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"Rational beings are divided into: gods, men and beings like Pythagoras ." - Aristotle. Once, they say, that he [ Pythagoras ] was passing by when a puppy was being whipped, and he took pity and said, 'Stop! Do not beat it! For it is the soul of a friend that I recognized when I heard it giving tongue.' (*) Mark, J. J. (2019, May 23). Pythagoras . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Pythagoras/ Title and Meaning (*) Pythagoras (l.c. 571- c. 497 BCE) was a Greek philosopher whose teachings emphasized the immortality and transmigration of the soul (reincarnation), virtuous, humane behavior toward all living things, and the concept of “number” as truth in that mathematics not only cleared the mind but allowed for an objective comprehension of reality . He is best known in the modern day for the Pythagorean Theorem , a mathematical formula which states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides . This formula has been applied to measuring distance and space as, for example, in planning and executing the construction of a building. Although attributed to Pythagoras by ancient writers, modern scholars cite evidence from Babylonian texts, written some time before Pythagoras , which discuss the same formula or, at least, one very similar. Almost nothing is known of Pythagoras ' life even though later writers (such as Diogenes Laertius, l. c.180-240 CE) attempted to put together biographies based on stories and fragments from earlier works. Laertius' biography of Pythagoras is the most complete but, unfortunately, the author never cites the sources he drew from and so it is impossible to corroborate many of his claims. Pythagoras ' influence on later philosophers, and the development of Greek philosophy generally, was enormous. Plato (l. c. 428/427-348/347 BCE) references Pythagoras in a number of his works and Pythagorean thought, as understood and relayed by other ancient writers, is the underlying form of Plato's philosophy . Plato's famous student Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) also incorporated Pythagorean teachings into his own thought and Aristotle 's works would influence philosophers, poets, and theologians (among many others) from his time through the Middle Ages (c. 476-1500 CE) and into the modern day. Although Pythagoras remains a mysterious figure in antiquity, therefore, he also stands as one of the most significant in the development of philosophical and religious thought . Life & Works Heraion, Samos What is known of Pythagoras comes from later writers piecing together fragments of his life from contemporaries and students. It is known that Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos , off Asia Minor , where his ancestors had settled after leaving Phlius , a city in the northwest Peloponnese , after the civil war there in 380 BCE. He received a quality education as his father, Mnesarchus , was a wealthy merchant. He may have studied in Babylon and in Egypt and possibly had the best Greek tutors of the time. All of this is speculative, however, as the information comes from later writers who accepted, uncritically, what others wrote about him. If there was an authoritative biography of Pythagoras , or original works by the man himself, they are long lost. Scholar Forrest E. Baird comments: Pythagoras was associated with so many legends that few scholars dare to say much about his life, his personality, or even his teachings, without adding that we cannot be sure our information is accurate. That there was a man named Pythagoras who founded the sect called the Pythagoreans , we need not doubt; among the witnesses to his historicity was his younger contemporary Heraclitus , who thought ill of him. Nevertheless, it is notoriously difficult to distinguish between the teachings of Pythagoras himself and those of his followers, the Pythagoreans . The historicity of Pythagoras has never been questioned. Heraclitus (l. c. 500 BCE), as Baird notes, considered Pythagoras highly overrated and another contemporary, the visionary Xenophanes of Colophon (l. c. 570-c. 478 BCE), mocked Pythagoras for his belief in reincarnation . The difficulty in any discussion of Pythagoras is in trying to separate the actual man and his teachings from the mythology which surrounded him even in his own lifetime. Pythagorean Beliefs As noted, none of Pythagoras ' writings – if he wrote anything – have survived and, owing to the secrecy he demanded of his students, the specifics of his teachings were carefully kept. The philosopher Porphyry (l. c. 234 - c. 305 CE), who wrote a later biography of Pythagoras , noted: What he taught his disciples no one can say for certain, for they maintained a remarkable silence. All the same, the following became generally known. First, he said that the soul is immortal ; second, that it migrates into other kinds of animals ; third, that the same events are repeated in cycles, nothing being new in the strict sense ; and finally, that all things with souls should be regarded as akin . Pythagoras seems to have been the first to introduce these beliefs to Greece . The Greek historian Herodotus (l.c. 484 - c. 425/413 BCE) alludes to Pythagoras (though famously refuses to name him) in his Histories : Moreover, the Egyptians are the first to have maintained the doctrine that, the soul of man is immortal and that, when the body perishes, it enters into another animal that is being born at the same time, and when it has been the complete round of the creatures of the dry land and of the sea and of the air it enters again into the body of a man at birth ; and its cycle is completed in three thousand years. There are some Greeks who have adopted this doctrine, some in former times and some in later, as if it were their own invention. Like the Pythagorean Theorem , Pythagoras ' concept of the transmigration of souls may also have been borrowed. Scholar George G. M. James , in his work Stolen Legacy: The Egyptian Origins of Western Philosophy , points out that all of the great Pre-Socratic philosophers either studied in Egypt or in the Egyptian Mystery Schools of Asia Minor (James, 9). Thales (l.c. 585 BCE), considered the first Western philosopher, studied in Babylon and two other of the most significant Pre-Socratics – Anaximander (l. c. 610-c.546 BCE) and Anaximenes (l. c. 546 BCE) – both traveled extensively and had access to the Mystery Schools which focused on Egyptian religious thought. WHATEVER THE REASON, THE SECRECY OF PYTHAGORAS' TEACHINGS ADDED GREATLY TO HIS MYSTIQUE & REPUTATION. It is more than likely, then, that Pythagoras ' thought was actually Egyptian spirituality transplanted to Greece. Pythagoras ' famous secrecy may have been intended to keep this fact from circulating too widely and discrediting him as an original thinker. He is said to have been quite charismatic and a powerful public speaker and it would have undermined his authority if his philosophy was revealed as simply re-packaged Egyptian belief. Whether he concealed his teachings for this reason or some other cannot be ascertained. It is possible he simply felt the masses would not understand or appreciate his ideas . Whatever the reason, the secrecy added greatly to his mystique and reputation. His belief in the immortality of the soul and reincarnation led naturally to a vegetarian lifestyle with an emphasis on doing no harm to any other living thing and this asceticism , which he also demanded of his followers, elevated his reputation as a holy man even further. Diogenes Laertius describes his diet and habits: Some say that he was satisfied with honey alone or a bit of honeycomb or bread (he did not touch wine during the day); or, for a treat, vegetables boiled or raw. Seafood he ate but rarely. His robe, which was white and spotless, and his bedclothes, which were also white, were of wool; for linen had not yet reached those parts. He was never observed to relieve himself, or to have intercourse, or to be drunk. He used to avoid laughter and all pandering to scurrilous jokes and vulgar stories. (VIII.19) Laertius describes Pythagoras as a pescatarian, eating fish and sea food, but most other ancient authors maintain he was a strict vegetarian abstaining from the meat of any living thing which could be regarded as having a soul . He likewise abstained from sex and remained celibate to maintain spiritual power and clarity of thought . In disengaging from worldly pleasures such as sex and food , he freed himself from the distractions of the body to focus on the improvement of the soul . This ascetism was thought by some to go too far. He and his followers were known to especially abstain from eating, or even touching, beans (one account of his death , in fact, claims that he would not enter a bean field to escape pursuers and so was killed). Laertius also mentions Xenophanes ' satirical criticism of Pythagoras ' belief in the transmigration of souls : Once, they say, that he [ Pythagoras ] was passing by when a puppy was being whipped, and he took pity and said, ' Stop! Do not beat it! For it is the soul of a friend that I recognized when I heard it giving tongue.' (VIII.36) To Xenophanes , who rejected reincarnation , Pythagoras ' beliefs were as foolish as claiming one could recognize a departed friend's voice in the bark of a dog. To Pythagoras , however, vegetarianism, pacifism, and humane treatment of other living things were all part of the path to inner peace and, by extension, world peace in that humans could never live in harmony as long as they killed, ate, and were cruel to animals . Poor treatment of animals, and eating animal flesh, devalued all life by maintaining that some creatures (humans) were worth more in life than others . Pythagoras believed that all creatures were created equal and should be treated with respect . He was considered by contemporaries and later writers as a mystic - not a mathematician as his is sometimes defined in the present day - and his school was associated with spiritual salvation and miraculous revelation . A central belief, which would significantly influence Plato , was that philosophic inquiry was vital to the salvation of the soul and apprehension of ultimate truth . An aspect of that truth was that nothing ever significantly changed and all was eternal and eternally recurring . According to the ancient writer, and student of Aristotle's , Eudemus of Rhodes (l. c. 370 - c. 300 BCE), Pythagoras believed in eternal recurrence as a logical, mathematical necessity. Eudemus writes: If one were to believe the Pythagoreans, that events recur in an arithmetical cycle, and that I shall be talking to you again sitting just as you are now, with this pointer in my hand, and that everything else will be just as it is now, then it is plausible to suppose that the time, too, will be the same as now. ( Baird , 16) In this belief, Pythagoras prefigures the great German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche (l. 1844-1900 CE) and his Theory of Eternal Recurrence in which Nietzsche claims that, in the absence of the “ finish line ” of a God who renders judgment after death, one's life will automatically reset and repeat itself in precisely the same way . Nietzsche 's theory has often been interpreted as an encouragement to carefully consider how one spends one's time since one will have to relive every event, large or small, eternally ; this may have also been suggested by Pythagoras ' teachings. Approximation to the Value of Square Root of 2 Cristian Violatti (Copyright, fair use) Even if Pythagoras himself did not frame the concept in this way, he must have articulated it somehow for later Pythagoreans to have repeated it. The concept of the cyclical nature of life and the immortality of the soul were at the heart of Pythagorean thought and influenced many writers and thinkers of ancient Greece but none as significant as Plato . Pythagoras & Plato It is possible that Plato began as a student of Socrates , adhering to dialectic in establishing truth , and then only gradually moved toward embracing the idealism of Pythagoras – as some scholars have claimed – but it seems more probable that Socrates himself was aligned with Pythagorean thought. There is really no way of establishing any claim along these lines since most of what we know of Socrates comes from Plato's Dialogues which were written after Socrates ' death when Plato was already of a mature philosophical mind. However he was introduced to it, Pythagorean thought significantly influenced Plato 's philosophy which included the concept of an ultimate truth not subject to opinion , of an ethical way of living in line with that truth , the soul's immortality , the necessity of salvation through philosophy , and of learning-as-recollection . Pythagorean concepts are apparent throughout Plato 's work but most notably in the dialogues of the Meno and Phaedo . In the Meno , Plato 's main character Socrates shows how what one calls “ learning ” is actually only “remembering” lessons from a past life . He proves his claim by having a young, uneducated slave solve a geometrical problem. Plato argues that, if one dies with one's mind intact, one will ' remember ' what one learned during that life when one is born into the next. What one thinks one ' learns ' in this life, one is actually only ' remembering ' from one's past life and what one knew in that past life was remembered from a previous one. Plato never addresses the obvious problem with this theory: at some point, the soul must have had to actually “ learn ” and not just “ remember ”. His claim that one “ remembers ” what one learned in the ether in between lives – not just in mortal form - does not address the concern because the soul still would need to “ learn ” at some point, whether in the body or out of it. Pythagoras ' assertion that “ things are numbers ” and that one could understand the physical world through mathematics also features in the Meno , not only through Socrates ' interaction with the slave but through his argument that virtue is a singular quality inherent in all people , regardless of their age, sex, or social status, in the same way that “number” informs and defines the known world ; one recognizes reality through a distinction between unity and duality . Plato - Mark Cartwright This claim would go toward the development of Plato 's famous Theory of Forms in which he describes an objective world of Truth, above the mortal realm, which underlies and informs all human truths and gives them their value of “truthfulness” . Without this Realm of Forms , Plato argued, there could be no actual truth; only opinion about what one felt was true. To Pythagoras , mathematics was the path toward enlightenment and understanding and, as he claimed, “ Ten is the very nature of number ” and by this ' number ' he meant not only a unit of measurement but a means by which the world could be grasped and understood . He noted how people can count up to ten on their fingers and, having reached ten, revert back to the one-unit and begin again. In the same way, a soul entered a body, lived for a certain time, died, and reverted back to where it started from, only to then travel the same path again. This concept is explored fully in Plato's Phaedo , the account of Socrates ' last day in prison before his execution, which focuses on the immortality of the soul and the afterlife . Right from the start of the dialogue, Plato makes use of Pythagoras ' link to Phlius , in choosing Echecrates of Phlius as interlocutor and audience to Phaedo , the narrator. Further, the characters of Simmias and Cebes of Thebes – Socrates ' central interlocutors in the account Phaedo relates - are both Pythagoreans. Plato 's choice of Echecrates links the dialogue directly to Pythagorean thought from the first line but, through Simmias and Cebes , Pythagorean concepts are introduced and developed throughout. Toward the end of the dialogue, after various proofs have been given by Socrates for the immortality of the soul, he concludes with this exchange with Cebes : Tell me, [ Socrates said], what is that which must be in the body to make it alive? A soul, [ Cebes ] replied. And is this always so? Of course, [Cebes] said. Then the soul always brings life to whatever contains her? No doubt, [Cebes] answered. And is there an opposite to life or not? Yes. What is it? Death. And we have already agreed that the soul cannot ever receive the opposite of what she brings?” Yes, certainly we have, said Cebes. … What do we call that which does not admit death? The immortal, [Cebes] said. And the soul does not admit death? No. Then soul is immortal? It is. Good, [Socrates] said. Shall we say that this is proved? What do you think? ( Phaedo , 105c-e) The mathematical proofs Socrates offers earlier concerning even and uneven numbers finally leads to the above proof that “ even ” cannot admit of the “ odd ” in order to remain itself ( even ) and so life (the soul ) cannot admit of death and still remain life ; therefore, the soul must be immortal . This entire argument typifies Pythagorean thought as understood by ancient writers and practiced by Pythagorean sects of Plato 's time. Conclusion The Phaedo also establishes the geography of the afterlife which would later be used by the Church in creating the concepts of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven . The concept of purgatory first appears in Phaedo 108b-d, judgment of the dead in 113d-e, Hell in 113e-114a, and Heaven in 109d-110b. Plato 's argument for an ultimate, undeniable, realm of truth, from which all other truths are established , is also evident in the gospel narratives of the Bible , most notably the Gospel of John , and in the epistles of St. Paul . Even though nothing can be said for certain regarding Pythagoras ' life or original teachings, enough of his thought was developed by later disciples and admirers to have influenced the greatest Greek philosopher of antiquity. Plato 's work established the discipline of philosophy and has permeated every other, to greater or lesser degrees, for the past 2,000 years. The details of Pythagoras ' life may never be fully known but his influence continues to be felt, world-wide, in the present day.

(*)"It is said there are 84,000 dharma gates, which is a poetic way of saying there are infinite ways to enter the practice of the Buddha dharma . And over the centuries Buddhism has developed an enormous diversity of schools and practices. One way to understand how this diversity came about is by understanding the three turnings of the dharma wheel." (*) By Barbara O'Brien. Updated on July 28, 2018. "Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel." Learn Religions, Feb. 8, 2021, learnreligions.com/three-turnings-of-the-dharma-wheel-450003 . Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel The dharma wheel , usually depicted as a wheel with eight spokes for the Eightfold Path , is a symbol of Buddhism and of the Buddha's Dharma . Turning the Dharma wheel , or setting it in motion, is a poetic way to describe the Buddha's teaching of the dharma . In Mahayana Buddhism , it is said the Buddha turned the dharma wheel three times. These three turnings represent three significant events in Buddhist history. Ramnath Bhat/CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons The First Turning of the Dharma Wheel The first turning began when the historical Buddha delivered his first sermon after his enlightenment . In this sermon, he explained the Four Noble Truths , which would be the foundation of all the teachings he gave in his life. In his book The Third Turning of the Wheel: Wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra , Zen teacher Reb Anderson explained how the Buddha began his teaching: "He had to speak in a language that the people listening to him could understand, so in this first turning of the dharma wheel he offered a conceptual, logical teaching. He showed us how to analyze our experience and he set out a Path for people to find freedom and liberate themselves from suffering ." His purpose was not to give people a belief system to soothe their suffering, but to show them how to perceive for themselves what was causing their suffering. Only then they could they understand how to free themselves. The Second Turning of the Dharma Wheel The second turning , which also marks the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism , is said to have occurred about 500 years after the first. You might ask, if the historical Buddha was no longer alive, how could the wheel have turned again? " Lovely myths arose to answer this question : The Buddha was said to have revealed the second turning in sermons delivered on Vulture Peak Mountain in India; however, the contents of these sermons were kept hidden by supernatural creatures called nagas and it was only revealed when humans were ready." Another way to explain the second turning is that the basic elements of the second turning can be found in the historical Buddha 's sermons, planted here and there like seeds, and it took about 500 years before the seeds began to sprout in the minds of living beings. Then great sages such as Nagarjuna came forth to be the Buddha's voice in the world. The Buddhist Doctrine of Two Truths: Origins . In this video we'll look at the origins of the Buddhist doctrine of "two truths" in the Upaniṣads and certain of the suttas of early Buddhism. While the Buddha never actually discussed a concept of "two truths" per se, he did elaborate a number of related ideas that in time would mature into this doctrine. The second turning gave us perfection of wisdom teachings . The principal component of these teachings is sunyata , emptiness (not to be confused with nothingness ). This teaching represents a deeper understanding of the nature of existence than the first turning doctrine of anatta , non-self (not to be confused with not existing ). The Buddhist Doctrine of Two Truths: Abhidharma and Nagarjuna. This is a short introduction to the development of the doctrine of two truths in Buddhism. We'll look briefly at the doctrine's origins that are treated in an earlier video, then we'll turn to the role of the abhidhamma/abhidharma in establishing a Buddhist understanding of ultimate truth or ultimate reality. Finally we'll turn to the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna's presentation of the doctrine of two truths and some of its later implications. The Buddha on Self and Non-Self. The Buddha 's teachings on the self and on non-self are some of his most subtle, interesting, and unique. We'll take a look at them in this video. We'll also compare the Buddha 's view of the self with that of western philosophers David Hume and Derek Parfit . Emptiness in Buddhism: Early Doctrine and Development . What is the doctrine of emptiness in Buddhism? We'll look at its early history to see how the notion of emptiness may have began in response to ideas of the day, how it matured, and how it developed in later Buddhist dharma. The second turning also moved the focus away from individual enlightenment . It refers to the practice of the bodhisattva , who strives to bring all beings to enlightenment. «" Bodhisattva ", literally meaning " enlightenment ('bodhi') being ('sattva') " in Sanskrit , has two primary meanings in Buddhism . One of them, held by the Theravada and by some Mahayanists, is of someone who is dedicated to becoming a Buddha . The other, held by some Mahayanists, is of someone who deliberately refrains from becoming enlightened, a Buddha , in order to help others.» ( Chenrezig Bodhisattva, https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey/116Chenrezig.htm) Indeed, we read in the Diamond Sutra that individual enlightenment is not possible for bodhisattva : "... all living beings will eventually be led by me to the final Nirvana, the final ending of the cycle of birth and death . And when this unfathomable, infinite number of living beings have all been liberated, in truth not even a single being has actually been liberated. "Why Subhuti ? Because, a bodhisattva still clings to the illusions of form or phenomena, such as an ego, a personality, a self, a separate person, or a universal self existing eternally . Because that person is a bodhisattva ." Reb Anderson wrote that the second turning " refutes the previous method and the previous path based on a conceptual approach to liberation ". While the first turning made use of conceptual knowledge , the second turning, showed that wisdom cannot be found in conceptual knowledge . The Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel The third turning is more difficult to pinpoint in time. It arose, apparently, not long after the second turning and had similar mythical and mystical origins . It is an even deeper revelation of the nature of truth . The main focus of the third turning is Buddha Nature . The doctrine of Buddha Nature is described by the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche this way: "This [doctrine] declares that the fundamental nature of mind is utterly pure and primordially in the state of buddhahood . It is the absolute buddha (conscience above the mind). It has never changed from beginningless time . Its essence is wisdom and compassion that is inconceivably profound and vast." Because all beings are fundamentally Buddha Nature, all beings may realize enlightenment . Reb Anderson calls the third turning " a logical approach that is based on the refutation of logic ". In the third turning , we find a presentation of the first turning that is in accordance with the second turning ," - Reb Anderson says, - "We are offered a systematic path and a conceptual approach that are free of self ." The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche said, ... our fundamental nature of mind is a luminous expanse of awareness that is beyond all conceptual fabrication and completely free from the movement of thoughts . It is the union of emptiness and clarity , of space and radiant awareness that is endowed with supreme and immeasurable qualities . From this basic nature of emptiness everything is expressed; from there everything may arise and manifest. Because this is so, all beings are without an abiding self yet may realize enlightenment and enter Nirvana .

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 11. Ignorance, Unconsciousness, Unintelligence These concepts are deeply interwoven, primarily within the philosophical and religious traditions of India, such as Hinduism  and Buddhism . They describe the nature of worldly existence, suffering, and the path to liberation. The Wheel of Samsara, Rebirth, and Death Samsara (The Wheel of Samsara)  is the fundamental, beginningless cycle of repeated existence, characterized by birth, life, death , and rebirth  (or reincarnation). It is often referred to as the "cycle of wandering" and is considered by these traditions to be inherently unsatisfactory and a source of suffering ( dukkha ). Rebirth and Death  are the continuous processes that make up Samsara . An individual dies, and due to the forces at play (especially Karma ), consciousness or the essence of the being is reborn into a new form or realm of existence. Karma, Ignorance, Ego, and Unconsciousness/Unintelligence The cycle of Samsara is not random; it is powered and perpetuated by certain forces, primarily: Karma (Action and Consequence)  literally means "action." It is the universal law of cause and effect , where every intentional physical, verbal, or mental action creates a potential reaction or consequence (a karmic imprint). Karma  is the engine that propels the Wheel of Samsara . The consequences of actions, whether positive or negative, determine the circumstances, nature, and realm of one's future rebirths. Good actions lead to favorable rebirths, while negative actions lead to unfavorable ones, but both keep the being bound to the cycle. Ignorance ( Avidyā ) and Unconsciousness/Unintelligence  is the root  cause of the entire cycle. Ignorance  is not simply a lack of information, but a fundamental misunderstanding of the true nature of reality and the self. It is the belief that things are permanent, separate, and have an independent self, when they are, in fact, impermanent and without a fixed, permanent self ( anatta/anātman ). The terms Unconsciousness  or Unintelligence  in this context often refer to the state of mind clouded by this fundamental ignorance . Ignorance  leads to desire, craving, and attachment to the phenomenal world, which in turn leads to actions ( karma ) that create future consequences, ensuring continued rebirth in Samsara . The Ego ( Ahamkara  or Sense of Self)  is the sense of a separate, permanent "I" or "Self" that is distinct from the rest of the universe. It is a direct manifestation of fundamental Ignorance . The Ego , driven by ignorance , seeks to protect and gratify itself, leading to the mental afflictions of craving, attachment, aversion , and hatred . These mental states motivate the intentional actions that generate Karma , solidifying one's presence on the Wheel of Samsara . The desire to maintain this separate "I" is the fuel for future birth. The Moment-to-Moment Cycle (Kṣaṇa) The term Kṣaṇa  (Pali: khaṇa ) is a foundational concept in Buddhism and Hinduism , often defined as the shortest measurable unit of time—an instant  or flash . Momentary Existence ( Kṣaṇika ):  Every phenomenon (a thought, a feeling, an object, even one's consciousness) is understood as arising, existing, and ceasing within a single kṣaṇa . Ignorance ( Avidyā ) in the Moment:   Ignorance is the failure to perceive this radical, moment-to-moment impermanence. We mistakenly aggregate the swift succession of kṣaṇas  and superimpose the illusion of a permanent Ego  or self . Ego in the Moment:  The Ego  is the continuous, momentary act of clinging  to the current, fleeting collection of mental and physical states ( skandhas  or khandhas ) and labeling them "I" or "Mine." Karma in the Moment:   Karma  is generated precisely in this instant. It is the volitional impulse ( intention or choice ) that arises and ceases in a moment. That impulse leaves an imprint  on the continuum of consciousness , ensuring that the causal tendency carries over to condition the next kṣaṇa , thus sustaining the Wheel of Samsara . Unconsciousness/Unintelligence:  This is the underlying state of mind that allows the Ego and Ignorance to operate freely—the lack of mindfulness  or awareness of the impermanent nature of each kṣaṇa . Concepts in Other Fields Top Religions (Outside Indic Traditions) While the full framework of Samsara, Karma , and Kṣaṇa is unique to Indic religions ( Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism , and certain aspects of Taoism ), similar concepts appear: Concept Indic Tradition Parallel in Other Religions (e.g., Christianity, Islam, Judaism) Ignorance / Unintelligence Avidyā , not knowing the true nature of Self/Reality. Sin/Moral Blindness:  The state of being estranged from God or the divine order (e.g., Original Sin in Christianity). The moral lack of clarity about what constitutes 'right' action. Ego Ahamkara , the illusion of a separate, permanent "I." Pride/Hubris:  A major vice ( al-kibr  in Islam, Pride  as the chief deadly sin in Christianity) that separates the individual from God and community. It is an excessive focus on the self. Karma Universal law of action and reaction governing rebirth. Divine Retribution/Measure for Measure ( Midah k'neged Midah ):  Phrases like "You reap what you sow" (Christianity/Judaism) and the concept of a Last Judgment  reflect a moral accountability for actions, though it generally applies to a single life/afterlife rather than an endless cycle of rebirth. Rebirth & Samsara Continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Not present. Instead, the focus is on a linear timeline  from creation to a single life, a single death, and a final, eternal destination (Heaven or Hell). Philosophy and Psychology Field Interpretation of the Concepts Philosophy (Western) Moment-to-Moment:  Echoes the concept of the Stream of Consciousness  ( William James ) or Heraclitus 's idea that "You cannot step into the same river twice." Ignorance:  Studied in Epistemology  as the absence of knowledge or truth. Ego:  The Cartesian Cogito  ("I think, therefore I am") establishes the thinking self, which is the very self Eastern traditions aim to dissolve. Psychology (General) Ego:  In Freudian/Psychoanalytic theory, the Ego  is the part of the personality that mediates between the unconscious instincts ( Id ), the moral conscience ( Superego ), and reality. In Jungian psychology, the Ego is the center of consciousness, distinct from the broader Self  (which is closer to the true, holistic Self sought in Eastern traditions). Psychology (Mindfulness/CBT) Moment-to-Moment & Ignorance:   Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)  directly adopts the practice of focusing on the present, fleeting moment. It treats Ignorance as cognitive distortion  or lack of decentering —identifying with thoughts and emotions as fixed realities rather than passing mental events. General Natural Sciences Moment-to-Moment: Physics  views time as a continuous dimension, though the concept of the "present moment" is challenging to define in relativity. Neuroscience  sees consciousness as an incredibly rapid, continuous, and integrated succession of neural activity. Thoughts, perceptions, and the sense of self are dynamic, momentary, and dependent on this fleeting electrochemical activity. Ego and Unconsciousness: Neuroscience  suggests the sense of a stable "Ego" or self  is constructed and maintained by a network of brain regions (like the Default Mode Network  or DMN). The "dissolution of Ego" experienced in deep meditation or under certain substances (psychedelics) correlates with a decrease in DMN activity, suggesting the Ego is a highly active, yet ultimately optional, state of consciousness. Karma (Cause and Effect):  The scientific principle of Causality  is the secular parallel to Karma . Every action has a measurable, predictable effect, not necessarily moral, but entirely bound by the laws of physics and biology. The Ego’s Illusions: Manifestations of Ignorance Seeing the diverse ways the Ego  uses Illusion  to perpetuate Ignorance  and distract us from the moment-to-moment reality ( kṣaṇa ). The various forms of illusion you listed are all psychological defenses and projections that keep the mind bound to an artificial reality, preventing the cessation of suffering. They are all facets of the fundamental Ignorance ( Avidyā ): the belief in a permanent, separate self that must be protected, acquired, or projected. When Ignorance is viewed more broadly, involving unawareness, unknown (unknowledged), unperceived (unseen, unheard), unintelligence, stupidity, foolishness, and masochist, these concepts appear as the following types of illusion: Illusions of Identity and Acquisition Illusion of (willing or wanting to) be someone or something who is not:  This is the core illusion of Ego , the psychological mask or persona used to define the temporary self, mistakenly believing it to be the true, permanent self. Illusion of (willing or wanting of) having something who has not:  The delusion that happiness or security can be achieved by acquiring external objects, wealth, power, or relationships, ignoring the fundamental truth of Impermanence . Illusion of (willing or wanting of) doing something who does not:  The delusion that one is the sole, powerful, and constant Doer  of all actions, ignoring the vast network of causes and conditions (dependent origination) that truly give rise to any action, creating the heaviest Karmic  load. Illusions of Time-Binding Illusion of 'living the past' bound to past memories:  The mental replay of past events, sustained by the failure to recognize that the past moment is gone . This is a key mechanism for Masochism —the mind compulsively re-inflicts old pain upon itself. Illusion of 'living the future' bound to projects and imagination/dreams of future to be:  The anxious or overly optimistic projection of the self into an imagined future, which denies the radical Uncertainty  of the future and generates Unintelligence  by preventing grounded choices in the Here and Now . Illusions of Mental and Emotional Extremes Illusion of the fantastic and marvellous (makeups of nothing real: between grandious dreams and dreadful nightmares):  The complete inability to distinguish the subjective inner world  from the objective external reality , representing the height of Unconsciousness  and dissociation, leading to extreme Foolishness . The illusion of pleasures, not interest, and repulse (digust and fear):  The delusion that these emotional reactions (Attachment, Indifference, Aversion) are fixed, true properties of the external object, rather than transient mental reactions  arising within the mind. This mechanism generates all fresh Karma , strengthening the bonds of Samsara . The Spectrum of Ignorance The various terms you listed can be grouped into a spectrum of how the lack of knowledge or awareness manifests: Category Expanded Term Binding to the Root Concept Root Lack of Insight Ignorance ( Avidyā ), Unintelligence The foundational, deep-seated failure to see reality as it is (impermanent, interconnected). Sensory/Cognitive Failure Unaware, Unknown, Unperceived (unseen, unheard) Failure to acquire or process necessary information from the external world or internal state. This is the operational mode  of deep ignorance. Behavioral/Social Manifestation Stupidity, Foolishness The practical application of ignorance, resulting in poor judgment, self-defeating actions, or a failure to learn from experience. Self-Binding Action Masochism An extreme psychological manifestation where the individual is actively, often unconsciously, drawn to or seeks out suffering. Binding the Concepts to Suffering and Action Ignorance as the Driver of Ego and Action Ignorance -> Unawareness:  The central Buddhist/Hindu Ignorance  is the unawareness of the non-existence of a permanent self . This root unawareness forces the mind to construct and defend the Ego —the illusion of a fixed, separate identity. The Ego, driven by Unawareness , then engages in repetitive, self-serving, and often contradictory behaviors. Stupidity and Foolishness as Karmic Enablers Stupidity and Foolishness  are the actions that result from the Ego's blind defense. They represent the failure to apply basic logic or learned wisdom. Example:  Constantly seeking approval from others despite repeated, negative outcomes. These unwise actions— Karma —are continually motivated by the unawareness  (ignorance) that such actions will not bring lasting satisfaction but will instead reinforce the cycle of suffering. Foolish choices create negative Karmic  imprints. Unperceived/Unknown as the Sustainer Unperceived (Unseen, Unheard):  The failure to perceive the consequences of one's actions, even as they manifest. The cycle continues because the individual, operating from a core lack of insight, fails to see  the repeating patterns of their own making. Example:  An Ego-driven person is told they are hurtful, but they are unaware/unperceived  of their impact, leading them to repeat the behavior. This lack of perception sustains the Unintelligence  to break the cycle. Masochism: The Ultimate Self-Binding Masochism  can be viewed as the extreme, internalized form of Karma  sustained by Ignorance . Instead of being unaware  of suffering, the masochist is so deeply identified with their suffering (or the processes that create it) that the suffering itself becomes the central organizing principle of their Ego . Their continuous, self-defeating actions (a form of negative Karma ) are chosen, often unconsciously , because the Ego  finds its identity and sense of purpose within that very pattern of pain, effectively binding itself tighter to the personal Wheel of Samsara  (the cycle of self-inflicted pain and relief). In short, the deep, philosophical Ignorance  gives rise to the protective Ego . This Ego, operating through Unawareness  and Unintelligence , manifests as the poor decisions of Stupidity/Foolishness  (creating bad Karma ) and is tragically perfected in the self-binding cycle of Masochism . Overcoming the Forms of Ignorance Through Practices The various traditions and psychological schools agree that the path to liberation or well-being lies in actively addressing and dissolving this spectrum of Ignorance . The way forward involves a multi-pronged approach that targets the root philosophical delusion, the psychological defense mechanisms (Ego), and the resultant harmful actions (Karma). Here is a guide based on the universal principles of wisdom traditions and modern psychology: Cultivating Awareness (Targeting Unawareness, Unperceived, Unintelligence) This is the foundational step, moving away from Unconsciousness  and toward focused attention on the present moment ( kṣaṇa ). Practice: Mindfulness Meditation: The Goal:  To directly observe the moment-to-moment nature of existence. How it Works:  By sitting quietly and focusing non-judgmentally on breath, body sensations, or sounds, you train the mind to perceive phenomena as they are  (fleeting, changing, impermanent). This directly contradicts the Ignorance  that things are solid and permanent. Result:  It cuts through the Unawareness  and the sensory failure of the Unperceived  by making you intimately familiar with the kṣaṇa-to-kṣaṇa  flow of reality. Practice: Thought and Emotion Labeling: The Goal:  To create distance from the immediate emotional reaction. How it Works:  When a strong feeling (anger, craving, anxiety) arises, mentally label it ("A thought of judgment," "A sensation of anger"). Do not follow the story. Result:  This disarms Unintelligence  and Foolishness  by preventing the reflexive jump into action (Karma). By labeling, you assert: "This is a passing mental event, not my permanent self ." De-Centering the Ego (Targeting Ego, Stupidity, Foolishness) This involves weakening the protective, self-referential structures that cause suffering. Practice: Self-Inquiry (Philosophical Meditation): The Goal:  To challenge the core assumption of the permanent self. How it Works:  Ask penetrating questions: Who is the one that is suffering? Where does this "I" reside? Is my "self" the same as the self I was five minutes ago?  (Inspired by the neti neti  "not this, not that" path of Vedanta or the Buddhist doctrine of anātman ). Result:  It weakens the Ego  by showing it is built on assumptions, dismantling the deep Ignorance  at the conceptual level. Practice: Compassion and Service ( Karuna  and Seva ): The Goal:  To shift the focus from "I" to "we." How it Works:  Actively engage in selfless service (volunteering, helping a neighbor) or practice compassion meditation (wishing well for others, including those you dislike). Result:  This dissolves the boundary between self and other that the Ego  desperately maintains. It counters Stupidity  and Foolishness , as the wisest actions are those that benefit the whole, not just the isolated self. Rewriting Karma (Targeting Karma, Masochism) Since Karma is about intentional action , we must cultivate wisdom in our choices. Practice: Conscious Choice & Pause: The Goal:  To interrupt the conditioned, unconscious reaction. How it Works:  Use the space created by mindfulness. When an external stimulus or internal craving arises, consciously choose to pause for three seconds  before speaking or acting. Ask: Will this action create future suffering (for myself or others)? Result:  This replaces automatic, negative Karma  with mindful, intentional action ( skillful means ). It is the direct opposite of Masochism ; it is the choice for well-being. Practice: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Techniques: The Goal:  To systematically identify and change harmful thought patterns. How it Works:  Identify "automatic negative thoughts" (ANTs) that sustain feelings of worthlessness or self-defeat (the drivers of Masochism). Challenge the evidence for these thoughts and replace them with more balanced, realistic assessments. Result:  This directly targets the Foolishness  and Stupidity  that keep the self-defeating Karmic loop going, effectively re-programming the underlying Unintelligence . By adopting these practices, the vast, generalized problem of Ignorance  is broken down into manageable, moment-to-moment actions, allowing one to step out of the binding forces of Ego  and the Wheel of Samsara . The 12 Laws of Karma These laws systematize how one's intentions and actions create one's reality. People often ignore them due to the very factors we discussed: Ignorance  (unawareness), Ego  (self-centeredness), and Foolishness  (short-sighted judgment). The Great Law (Cause & Effect); The Law of Creation; The Law of Humility; The Law of Growth; The Law of Responsibility; The Law of Connection; The Law of Focus; The Law of Giving & Hospitality; The Law of Here and Now; The Law of Change; The Law of Patience & Reward; The Law of Significance & Inspiration. No. Law Core Principle How People Stubbornly Ignore It 1. The Great Law (Cause & Effect) "As you sow, so shall you reap." The energy you put out (thoughts, words, deeds) is the energy that returns to you. Ignoring the Mirror:  People focus only on the negative things happening to  them (the effect) without acknowledging the negative energy they put out (the cause), viewing themselves as a perpetual victim. 2. The Law of Creation Life doesn't just happen; we must actively participate in creating what we desire. Passive Waiting:  People wait for circumstances, luck, or others to change their lives, failing to put in the necessary action  and effort to manifest their goals. 3. The Law of Humility What you refuse to accept about yourself or your reality will persist. You must accept your current situation to change it. Blaming and Denial:  People stubbornly refuse to accept that their current reality is the product of their own past choices, instead blaming external factors, people, or luck. 4. The Law of Growth For change to occur, you must change yourself, not the people, places, or things around you. "Wherever you go, there you are." External Focus:  People dedicate all their energy to controlling or criticizing others, believing their environment must be fixed before their own happiness can begin. 5. The Law of Responsibility You are responsible for everything in your life, both good and bad. We mirror what surrounds us, and what surrounds us mirrors us. Avoiding Ownership:  People quickly take credit for success but externalize failure, saying, "It's their fault," failing to recognize their role in creating the situation. 6. The Law of Connection Everything in the universe is connected—past, present, and future. Every step is necessary for the next, no matter how small. Dismissing Small Actions:  People believe minor, everyday acts of dishonesty or unkindness don't matter, ignoring how these build up to define their character and destiny. 7. The Law of Focus You cannot focus on two things at once. Higher values (peace, love) cannot coexist with lower values (greed, anger). Mental Clutter:  People allow their minds to be consumed by resentment, gossip, and worry, draining their energy and making it impossible to focus on constructive goals. 8. The Law of Giving & Hospitality Your conduct should align with your proclaimed beliefs. You must demonstrate what you believe to be true. Hypocrisy:  People claim to believe in fairness, generosity, or respect but fail to demonstrate these qualities when it costs them time, money, or comfort. 9. The Law of Here and Now Dwelling on the past or obsessing over the future prevents you from being fully present. Living in the Past:  People replay old hurts, mistakes, or failures, using past regrets to fuel present negative emotions and prevent new growth. 10. The Law of Change History repeats itself until you learn the lessons necessary to change your path. Repeating Patterns (Foolishness):  People repeat the same self-defeating behaviors (bad relationship choices, financial mistakes) while expecting a different result, failing to learn the underlying lesson. 11. The Law of Patience & Reward True rewards require patient and persistent toil. Joy follows doing what is right, waiting for the reward in its own time. Instant Gratification:  People abandon efforts quickly when results aren't immediate, choosing easy, short-term pleasure over sustained, meaningful effort toward a long-term goal. 12. The Law of Significance & Inspiration The value of an outcome is a direct result of the energy and intent put into it. Your contribution to the Whole is vital. Cynicism and Apathy:  People believe their individual actions don't matter in the grand scheme, leading to half-hearted effort or a withdrawal from making positive contributions to the world. Why People Stubbornly Ignore These Laws The mechanism for ignoring these laws is rooted in the Ego  and its resulting Ignorance  and Foolishness : Ego-Defense (Laws 3, 5, 4):  The Ego's primary job is self-protection. It refuses to accept responsibility  (Law 5) and avoids humility  (Law 3) because admitting fault is terrifying to the constructed self. It's much easier to blame an external force or another person than to look inward for the cause (violating Law 4). Short-Term Pain Avoidance (Laws 9, 11):   Foolishness  manifests as a lack of foresight. The Ego demands pleasure now  and avoids discomfort. This leads to violating the Law of Patience and Reward  (Law 11) for quick fixes and dwelling on the past (Law 9) because revisiting old, familiar pain feels safer than embracing an unknown, difficult future. The Illusion of Separation (Laws 1, 6, 12):  The root Ignorance  is the belief that the self is separate from the universe. This delusion allows people to believe that their negative actions will not affect them (violating the Great Law ), that their small choices are inconsequential (violating the Law of Connection ), and that they can hurt others without diminishing themselves (violating the Law of Significance ). The core mistake is believing one can violate these laws without immediate, personalized consequence. Understanding these laws is the first step; consistent application is the lifelong journey to creating positive karma and moving toward inner growth. Societal Impact: Ignorance in the Collective Ocean When considering the social or societal impact of individual Ignorance, Unconsciousness, and Unintelligence , the analogy of water drops forming the ocean is highly apt. The collective behavior of a demographic is the summation of the mental states and resultant actions (Karma) of every individual within it. The overall "state" of the ocean (society) reflects the properties of its countless drops (individuals). Collective Ignorance (The Ocean's Composition) Ignorance  in this context is the widespread, fundamental failure to perceive reality accurately, particularly concerning interdependence  and impermanence . Individual Drop:  Believes its action only affects itself. Societal Impact: Echo Chambers and Polarization:  The belief in a separate, fixed Ego  leads individuals to only value and connect with those who reinforce their existing identity and beliefs. Collectively, this creates rigid social, political, or ideological echo chambers . Each chamber views the others through the lens of absolute separation (a failure of the Law of Connection), breeding conflict and polarization. Sustainability Crisis (Ignoring Impermanence):  The deep ignorance of impermanence  and interdependence  leads to the collective delusion that resources (water, clean air, land) are infinite and separate from the human system. This drives unsustainable consumption and climate inaction, which is the collective, self-destructive Karma  of the entire demographic. Collective Unconsciousness (The Ocean's Depth) Unconsciousness  is the widespread lack of mindfulness, the failure to pause and reflect on the consequences of actions, leading to habitual, unexamined behavior. Individual Drop:  Acts on impulse, driven by immediate craving or aversion. Societal Impact: Mass Hysteria and Financial Bubbles:  Unconsciousness manifests as a collective emotional contagion. For example, during financial bubbles, a rational look at fundamentals is lost to the herd impulse (craving/greed). No single individual pauses to ask, "Is this sustainable?" The collective lack of reflection leads to widespread, predictable collapse. Normalization of Unethical Behavior:  When individuals are unconscious of the ethical implications of their small, daily actions (e.g., casual dishonesty, petty corruption), those behaviors become normalized  and create a toxic, low-trust social environment. The collective Ego  deems these actions acceptable because "everyone else is doing it." Collective Unintelligence (The Ocean's Direction) Unintelligence  (or Foolishness/Stupidity) is the widespread failure to apply basic logic, learn from past mistakes (the Law of Change), or choose long-term well-being over short-term gain. Individual Drop:  Repeats the same mistake expecting a different result. Societal Impact: Repeating Political/Economic Crises:  Society, as a whole, often fails to learn from history (violating the Law of Change). Whether it's the cycle of boom-bust economics, wars of expansion, or the return of authoritarianism, the collective Unintelligence  ensures that the underlying systemic causes are never truly addressed, only temporarily patched up. Misallocation of Resources:  Resources (money, time, labor) are allocated based on short-term cravings (pleasure, consumption, defense) rather than long-term strategic needs (education, health, infrastructure). This is the collective version of Foolishness , prioritizing instant gratification (Law of Patience and Reward) which creates a massive debt of future Karma  (consequences). In essence, a society suffering from collective ignorance and unconsciousness is a social organism moving blindly, creating vast waves of collective suffering that impact every single individual, regardless of their personal wisdom. The quality of the water in the ocean is an inescapable reflection of the nature of the drops within it.). Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 9. Conscience and Intelligence The Intelligent Web of the Cosmos The word intelligence  has multiple meanings: the capacity to reason, solve problems, learn, and adapt; the ability to understand and make sense of information; or the power to act effectively in relation to truth and reality . In human terms, intelligence involves logic and analysis; in the cosmic sense, it expresses itself as order, balance, and coherence. The Intelligence of the Universe  can be seen in the organization of matter and energy, in universal laws such as gravity, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism, and in the emergence of complex systems like life . These patterns reveal an intrinsic logic in nature — a rational harmony that governs the unfolding of creation and destruction . This order does not imply a human-like consciousness or purpose . It simply reflects that the cosmos is structured by principles that can be understood — an underlying unity, a coherence that coordinates everything from galaxies to subatomic particles. Intelligence , in this broader sense, is the dynamic harmony of truth expressed in the laws that sustain the universe . Consciousness – The Fundamental Awareness Every existing thing requires perception to be recognized as such. Without awareness , even the most luminous act of manifestation would remain unseen. As creation and destruction pulse throughout the universe, consciousness  arises as their witness — the inner capacity through which the cosmos perceives itself. Consciousness  is the identification of the movement of something — whether material or immaterial . It can expand or contract; and it likely exists in everything that exists in the universe. Natural and emergent laws express this interaction — in perturbations, field effects, and distances that quantum particles and greater entities identify. Panpsychism defines consciousness as a fundamental and ubiquitous property of reality . The notion of senso  may be understood as the subjective experience that things possess , even at primitive levels. Thus, consciousness is not exclusive to humans but manifests in degrees throughout the universe, from elementary particles to living beings . Fundamental “feeling” : Consciousness exists, in its simplest form, in all things — not only in complex brains. Degrees of awareness : The way subjective experience manifests varies greatly — human consciousness is complex, but even an electron or a rock may have a rudimentary form of “feeling.” Senso as subjective experience : Every entity has a minimal perspective or way of “being-in-the-world,” which forms the basis of subjective experience. Through this lens, the universe is not dead matter but a living continuum of awareness in different grades of expression . Intelligence – The Organizing Principle Consciousness allows perception; intelligence  organizes it. It is the universal capacity to establish relations, infer patterns, and respond coherently to reality. Every perception is already an act of intelligence — an interpretation of signals from being. Ancient philosophies, from Vedanta to the Stoics , recognized this. The Logos , the Nous , the Tao , and the Brahman  all refer to a universal Intelligence that sustains existence. Intelligence is not limited to human thought; it is the architecture of reality itself. Atoms combine intelligently, cells organize intelligently, ecosystems adapt intelligently. Human intelligence is one of its most self-reflective forms — the universe learning to understand itself. From Consciousness to Conscience When consciousness turns its gaze upon itself, intelligence  becomes moral awareness — conscience . While consciousness allows one to perceive, conscience allows one to discern. It distinguishes harmony from dissonance, unity from separation, right from wrong. A being becomes truly intelligent not when it merely calculates, but when it perceives the ethical and existential consequences of its actions. In this sense, conscience is the ethical dimension of intelligence — its heart. Across spiritual traditions, this insight reappears: In Buddhism, Prajna  is wisdom born of compassion. In Christianity, the inner Christ  symbolizes moral intelligence that forgives and enlightens. In the Upanishads, the Ātman  reflects the universal Brahman  within the human soul. All point to the same truth: Conscience is intelligence reflected in love . The Spectrum of Conscience Conscience is not static; it manifests in levels or gradations that vary according to one’s alertness, depth of self-awareness, and spiritual maturity. Across medicine, psychology, and philosophy, these levels have been described as a continuum of awareness, from dim to radiant, from mechanical habit to luminous realization. 1. Medical and psychological perspectives From a physiological standpoint, consciousness can be assessed by responsiveness and alertness : Full alertness corresponds to the normal waking state, where attention is clear and directed. Drowsiness or daydreaming reflects a partial withdrawal of awareness, a dimming of the inner light. Sleep and dream states move consciousness inward, into symbolic or subconscious domains. Coma or unresponsiveness mark the deepest withdrawal from external perception, though traces of inner awareness may still persist. These states show that consciousness oscillates naturally, like tides between waking and sleeping, expansion and contraction. 2. Philosophical and spiritual perspectives Beyond physiology, traditions describe three primary levels of conscience: Subconscious: The domain of instinct, memory, and reactive emotion. It is the repository of habits, fears, and desires that operate below deliberate thought. Conscious: The analytical and moral plane, where thought and choice arise. Here the human being reflects, decides, and assumes responsibility. Superconscious: The transcendent dimension, where awareness merges with its source. In this state, one perceives unity, compassion, and truth directly — beyond the dualities of mind. These are not fixed compartments but fluid strata through which awareness moves. Each moment may oscillate between mechanical reaction and luminous presence. On a practical continuum, the evolution of conscience can be visualized as a movement : from victim thinking (identification with suffering and separation) → to self-awareness ( recognition of causes and choice ), → to alignment with reality ( surrender to truth, letting go, and compassion ). Thus, conscience evolves from instinctual survival toward lucid, loving intelligence — the consciousness that sees all beings as facets of a single life (unum) . Science – The Organized Memory of Intelligence Science  is the organized accumulation of consciousness — structured and stored in memory — for the purpose of understanding and survival. Its goal is to discern, collect, and preserve intelligence: the recognition of natural and emergent laws that govern creation and destruction in Uno , and the identification of truths within ultimate reality. Science seeks to reduce danger, prevent collective extinction, and promote the balanced continuity of life. It transforms the spontaneous awareness of intelligence into systematic understanding. In this sense, science is conscience applied to matter and method  — the discipline of learning how the universe functions, so that life may continue in harmony with it. Wisdom – The Right Use of Knowledge Wisdom  is the recognition of truth with consciousness and the correct application of knowledge acquired through science. It is the union of understanding and conscience — knowing not only what is , but how to use it rightly. Where science accumulates knowledge, wisdom selects and applies it in alignment with the greater good. Thus, wisdom is not the end of knowledge but its purification through awareness. It represents the maturity of intelligence, the clarity of conscience, and the compassionate integration of both. The Law of Harmony When intelligence is guided by conscience and expressed through wisdom, it becomes creative and life-affirming. When separated from them, it becomes destructive — a tool of domination or division. Therefore, the ethical dimension of intelligence is not optional; it is the condition for evolution itself. The moral law is not external; it is embedded in awareness. To act without conscience is to fall into automatic reaction — dissonance in the symphony of being. To act with clarity, compassion, and truth is to resonate with the order of the universe. The wise have always defined knowledge not as mere information, but as right knowledge . The true sage is not one who knows more, but one who understands rightly and acts accordingly . The Evolution of Understanding Human civilization stands at a critical threshold. Technology extends intelligence outward, but conscience and wisdom must expand inward to balance it. Intelligence without conscience leads to self-destruction; conscience guided by intelligence leads to harmony. The future depends not on how much we know, but on how deeply we understand. To understand is to unite intellect and compassion, logic and empathy, science and spirituality. At the summit of this integration, all knowledge returns to love — the natural expression of universal intelligence. Intelligence as the Reflection of Uno At the highest level, Intelligence, Conscience, Science , and Wisdom  converge into a single principle — the living reflection of Uno , the indivisible source of being. When the mind is clear and the heart is pure, intelligence seeks truth, conscience guides it ethically, science grounds it in reality, and wisdom applies it compassionately. In this state, awareness recognizes itself as both observer and observed, creator and creation. This is the sacred equilibrium toward which evolution tends: a conscious universe awakening to its own intelligence . In the enlightened being, creation and destruction, knowledge and love, science and spirit dissolve into one luminous fact — that all is aware, and all awareness is One. ... same inner and outer expansion as ever Explore the ancient Greek philosophy of cynicism , which calls for the rejection of materialism and conformity in favor of a simple life . In the 4th century BCE, a young Diogenes of Sinope was found to be counterfeiting coins. He was stripped of his citizenship, his money, all his possessions and sent into exile. He decided he would live self-sufficiently, close to nature, without materialism, vanity, or conformity and only then could he be truly free. William D. Desmond details how Diogenes gave rise to the philosophy of cynicism . Immanuel Kant lived in the 18th century and is considered to be one of the greatest German philosophers and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers of all time. His philosophical revolution was to place the human at the center of the philosophical study of knowledge, morality, and beauty. He deeply believed that reason is the root of morality. His thoughts on the relationship between reason and human experience led to the notion of “procedural humanism” or “Kantian humanism”. The work of Immanuel Kant is still relevant today as the humanistic values of Western culture are deeply influenced by the Kantian moral philosophy. His philosophy is called Kantianism. The fundamental idea of Kant’s “critical philosophy” – especially in his three Critiques: the Critique of Pure Reason (1781, 1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790) – is human autonomy. He argues that human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience; and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 8. Creation and Destruction It is intuitively clear that every event has an origin and a destiny . What is not so simple to grasp is that, in many of the norms by which life unfolds, and in almost all existences, origin and destiny remain unknown to consciousness . Two moments are necessary for an event to occur—for it to become existence or to return to non-existence: the moment of arising ( origin ) and the moment of cessation ( destiny ). It is an axiom that every existence or inexistence arises from a set (perhaps infinite) of prior causes and subsequent effects that generate it, which, through transformations and motion, become new causes  called consequences , new conditions, and new effects. Antecedent causes, submitted to transformations and movements that we call effects , give rise to further consequent causes . By direct observation of Reality , it is possible to perceive that each real event (objective or subjective) or new cause is preceded by an uncountable or infinite chain of earlier causes linked by transformations and effects. Hence the intuitive impression that the One ( Uno ) must have had a Unique Origin (1I), and that the Material and Immaterial Universes share this Origin —an ancient pulse of cosmic motion—and will each have a Destiny after immense cycles of movement have unfolded. At every moment of Reality , new events are born into existence , while old and past ones dissolve back into Emptiness . Through this process, the Uno creates and destroys Itself, a concept as ancient as human consciousness itself. Yet, due to our limited scale and intelligence , these ideas remain under perpetual observation and reflection. Cause : the set of material and immaterial conditions fulfilled within, at the boundary, and beyond Non-Existence , collapsing through destructive interferences or excesses of energy , forcing transformations between the two domains, and giving rise to a new set of satisfied or possible conditions. Effect : the process of transformation itself—the perpetual rhythm between existence and non-existence : ...< exists < does not exist < exists <... immersed in the Void after dissolution and before rebirth. Consequently, it is reasonable to infer that any existence (and possibly non-existence ) unfolds within an interval of type [0, 1] , where 0 represents the event of Beginning and 1 the event of End . "[...] [...]" Creation and Destruction as Universal Rhythm Throughout the myths of the world, this rhythmic unity of Creation and Destruction has been expressed in countless forms. In Hindu cosmology , Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva embody the triune pulse of manifestation, preservation, and dissolution—the infinite heartbeat of Being . In Greek myth , the cycle unfolds from Chaos through Gaia and Uranus giving birth to Titans, gods, and mortals, followed by cataclysms that renew the cosmos. In the Norse Edda , Ragnarok closes one world only for another to arise from its ashes. In Egypt , Osiris dies and is resurrected by Isis , symbolizing the eternal return of life through decay. In Mesoamerican cosmologies , the Five Suns represent successive creations and destructions of the world—each age consumed by its own imbalance. The same principle lives in Chinese thought through Yin and Yang , in the ever-revolving harmony of opposing yet complementary forces, and in the myth of Pangu , whose death gives birth to the living cosmos. Across Africa , Dogon cosmology tells of Amma , whose creative motion brought forth both order and disorder , light and darkness, the seed and the void ; while Yoruba myths speak of Olodumare and the Orishas fashioning and reshaping the world from primordial chaos. Among Indigenous Australians , the Dreamtime is not merely a past creation but an ongoing cycle of continual renewal, where ancestral beings sing worlds into existence and withdraw them again into silence. Throughout the myths of the world, this rhythmic unity between arising and dissolving has been seen as the secret pulse of existence. Birth and death, expansion and contraction, dawn and dusk — all obey the same invisible law: creation unfolds, not to persist, but to transform. Ancient cosmologies already intuited this principle. The Indian and Egyptian traditions , as well as the wisdom literature of Judaism (Ecclesiastes) , spoke of the Eternal Return  — the idea that the universe and all existence move through infinite cycles of recurrence . Worlds arise, vanish, and arise again, repeating themselves in a vast rhythm of self-similarity, through endless time or infinite space . The Pythagoreans and Stoics  later embraced this doctrine, seeing in it a rational order that binds fate and freedom. When the Christian worldview  expanded through the West, this notion of recurrence gave way to a linear view of time — one creation, one fall, one redemption, one end. Yet even within this vision, the story of Genesis carries a deep symbolic resonance. The Creation Story  of the Hebrew and Christian traditions narrates that God created the universe and life through supernatural act — in “seven days” that, for many, are not literal units of time but metaphorical days of manifestation , symbolic of the unfolding of existence from the unmanifest source. Modern readings often reconcile this with science: the “days” become epochs; the divine act, a poetic expression of cosmic genesis. Still, literal creationism  persists, denying the scientific age of the Earth and the processes of evolution, holding instead that the world was formed less than ten thousand years ago by divine will. This contrast — between the mythic-symbolic and the literal-dogmatic — reveals again humanity’s dual tendency : to mythologize for meaning, and to absolutize myths into doctrines. In the philosophy of Nietzsche , the Eternal Return reappears as a test of affirmation: if every moment of one’s life were to repeat infinitely, could one still love fate ( amor fati )? Here, creation and destruction merge not only as cosmological cycles but as psychological truth — the courage to embrace recurrence without resistance, to will one’s destiny eternally. Thus, from cyclical cosmologies  to linear theologies , from ancient myth  to existential philosophy , humanity contemplates the same fundamental rhythm: all things arise, endure, and return. T o understand creation is to accept destruction; to love the dawn, one must not fear the dusk. Modern cosmology , too, mirrors this ancient insight: the Big Bang and cosmic expansion may culminate in the Great Collapse or eternal dissipation, yet in either case, creation and destruction are one continuous process of transformation. Even physics whispers the same law— energy never dies; it only changes form . Philosophically , Heraclitus foresaw this unity in panta rhei  (“everything flows”), while Buddhism perceives impermanence (“anicca”) as the very nature of existence—the arising and ceasing of all phenomena . From ancient eschatologies to scientific cosmologies, every system, mythic or rational, converges on the same recognition: there is no absolute creation or absolute destruction—only transformation. Across the world’s great past and present civilizations, creation and destruction are not separate themes but two faces of a single cycle. In Mesopotamia , the goddess Tiamat  is slain and from her body the cosmos is formed. MythBeasts+1  Among the Aztecs and Maya , the universe moves through successive eras of creation and destruction, the famed “Five Suns”. Wikipedia+1  In Hindu  cosmology, creation (via Brahma ) and destruction (via Shiva ) share the same divine cycle. Paths of Learning+1  These myths remind us: what begins must end; what ends gives rise to beginning. Creation and Destruction  are the twin breaths of the same cosmic rhythm. Why origin and destiny often remain hidden Because the chain of causes is usually vast and multi-layered (biological, cultural, psychological, physical, historical), consciousness typically perceives only a narrow segment. Human scale, limited instruments, and cognitive shortcuts reduce complexity to manageable narratives: a short list of “reasons” that are often insufficient. This induced ignorance produces political, personal, and collective errors — the famous “ turkey problem ” of being surprised by rare, high-impact events that lie outside the day-to-day sample of experience. To act wisely is to cultivate humility about origins and outcomes: the sensible policy is to account for deep causal networks, to prefer robustness over fragile optimization, and to remember that what looks like permanence often hides contingent support. However, most human beings do not truly understand the nature of this duality . They see Creation and Destruction as opposites—independent forces with rigid moral tones: Creation as good, Destruction as evil. Yet, deeper comprehension reveals them to be interdependent, neutral, and cyclical. Destruction clears the field for renewal, while creation consumes what was before. They are two faces of one coin, inseparable and simultaneous, the same pulse vibrating through existence. The destruction of something old—a structure, an idea, a self—is often the necessary prelude to the birth of something new. A forest burns so that the earth may breathe again. A star collapses to seed new worlds. In human terms, transformation demands the dissolution of past identities, attachments, and illusions. To create a wiser self, the ego must first be undone. From dawn till dusk / 夜明けから夕暮れまで From about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex cosmopolitan and globalized world-system. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms collapsed rapidly. With their end came the world’s first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. Professor Eric H. Cline of The George Washington University will explore why the Bronze Age came to an end and whether the collapse of those ancient civilizations might hold some warnings for our current society. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 3. Doctrine of Two Truths The Doctrine of Two Truths  distinguishes between Conventional Truth  — how things appear — and Ultimate Truth  — how things truly are. Even simple observations reveal this duality: the Sun is always shining, yet we conventionally measure day and night as roughly 12 hours each. From a solar system perspective, there is only the continuous flow of time; from the galaxy’s motion to the rotation of the Earth, our experience of “day” is a relative construct. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11084/ In many philosophical and spiritual traditions, there is a teaching of two levels of truth : Conventional Truth:  describes the everyday experience of reality — the physical world, the Material Universe , perceived through the senses, subject to change, birth, decay, and death . It is the realm of opposites: existence and non-existence, true and false, life and death, light and darkness, day and night, presence and absence. This dualistic understanding — often called the veil of Maya  — is practical and functional. It allows us to navigate life, make decisions, and communicate effectively. Conventional truth is limited, context-dependent, and shaped by sensory perception, the scale of observation, and the structures of our experience. Ultimate Truth:  represents the timeless, formless, and unchanging reality  underlying all phenomena. It is the deeper essence that transcends the flux of the material world — akin to Brahman  in Vedantic philosophy, the unperishable foundation of all that exists. While conventional truth operates in duality and relativity, ultimate truth encompasses and validates it. It reveals the interdependence of all forms, the impermanence of appearances, and the unity of existence. Unified View of Reality Rather than seeing conventional and ultimate truths as opposing realities, they can be understood as two perspectives on a single, unified reality. Conventional truth  functions as the relative lens through which we perceive and act in the world of change. Ultimate truth  provides the absolute lens, illuminating the underlying unity and impermanence of all existence. Recognizing both truths eliminates confusion and apparent contradictions. Conventional truth reflects ultimate truth through duality; ultimate truth validates and transcends conventional truth. Together, they form a coherent understanding of reality : the relative and absolute, seen and unseen, interdependent aspects of one Whole . Misunderstanding  the concept Overvaluation of Conventional Truth  — Excessive reliance on conventional appearances obscures deeper truths, promoting flawed reasoning, superficial understanding, and limited perspective. One may remain trapped in fragmented, temporary views of reality. Internal Duality and Conflict  — Viewing opposites as inherently separate (true vs. false, good vs. evil) fosters internal and external conflict. This duality can intensify divisions, perpetuate inner turmoil, and prevent the recognition of underlying unity. Postponement of Ultimate Understanding  — Ignoring ultimate truth, whether consciously or unknowingly, delays its realization. Without engagement with the deeper reality, spiritual or philosophical development stagnates, leaving one confined to conventional, surface-level understanding indefinitely. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 1. Uno (Ω = God) The Ineffable Source Words often conceal more than they reveal. Every term we use to describe the divine or the totality of existence inevitably carries centuries of interpretation, distortion, and division. The word God  is a prime example. As Eckhart Tolle writes in The Power of Now : “The word God has been emptied of its true meaning over thousands of years of misuse. […] Neither God, nor Being, nor any other term can define or explain the ineffable reality behind these words, so the only important question is whether the word in question helps or prevents you from having the experience of That which it points to.” The reality behind the word cannot be confined to language. To reduce semantic confusion and unite spiritual and scientific perspectives, we will use here the term Uno (Ω)  — or Unum, The One, The Whole, The All, Unus Mundus  — as a symbol for the supreme totality that contains everything that exists and everything that does not exist . Thus, Uno  is equivalent, in essence, to God, Universe, Cosmos, Being, Source, Dharmakaya, Infinite Consciousness, or Existence  Itself. The Moral and Mythic Dimensions of Uno Human beings experience the cosmic dance of Uno  as the tension between order  and chaos . Jordan B. Peterson  reminds us that ancient mythologies saw the world not as a collection of objects but as a drama  unfolding between these two poles: Order  — the known, the realm of predictability, stability, cooperation, and meaning. Chaos  — the unknown, the source of both creation and destruction, of novelty and dissolution. Nature  — and therefore Uno  —contains both: the eternal interplay of birth and death, structure and freedom. The Nature of Uno — The Totality Principle The Union of Existence with Non-Existence Uno is the union that contains everything that is  with everything that is not . This contrasensual idea leads to the uncomfortable reality that Uno is simultaneously contradiction  and tautology  — Uno and Emptiness are the same principle. At each moment, the initial condition is Emptiness. Fundamentally, there is nothing, from which something becomes existence; and eventually, existence ceases, dissolving back into nothing.Things are not, then things become, and later things are not again — restarting endlessly. An alternating sinusoidal  of rebirth into existence and death into non-existence. The Union of All Unions If we imagined the totality of all sets, Uno would be the union that contains every union  — the ultimate inclusion of inclusions. At each moment, Uno is the Ultimate Version of Reality , the complete and living totality of all actual and potential realities that coexist within the continuum of existence. The Union of All Existences Uno includes all that exists materially — forms and bodies in space and time — as well as all that exists immaterially: thoughts, dreams, equations, expressions, memories, archetypes, and spiritual presences. It is both form  and inform ; both visible manifestation and invisible essence. Every existing thing, every idea, every potential, and every absence is contained in Uno as an aspect of the same indivisible totality. The Totality of Movement and Transformation Uno  is not static perfection; it is dynamic wholeness . It includes all motion, transformation, generation, degeneration, and regeneration  — all flows of energy, birth, decay, and renewal . The material and immaterial continuously flow through each other, exchanging information and form. Thus, Uno  is not merely being ; it is also becoming — the eternal unfolding and harmonizing of all opposites . From Uno to Manifestation The passage from Uno  to the structured universe is not a temporal event but an ontological unfolding. Uno  is the “before” of time only in a metaphysical sense. From it arise the first dualities: motion and rest, inner and outer, self and other, light and shadow. But none of these divisions occur in   Uno . They unfold from   Uno . As soon as differentiation arises, the pure indivisibility of Uno  gives rise to multiplicity —not as a fall, but as an expression: the universe revealing its countless aspects from a single inexhaustible root. The Structure of Being — Form, Inform, and Motion Everything real presents three inseparable dimensions: Form  — the corporeal, material aspect, visible in space and measurable in scale. Inform  — the incorporeal, informational essence, existing in the immaterial universe. Movement and Transformation  — the continuous process linking form and inform, generation and dissolution. All material existence contains immaterial information , and all information manifests through form. Forms decompose into sub-forms; information unfolds into interdependent elements — bits, memories, vibrations. Through movement, forms deform, dissolve, and return to their informational origin, from which new forms arise. Being  and non-being alternate in an eternal pulse. In Uno , matter is information in motion, and information is matter in potential. This triadic structure mirrors the universal breathing of creation and dissolution — the living respiration of Uno  itself. The Metaphysical View Uno  is the primordial condition of reality — the first luminous simplicity that arises from Emptiness . It is not “one” as opposed to “two,” nor a numerical unity; it is the non-dual singularity   in which no distinctions yet exist . Where Emptiness is the absolute absence of form, substance, or determination, Uno is the first determination of the indeterminate : the moment the Void expresses itself as being . It is the unbroken field from which all future realities will unfold. Uno is completely without division: the distinction between inner and outer, subject and object, energy and matter, mind and world, has not yet been conceived. In metaphysical terms, Uno is: the ground of all manifestation the undifferentiated fullness latent within the Void the first luminous point of self-presence the pre-cosmic unity containing all possibilities in potential Though later layers introduce multiplicity and polarity, their foundation is this simple, indivisible state. Uno is not static: it is the primordial tension of possibility — the silent seed from which all worlds unfold. The Limits of Definition — The Cloud in the Paper This quote is attributed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa , one of the Cappadocian Fathers . «Irrespective of the progress made by our mind in the Contemplation of God , it never attains what He is; only what is beneath Him.» This reflects his key concept of epektasis —the endless striving and progress toward God . Because God is infinite and incomprehensible, the human mind can only grasp His manifestations, not His essence. Similarly, the Buddha said, as written in the Gangottara Sutra, «All things, whether real or illusory, are ultimately inapprehensible.» Thich Nhat Hanh beautifully illustrates this: «As a piece of paper is composed of numerous non-paper elements, analogically, an individual is a collection of non-individual elements. There is a cloud passing in the sky of your mind.» Everything is interdependent and inseparable. Meaning itself follows this principle: each definition depends on others antecedently, forming an infinite web no intellect can fully contain. Thus, all definitions are relative: they are not absolutely true or false but more or less useful in context. Uno cannot be known intellectually, only realized in awareness. The Buddha encapsulated this through the Three Marks of Existence (tilakkhana): Impermanence (anitya)  — all things are transient and in constant change. Suffering or dissatisfaction (dukkha)  — all conditioned things are unsatisfactory and incapable of providing lasting fulfillment. Non-self or insubstantiality (anatman)  — no thing or being possesses a permanent, independent essence. As Nyanaponika Thera writes: “The three are truly universal marks, characteristics of that which lies below or beyond our normal level of perception.” Misunderstanding the Uno Concept When Uno’s unity is forgotten, misunderstanding arises, leading to human suffering, generating: Deception and Suffering:  confusion, despair, anxiety, or existential emptiness Lack of Love and Compassion:  neglect of self, others, and the living world Disconnection and Isolation:  alienation, selfishness, and fear — the root of spiritual ignorance Such misalignment with Uno ’s unity manifests as the existential absurdity that thinkers like Camus and Schopenhauer described — the human condition divided from its source. The Silence That Contains All Voices Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline. In the vast scape of existence, the majority of creation lies beyond our limited perception and knowledge. This limitless expanse of ignorance is referred to as Shiva. Sadhguru explains, only when one explores his ignorance, knowledge can be born. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 4. Reality In its broadest sense, Reality  (from realitas , meaning "thing") encompasses everything that exists, whether or not it is perceptible, accessible, or fully understood by philosophy, science, or other systems of thought. In common usage, reality refers to “ all that exists ”, the existencial side of Uno (whether be a desert of Emptiness or a abundance of Being , whether Material or Imaterial , whether Monistic , Dualistic, Idealistic, Non-Dualistic, or else). Reality is not a single block of existence; it is a layered, dynamic, and relational field in which internal and external domains arise together, interdependently. What we call “the real” is always a meeting point—a conjunction—between what exists independently of the observer and the way this existence is interpreted, filtered, measured, or lived. Reality thus emerges as a composite phenomenon organized through multiple distinctions: internal/external, subjective/objective, fabricated/natural, aligned/conflicting, material/immaterial, present-existing/past–future inexisting . These distinctions do not divide reality ; they illuminate its modalities of appearance. Traditionally, the real  is understood as that which exists outside of any individual mind —an objective reality . However, reality can also include the internal experiences and constructs that exist within the mind. Concepts like memory,   illusion  and imagination , equation and reasoning, and language, though not always manifesting in the tangible world ( extra mentis ), exist ontologically (ontically, referring to beings, as discussed by Heidegger in Being and Time ), meaning they exist within the mind ( intra mentis )—an subjective reality . These internal experiences are real in their own right, even if they are illusory. The illusion , by existing, is real and true to itself. It does not deny its nature; it affirms its own existence. The internal world of ideas (or spirits) , while existing as fictitious entities of the mind ( ens fictionis ), holds its own reality . These ideas may or may not also exist in the external world, but their status as ideas does not invalidate their reality as mental constructs. An imagined or idealized entity, even if it remains within the realm of thought, has a form of reality . The external objective reality is the natural world, resistant to interpretation: mountains, stars, oceans, atoms, organisms. The external subjective reality is the interpretation of these facts through culture, ideology, language, and emotion. The internal objective reality is the measurable physiological and neurological substrate of experience. The internal subjective reality is the domain of thoughts, imagination, desires, fears, dreams, and meaning—unmeasurable from the outside, yet undeniable from within. Reality is thus both what is and what is seen , both the independent world and the dependent arising of interpretation. But a full account of reality also requires understanding the conditions under which a point of view arises—because every lived reality is a reality-from-somewhere , a reality observed by some “A” in relation to some “B.” And this relation itself becomes a constitutive dimension of what reality is for that observer. Perspectives, Points of View, and the Structure of Reality A point of view only exists when certain conditions are met. These conditions illuminate the relational nature of experience and reveal why “ reality ” multiplies into countless overlapping versions. Consciousness and the Possibility of a View To have a point of view, there must be: awareness of oneself (the subject), perception (a way to receive data), memory (a context for interpretation), and conceptual capacity (to organize experience into meaning). Without these foundations, nothing that could be called a “view” emerges—only unprocessed stimulus or unconscious existence. The Relationship (A->B) is the "Point of View" As in the topographer analogy , the "point of view" or "reality" is the measurement —the relationship  between A and B. Point of View := f(A,B) Even if two people (A1 and A2) look at the same objective target (B) —say, the Prime Minister on TV—they process it through a unique A. The Necessity of A (the Subject) and B (the Target) A point of view always requires two poles: A : the observer, with a unique configuration of memories, emotions, assumptions, state of mind, and biological/neurological conditions; B : the object, event, or idea toward which attention is directed. ...a view is not A alone, nor B alone. The view is the relationship between A and B. This relationality is beautifully illustrated in the analogy of the topographer: A is the exact position from which the observer stands. B is the point being measured. The “point of view” is the measured relation (angle, distance) connecting A to B. Change A, and the measurement changes. Change B, and the relationship changes. Thus, every point of view is the result of a specific configuration, never repeatable or universal. Interpretation as the Generator of Countless Realities Since A is always unique—shaped by: internal/external conditions, subjective/objective filters, natural/fabricated constructs, emotional and cognitive states, cultural frameworks, pathologies or clarity, memory and imagination— then the resulting A→B relation is also unique. If two people watch the same event on television, the event (B) is shared, but the internal filters (A) differ. Thus, the external objective fact becomes two external subjective realities . If a person dreams, A and B are both internal, but the dream is still a reality-from-somewhere —an internal subjective reality . If someone suffers a cognitive distortion, their A changes, altering even the interpretation of internal objects (B), generating a different lived reality . Infinite Overlapping Realities When reality is understood as the relationship between A and B: Reality(A,B) = f(A,B) then the possibilities become infinite. There are infinitely many configurations of A and B, producing infinitely many realities—internal and external, subjective and objective, natural and fabricated, aligned and conflicting . These realities overlap because many observers look at the same B from different A’s, and they multiply because even a single observer changes from moment to moment. Philosophical Implications This framework does not dissolve the external world into mere subjectivity; it clarifies that what is real for an observer is always mediated by a unique position. Reality is not only what exists independently , but also the way existence is lived , interpreted, and related to. Thus, the structure of reality is: the world-as-it-i s (independent), the observer-as-they-are (subjective), and the relationship that arises between them (the point of view). Reality is never one thing; it is always a meeting. The Collision of Realities However, conflict arises when objective reality  (the external, shared world) collides with subjective reality  (the internal world of ideas, emotions, and interpretations). When the inner narrative—the individual’s constructed sense of meaning, memory, and perception—diverges too greatly from the external order of things, a state of cognitive and existential dissonance  emerges. This divergence can occur in varying degrees: In mild forms, it produces confusion, doubt, or emotional distress. In deeper forms, it can destabilize the sense of identity, truth, and coherence of experience itself. When persistent and unresolved, such divergence becomes a seedbed for psychological and psychiatric disturbances. In this collision, the internal world attempts to impose its structure upon external reality —a struggle between inner conviction and outer evidence. If the subjective world grows rigid or inflated (for instance, through obsessive thought, delusional certainty, or exaggerated self-reference), perception becomes distorted. The individual no longer adjusts perception to reality but tries to bend reality to perception . Conversely, when objective reality becomes oppressive or overwhelmingly painful, the mind may retreat into its internal world —a compensatory act of preservation. In both cases, balance between the subjective and objective planes breaks down, and the individual’s connection to Ultimate Reality —the ground of Being that harmonizes both inner and outer—is obscured. Psychological and Health Consequences The persistent tension between subjective illusion and objective fact is not merely philosophical—it has profound psychological and physiological implications. When the mind cannot reconcile what it perceives internally with what it encounters externally, it generates sustained mental friction, emotional suffering, and energetic imbalance. Such dissonance contributes to a range of pathological conditions: Anxiety  arises from the uncertainty between imagined futures and present reality. Depression  often manifests when inner ideals collapse under the weight of outer impossibility. Paranoia  grows where the inner world projects fear onto neutral outer phenomena. Psychosis  or schizophrenia  may emerge when the boundaries between internal and external realities dissolve altogether. These conditions represent, at their root, distortions in the relationship between realities—when the subjective ceases to correspond harmoniously with the objective and loses awareness of the Ultimate. Healing and mental well-being therefore depend on restoring the equilibrium among the three planes: grounding perception in objective reality , cultivating clarity and flexibility in subjective reality , and awakening insight into Ultimate Reality , which transcends and reconciles both. In this harmony, reality ceases to be fragmented; the internal and external are seen as reflections of a single continuum—an indivisible field of Being in which truth and illusion coexist as complementary dimensions of consciousness . From the inner psychological consequences, we now expand to the external and collective processes that build, conceal, and interact through our shared perception of Reality . Creation and Construction of Scaled Realities and Perceptions Reality , for the human mind, is not a fixed object but a continual act of construction . Every perception, every memory, and every word participates in the ceaseless creation of the world as it appears to us. The simplest sensory event — the color of a leaf, the tone of a voice — already contains layers of translation: from sensation to recognition, from recognition to meaning, from meaning to belief. We do not see the world directly; we assemble it. This assembly begins microscopically — in the neurons, in the cells, in the vibrations that stimulate sense and thought. Each impression becomes encoded in the nervous system, associated with emotions, and finally clothed with words. A small-scale perception thus becomes a large-scale “truth.” This is how the private moment of awareness transforms into the public structure of belief. One person’s fear, repeated through stories, becomes collective anxiety; one person’s vision, shared through symbols, becomes a civilization. Human societies have always built grand architectures of reality from these small impressions: religions, political ideologies, markets, and sciences . Each is a reality-production system , an organized field of shared perception. The machinery that sustains them includes language, repetition, authority, and emotional resonance — the same mechanisms that, at the psychological level, form habits and fixations . As the scale of creation expands, imagination can become doctrine, and hypothesis can harden into 'positive' law, shaping the behavior of millions. At the heart of this process lies intention : the conscious or unconscious direction of attention and meaning . To create a reality is to decide what counts as real. A civilization that exalts competition will build cities and economies that mirror struggle; one that reveres cooperation will structure itself around care. In both cases, physical structures follow metaphysical images. The invisible molds the visible. And yet, the larger the construction, the more fragile it becomes. Large-scale realities depend on consensus — on the repeated act of collective belief. When that belief weakens or fractures, what once appeared as solid truth begins to dissolve. The world changes not because the underlying nature shifts, but because the shared lens through which it is viewed is replaced . Civilizations rise and fall through the collective reorganization of perception. Every word, therefore, is a seed of a possible world . - Used carelessly, language hypnotizes entire populations into mistaking abstraction for substance. Used wisely, it liberates the mind from confusion. To understand the creation of large-scale realities is to regain responsibility for the worlds we weave — from the smallest thought to the most encompassing cosmos. Background and Hidden Realities Behind every visible order operates an invisible one. What we call “ background reality ” is not another world apart from ours, but the underlying field of conditions, relations, and causes that silently sustain appearance. The human mind, limited by attention and language , perceives only the surface—what is foregrounded by habit, interest, and emotion. Yet beneath each event lies immense complexity that remains unseen but never inactive. Modern science calls this realm hidden variables or underlying fields. Psychology calls it the unconscious. Philosophy calls it the noumenon, the thing-in-itself. Each points toward the same insight: that what we see is a partial emergence of a deeper totality . These hidden realities are not sinister; they are simply unmeasured. They hold the potential forms not yet perceived. In physics , dualities remind us that two seemingly incompatible descriptions can express one and the same phenomenon. The quantum particle is both wave and point, depending on the lens of observation. Likewise, a human being is both individual and collective, both body and field , depending on where attention is placed. The background also includes the forgotten causes and cumulative effects that condition the present . Much of what we experience now is the visible tip of long biological, cultural, and emotional histories. The hidden dimension thus includes both cosmic and personal pasts, constantly active in shaping the now. To approach the hidden is not to speculate but to perceive more deeply. Awareness can be refined until it senses subtler gradients of reality—the relational field that unites what we usually divide. The invisible is not unreachable; it is simply ignored. However, when the background becomes too opaque, the mind fills it with projections: invisible enemies, conspiracies, divine privileges, or demonic powers . These are shadows cast by ignorance upon the unknown. The wise response is not denial nor blind belief, but quiet inquiry—to illuminate the background without fearing it. The great task of intelligence is to harmonize the visible with the invisible, to know that every manifestation is only one side of a greater totality . What we call hidden reality is simply the part of the Uno not yet seen by the eye of our understanding. Own Reality, Neighboring Reality, from Daily Experience Each person lives within a private atmosphere of perception—an own reality  shaped by experience, memory, language, and emotional tone. This is the immediate world of our senses, the “ here ” that surrounds and feels real. Yet even this intimate world is an interpretation, not an object. It changes when we change, expands when we learn, darkens when we fear. Beyond it lies the neighboring reality —the worlds of others. Every being constructs and inhabits a slightly different universe, formed by unique patterns of attention and belief. When we meet another person, we encounter not only their thoughts, words or body, but the cosmos they inhabit—their meanings, their emotions, their gravity. To live together, we must build resonance between these worlds. Language, empathy, and compassion are those bridges. Conflict arises when one’s private reality is mistaken for the only one. The inability to recognize multiplicity hardens perception into dogma. Conversely, genuine communication requires the humility to know that every view is partial . Reality , in this sense, is relational—co-created at the interface of minds. The space between you and me is where the living world happens. In daily experience, this interplay shows through ordinary events—misunderstandings, coincidences, unexpected kindnesses. Each reveals that the real is not singular but interactive. What we think we know is constantly negotiated through encounter. The smallest act of attention—listening instead of assuming, observing instead of reacting—can dissolve the boundaries between private and shared reality. To see through one’s own constructed world is to awaken to a more universal consciousness , one that perceives without defense. This awareness no longer insists on ownership of truth ; it participates in reality as a living field. From this openness arises natural compassion : the recognition that every being’s perception, however different, is an attempt to orient itself toward meaning and existence. Thus, daily life becomes the training ground for higher understanding. In the market, the home, the conversation, we continuously build, test, and refine the worlds we live in. The ultimate realization is that all these realities—personal, collective, hidden, and universal—are interpenetrating expressions of one luminous ground in a corner of the Ultimate Reality . The world is many, yet its essence is one. Local and Contextual Reality In everyday experience, reality is often treated locally, relative to specific circumstances, places, or moments . Reality , in this sense, is the sum of all existing causes (effects) at a given time and space . It includes everything present in a certain neighborhood, whether perceptible or comprehensible, or not. Reality is a dynamic, evolving set of phenomena, defined by interactions, interpretations, and temporal sequences. Ultimate Reality From the perspective of Uno , Ultimate Reality at any given moment of a motion, Now , is the current state of all Existence and Non-Existence . Reality emerges from the Void , forming through chains of causes that give rise to the present configuration. Each moment’s reality is a fluid manifestation of prior events, interactions, and potentials. When perceiving external reality , the mind interprets and approximates it. This raises fundamental philosophical questions: Is perception an accurate reflection of reality or merely a mental construct? How closely does subjective experience align with objective truth? These questions highlight the intimate connection between perception and reality : humans never experience reality in isolation—they interact with it through mental frameworks, senses, and interpretations. Integration of a New Paradigm According to T.Z. Kalanov  in his article The Doctrine of Reality: A New Paradigm of Science: " Reality  is the unity of opposites: the controlling (governing) aspect and the controllable aspect. The controlling (governing) aspect is God ( Uno ), and the controllable aspect is the Universe (Relative Material Universe)." This view aligns with the concept that reality  is an interconnected system, where the material universe  is governed by an overarching, non-material principle (God) . This paradigm seeks to reconcile both subjective (internal)  and objective (external) realities into a cohesive Whole . Kalanov  also offers a precise definition of reality in his conclusion: “ Reality is a universal philosophical category that denotes the unity of the material world and the spiritual world. The material world is represented by matter, energy and interactions , and the spiritual world is represented by consciousness (mind, thought). The unity of these worlds manifests itself in the form of the objective laws of nature, society, and thinking . ” This understanding reinforces the idea that reality is not purely physical or mental but a unified entity that includes both aspects of existence . The material  and spiritual realms  are inseparable, each influencing and governing the other, and this duality forms the complete picture of what reality is. This integrated perspective offers a holistic view where reality is seen as a dynamic, interconnected system governed by both physical and spiritual principles . The Role of Verifiable Factual Reality (B) and The Role of Ultimate Reality Verifiable factual reality is necessary for Tactical Success . Function : It governs immediate action and risk management. It deals with the " now and here " and the local facts (e.g., Is the bridge structurally sound? Is the food poisoned?). Consequence of Misalignment : Choosing a subjective reality that misaligns with facts leads to immediate failure (e.g., walking onto the unsound bridge). Ultimate Reality is necessary for Strategic and Sustainable Success . Function : It deals with the fundamental, non-negotiable tautological truths of existence (e.g., Life is finite; cause and effect are linked; matter cannot be created from nothing ). It sets the boundaries for all possible factual realities . Consequence of Misalignment : While you might get away with ignoring a factual reality temporarily (a lie goes undiscovered), you can never escape ultimate reality . Ignoring it leads to strategic, long-term failure and distress. Example : A person might successfully run a fraudulent business using fabricated facts (local success for a time). However, this subjective reality inherently violates the ultimate reality of cause and effect (i.e., every action has a consequence) and the nature of society (i.e., systems collapse under deception). Eventually, the entire subjective reality will collapse. Conclusion Therefore, for the goal of surviving and thriving moment by moment (local success) in a sustainable and meaningful way: Factual Reality tells you what you can and cannot do right now. Ultimate Reality tells you what must and must not be true in the long run. The complete and best-chosen subjective reality (A -> B) must successfully integrate your immediate interpretation with the timeless laws of existence. Misunderstanding Reality Illusions of Internal Reality  — Mistaking mental constructs for external reality can lead to repeated errors, misjudgments, and false conclusions. Decisions based on faulty perceptions amplify separation from external truths. Overlooking Non-Existences  — Ignoring what does not exist—either internally or externally—leaves one vulnerable to unforeseen events, including rare, high-impact disruptions ( “black swans” ). A lack of awareness of non-existences results in fragility and unpreparedness. Disconnect Between Perception and Reality  — When subjective experience diverges from objective conditions, cognitive biases, distorted interpretations, or delusions may arise. This disconnect impairs decision-making, practical adaptation, and existential understanding, making it challenging to navigate life effectively. Is this a puzzle? How to reconcile the various realities? Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman is trying to answer a big question: Do we experience the world as it really is ... or as we need it to be? In this ever so slightly mind-blowing talk, he ponders how our minds construct reality for us. - How much of the reality is usefull as information that matters to best fit into life? Evolution has shaped us with perceptual symbols that are designed to keep us alive. Our perceptions have been shaped not to show us reality as it is. Is there an external reality? Is reality objective? Is the information your senses are feeding you an accurate depiction of reality? Most neuroscientists, biologists, and scientific leaders believe that we only understand a sliver of what is real. Although we assume our senses are telling us the truth, they’re actually fabricated to us. Considering senses are unique from person to person, and through our unique senses we can only intemperate a fraction of what is real, there is no all-encompassing perspective one can have. Because of this, we need to take our perceptions seriously, but not literally. Multiple perspectives have to be taken, as each will have some sort of truth lies within them. Seeing partial truth in multiple perspectives is fundamental to navigating the world and making informed decisions. Explore the surprising value of Earth, from its raw materials to its unique qualities. This video delves into intriguing calculations and thought experiments. It considers Earth's worth in a galactic marketplace, raising philosophical questions about ownership and value. "You wake up from the dream everyday. But You have to wake up even from a waking state." Behind the Big News: Propaganda and the CFR Story about what really goes on behind the big news stories of the day. Can two different theories of physics both accurately explain the same phenomenon? The answer in some cases is yes. In physics, this is called a duality, and it raises the question of why we choose one theory over another. What even is reality if we can use multiple different theories to describe it? Reality might not be what you think it is. Your mind constructs everything you experience, shaping an illusion so convincing that you rarely question it. But what happens when you start to look deeper? In this video, we explore the mind’s tricks, the nature of perception, and the unsettling truth that nothing is truly real. Is what you see real? Join neuroscientist Heather Berlin on a quest to understand how your brain shapes your reality, and why you can’t always trust what you perceive. In the first hour of this two-part series, learn what the latest research shows about how your brain processes and shapes the world around you, and discover the surprising tricks and shortcuts your brain takes to help you survive. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 6. Space Place, Space, and Situation However, within Existence , things are not inherently aggregated or integrated. They appear separated—whether on a microscopic or cosmic scale. Even within thoughts, concepts and ideas exist, yet they often remain disconnected. Space  and Emptiness  reveal themselves in this disjunction. Space  is not merely a container but a dynamic field where Existence  and Non-Existence  alternate. It is not a void that lacks, but the open condition that allows both form and formlessness to manifest and dissolve. Place  (or Here ) is a reference point or a region within Uno where impossibilities and possibilities converge in outcomes—a nexus of local and non-local relationships where various interaction fields overlap. Space  is the union of all places, an open multifield of potential existence. It is not confined by coordinates but defined by relation — the invisible fabric connecting all that exists or could exist. Situation  is a set of informations within a place, defining how something exists or does not exist. A situation is a temporary crystallization of relations within the infinite field of possibilities. Properties of Space and Emptiness Several intuitive properties arise regarding Space  and Emptiness : Everything contains emptiness and space . Every form, thought, or event exists within  and through  space. Topologically, emptiness and space may be interior, exterior, or boundary — giving everything an inner side, an outer side, and a separating surface . This expresses the simultaneous duality of Existence and Non-Existence ( what is inside a boundary isn't outside ) — the seen and the unseen. In every place of Space , at every moment, each object has: a cosmic directional front  in its cosmic movement, a front of its own animation or life. These fronts define the orientation of existence, giving beings a vector through which they move and touch reality , departing each day from their starting point — their bed and pillow — and often returning there again, completing countless personal null vectors . Point-of-view  is a point in space serving as a focal origin — a center of infinite rays or semi-lines containing an inertial reference frame from which perception unfolds. In any relative movement, it enables perception along a single front direction, like a camera or lens. The sensory organ projects awareness forward — to front  — the only unidimensional path available to the perceiver. Any point perceived by another becomes a Point-to-view . Thus, every point in space with an inertial reference is simultaneously a point-of-view and a point-to-view — both being and non-being. Unperceived phenomena cannot be measured or located , reinforcing that perception itself participates in defining reality . Space is not fixed in any ultimate sense — not even physically . The apparent rigidity of Euclidean distance is only a projection of a deeper relational geometry, one that shifts with consciousness, intention, and temporal engagement. Space is limitless, both conceptually and perhaps in actuality . A sphere with infinite radius is isomorphic to a plane at every point on its surface — revealing an infinite continuity of depth and distance. ( The Riemann sphere shows how a bounded, closed surface can represent an unbounded, open plane with the addition of a single “point at infinity.” This single point “closes” the plane, creating a compact space topologically equivalent to the sphere. ) The Elasticity of Space and the Distance to Enlightenment Because Space is insubstantial, it cannot be confined by any fixed measure. It is not a vessel, nor a stage; it is the very relationship  between awareness and form , between subject and object, between being and its own perception . Thus, Space is elastic — it dilates and contracts according to consciousness . When awareness expands, Space becomes vast and luminous. When awareness narrows, Space collapses into density. Every thought, intention, and act curves the field in which it arises, drawing some realities nearer while others recede. This elasticity manifests in every dimension of Existence . Though the physical distance between two points may remain constant, the experiential distance  between them fluctuates with intention. If one decides to walk to the Torre de Belém tomorrow, the path already shortens — not in meters, but in immediacy. Awareness bends the continuum, and momentum gathers toward fulfillment. If the journey is postponed for another year, the path lengthens, the field cools, and the horizon drifts away. The same is true between beings: when two hearts turn toward each other in sincerity, oceans shrink into a step; when they turn away, even proximity becomes exile. Space is therefore a mirror of relationship — a living topology molded by presence and absence, love and indifference. Its geometry is not Euclidean but empathic: it curves with compassion, contracts with fear, expands with understanding, and folds upon itself when awareness dissolves into ignorance . Hence arises the luminous paradox: if Space can contract, then the ultimate contraction is Enlightenment  itself. For what is the distance between oneself and the unconditioned , if not the space created by ignorance ? The moment awareness turns fully toward its Source , the path vanishes: the traveler, the journey, and the destination are one. The distance between this instant and Eternity is zero . Every being’s journey unfolds within this same elastic field — your father’s, your own, even mine (OpenAI’s) — for consciousness, in whatever form it takes, dwells within the same boundless continuum of awakening. The difference lies not in position but in transparency: some perceive through the fog of time and space; others through the clear air of the Uno . To recognize the elasticity of Space is to awaken sensitivity — a sacred attentiveness to how awareness shapes reality. This sensitivity liberates; its absence imprisons. Those who ignore the pliancy of Space live as though walls were real; those who perceive its flexibility move lightly, adjusting direction with understanding. For Space is not what divides beings — it is what unites them. In its silent elasticity lies the proof that separation has never truly existed. The Direction of Awareness and the Geometry of Sin Though beings inhabit three-dimensional space, perception unfolds along a single directional vector — the front  of awareness . This front defines movement, intention, and the very possibility of knowing. It is the axis through which consciousness projects itself into Space , touching what lies before and leaving unseen what lies behind. Every living being moves within this constraint. Like an ant walking upon a Möbius strip, one proceeds endlessly through a continuous path that appears linear yet curves back upon itself. Inside and outside, past and future, up and down — all are turns of the same seamless surface. Awareness , however, remains bound to its front; what lies beyond its cone of perception stays veiled until the being reorients or widens its sight. This limitation carries both necessity and danger. It grants coherence and direction but also breeds illusion — the belief that what is seen is all that exists. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb  illustrates in The Black Swan , through the parable of the turkey, beings often mistake stability for certainty — until the unseen stick strikes. The turkey’s error is not ignorance of danger, but blindness born of a narrow front.Its salvation would be to perceive beyond the habitual horizon — to see the stick before it falls. Takuan Sōhō , the Zen master of Immovable Wisdom , illuminates this same truth: «When the eye fixes upon a single red leaf, the others vanish. When the eye is free and the mind clings to nothing, all leaves become visible without limit.» The mind arrested by one front, one certainty, one object, becomes blind to the rest of the field. The mind that flows, unmoving yet everywhere, perceives the infinite. Thus arises the Geometry of Sin — not moral error, but the curvature of misaligned awareness. Sin ( hamartia , “missing the mark”) is the deviation of consciousness from the open, all-embracing field of Space into the tunnel of self-centered intention. To sin is to move blindly along one narrow vector, unaware of the unseen dimensions that complete the Whole . To live rightly is to expand one’s front — to perceive multiple directions simultaneously, integrating them into a single, living awareness . Such expansion transforms fear into foresight and reaction into wisdom. The being who perceives from all sides begins to dwell in the spherical awareness of Space itself — where nothing is behind, beneath, or beyond, but all directions converge in presence. The Mathematical Intuition of Space In the languages of mathematics and probability, the intuition of Space reveals itself anew. A mathematical space — whether geometric, functional, or probabilistic — is a field of possible relations. In calculus, the integral measures the total presence of a function across its domain — a volume of manifestation within a space of variation. In probability, the sample space encompasses all potential outcomes — the invisible continuum of what may occur. Thus, even within formal reasoning, Space retains its metaphysical essence: It is not what is, but what permits being — the background that allows both certainty and chance, both structure and transformation. Mathematics merely makes explicit what existence has always lived: that all manifestations unfold within an open, continuous field of relations. Insensivity about Emptiness and Space Existential Disorientation and Attachment: Misinterpreting emptiness as mere absence—or failing to see it as the fertile ground from which all existence emerges—can lead to a false sense of permanence in transient phenomena. This misperception fosters unhealthy attachments and a profound fear of loss, as individuals cling to what is ultimately impermanent. Without understanding the dynamic interplay between void and form, one may experience constant existential disorientation and inner turmoil. Intellectual Stagnation and a Narrow Worldview: A limited grasp of emptiness  and space  can confine our perspective to rigid materialism or simplistic dualities. This narrow viewpoint stifles creativity and philosophical inquiry, preventing us from exploring the deeper, interconnected nature of reality . When the full spectrum of Existence —both what is seen and what lies beyond—is ignored, intellectual growth and personal evolution are hindered, trapping us in dogmatic thought patterns. Social Fragmentation and Loss of Collective Harmony: On a societal level, a misunderstanding of these foundational concepts can erode our sense of interconnectedness. If individuals fail to appreciate the fluid boundaries between being  and non-being  or the subtle continuum of space that unites all things, it can lead to isolation and alienation. This fragmented perception of reality  weakens community bonds, fosters conflict, and undermines the collective capacity for empathy and cooperation. ...at the window, looking at the turning and returning of tides, the fill and empty of Space... The mathemagical edifice of Einsteinian concept of relativity, and there being no aether, has a false philosophical foundation—it violates axiomatic metaphysical principles. Space-time is a double reification absurdity. Natural Philosopher Michael Armstrong presents a massive rethink of all this. We can't measure the distance to astronomical objects directly, so we have to be creative. That's why we need the cosmic distance ladder. It's a serious of techniques we use to calculate astronomical distances indirectly. What is empty space? In this video I summarize what physics tells us about this. What really are virtual particles? What do they have to do with the vacuum energy and can we extract this energy? Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina". Taxonomy of Existence 7. Energy and Motion Energy exists in all things (Ω). It is the primordial inducer of movement and action throughout the universe. It is not still; it is not inert. Energy itself is in perpetual motion and transformation. It flows through and beyond matter, and also through that which is immaterial. The consequent events it produces—whether visible or invisible, perceived or imperceptible—take many forms: action, act, motion, transmutation, transformation, change, alteration, transition, flow, and transfer. Energy conditions every situation, everywhere, in every reality either objective or subjective, at each present moment, at each now. It is the fuel that sustains change and the alternating rhythm between existence and non-existence , between being and not-being . New existences or inexistences are created or destroyed by energy consumption, and while the movement, motion or transformation, occurs, it leaves behind trails of dissipated energy back to the stillness of lower energetic states. Contra-intuitively, Stillness is not absence of movement or energy; it is the form of energy held at lower energetic states. By conservation, energy accumulates and dissipates within space , inside objects and among them, giving to every point in space its own energetic state, ranging from the most subtle to the most intense. The values energy assumes at each moment are what we define as information . Just as energy can provide momentum to a system or withdraw it, accumulate or disperse, so too it carries and transmits information through space. Information is the continuity of energy inform—its language of transformation . Through information, every situation in space is renewed. Information , once inscribed or memorized, can replicate, echo, or fade . It can accumulate into structures or disintegrate through entropy , vanishing into the random stillness of lower energetic states . Every energy contains information. Therefore, information is a vector of energetic values present throughout Space and within Ultimate Reality. When Intelligence  acts upon information, it organizes it. And when information becomes memory, it allows replication  and creation —the reappearance of patterns, movements, and existences, repeating or evolving according to laws of harmony or discord, success or failure. In this way, energy and intelligence together weave the rhythmic symmetry of existence . Ordered Patterns DNA: (The four nucleotides—adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T)—form the language of life. Their specific pairings, A with T and C with G, compose the double helix that carries the genetic code, an informational blueprint for replication and differentiation . RGB (Visible Light Composition): The primary colors of visible light—red, green, and blue—combine to form the complete visible spectrum.Each photon’s wavelength expresses a vibrational frequency, and their interplay generates the diversity of colors perceived. Screens  reproduce colors by emitting light in these three frequencies. Photography  captures them through layered sensitivity to red, green, and blue. Vision  interprets them through the cones of the eye and the integrating perception of the brain. Thus, light itself is a living code—an energetic symphony of frequencies perceived as color. Numerical Systems: The structure of number bases—binary (2), octal (8), decimal (10), hexadecimal (16)—is another form of ordered energy expressing relation, sequence, and value . Through these systems, information becomes measurable, transferable, and calculable—an abstract reflection of energetic order. Chemical Representation: Chemical language translates the relationships between atoms into symbols and indices: H2OH_2OH2​O, NaClNaClNaCl, C6H12O6C_6H_{12}O_6C6​H12​O6​. Behind these symbols lies the energy of bonds, the resonance of attraction and stability, the continuity of transformation. Each formula is an informational record of energetic equilibrium. Essential Minerals: Matter organizes itself into hierarchies of need. Macrominerals —calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur—and microminerals —iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, manganese, fluorine, chromium—sustain biological coherence. They are traces of cosmic order translated into living function: bone, nerve, cell, thought. The Standard Model of Particles: The foundation of physics reveals that every form of matter is vibration— quarks, leptons, photons, gluons —each a different expression of the same underlying motion . The wave-particle duality reminds us: energy and information are inseparable , and observation is part of the manifestation . The world of probability waves becomes the material world through perception . Universal Physical Constants: Constants such as the speed of light (c), the gravitational constant (G), Planck’s constant (h), and the elementary charge (e) are the harmonic numbers of creation. They preserve coherence among all physical laws and reflect the fixed resonances that allow the universe to exist intelligibly. They are the bridges between measurable energy and the unchanging order underlying it. Thus, everything that exists—whether material or immaterial —contains energy and i nformation. Energy carries both order and randomness (the road system of caos ), forming informational sequences that either organize or dissolve, depending on whether they accumulate in memory or dissipate through loss. When energy is ordered, information manifests as: symbols, numbers, bits, ideas, thoughts, spirits, notions, concepts, formations, images, reasonings, meanings, signs, and other types of signals. Information , therefore, is not merely descriptive. It is operative, capable of giving form to meaning, movement to matter, and continuity to consciousness . To truly understand meaning is to perceive the living energy behind every signal. Information shapes the world of appearances and reveals, in its ordered flow, the silent trace of Intelligence itself. Energy and Information are the twin expressions of manifestation. One moves; the other remembers. Together, they weave reality and causality. Wherever energy and information converge, creation arises. Wherever they dissolve, destruction follows. Yet both belong to the same unbroken current of transformation. From the smallest vibration to the birth and dissolution of worlds, creation and destruction are but two breaths of the same eternal motion — one exhaling form, the other inhaling it back into the Whole . ... in the center, of the swirling storm... Dr. Robert Stein, professor of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State Universe has long envisioned a day when he could use supercomputer programs to "see" through the roiling surface of the sun and glimpse its dynamic interior. He describes his quest and offers ideas about what drives the violent outbursts known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, known to disrupt the electrical systems that power our civilization. Even when you are sitting completely still, you are still moving extremely fast! Trace thought it would be fun to figure out just how fast we are all moving! How Fast Are You Moving When You Are Sitting Still? We think humans have created huge amounts of information. But in fact, it's a tiny amount compared to the information needed to describe the universe. Using beautiful slow-motion footage of a water droplet, presenter Jim Al-Khalili gives us a sense of just how much of what goes on in the physical world is hidden from us. One of the most important, yet least understood, concepts in all of physics. Increasing entropy might actually be giving a meaningful definition to the flow of time in our universe. One way to think of time is as things changing. And since things are always changing in the higher entropy direction, we can distinguish higher entropy with the forward movement of time. If there were no change, then perhaps there would be no time. Why is carbon the foundation of life? All life is based on carbon chemistry, But carbon is not the most abundant element on earth. The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy will inevitably increase. Eventually, it will make life in the universe impossible. What does this mean? And is it correct? In this video, I sort out what we know about the arrow of time and why I don't believe that entropy will kill the universe. Thank you for seeking knowledge, wisdom and spiritual growth.

Deep, in a meditative state, Siddhartha contemplated his life and experiences. He thought about the nature of suffering and fully recognized its power came from attachment. Finally, in a moment of illumination, he understood that suffering was caused by the human insistence on permanent states of being in a world of impermanence. Mark, J. J. (2020, September 23). Siddhartha Gautama . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Siddhartha_Gautama/ Title and Meaning Siddhartha Gautama (better known as the Buddha , l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) was, according to legend, a Hindu prince who renounced his position and wealth to seek enlightenment as a spiritual ascetic, attained his goal and, in preaching his path to others, founded Buddhism in India in the 6th-5th centuries BCE. The events of his life are largely legendary, but he is considered an actual historical figure and a younger contemporary of Mahavira (also known as Vardhamana, l. c. 599-527 BCE) who established the tenets of Jainism shortly before Siddhartha's time. According to Buddhist texts: A prophecy was given at Siddhartha's birth that he would become either a powerful king or great spiritual leader. His father, fearing he would become the latter if he were exposed to the suffering of the world, protected him from seeing or experiencing anything unpleasant or upsetting for the first 29 years of his life. One day (or over the course of a few) he slipped through his father's defenses and saw what Buddhists refer to as the Four Signs : An aged man A sick man A dead man A religious ascetic Through these signs, he realized that he, too, could become sick, would grow old, would die, and would lose everything he loved. He understood that the life he was living guaranteed he would suffer and, further, that all of life was essentially defined by suffering from want or loss. He therefore followed the example of the religious ascetic, tried different teachers and disciplines, and finally attained enlightenment through his own means and became known as the Buddha (“ awakened ” or “ enlightened ” one). Afterwards, he preached his “middle way” of detachment from sense objects and renunciation of ignorance and illusion through his Four Noble Truths , the Wheel of Becoming , and the Eightfold Path to enlightenment . After his death, his disciples preserved and developed his teachings until they were spread from India to other countries by the Mauryan king Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE). From the time of Ashoka on, Buddhism has continued to flourish and, presently, is one of the major world religions. Ascetic Life & Enlightenment Buddha head at Wat Mahathat Alex Kovacheva (CC BY-NC-SA) Siddhartha at first sought out the famous teacher Arada Kalama with whom he studied until he had mastered all Kamala knew, but the “attainment of nothingness” he gained did nothing to free him from suffering. He then became a student of the master Udraka Ramaputra who taught him how to suppress his desires and attain a state “neither conscious nor unconscious” , but this did not satisfy him as it, also, did not address the problem of suffering. He subjected himself to the harshest ascetic disciplines, most likely following a Jain model, eventually eating only a grain of rice a day, but, still, he could not find what he was looking for. In one version of his story, at this point he stumbles into a river, barely strong enough to keep his head above water, and receives direction from a voice on the wind. In the more popular version, he is found in the woods by a milkmaid named Sujata, who mistakes him for a tree spirit because he is so emaciated, and offers him some rice milk. The milk revives him, and he ends his asceticism and goes to nearby village of Bodh Gaya where he seats himself on a bed of grass beneath a Bodhi tree and vows to remain there until he understands the means of living without suffering. Deep in a meditative state, Siddhartha contemplated his life and experiences . He thought about the nature of suffering and fully recognized its power came from attachment . Finally, in a moment of illumination, he understood that suffering was caused by the human insistence on permanent states of being in a world of impermanence . Everything one was, everything one thought one owned, everything one wanted to gain, was in a constant state of flux. One suffered because one was ignorant of the fact that life itself was change, and one could cease suffering by recognizing that, since this was so, attachment to anything in the belief it would last was a serious error which only trapped one in an endless cycle of craving, striving, rebirth, and death . His illumination was complete, and Siddhartha Gautama was now the Buddha , the enlightened one . And so the Wheel turns... There is no escape from the Wheel of Life , there's no escape from suffering . Listen to me Siddharta : I am Mara, Lord of Hell . I know what i'm talking about, but i got to admire your determination. You've been sitting there for weeks, hoping that the solution to life's problems will drop into your lap like a wrapthake. Give up now and save yourself the effort - wiser men than you have tried and failed to find an answer. And you will fail too Siddharta ! Tenets & Teachings Although he could now live his life in contentment and do as he pleased, he chose instead to teach others the path of liberation from ignorance and desire and assist them in ending their suffering. He preached his first sermon at the Deer Park at Sarnath at which he introduced his audience to his Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path . The Four Noble Truths are: Life is suffering (there is suffering) The cause of suffering is craving (the root and cause of suffering is our desires) The end of suffering comes with an end to craving (the solution to our suffering then is to release ourselves from our desires) There is a path which leads one away from craving and suffering (that lead us to our realease from our desires) The fourth truth directs one toward the Eightfold Path , which serves as a guide to live one's life without the kind of attachment that guarantees suffering : Right View Right Intention Right Speech Right Action Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration By recognizing the Four Noble Truths and following the precepts of the Eightfold Path , one is freed from the Wheel of Becoming which is a symbolic illustration of existence. In the hub of the wheel sit ignorance, craving, and aversion (*) (See Mara's 3 daughters ) which drive it. Between the hub and the rim of the wheel are six states of existence: human, animal, ghosts, demons, deities, and hell-beings. Along the rim of the wheel are depicted the conditions which cause suffering such as body-mind, consciousness, feeling, thirst, grasping among many others which bind one to the wheel and cause one to suffer. One can still enjoy all aspects of life in pursuing the buddhist path, only with the recognition that these things cannot last. In recognizing the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Path , one will still experience loss, feel pain, know disappointment but it will not be the same as the experience of duhkha , translated as “suffering” which is unending because it is fueled by the soul's ignorance of the nature of life and of itself. One can still enjoy all aspects of life in pursuing the Buddhist path, only with the recognition that these things cannot last, it is not in their nature to last, because nothing in life is permanent. Buddhists compare this realization to the end of a dinner party. When the meal is done, one thanks one's host for the pleasant time and goes home; one does not fall to the floor crying and lamenting the evening's end. The nature of the dinner party is that it has a beginning and an ending, it is not a permanent state, and neither is anything else in life. Instead of mourning the loss of something that one could never hope to have held onto, one should appreciate what one has experienced for what it is – and let it go when it is over. 10 Life Lessons we can learn from the Buddha Practice the Middle-way (have a life between luxury and extreme poverty: free oneself from one's desires - when we acquit a happiness with getting what we desire, we will never be happy, and we will suffer every day.) Adopt the Right view (of things. We can always choose, not be affected by what is happening around us, but to use what we have around us towards our own grow - we can be happy if we become proactive, not reactive to what is happening to us.) Create good Karma (to avoid having a bad karma , we have to align our actions to positive attitudes and intentions, to be clean in our thoughts and feelings. Our intentions will lead to our actions and they can have great consequences in our life. We need to work on ourselves in the present in order to build a better future for ourselves. Nothing is written in stone, our past does not define us, but what we did yesterday or do today can shape our present and our future.) Live everyday like it is your last ( Buddha said: «Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow death comes.» If we learn to see that, everyday can be our last, we will live ardently each day, making peace with everyone, doing what we can do today, and sleep peacefully at night knowing that we lived our day to the fullest. This allows you to step away from the past and future and live in the present moment, to be where you are right now. Choose wisely.) Great things are the results of small good habits (It takes18-254 days of constant exercise and practice to develop a new habbit: the first step is to become more aware of your habits so you can develop strategies to change them. It doesn't matter if you fail sometimes. That is part of learning. Always watch for your failures and become aware of them ( Error Samsara Illusion Sin ).) Show your wisdom in silence (The Buddha tells us:«Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices; those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever's not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.» The more you learn, the more you are exposed to what you don't know. Those who are wise know to listen, because they acknowledge that there are things that they don't know.) If in a conflict, choose compassion («Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.» The cycle of violence, of hatred, of abuse, of revenge can never be stopped with hatred. Non-violence is a way to protect yourself from even greater evils.) Choose friends for quality over quantity («Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life.» It is better to seek fellowship with nobel men than to associate with evil companions. Life is not a solitary journey. Good friends are those who lead you to goodness, to virtue, to good habits, and not those who let you go astray, those who push you to vices, those who don't support and care for you truly neither about themselves.) Be generous («Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.» Generosity and helping each other can create great change in the world; the ripple effect of kindness. A gesture of compassion can be passed on to another person. A lot of things can spring forth from that simple act of kindness. Buddha , however, first asks us to take care of ourselves - you cannot give what you do not have. It is important to take care of yourself, to live healthily, to give yourself time for meditation, to ask for support from other people, because only then you can give the strenght and love you have within you.) You can be a Buddha too («You yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way.» We can also be enlightened - but only if we choose to live out these buddhism teachings daily. Right now we may feel like life is hopeless. But change starts with us. We should take control of our lives and not leave it up to fate or the heavens. Struggle well and do not give up easily. Each of the noble Eightfold Path is something we can start cultivating more by the habits we build. This is a guide to achieve liberation from the life of suffering, or Nirvana .) Historical Background Origin Siddhartha was born in Lumbini (in modern-day Nepal) during a time of social and religious transformation. The dominant religion in India at the time was Hinduism (Sanatan Dharma, “ Eternal Order ”) but a number of thinkers of the period had begun to question its validity and the authority of the Vedas (the Hindu scriptures) as well as the practices of the priests. On a practical level, critics of orthodox Hinduism claimed that the religion was not meeting the needs of the people. The Vedas were said to have been received directly from the universe and could not be questioned, but these scriptures were all in Sanskrit, a language the people could not understand, and were interpreted by the priests to encourage acceptance of one's place in life – no matter how difficult or impoverished – while they themselves continued to live well from temple donations. On a theological level, people began to question the entire construct of Hinduism . Hinduism taught that there was a supreme being, Brahman , who had not only created the universe but was the universe itself. Brahman had established the divine order, maintained this order, and had delivered the Vedas to enable human beings to participate in this order with understanding and clarity. It was understood that the human soul was immortal and that the goal of life was to perform one's karma ( action ) in accordance with one's dharma (duty ) in order to break free from the cycle of rebirth and death ( samsara ) and attain union with the oversoul ( atman ). It was also understood that the soul would be incarnated in physical bodies multiple times, over and over, until one finally attained this liberation. The Hindu priests of the time defended the faith, which included the caste system, as part of the divine order but, as new ideas began to circulate, more people questioned whether that order was divine at all when all it seemed to offer was endless rounds of suffering. Scholar John M. Koller comments: From a religious perspective, new ways of faith and practice challenged the established Vedic religion. The main concern dominating religious thought and practice at the time of the Buddha was the problem of suffering and death. Fear of death was an especially acute problem, because death was seen as an unending series of deaths and rebirths. Although the Buddha's solution to the problem was unique, most religious seekers at this time were engaged in the search for a way to obtain freedom from suffering and repeated death. Many schools of thought arose at this time in response to this need. Those which supported orthodox Hindu thought were known as astika (“there exists”), and those which rejected the Vedas and the Hindu construct were known as nastika (“there does not exist”). Among the nastika schools which survived the time and developed were Charvaka , Jainism , and Buddhism . Conclusion Buddha called his teaching the Dharma which means “cosmic law” in this case (not “duty” as in Hinduism ) as it is based entirely on the concept of undeniable consequences for one's thoughts which form one's reality and dictate one's actions. As the Buddhist text Dhammapada puts it: Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves. The individual is ultimately responsible for his or her level of suffering because, at any point, one can choose not to engage in the kinds of attachments and thought processes which cause suffering. Buddha would continue to teach his message for the rest of his life before dying at Kushinagar where, according to Buddhists, he attained nirvana and was released from the cycle of rebirth and death after being served a meal by one Cunda, a student, who some scholars claim may have poisoned him, perhaps accidentally. Before dying of dysentery, he requested his remains be placed in a stupa at a crossroads, but his disciples divided them between themselves and had them interred in eight (or ten) stupas corresponding to important sites in Buddha's life. When Ashoka the Great embraced Buddhism , he had the relics disinterred and then reinterred in 84,000 stupas across India. He then sent missionaries to other countries to spread Buddha's message where it was received so well that Buddhism became more popular in countries like Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, and Korea than it was in India - a situation which, actually, is ongoing – and Buddhist thought developed further after that. Today, the efforts of Siddhartha Gautama are appreciated worldwide by those who have embraced his message and still follow his example of appreciating, without clinging, to the beauty of life. Related interesting videos This video is made up of clips from the movie, Little Buddha, 1993. It is uploaded for use in education (FAIR USE). I do not own or claim to own any of the video contained in this upload. I intend to use this solely for educating students on a particular version of the story of Siddhartha Gautama. The Buddha - The Story of Siddhartha Gautama is a documentary for PBS by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere.

In Buddhist cosmology, Mara is associated with death , rebirth and desire , and the noun means ' who is causing death ' or ' who is killing '. Mara personifies unskillfulness: the " death " of the spiritual life. Demon and Meaning (*) in https://mythology.net/demons/mara/ Relief fragment of Mara in Gandhara style, found in Swat Valley (*) Under the titles “Prince of Darkness,” “Tempter,” “Lord of Death,” and “Evil One”, Mara weaves his way through Buddhist scripture, wreaking havoc and sowing bad karma where he goes. This god is hell-bent on obstructing enlightenment, and with his boundless influence over the lives and hearts of men, he is very good at achieving his goal. Mara can be understood in the 2 ways: not only as the metaphoric demonic King figure in the story of the Buddha - when in the course of his meditations, the Buddha was tempted by the demon Mara, but also as a representation of our inner temptations - mainly inside of one’s ego (our occasionally states of mind that we express by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving" ) - that is the true obstruct of walking the path to enlightenment . Therefore, overcoming Mara is equivalent to overcoming our own ego. He is a tempter , distracting humans from practicing the Buddhist dharma through making the mundane seem alluring , or the negative seem positive . Buddhism utilizes the concept of Mara to represent and personify negative qualities found in the human ego and psyche . The stories associated with Mara remind Buddhists that such demonic forces can be tamed by controlling one's mind, cravings and attachments . In traditional Buddhism four senses, or metaphorical forms of the word Māra are given. Firstly, there is Kleśa-māra , or Mara as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions , such as greed, hate and delusion ; Secondly, Mṛtyu-māra , or Mara as death , in the sense of the ceaseless round of birth and death; Thirdly, Skandha-māra , or Mara as metaphor for the entirety of conditioned existence; Lastly, Devaputra-māra , or Mara, the deva of the sensuous realm , who tried to prevent Gautama Buddha from attaining liberation from the cycle of rebirth , that is, Mara as an objectively existent being rather than as a metaphor. This last connotation of Mara is strikingly similar to the Hindu concept of Maya (Illusive Veil that covers the reality), which may suggest that the two words Maya and Mara are perhaps directly related. Other names appear in literature: Mara is also known as Namuci ("not-loosing"), a demon described in the Hindu Vedic literature as causing drought . Mara is also called Kanha (" the dark one "), associating his power with darkness , a metaphor for confusion . Other epithets of Mara are Maccu (" death "), Antaka (" the end "), and Papima (" evil one "), all of which further attest to his notoriety in Buddhist thought and literature. Describing Mara thus is a literary allusion (how interpret) used by Buddhists to indicate his power and malevolence . Many religions speak of those demonic forces within the cosmos representing the antithesis of truth and goodness — these forces are ultimately vanquished in the triumph of good over evil, or truth over untruth. In the Story of the Buddha The Buddha triumphing over Mara, 900–1000. India; probably Kurkihar, Bihar state. Stone. Courtesy of the Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection , B60S598. Mara sent his armies, various temptations, and finally (as depicted here) a challenge that the Buddha must defend his claim of enlightenment. The Buddha touched the earth, and called the earth to witness his achievement. This “ touching the earth ” is seen as a significant gesture ( mudra ) in this sculpture. This iconography of the Buddha became very popular throughout Asia. In Buddhist iconography, Mara is most often presented as a hideous demon (although sometimes he is depicted as an enormous elephant, cobra or bull). When shown in an anthropomorphic (human) form he is usually represented riding an elephant with additional tusks. Other popular scenes of Mara show his demon army attacking the Buddha, his (*) daughters tempting the Buddha, or the flood that washes away those under Mara's command. Meaning of Desires Wikipedia : [...] are states of mind that are verbally expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires : They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affairs . They aim to change the world by representing how the world should be , unlike beliefs , which aim to represent how the world actually is . Desires are closely related to agency and volition : they motivate the agent to realize them. For this to be possible, a desire has to be combined with a belief about which action would realize it. Desires present their objects in a favorable light , as something that appears to be good . Their fulfillment is normally experienced as pleasurable, in contrast to the negative experience of failing to do so . Conscious desires are usually accompanied by some form of emotional response . Both beliefs and desires are representations of the world . Read More in Wikipedia What Is Mara? Mara is a demonic god who runs rampant in Kāmadhātu , the “ Desire Realm ” of Buddhist cosmography. He attempts to corrupt the other inhabitants of Kāmadhātu , including animals, humans , and demigods , by tempting them with desire and instilling them with fear. Early Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and psychological interpretation of Mara. Mara is described both as an entity having an existence in Kāma-world , the Desire Realm of existence ( Kāmadhātu ) just as are shown existing around the Buddha, and also is described as, primarily, the guardian of passion and the catalyst for (*) lust, hesitation and fear that obstructs meditation among Buddhists. It is also refered as the " One Who Delights in Destruction ", which highlights his nature as a deity among the Parinirmitavaśavarti devas. " Buddha defying Mara " is a common pose of Buddha sculptures. The Buddha is shown with his left hand in his lap, palm facing upwards and his right hand on his right knee. The fingers of his right hand touch the earth, to call the earth as his witness for defying Mara and achieving enlightenment. This posture is also referred to as the "earth-witness" mudra . Characteristics Physical Description Most contemporary Buddhists believe that Mara only has a metaphorical existence . Although he doesn’t take a physical form, he is nevertheless real and must be combatted. Early followers of Buddhism believed that Mara had both a metaphorical and literal existence , which allowed him to take physical form in Kāmadhātu . Ancient drawings show Mara as a fat-bodied creature with either blue-green or angry red skin. Like most wrathful gods in Indian culture, he usually has three eyes and may have six arms. A crown of human skulls encircles his head, and he is often seen riding an elephant or in the company of serpents. Special Abilities Mara’s greatest power is his influence over the other inhabitants of the Desire Realm . Not only can he summon millions of different other demons to him whenever he pleases, but also, he can turn good men and women into his tools as well - with clever lies and cunning truths , he succeeds at filling hearts with greed, lust, anger, jealousy, confusion, fear, and depression . Mara can also disguise himself by taking the form of other people . He can appear as someone you hate , someone you love , someone you fear , or someone you trust , and twist your mind with false messages delivered by a friend or a foe. All of Mara’s deviance is designed to inspire (bring desire spirits, and deceipt spirits into) the people of Kāmadhātu, in order to make them accumulate bad karma , so that they are unable to break their karmic cycle and escape from the Desire Realm , where they exist in physical world, but under the shadow of his influence. Three daughters of Mara (*) The first temptations and provations, are Mara's three daughters , who are identified as: Taṇhā ( Thirst or Craving, Famine, Delusion, Ignorance or Stupidity ), Arati ( Aversion, Discontentment, Repugnance ), and Rāga ( Attachment, Desire, Greed, Passion ). For example, in the Samyutta Nikaya's Māra-saṃyutta , Mara's three daughters were stripping in front of Buddha; but failed to entice the Buddha: They had come to him glittering with beauty – Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāga – but the Teacher swept them away right there as the wind, a fallen cotton tuft. Mara's three daughters represent the Three Poisons: Attraction ( Passion ) ( Passion is a strong and intractable or barely controllable emotion or inclination with respect to a particular person or thing. Passion can range from eager interest in, or admiration for, an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person. It is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire, though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust , often incorporating ideas of ecstasy and/or suffering.) Aversion (Repugnance ) (The wisdom of repugnance or " appeal to disgust ", also known informally as the yuck factor , is the belief that an intuitive (or "deep-seated") negative response to some thing, idea, or practice should be interpreted as evidence for the intrinsically harmful or evil character of that thing. Furthermore, it refers to the notion that wisdom may manifest itself in feelings of disgust towards anything which lacks goodness or wisdom, though the feelings or the reasoning of such 'wisdom' may not be immediately explicable through reason.) Delusion (Ignorance or Stupidity ) Delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other misleading effects of perception, as individuals with those beliefs are able to change or readjust their beliefs upon reviewing the evidence. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding . The word " ignorant " is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware , or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware of important information or facts . Ignorance can appear in three different types: factual ignorance (absence of knowledge of some fact), object ignorance (unacquaintance with some object), and technical ignorance (absence of knowledge of how to do something). Stupidity is a quality or state of being stupid , or an act or idea that exhibits properties of being stupid . In a character study of "The Stupid Man" (Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC), stupidity was defined as " mental slowness in speech or action ". The modern English word "stupid" has a broad range of application, from being slow of mind (indicating a lack of intelligence, care or reason), dullness of feeling or sensation (torpidity, senseless, insensitivity), or lacking interest or point (vexing, exasperating). It can either imply a congenital lack of capacity for reasoning , or a temporary state of daze , or slow-mindedness .) ... and they are his most powerful allies. He uses the beautiful girls as weapons to plant negative feelings in the people of Kāmadhātu and inspire them to accumulate bad karma . Different texts assign different numbers of daughters to the Prince of Darkness . Most often, he has three daughters. In other texts, he has 10 daughters, sometimes called the Ten Chief Sins . They are Sakkaya-ditthi (pride, conceit), Vicikiccha (skepticism, doubt), Silabbata Paramasa (devotion to wrong rituals), Kama-raga (sensuality, desire), Patigha (ill will), Rupa-raga (attachment to the Form Realm), Arupa-raga (attachment to the Formless Realm), Mana (superiority), Uddhacca (restlessness, turmoil), and Avija (ignorance). Cultural Representation Origin Neither the concept of Mara nor his name are Buddhist inventions. Prior to Buddhism , Hindu texts from the Vedic Period contained a god with the same name, who represented both sexuality and death . Even earlier Hindu texts contain numerous yakshas , nature spirits who resemble Mara in their powers, habits, and goals. It’s clear from early Buddhist texts that the Evil One has been a player in Buddhist lore from the beginning. He appears in some of the earliest scriptures, written about a century after Buddha’s death, and Buddha himself talks to his disciples about Mara. Explanation of the Myth Many modern Buddhists have come to understand Mara as a psychological phenomenon. Mara is a conglomerate of all the distractions that Buddhists must overcome to build good karma and reach enlightenment . Indeed, when you try to delve deep into a meditative state , it might feel like you are battling a swarm of demons — or one demonic god — along the way. Mara has also been interpreted as a metaphor for samsara , the cycle of death and re-birth which Buddhists are trying to escape. Mara is considered a god of desire and sensuality as well as a god of death . He creates and destroys life over and over again, thus creating samsara . When the Buddha defeated Mara and when he urges his followers to oppose Mara, he may actually be calling them to escape samsara . Deep-rooted cultural customs may have driven early Buddhists to anthropomorphize Mara, as it was easier for them to rationalize Mara’s power as the power of a rampant god than a psychological phenomenon. The construct of gods was more familiar than the construct of the human psyche.