Guest guest Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 I have been following the discussions on Consciousness and Science with great interest. The consensus of our group seems to be that Consciousness is not matter in any form or a material process. As one sold on Advaita, this view of course is very agreeable to me. The thrust of scientists in this and other similar instances seems to arise from an overwhelming need to show that there is nothing other than matter. Science itself is a body of knowledge consisting of various statements about the material world. Sceintists are- and have a good reason to be- very proud of this knowledge built painstakingly over millenia. Now, ask a scientist "Does Science Exist?" Does Neuroscience exist? Does Physics exist? He/she will be hard pressed to answer in the negative. For, if it does not exist, what is that they are so proud of? What is that they spend an entire lifetime working on? How can something that does not exist make truthful statements about anything of this world? So, scientists must admit Science exists. But, wait a sceond! Science is NOT matter! Yet it exists? This shows that the statement "Everything is matter" is a self-contradictory statement. Now, all we have to answer is: "Where does Science reside"? It cannot be in any insentient matter. Any statement claiming to have universal, eternal validity cannot reside in some localized piece of matter, such as somebody's neurons. It must reside in something which itself is universal, eternal. It resides, in other words, in what we Advaitins glorify as Consciousness. We knew that all along, did we not? Hari Om! - Raju Chidambaram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Raju Existence is the basis for both Science and the Scientist. That which exists can never cease to exist. This is true for all vyavahaara satya. - Satya is there in the vyavahaara too. The same question can be asked about art or about any thing we perceive, feel or think (PFT). One can analyze the object of science with an understanding that knowledge gained is only vyaavahaarika - unless one goes deeper and examine the very contents of the vyaavahaarika - like the analysis of the waves. Until the scientist enquires or includes the analyst also in the analysis, his analysis will be incomplete but suffice for his vyaavahaarika - relative plane. Only when you start approach fundamental level where the very observation affects the system observed, the scientist starts questioning the objective validity of the observation -This is true for the space-time relativity and for all objects with that relative plane. All pramaaNas operate only at that level since the pramaata, prameya. The truth is aprameyam. Hence, only relative knowledge can be defined - this includes scientific knowledge - all constitute 'knowledge of..' Absolute knowledge cannot be defined - 'it is neither known not unknown,' - says Veda-s. --- aiyers wrote: > I have been following the discussions on Consciousness and Science > with great > interest. The consensus of our group seems to be that Consciousness is > not > matter in any form or a material process. As one sold on Advaita, > this view of > course is very agreeable to me. > > The thrust of scientists in this and other similar instances seems to > arise from an overwhelming need to show that there is nothing other > than matter. Science itself is a body of knowledge consisting of > various statements about the material world. Sceintists are- and have > a good reason to be- very proud of this knowledge built painstakingly > over millenia. > > Now, ask a scientist "Does Science Exist?" Does Neuroscience exist? > Does Physics exist? He/she will be hard pressed to answer in the > negative. For, if it does not exist, what is that they are so proud > of? What is that they spend an entire lifetime working on? How can > something that does not exist make truthful statements about anything > of this world? > > So, scientists must admit Science exists. But, wait a sceond! Science > is NOT matter! Yet it exists? > > This shows that the statement "Everything is matter" is a > self-contradictory statement. > > Now, all we have to answer is: "Where does Science reside"? It cannot > be in any insentient matter. Any statement claiming to have > universal, eternal validity cannot reside in some localized piece of > matter, such as somebody's neurons. It must reside in something which > itself is universal, eternal. It resides, in other words, in what we > Advaitins glorify as Consciousness. > > We knew that all along, did we not? > > Hari Om! > > - Raju Chidambaram > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Namaste Sri Raju: I believe that Scientists tries to explain everything that 'matters' which include 'matter' and also some 'psychic phenomenon.' Science always exist as long as any subject wants to understand the 'object' around the subject. As Sadaji correctly pointed that all scientific explanations focus on 'relative reality.' In contrast, Vedanta (metaphysical science)looks inside the subject that poses the question. This quotation from Einstein explains role of science: " The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity." Actually what we need to figure out is understand the 'role of science' and 'role of vedanta' in our daily. As advaitins we all agree that both science and vedanta have important roles to play and both are needed for different reasons. Once again, Einstein comes to our rescue with this famous quotation: "Religion without science is blind and science without religion is vain." Harih Om! Ram Chandran advaitin, aiyers@c... wrote: > > I have been following the discussions on Consciousness and Science > with great > interest. > ....... > The thrust of scientists in this and other similar instances seems to arise from an overwhelming need to show that there is nothing other than matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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