From: pcollac@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Paul Collacchi)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.meta
Subject: Holmes a closet mystic ( was: Mystical Cannons)
Keywords: Mind awareness gives rise to heart awareness
Date: 26 Jan 93 00:37:41 GMT
Reply-To: pcollac@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Paul Collacchi)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pyramid Technologies, Mt. View, California.

In article <1993Jan25.171048.22637@guinness.idbsu.edu>,
holmes@opal.idbsu.edu (Randall Holmes) writes:

|> We _can_ each look inside a mind without be psychic; our own.  We can
|> probably also do repeatable experiments on said available mind.
|> 

Yeah, you got it.  Though there are a billion different flavors,
"meditation" is the practice of looking inside one's own mind in a 
disciplined way.  This is one of the reasons why Buddhism is being 
described as a "science of mind." 

Though the end goals of meditation are presumably not to map out the
contents of the mind, Buddhists apparently couldn't resist.  Some are big 
on lists and descriptions: the eightfold path, the four noble truths, the 
nine realms, the seven skandas, etc..... So it goes.  The Vedic scholars 
did a lot of that stuff too.

Without jumping the gun on those who have much verification to do, there
are (at least) two outgrowths of disciplined self observation.  One is 
an ever-unfolding observation of contents which become increasingly 
still.  Mind becomes more still because it stops judging itself, which is 
merely a reaction to its own contents.  One could imagine that with a
little familiarity the mind doesn't spend much energy resisting its own 
self-observation.  

The "science" that arises from this quality of mind is categorically
different since the mind is no longer observing a reactive mind, and it is
no longer grasping to dictate its own contents and is free to open to any 
contents which arise, including no contents.  Thought, any thought "flows" 
easily through this kind of mind.

Eventually, one becomes quite familiar with one's mind stuff.  For example,
you get to see if Freud had it right (mostly he didn't).  You can see
the nature of things like judgement (one thought arises that makes
a claim about the prior thought) and denial ( a thought arises which claims
there was no particular prior thought!).  Its not without its humor. Just
assume that every mind eventually thinks every thought.  Its all there.  So
there's really only one mind, and everybody has access to it.

By knowing me better, I know you better.  Keep watching out for those
thoughts of denial. :) Remember the famous Vedic koan:  "What is it,  
by the knowing of which, all else becomes known?"   So a disciplined
scientific practice of self-observation gives rise to compassion.  We
expected to get facts and truth and all that logicky kind of stuff, but
instead we get peace, non-judgement, and compassion -- "heart" qualities.

I think this is why the so-called masters, real ones, engender devotion,
and are usually seen as being incredibly compassionate.  For example, many
of the images of sitting Buddhas are really "generic" bodhisattvas of
compassion.  They're compassionate not because they're different, but because
they're the same, and they know it.

Paul Collacchi    
Xref: sparky sci.philosophy.meta:3107 sci.philosophy.tech:4899