Some internet H have been talking about drawing "red lines" about who is H and who is not. While that is note exactly my what I want discuss 1 issue caught my eye: 1 of the red lines is apparent "belief in reincarnation". For me this is philosophical Q with different levels to it
1st Q that I have spent a lot of time thinking about is: whether reincarnation should be found on the basis of belief or not? i.e. can it exist in with the framework of logical or mathematical argument? Or Is it strongly supported by empirical evidence Or Is it something we need
to make an object of our faith even as the ekarAkShasa or his birthing the preta parthenogentically is an object of faith? I think the historical H (IMO correctly) have provided a logical framework for addressing this. The most paradoxical of the theories is that of followers of
shuddhodana-putra who hold reincarnation to be real & consciousness to be illusory. IMO that form of the theory can be falsified today. However, the chArvAka theory is potentially valid one: i.e. unqualified bhUtachaitanyavAda. In today's language it would be termed emergent
phenomenon as the basis of consciousness. If this theory were true then logically reincarnation should be false based on what we no know. That leaves us with 3 broad classes of theories with some overlap. Consciousness is real all of these. If were so then we could have an huge
or infinite number of consciousness units each associating with a quantum of mass-energy and possibly space-time. As the quantum conjoint form larger units those consciousness atoms add under some rule to give rise to larger unit of consciousness. This is 1 theory. In ancient H
parlance that would roughly map onto the domains of sAMkhya, vaisheShika and nyAya. Alternatively, there would no matter-energy/space-time but only large number or infinite consciousness entities that can assemble like in the former case into bigger conscious entities. But here
matter-energy/space-time will merely be conscious experience of these entities that emerge as they interact. That will be 2. Alternatively, there'll be a unitary consciousness & it has states of perception of the unitary state or as a multiplicity due its own intrinsic capacity
These classes of theories which accept the reality of consciousness allow for deducing some type of reincarnation from logic. However, that reincarnation might not be anything like what lay H typically think of. While most H support their belief with an empirical observation, I
don't think that can be made the bedrock for this idea. Those could have valid alternative explanations today. To conclude, these philosophical issues need not be brought into definitions of who is H or not though they should continue to be contemplated by the H
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