Satchidananda

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

Satchidananda: in Hindu it refers to the
ultimate reality and the true nature of the self,
embodying the interconnectedness of existence,
consciousness, and bliss… it is a concept
central to Vedanta and is often associated with
Brahman, the supreme reality…

It is quite clear that the universe is connected, but
it is connected because matter, all matter is made up
of Atoms… everything in the universe is simply atoms
put together into different configurations… but the real
questions becomes this, we have four forces in the
universe, matter/energy and space/time… but as noted
by Einstein, that matter and energy are the same,
and space and time are too sides of the same coin…
thus, we have the four forces reduced to two forces,
space/time and matter/energy…the question is this,
do the laws of the universe, the laws of Thermodynamics,
the laws of Gravity, entropy… do they flow from those
two forces or are the laws the creators of the two forces?
Do the laws of the universe which all matter/energy
and space/time must follow, or do the laws of the
universe come from these two forces?

Now does any of this seem to imply that there is one,
universal law/force that controls the universe?

In the East, the word for that one universal law/force is
called Brahman… which as noted means the supreme,
ultimate, reality in Hinduism… in the West, it is called god…

Which leads us, as it should, we being Philosophers,
we should question this notion of Brahman or god…
is there a supreme, ultimate reality? or is, as it
appears to be, distinct and separate aspects of reality…
the question is asked when the topic statement is
change… is change real or just apparent?
If the universe has but one reality, then there is
no such thing as change… This is the bottom
line of Spinoza… that change is appearance, but not
real…think of it like changing clothes… we all change
our clothes rather regularly, but does changing our
clothes affect the reality, that is our person?
are we the changing of the clothes or are we
the permanent aspect of the changing of the clothes?
Now this changing of the clothes, can we make that
part of our permanent self? I am wearing sweats
right now, is there some way to turn the sweats
into a permanent aspect of me?

That in essence is what those people chasing a
permanent reality, chasing Brahman are doing…
they/people are the clothes, trying to become the permanent
body… reality is basically changing clothes…
or is reality the body, our body, on which we clothe ourselves…

Now what exactly are clothes? our clothes are simply
our representation of who we are or we think we are…
the man who wears suits, to represent a certain reality
of how they want to present themselves…clothes in
this instance, are meant to give a certain representation
of the wearer… but are we the clothes or are we the body?
We change clothes to fit the weather conditions, to present
us as ‘‘professional’’ or wealthy, or some other representation…
we use clothes to show the world who we are…
but are the clothes we wear really us? Clothes are not
only meant to be advertising, but as camouflage, deception,
and misrepresentation… are you the clothes or are you
the naked body? the change we see around us, that is
simply clothes, being put on and off… but is there
a deeper reality to be found behind the changing of
the clothes? is there a body to be found under the
clothes? To the East, we have two types of reality,
the first is the clothes, the change that we see every
single day… and the second reality is the Brahman or god,
the ultimate reality behind the clothes…the change…

the problem with this idea of an ultimate reality, be it
Brahman or god… is where is it? What if reality is really
just us changing clothes, nothing more…and there is no
truth or ultimate reality behind us… what if change is really
the ultimate reality… and there is nothing else…

I suspect that the reason mankind hasn’t changed in thousands
of years is that we are tied to this idea of some ultimate reality
and we keep searching for that, but it doesn’t exists… we are
searching for something that doesn’t exist… and as falsely
noted to Einstein, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again, and expecting different results…
We keep trying to find the ultimate reality over and over again,
and we think this time we will have a different result…
we keep searching for Brahman or god, and we keep
getting disappointed by the results… Insanity be thy name…

what then, should we be doing?

Kropotkin

2

if there is no ultimate reality to find, then what is it
exactly are we supposed to do? It comes down to
what we think that human beings are… what
are we?

Human beings are, as in evolution, we are social beings…
we are not solitary, alone beings…to survive a human being
must have a state, a society to exists within… there is no
other choice for us humans… which suggests to me,
that we are defined by our evolutionary content…
That we are what our evolution has created…

Which is to say, we are social, but we are also flexible,
not set, not fixed… dogs and cats are, by evolution,
rather set, fixed… they cannot be anything else beside
a dog or a cat…and their behavior and actions cannot be
anything different other than a dog or a cat…

Human beings are open ended… there doesn’t seem to be
a limit to what is possible for human beings…
which kinda suggests that we search out that limit…
what is possible for us human beings?

The human starting point was our first being animal…
we had animal behavior, instincts, actions… but at some
point, we crossed from being strictly animal, to change,
to transform into becoming human… we are still on
that road of transformation… from being animal to
becoming human… and the animal part of us, that
is the part we are looking to escape from…we can say,
that the search for the divine, that drives us to seek out
Brahman/god, is really the search for us becoming human,
fully human…to rise above our animal nature, that which
we came from, into becoming human… and what exactly does
that mean…

to be human, means to seek out something outside of us…
unlike animals, we can grow, change, become… the question
before us is this, change to what? to become what?
unlike animals, we can make choices to who we are…
I can choose to be human, which is to say, I can choose
to be nice, friendly, or cruel, our behavior unlike animals,
we can make choices as to our behavior, our actions…
I cannot change my IQ or my heartbeat, or my body temperature…
but unlike animals, I can change my behavior, my actions…
animals cannot choose… but I am human, and so I can
make a choice…

to becoming human means to make our own choices
as to who we are… we are not driven by instincts or
some forces we cannot control… to be human is to be
in control over our actions, our behavior… to be human
is to be able to make choices… regardless of our instincts
in the matter…
the Übermensch of Nietzsche is really the one who can
can control their actions, their behavior… unlike animals…
to be enlightened, is to be in control of one’s actions, behaviors…
the further away from instincts we are, the more human we are…
when I was young, millions of years ago, I would fall in love…
and in doing so, I was unable to control myself…
for that is love… wild, uncontrollable, a successions
of highs and lows that I had no control over…
but today, my love is under control… I am in love
with my wife, and have been for 30 years… but today,
I am in control of my love… it doesn’t dominate me
like it did all those years ago…today if I express love,
it is a choice, something that I am able to control…
unlike yesteryear… I am more human with my choices,
unlike the past where I was unable to control my love,
my behavior, my actions… that is what being human,
truly human means…my choices are my choices…

Now to suggest that there is Brahman, a god, is to
remove my choices…I must change and adapt
according to what the Brahman or god decides…
in order to become one with Brahman or god, one
has to remove their ego, their self… but that
is what makes me human… to remove my choices
is to remove what makes me human… and what
should I choose? to remain human, with my own
choices, or to become one with god/Brahman and
lose my choices?

The path is not to become one with god, but to become
human… which means I choose to be human by
moving myself away from instincts, by making choices
that allow me to reach my own possibilities…

It is on those terms that I choose to reject the search
for god/Brahman… and I chose instead to become
human… to seek out what is possible for me within
the state/society…

Kropotkin

3

If I were Adam, in the garden of Eden…
and god came to me with a choice, in my
left hand lies the choice of being human,
with its pain and suffering and choices,
and in my right hand lies the path of eternal
blessing… I would, without hesitation, choose
the left hand…the choice is not to transcend
the human choices of pain and suffering, but to
accept them as part of the human condition…
the choice is not to transcend into heaven but
to accept us being human…and what we transcend
is not going into heaven but into choosing to be human…
the transcending comes in transcending our animal nature
and growing into becoming human… heaven and god
and transcending into Brahman/god… is not a choice,
at least not one I would make…and the goal is
to become the best human being I can become…
to transcend into heaven or to negate the self
to gain entrance into the void…these goals are
not goals that humans should try to achieve…
there is no mysticism in becoming the best
Kropotkin I can become… which is to say,
try to overcome my animal instincts and
behavior… that is the goal of being human…
not a mystical union with Brahman or god…
for they are outside of us… the path of
being human lies within us… or to say it
another way… to change our clothes to fit
the conditions we find ourselves in…

But Kropotkin, that leaves human beings with no
rock to stand upon and declare themselves
as final… there is no final, fixed, set human beings…
We can choose to be something, and that is what
it means to be human… we adapt, change, evolve…
and that is what it means to be human… there is
no fixed, set idea of what it means to be human…
there is only the change and evolution to come…

But Kropotkin, what does this mean?

You tell me…

Kropotkin

4

Peter Kropotkin, I usually swear when people think in labels. But reading you, I see a funny image. A certain barin, on horseback, with a sword. … . The barin asks: “Whose servant will you be?” And the poor man’s knees start to tremble under the imperious gaze.
Sorry, Demon’s status is higher. That’s why it’s frankly hilarious.

Now, seriously. What’s your purpose in writing?

5

This question of the ‘‘ultimate reality’’ leaves us
with several problems… one of which is a variation
of Descartes ‘‘mind/body’’ problem…

if as is suggested by Indian philosophy, there are
two realities… one of which is this divide between
the temporary, illusion that is this world, and the
‘‘ultimate reality’’ that is permanent and forever…
I can see this illusionary world, just by opening my eyes…
but where do I find this ‘‘ultimate reality’’ that is forever
and permanent? That bodies change and matter itself
changes, that brings us to believe that, that reality is
an illusion and not worth knowing because it is nothing
better than a hallucination or a phantasm… within
Indian Philosophy they often use that word, phantasm,
as in terms of fantasy, shadow, mirage… the only real
world is within the ‘‘ultimate reality’’…
the rest is shadow boxing… but the question arises,
where does this ‘‘ultimate reality’’ exist? If I were to look
for it, where would I look? It has been said that by
looking into our soul, which is Brahman… that our soul
is the ‘‘ultimate reality’’… that by seeking out our soul,
we also seek out the ‘‘Ultimate reality’’ that the two,
the soul and the ‘‘Ultimate reality’’ are the same thing…
and by seeking one, we find the other…in seeking out
‘‘Atman’’ which is the individual soul, we seek out
Brahman…

As with all metaphysical questions, it leaves us with
many questions… if our soul, Atman, is the same
as Brahman, then what exactly is it? Is being conscious,
is that enough to equal Brahman? If that were the case,
then it is enough to say that Brahman, which is the soul,
is also within animals, as they seem to have souls…
One of the attributes of being conscious is the ability
to look within oneself… but in looking at animals,
they don’t seem to have that ability… are they, say
dogs, are they aware they are dogs? Or cats, are
cats aware they are cats? Do they see their catness,
as being an essential aspect of being a cat?
when a dog recognizes another dog, are they
understanding what being a dog means?
is this recognition done on a conscious level, or
is it done by instinct? can a dog ask themselves,
am I a dog? This showing awareness of being…
I would say no… that dogs/or cats are not aware
of being a dog or cat… they just are…
so why do humans and only humans, (as far as we
know) have awareness of being, being human…

Now is this awareness of being, this consciousness,
what exactly is this? is it material? the same as a chair
or a table? I can’t see that… it is something else…
that consciousness is immaterial seems to be the
answer… so, being immaterial such as consciousness
is it light or energy or spirit… if consciousness is not
matter, that which occupies space, possess mass,
a physical substance… then what is it, exactly?

let us put this in terms of western religion…
that human beings have a soul and when we die,
that soul goes to heaven… so the soul, is that
matter, or is it spirit, light, energy…
the meaning of spirit:

Spirit: a force within a human being thought to give
the body life, energy, and power…

The origins of the word spirit is Latin, and it means
breath, and refers to both respiration and the wind…
spirit is related to the Latin word ‘‘spirare’’ which means
‘‘to breathe’’ the word eventually come to refer to a person’s
character or disposition…

and here we run right into Descartes problem, which is
how does the mind impact or influences the body? You
have a thought and how does that thought, which is spirit,
energy, how does that spirit move matter?
The classic Descartes "Mind/Body’’ problem…
We die and go to heaven, that soul is clearly not
physical… and if god, is also spirit, then how can
god move matter?

but in making god, heaven, the soul all spirit,
energy, then there is a dualism that becomes
the Descartes problem… the question becomes, how
do we deal with this dualism, this division between
matter and spirit/energy?

Most religions deal with this problem by making the soul,
the immaterial, as the most important aspect of being…
the Catholic church has always minimized the body in
favor of the soul… and Buddhism does the same… the goal
is to return to the void, to end being reborn, to end
the physical return to the world…most religions
denounce the physical and praise the spirit, the soul,
energy… and this is only possible by making the
world into a dualism… the spirit and body/physical
are two aspects of the world.. with the emphasis on
the soul/spirit, not the body/the physical…

Next, we explore another side of this question…

Kropotkin

6

the next problem is this question of what Sri Aurobindo,
calls the ‘‘overmind’’ this overmind can be called god,
spirit, consciousness, it is what gives the universe
and us, by extension, our meaning, our purpose…

One way to think of it is by the saying, The universe
has brought us to exactly where it wants us to be…
which is giving the universe some sort of consciousness…
think about the point in the ‘‘Lord of the Rings’’ movies…
Where Frodo and Gandalf are speaking within Moria…
and Gandalf speaks of how the universe wanted Frodo
to have the ring, that Frodo was exactly where the
universe wanted him to be… This implies that the
universe has some sort of consciousness, that it can
act on material matter…and move them around…
another way to think of this is the belief that
there is always a reason for things happening…
everything happens for a reason…

Yet in fact, there is no evidence for this belief… we use
this belief to give ourselves some sort of solace in times
of troubles…it is a certitude that gives us some faith
or comfort in distressing times… where the problem lies
is in the basic fact of the universe that much of the
universe operates on chance, luck, randomness…
evolution itself operates on randomness…
and we should, should, think more in terms
of our own existence in terms of randomness,
chance, luck… and this negates the idea that
the universe has some overall plan for each of us…
the universe, as far as I can tell, doesn’t give a shit
about us, either personally or as a species…
the idea that there is a god who is invested in us,
personally, requires a leap of faith that cannot
survive logic or reason… it can only make sense,
a personal god, if, if we don’t think about it too hard…
for how does a god… a spirit, energy however you think
of it, how does that spirit/energy move matter?
the old Descartes problem between mind, spirit/matter…

and how does that all impact us on a daily basis?

next…

Kropotkin

7

we can, as usual, use the religious and others
to illustrate my point…

The decades long Cultural wars, is driven by both
religion and the need for power…On what grounds
does the right want to ban gays and trans people?
Religious… they don’t always say so, but that
is the driving force behind the Cultural wars…
that in some fashion, never explained how, but
in some fashion, that gays and trans people
offends god… they claim that, again in some
way, that god will punish us for tolerating gays/trans
people… that basic concern is not about the here
and now, but about some mystical energy/spirit
that can influence us right now… it is never quite
explained how god, being spirit/energy, can impact
us in some way, but hay, that is the entire point
of religion, it is about faith, not about reality…
for god in some fashion, can shape reality, not
sure how..

but this entire point misses the fact of the here and now…
if I am so concern with some future god solution, I am
missing what is happening right now, right in front of me…

another example is the MAGA attack on immigrants…
it misses the point that immigrants pay taxes, pick our
crops, keep restaurants open… back east, factories
have been forced to shut down to the lack of workers…
and this will continue… I saw some report that
suggest this immigration scare will cost America
over 200 billion dollars…as immigrants pay over 100 billion
dollars in taxes, and receives a fraction of that in payments…
that alone will cost America billions of dollars…

but the idea that the immigrant’s problem is a financial
problem is to negate people’s lives… people who have
lived here their entire life and now are being sent
to god’s knows where… that is pure nihilism…
the negation of people’s lives and their values…
the entire GOP/MAGA party is engaged in
nihilism that hasn’t been seen since Nazi Germany…

and why? Because of outdated beliefs and idea’s…
if we accept that people lives have value, then
we can’t understand why anyone would want to
to remove them… negate them… but under
religious values, it becomes easy to dismiss
and negate others… if they don’t hold my beliefs,
they are subhuman… and IQ45 has called immigrants
subhuman… that by thinking that only those who hold
to my values, to my beliefs have any use, any value,
is pure nihilism… that is to negate and devalue
anyone who holds to a different belief… and that is
MAGA to the core…they hate, HATE, ‘‘WOKE’’
values which is to say, toleration, acceptance,
understanding, where people have value regardless
of who they are, where they are from and the
beliefs they hold… that is anti-MAGA…

to be even practical, which MAGA isn’t, but to
be practical, we can say that immigrants
improve our quality of life, that immigrants
benefit us, all of us… this conservative fear
of ‘‘OTHERS’’ will in the end, damage us
to the point of no return…

Jesus talks of love, conservatives talk of hate…

Jesus said, love thy neighbors…
conservatives say, hate they neighbors…

Jesus says, love should embrace all…
conservatives say, we only embrace those
who look like us, believe like us, vote like us,
pray like us, love like us…

that is the essence of nihilism… the negation of
others in the name of some religious values…

what do you stand for?
what values do you support
and most importantly, why those values
and not another set of values?

Kropotkin

8

Running with your analogy, if all there were was the changing of clothes, and nothing more, you would not know that you were changing clothes. So there must be something more i.e. awareness.

9

According to Vedanta, you are Brahman. You’re free to believe to identify with your body and pursue it’s desires for thousands of lifetimes. You are not compelled to do otherwise.

10

Here you are conflating Vedanta with your understanding of Christianity. Vedanta is not about going to heaven when you die.

11

“Now is this awareness of being, this consciousness,
what exactly is this? is it material? the same as a chair
or a table? I can’t see that… it is something else…
that consciousness is immaterial seems to be the
answer… so, being immaterial such as consciousness
is it light or energy or spirit… if consciousness is not
matter, that which occupies space, possess mass,
a physical substance… then what is it, exactly?“

The consciousness that you are is the one who animates your body and mind that perceives through the senses and asks questions through the intellect. Observe your thoughts as they race past. Who is doing the observing? That consciousness is you.

Actually everything is conscious as more and more philosophers and scientists are starting to realize. But, Vedanta recommends going stepwise to realize who you really are.

12

one of the points of Buddhism is that desire and want,
creates suffering from our inability to achieve our desires
and wants… and in a very real sense, that is true…
but within seeking, we discover a truth…
that if we no longer seek, we also miss out on
important things… the key here seems to be
not suffering if one doesn’t get what one wants…
the Stoics for example…

I have spent my lifetime seeking out knowledge…
my desire has always been to gain knowledge
and then more knowledge… as with Goethe’s Faust,
I have sought knowledge in a wide variety of area’s…
I have studied over the years, gravity, evolution, history,
science, philosophy, political science, and I have sought
out the great truths that lie within literature…
from the great Russian writers like Tolstoy, and
Dostoyevsky and Pasternak and Pushkin and
Turgenev… and within English poets like
Blake and Tennyson… I have spent decades reading
within literature… to discover the great truths that lie
within our literature… Literature is a wonderful means
of seeing actions taken and what the results of those
actions allow us… for example, Anna Karenina by
by Tolstoy… it allows us to see what damages adultery
can bring on us… we can live through Anna and see one
such possibility of what happens with adultery…
But novels also can bring us to other truths…
Science Fiction can bring us another reality by
engaging us in the possibilities of the future, within
Sc-Fi… The Foundation series… that is one possible
future for us… but so goes the ‘‘Lord of the Ring’’ series…
we can become Frodo and Samwise…and imagine
ourselves in their shoes… what would we do?
would we get as far as they did? Samwise in his
famous speech informs us that ‘‘there is good in the world’’
we just have to fight for it… the question becomes,
what are we willing to sacrifice to engage in the ‘‘good of the world’’
and one is reminded of the current battle between good
and evil raging on in America today… what are we willing
to sacrifice to free ourselves of the tyranny of the right?
And we have plenty of literature that shows us the cost
of fighting for what is right and good in the world…
if the cause is good and just, what shall we do to
bring back justice and peace? The books of the
""Lord of the Rings’’ explains in great detail what is
involved in defending the good and right in the world…
it takes time and perseverance… to never quit
in the face of great evil and danger…
and these things can be found in our examination of
the sources of knowledge… within the study of
history and philosophy and science and literature…
we can find out what it means to be human and
apply that to our current situation… where today,
evil has the upper hand… but my studies have also
shown that evil, no matter how evil, is temporary…
because evil only believes in itself… it is ‘‘ad hoc’’
of the moment, of short duration…
evil cannot last… because it stands for nothing
outside of itself… whereas good, good can be applied
to all…good or doing the right thing, exists not
only today, but tomorrow… into the future…
or to put it another way, evil destroys and good
builds… love builds… love can build a relationship,
love can build a family, love can build a business and
love can build hope… love can build communities,
but evil, there is no building of the present or the future in evil…
its only value lies within its destruction of people’s lives…
evil cannot, ever build into something that lasts…
only love can do that… and that lesson is the
lesson learned in literature… that love builds
and evil destroys…and what is the current state
of affairs in America today? is it evil and destroying,
or is it love and building? the answer is easy enough
if one is honest enough to see through the right wing lies…

Love builds and evil destroys…

Kropotkin

13

and one might say, but Kropotkin, you are wrong…
Ok, answer me this… what has evil ever built?
America was built on certain principles…
that justice is worth fighting for, that equality is worth it…

‘‘That all men are created equal’’

is one of the founding father’s great principles…
and that is good… for it builds and creates and
grows… equality/justice is good for everyone involved…
when the world is just, everyone, EVERYONE gains from
that… there are no losers when true justice/equality is
practiced… but is that the operating principle in today’s
world? No, Justice/equality is not practiced, it is denied
and the world is suffering and hurting and less for that
inequality… there cannot be the building of communities
and families and lives if we practice inequality and injustice…
there is only destruction when inequality is practiced…
look at the America civil war… a war meant to
overcome the injustice of inequality and slavery…
and the greater practice of inequality and injustice
practiced today will lead to even greater harm…
and overcoming that evil… will require a great sacrifice
by millions of us… and we must do so, because we
cannot grow or build until we are engaged in justice
and equality for all, not just some, the wealthy,
but everyone…

America is unraveling because it is practicing injustice
and great evil… evil destroys and love builds…
and we destroying… lives, families, communities,
and America at large with this practice of evil,
injustice and inequality…

So, Kropotkin, what do we do?
We begin as we should always begin,
by acknowledging there is a problem and
what that problem is… and until we do that,
we cannot begin to overcome evil with good…
with love… evil destroys and good builds…

Kropotkin