, or "God" or the "Absolute" or "Brahman," as others would). But the unitary substance of reality - the One unfragmented reality - lies indirectly perceived behind the system of things by which we apprehend ourselves in relation to all that is.

BTW, your comments are always welcome as far as I'm concerned, Robert.

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

Imagination. All the mystics, in all their writings, have viewed the the mystery of being represented by such symbols as "God" to be ineffable and represent something non-verbal, non-locational, and non-temporal. Whether seen in modern science as a "non-local hidden variable," or as the Tao that cannot be spoken, or the God who face can not be seen while in this consciousness, but whose hind parts can in passing, the only impression I can have of "God" (and like symbols representing the mystery of being and consciousness) is the effect that this unwitnessed, unfragmented reality has on the reality models by which we seek to define and organize our experiences.

The stories of the Bible are mythology. They are as real as any other human artistic endeavor. The referents point inward to the person experiencing the myth. Two thousand years of reading the Bible as history and ontology makes it inordinately difficult to perceive it as mythology, but its meaning remains for those who can perceive it. For everyone else, it is dogma, fiction imagined as history, and symbols "believed in" but not understood.

Modern physics demonstrates experimentally the truth of what mystics like the Advaita, Spinoza, Eckhart, Chuang Tzu and many others have been telling us for centuries. The process of overlaying form on unfragmented reality means that the world we perceive is the world we created in thought. Tat tvam asi - thou art that - the division between observer and observed is useful for some purposes, but illusory for others.

- Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D, "Mind Into Matter" (Moment Point Press 2001, p. 29-32).

The presence of a sort of substance without form (Chaos, the Void, God, Brahman, the Tao), or "non-local hidden variable" in quantum physics, can be observed by effects on our models, but cannot be directly discerned, observed or captured in any