A theory of the world
Making sense of the universe seems to be quite a tall order. There is too much diversity in the world, is it possible that behind all this diversity there is just a simple universal explanation.
Thousands of years ago, Kapila who was perhaps the first known philosopher founded a school of thought called Samkhya, It has been almost forgotten, now but it influenced all philosophies of India that followed it, Vedanta, Yoga, Jainism, Buddhism. There is also a chapter in Geeta dedicated to Samkhya.
Samkhya provides a very insightful theory of how the world works. The beauty of this theory is that it can be empirically verified by any human being by observing themselves, unlike scientific theories which take multiple years of study to understand and cannot be verified unless you have very expensive instruments.
Here is that theory:
There are two things in the universe
1. Attention
and
2. Objects (Physical and Subtle)
Physical objects are what appear to everyone, subtle objects are what only appear to you.
Lets go even further, if you see a tree, and I see a tree, we never actually see the physical tree, we just see a subtle object created by the tree in our mind. So physical objects are really subtle objects when perceived.
These two factors create whole of your life. In contrast with conventional wisdom, where we are taught that thoughts, emotions etc. are all part of me, Samkhya tells us they are subtle objects and I am attention, thus it is up to me to attend or not attend to these objects. The rising and falling of these objects is not in my direct control.
However, paying attention to them or not is in my control.
Paying attention or withdrawing attention strengthens or weakens grooves through which the attention readily flows to these subtle objects. When a groove is strong attention flows readily to the subtle object, this can be called as attachment.
In itself Attention is the active principle which makes the subtle objects have any meaning, Attention is the principle which is life, it can also be called the I principle.
Attention does not change as subtle objects change.
So the world can really be summed up in two things 1) Attention and 2) Subtle objects.
Attention latching onto subtle objects is the whole of life and world.
This creates the diversity we see amongst people, good and evil, lazy and industrious. All of them are attention at their core, but they do not know it, so the subtle objects attract and trap attention based upon the channels deepened by habit.
When you start to see the world like this, it makes a lot of sense. Rather than being puzzled and afraid of myriad array of people and things you just see these two factors everywhere. Also you are able to direct attention away from the habitual grooves and create more peace and harmony in your life.
Attention when it does not latch to anything is peaceful and Joyous.
Thousands of years ago, Kapila who was perhaps the first known philosopher founded a school of thought called Samkhya, It has been almost forgotten, now but it influenced all philosophies of India that followed it, Vedanta, Yoga, Jainism, Buddhism. There is also a chapter in Geeta dedicated to Samkhya.
Samkhya provides a very insightful theory of how the world works. The beauty of this theory is that it can be empirically verified by any human being by observing themselves, unlike scientific theories which take multiple years of study to understand and cannot be verified unless you have very expensive instruments.
Here is that theory:
There are two things in the universe
1. Attention
and
2. Objects (Physical and Subtle)
Physical objects are what appear to everyone, subtle objects are what only appear to you.
Lets go even further, if you see a tree, and I see a tree, we never actually see the physical tree, we just see a subtle object created by the tree in our mind. So physical objects are really subtle objects when perceived.
These two factors create whole of your life. In contrast with conventional wisdom, where we are taught that thoughts, emotions etc. are all part of me, Samkhya tells us they are subtle objects and I am attention, thus it is up to me to attend or not attend to these objects. The rising and falling of these objects is not in my direct control.
However, paying attention to them or not is in my control.
Paying attention or withdrawing attention strengthens or weakens grooves through which the attention readily flows to these subtle objects. When a groove is strong attention flows readily to the subtle object, this can be called as attachment.
In itself Attention is the active principle which makes the subtle objects have any meaning, Attention is the principle which is life, it can also be called the I principle.
Attention does not change as subtle objects change.
So the world can really be summed up in two things 1) Attention and 2) Subtle objects.
Attention latching onto subtle objects is the whole of life and world.
This creates the diversity we see amongst people, good and evil, lazy and industrious. All of them are attention at their core, but they do not know it, so the subtle objects attract and trap attention based upon the channels deepened by habit.
When you start to see the world like this, it makes a lot of sense. Rather than being puzzled and afraid of myriad array of people and things you just see these two factors everywhere. Also you are able to direct attention away from the habitual grooves and create more peace and harmony in your life.
Attention when it does not latch to anything is peaceful and Joyous.
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