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View Article  Dialogue with a Neo-Buddhist: Action versus inaction 0610 04b
by Daniel J. Shepard on Fri 06 Oct 2006 01:00 AM EDT

Clyde G. is a respected thinker and Neo-Buddhist who has been acknowledged for his ability to ask questions going to the heart of issues regarding metaphysical models of reality.

 

Dan;

 

Hello.  I hope all is well with you.

 

In writing to someone to ask them about their understanding of reincarnation/transmigration I wrote something that caused me to think of you and your search for something personal that was born and would live eternally.  I wrote, “I can understand transmigration (metaphorically) as the eternal continuity of the consequences of our actions.”  So the something personal is our action; that was born because it came into existence with our doing, and would live eternally because the consequences are endless.

 
Everything is going well Clyde. Hope you are also doing well.
 
Regarding your thought:
 
I agree but would add to 'our doing' 'and our not doing'.(lack of action when we could change the course of events through action)
 
Dan
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View Article  How does classical/traditional theism help us understand what life is? Part II of II
by Daniel J. Shepard on Fri 06 Oct 2006 12:00 AM EDT

How does classical/traditional theism help us understand what life is?

 

Part II of II

Classical/traditional theism takes a step beyond this.

 

Life is more than just birth, death, and what goes on between the two. Classical/traditional theism goes on to say there is more.

 

Hope now evolves that life is not the end and as such, behavior becomes elevated.

 

The individual life takes on greater significance and so does behavior.

 

•

 

Life being unlimited by time changes the concept of what life is.

 

Attaching the concept of eternal existence to life now adds a new possibility to life.

 

Now life gains an appearance of having some purpose.

 

Why else would one leave one state of being, life before birth, in order to come into another state of being into the universe?

 

If there were not a reason, why would you die?

 

If your soul is eternal, leaving this existence in order to get back to where you came from would imply a need to do so.

 

Under classical/traditional theism, hope arises, for logic springs up regarding the possibility that there is a significance to all of this.

 

Classical/traditional theisms such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others provide hope.

 

Existence outside this universe, however, is still uncertain.

 

Under classical/traditional theism, the size of the Causative Force is limited to just part of the region beyond the boundaries of the universe.

 

Under these theisms, our universe does not lie within the Causative Force.

 

The result of this limited perception regarding the size of the Causative Force is that you still have no significant impact upon the Causative Force.

 

This limited perception regarding the size of the Causative Force leads to limited behavior we generate towards others, for we see others as being limited.

 

End

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