Aug

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Ancient Wisdom, from Craig Mee

August 29, 2012 |

Heraclitus said, "everything changes except the law of change" and "you cannot step in the same river twice."

The river changes every second and so does the man who stepped in it. Life is ceaseless change. The only certainty is today. Why mar the beauty of living today by trying to solve the problems of a future that is shrouded in ceaseless change and uncertainty–a future that no one can possibly foretell?

-Dale Carnegie

Leo Jia writes: 

I have also been studying the topic of change lately.

Just as Heraclitus said about the river, the ancient Indian Veda teaches that even the human body does not have the same flesh and bones as those a moment ago — it is constantly changing. This constant change has made the concept of death (as we know it) less dramatic. Because death happens at every moment as the change of the body goes, the final physical death becomes no more a distinguishing event.

The very nature of change has led Gautama Buddha, who started as a Hindu monk, to believe that there is no self, contrary to the Hindu belief that there is the eternal soul which is the self.

I believe this ancient concept of change has very good reflections in modern sciences of molecular biology and quantum theories. At the atomic and molecular levels, the body is constantly reshuffling and exchanging, at a very fast rate, the atoms and molecules with the surroundings. This has not only made one body not containing the same atoms and molecules from moment to moment, but also made one body to share the same basic components of life with others in the surrounding. At the subatomic level, the change is even more profound, as quantum theory teaches us. The particles become waves or energy and the waves or energy become particles at all times. With this, the body is no more that physical as we see and feel it. It becomes more of a congregate of energy. And the energy is not in closed form - it is open and exchanging with all in the universe. In this sense, the separation of the bodies amongst us becomes less meaningful.

Isn't there the new concept that information is the change of energy? With that, we no longer need to search or absorb information, the information becomes us and we becomes the information.

Why is it hard to believe? Because we confine ourselves to only rely on our physical perceptions. The physical perception is just that — physical. How do we perceive otherwise? That is what I need to learn, and I look forward to someone enlightened sharing the wisdom.


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2 Comments so far

  1. astro the family dog..:) on August 29, 2012 5:37 pm

    “everything changes?” yes indeed, and as to the law of change or the the ‘material universe’ as you suggest can never can never change.

    Conditions for life here cannot change.

    Natural selection in the spiritual or moral universe or karma cannot change.

    Suggesting so, then does create, a sense that change though taking place needs to in some suggest it be in line with a thinking to move ahead or forward or to evolve to something, just anything.

    Suggesting this would or may bring about a thinking:

    ‘That man needs to believe in something’, quite simply to go on.

    —————-so you can see that the future in some ways needs its most important element to survive, and that is to simply ‘choose’, or create a ‘choice’ at a given point in time..

    In a sense this is what the market is…just a series of choices over and over again.

    ————–Below is to suggest that these choices be moved to extreme human self-discipline…over all else.

    To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control; we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

    He must have more than just a slave..thinks more like a trader to me…:)

    —–how boring life would be if we were all the same, in color, race etc…and to just watch ‘change’ itself and not be part of that change taking place…!

    ——The Gods in heaven and hell are surly by now, quite jealous of the their gift they have bestow upon all us mere mortal persons….

    ah!! to not know what the future brings…ah!! such a gift..to be reckon…they surly…regret such a gift they cannot ever have.

    ………:)

  2. Andre wallin on August 29, 2012 6:12 pm

    Vipassana meditation focuses on the experiential level of spirituality in regards to “anicha” or “this will also change”. When you’re sitting in meditation posture for an hour pains come along but they pass just as in life. Also, pleasurable sensations come as well, but they will also change as well.

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