Reincarnation and Recurrence...3
Cassandra. Dogmas are ulcers in the bodies of religion in which are concentrated matter that is foreign and unfit for retention. But myths are symbols of something that is real. In myths a popular story, incredible in itself, and that cannot resist analysis, conceals a fundamental verity. One such is Reincarnation which is a myth that conceals the reality of Recurrence.
Another is that of the Trojan lady Cassandra, daughter of Priam, who could perceive the 'future' as clearly as the 'past', but who was never believed. The myth forbears to tell us that we are all Cassandras; at any rate where our own 'futures' are concerned - Cassandras all. Those few of us who know it know also how painful it is, and we feel the deep pathos of the tragic life of the Trojan woman as each opportunity, that we have foreseen, is neglected despite all our efforts to make it clear to those we love.
Shakespeare knew it, too, when he told us that there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, but, neglected, leaves us to wallow in the shallows of misery. He, too, had watched that happening.
And then, one day, perhaps, we come to understand, and the meaning of the myth becomes clear.
We can no more seize those opportunities, so clearly seen, than a tram labelled 'Balham' can take us to 'Hamstead'. Of course the points can be changed, but the driver, the ego in control, cannot do that; an independent intelligence has to be invoked.
When one has understood - it is no longer a tragedy to be Cassandra.
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'From the Beginning Nothing Exists' - Hui Neng
Louis de Broglie and Schrödinger, crowning half a century's work in physics, seem to have demonstrated mathematically and in the laboratory that there is nothing real that exists, nothing absolute that could exist. Mass appears to be only resistance to change (to movement of energy), decreasing in bulk in accordance with acceleration and increasing proportionally in energy. Matter, therefore, has no existence as such.
Hui Neng seems to have known that about 1300 years ago. Scientists have now demonstrated it. Wise men believed Hui Neng; the unwise will believe the scientists.
Cause and Effect: The Result of what Hasn't Happened
There can be no such thing as a Cause, for the idea of causation presupposes the objective existence of Time. Cause-and effect therefore are an illusion appertaining to the plane of seeming.
It follows that all theological, philosophical, metaphysical, and other rationalistic notions are attempts to explain what by means of our media of explanation must necessarily and forever be inexplicable.
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