Philosophical Speculations on Life, Death, Reincarnation, and Consciousness
Disclaimer: emphasis on the word speculation.
It wasn’t too long ago that I realized that expanding consciousness is the same as eradicating consciousness. When one exclaims a feeling of oneness with the universe they are paradoxically expanding their consciousness at the expense of their individual sense of self. Meditation, rhythmic dancing, etc all lessen the connection to ones self in order to feel a sense of self that has expanded to encompass all that is around them.
In a recent discussion on life after death with a shamanic acquaintance of mine, he tells me that dying is to life as sleeping is to waking. In his view, death is just a transition of consciousness from one state to another.
My question to him on this point is this:
The part of you that is easily identifiable; your memories, your personality, your dreams, desires, and wishes, your faults, and your fears – are these part of the consciousness that transcends and survives after the death of the physical body?
And if not, what is it that moves on?
I’m still waiting for his email response - and I don’t mean to put words in his mouth - but my guess is that the part of who we are that makes up our personality, our wishes, desires, dreams and so forth – in other words, what makes you you; this is not what he’ll say transcends death.
It’s something primordial, something deeper that carries on.
And what is it?
Could it be that it’s the part of you that’s accessed when you experience yourself as one with the world? I’m speaking of that something deep down inside you, buried by your layers of self-hood and self-identity, existing beyond conscious awareness, accessible only in those euphoric, spiritual moments when we feel connected to the rest of the world. The part of you that experiences that sensation, is that the aspect of consciousness that carries on after the death of the physical body?
This brings up an interesting realization. Using this framework of thought, we’ve established a sense of life after death, but at the same time, it means little in regards to our personal sense of identity and has little meaning in any personal sense of surviving death.
But if the Buddhists and the cognitive scientists are right, our sense of self is just an illusion anyway.
And so….does this mean that are “true self” is actually this selfless essence that survives death and is accessible in life only in moments of ego-loss and conscious expansion?
Oh I feel like I’m going in circles. 
Speaking as a Buddhist I’m just as confused as you. One of the main tenents of Buddhism is ‘anatman’ - the theory of no-self or no-soul. However, most Buddhists (myself not included, I accept reincarnation as a metaphor) believe in reincarnation. The question then remaining is this: if there is no core self, what exactly gets reincarnated? If you ever get pestered by some high-and-mighty buddhist ask him this question.
As far as I have been able to find out, and demoninations differ in their answer, is that the human consciousness is divided into nine different levels. When a buddhist speaks of his karma being reincarnated, he is specifically referring to the eighth level of consciousness - this is the thing that supposedly reincarnates in the next human body and transcends death. The eighth level is known as ‘the storehouse consciousness’.
I forget the sanskrit term and I can’t pronounce it anyway, but the storehouse is the ‘mental container’ of one’s accumulated mental formations (kamma and sankara) that keep one bound to the cycle of suffering.
I found it interesting to learn that Buddhists don’t believe that the point of it all is to accumulate as much good karma as possible - that only leads to rebirth in higher realms, plus it’s like fuel - you will eventually use it all up and fall down to a lower level of existence. The point is to quit accumulating any kind of karma - whether good, neutral, or evil.
An enlightened being is able to do this becuase, though any type of verbal, mental, or physical action causes karma to be created, the illuminated consciousness of such a being does not ‘hold’ any trace of such actions. It’s like having a teflon mind. The karma has nowhere to take root.
P.S. This is a great blog. I’ve posted a link to it on my MySpace page. If you have a picture you would prefer to take the place of the link, just email me a web address of said, reasonably sized picture, and I’ll modify the link.
Keep up the good work, fellow explorer.
Oneironaught
Dependent Origination. The causes you put into effect require fruition, this causes rebirth of a body the I that you know exists on the hard drive or physical brain. Thus, nothing is carried over to the next life, but a new vehicle is created to be the receptacle of the past causes in the form of effects, since not all karma comes to fruition in this life. The question of who that person is or will be is not relevant and one of the questions that the Buddha himself would call irrelevant and one that simply leads to argument and ignorance. All causes have effects. This life is an effect of the karma of the past life. When one becomes illumined to this, one can continue as an agent of karma whilst simultaneously being immune to the results of this karma, past or presently being created. I KNOW this to be true, was told this, instantaneously, by the Buddha himself. Or rather, when I became the Buddha, One with the Buddha, or however one can put this in the language of words without implying duality, which is .. of course.. impossible. Let me point you in a few interesting directions… see the atma, study advaita, and incorporate this into your buddhist study. The Buddha and the tenets of Buddhism are eternal truths but there are many paths to the same realization. Knowledge and the means to it evolve and grow out of causes, for knowledge is an effect of realization. We are born into a house of fire. To the children, the Buddha screams “I have candy outside” to the adults, he may scream something else. To others, he may whisper, with others, he may appear to be roasting marshmallows, but all this is beyond and aside from the point.
You are either meant to realize truth in this life or you are meant to continue pursuing your desires or you are meant to suffer the effects of your past in this life, through what ‘appears’ to be suffering. In truth, there is no good, and no evil, and no duality. There is only unity. All is beautiful, whether or not an unseen hand exists that is pushing the buttons or guiding us along is one of those ‘irrelevant’ questions. The ultimate control is the lack of it!
We are beggars sitting on locked chests filled with gold, we wear the key upon our neck, our whole lives begging for something we already have. We are told to look here, there, everywhere, but at ourselves. At what we already possess. No one has the answer but ourself.
In relation to your statement about being confused about the nature of the ’self’, I won’t get into the issue of the ’self’ too deeply but to say that the buddhist feeling on the existence of the self is this: a flame gives off heat, it appears unchanging, but it is forever burning new wax. You feel it, you see it, it appears the same, does that mean that it exists independently of the candle? Of the wax it burns? … You hold a flower up to a mirror. You see the flower in the mirror. The mirror reflects a flower. You see it, you can’t smell this flower in the mirror but you know that the real flower smells, by this definition, you also cannot touch the flower. Does that mean that the reflection does not exist? Independent of the flower, would the reflection of the flower cease to exist? Is the reflected image independent of the original? If it is not.. what does that make the image? Real? or Illusory?
You perceive a self, you FEEL that you have a past, you think about and dwell on the future… can you perceive the past? Is it here now? Is your ex-wife or your grandmother who have left you or passed away sitting right here with you? Where are they? Where have they gone? Is that job as a multimillionaire entrepeneur you have planned in five years happening now? Or are you going to create actions that .. step-by-step, lead you to experience their outcome in the now, which ‘hopefully’ *cross fingers* will result in the fulfillment of this long-awaited desire? Do you choose to realize that all desire and all future clinging are illusory? Do you choose to realize that the past are illusory? They are not existing NOW, are they?
And if so, if you choose to nod yes and agree that neither of those things truly exist but in our own mind, as a product of our own creation.. that is 2/3 of our experience, eliminated! And thusly, is it not logical to take the next step and realize that if the past is illusory, the future is illusory, and you are nothing but a product of actions that occurred in an illusory, non-existent past, and in THIS MOMENT (NOW) you are taking actions that in the future will create a product of the actions you are taking NOW.. creating a being with its own sense of self and personhood no doubt… who will glance back at its OWN past and see YOU as an illusion, being that you don’t exist here, now… whilst he simultaneously takes actions that will create yet another being who will gaze upon even HE at some ‘future, illusory point’ ad infinitum…
Is not the present illusory, temporary, pointless to get attached to?
If I took you to an Ice Cream store and you wanted chocolate, would you kill yourself or go mad with tears if they were out until next week? Or if they discontinued Chocolate ice cream entirely?
Exactly. You would not. That would be insane.
As insane as believing that there is a ’static-you’
An unchanging (flame) -person- that exists independent of it’s (candle) -body-
When one realizes there is only one moment, one identity, one self, with many names…
One realizes one’s Buddha nature. One REALIZES.
Illumined Mind = Realized Buddha Nature.
Realized Buddha Nature = ‘Get-Out-Karma-Free’ card
Why?
Karma is nothing but another face of Maya. (Illusory)
In fact, ALL is illusory. Even the YOU that is reading MY words!
Existence becomes a game. Life, experience. “Bad news” = opportunity for growth and change
“Good news” = simply a break from the bad, time to refresh, renew and gear up for more experience.
What is enlightenment? Can one exist in this duality permanently enlightened? Does the Rose or the Candle Flame or YOU exist? You seem to!
So play the game. Game becomes tiring? Seek comfort in wisdom. Give compassion for compassions sake. Not for the sake of something that doesn’t exist, and for the sake of goodness, when you are being compassionate, stop questioning whether it matters or not if you seem to exist. As the Buddha would say, it is irrelevant, take your comfort in wisdom.
–Peace, xst
Xst,
Thanks for taking the time to write out so many of your thoughts. I really enjoyed reading it. I would like to ask you if you consider Buddhism a religion? Why or why not?
Have you guys read the Seth Material?
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5484/seth1.htm
It’s pretty much answered my questions…