When A Human Dies
The death of a material being involves the separation of its unit of mind from its material body. In the case of natural death due to old age, the unit of mind abandons its influence on the physical system in orderly and gradual stages. They will first lose the senses with regard to the eyes, ear, nose, tongue, and touch in that order. The last organ to go out of action is the heart and that occurs only at the time of death. Even in the case of an abrupt death, the sequence remains the same.
At the moment of death, all the forces of the unit of mind, which are spread throughout the physical system, concentrate in the heart and a strong wave of vision flashes out. The maximum strength of the evolution current of the mind gets focused in this flash of vision. At the moment of death, the mind ceases to utilise its energy to maintain the physical system. The energy will concentrate in the heart and flashes out in a vision of death thought. Ignorance and greed bring our thoughts back to the cycle of life. The vision of death will halt at the highest possible plane of existence once greed is produced by ignorance. The exit vision will rest on a new plane of existence depending on the strength in the evolution current of the mind.
Thus, the old material system dies and a new material system is born. The death vision is the last beat of mind vibrating in a material system of a living thing. Some people believe that they will head to heaven or hell. Human’s attachment to the self is so strong that they wish to have continuity even after life. By this model, a human life is a process. It starts at birth, exists in the process, expires at death and ends. Then, the cycle continues in perpetuity.
Though the mind will travel and migrate, the human never actually never dies. This is because the mind is made up of the 4 abstract elements which is unformed, undestroyed and exists in its infinite nature. It just migrates from one physical body to another depending on the strength in the evolution current of the mind. The time it takes to leave the old system and migrate to a new system is instantaneous. Distance is not a barrier to the migration of minds. To this understanding, life on other planets is possible.
When the last beat of mind migrates to a new field, conception take place. At the first beat of the mind in the new field, consciousness occurs and starts to gather elements to cover itself, thus the mental and physical development of the new being begins to take place. During this stage of the development, sensory organ are formed.
Afterlife
The Greek philosopher Plato contemplated on the afterlife. The understanding of afterlife helps to remove the notion of identities. It helps to provide a full and complete understanding of life, universe, the moment of creation and the continuity of the universes together with the infinite number of Big Bangs. Afterlife refers to the migration of mind from the old material system to a new material system.
Law of Condition
It is important to realise the laws of nature. It helps to understand why sometimes God does not answer our prayers. It is not correct to say things happen for a reason. As mentioned earlier, what is more appropriate is when all the required conditions are met, things will happen. This is one of the laws of nature which is the Law of Condition.
In our daily life, we are met with pleasant and unpleasant happenings. These happenings occur because the conditions were right for it to happen, so it happens. While we cannot know what the past causes were, it is advisable to keep enough positive energy in the mind. One of the prerequisite conditions for things to happen is the condition of the deposit stored in the evolution current of the mind.
God helps those who help themselves. It is a situation where we are trying to create the conditions for the outcome we pray for. Saying “God has his own way of doing things” comes about when our prayers don’t come true. In truth, it is the Law of Condition that governs.
Law Of Process
Everything in the universe is in a process. Everything in nature is in motion including historical figures, worldly issues, monuments, historical sites, etc. With regards to abstract elements in living things and non-living things, they are all in motion. Everything that begins will first go through the stage of birth, being and end. Everything is in process.
Law Of Cause And Effect
Every action is followed by reaction. Every effect is a result of the cause. But for the effect to come about, all the conditions must be met, which include the condition of the deposits in the evolution current.
Sometimes a person can commit many wrongdoings and yet continue to enjoy a pleasant life. This is because the positive deposits in the evolution current of that person is in abundance. While his wrongdoings do burn out the positive potential, its abundance means he will continue to experience enjoyment of life. Negative potential will begin surfacing when the positive potential becomes insufficient. When all the conditions are met, the effect will come to pass.
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Blindness Of The Third Kind
Blindness of the first kind refers to physical blindness, those who are unable to see since birth or lost the ability from some tragedy.
Blindness of the second kind refers to the state of mind when we fail to see a real-life situation for what it really is. In our daily life, when defiling thoughts like jealousy and anger are so intense, we lose sight of the actual situation.
Ignorance of life and the universe cause blindness of the third kind.
The recent suicide deaths of Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spate were very likely caused by fear, anxiety and maybe depression. These unfortunate deaths show they had blindness of the third kind and likely suffered severe last minute blindness of the second kind. While they were in the state of blindness, they did not realise that they could not see.
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Do Humans Have Free Will?
In one of the talks by Dr Ravi Zacharias titled ’Atheist Scientist Challenges Christian Apologist’, he was asked by a scientist if humans have free will or is it all predetermined by god as per the Bible?
Doctor Zacharias quoted John Polkinghorne, a world leading quantum physicist, and also another world leading physicist David Berlinski, who wrote the Devil’s Delusion. In addition, he quoted the opinion of Stephen Hawking, who had taken back his initial opinion that there is no God. His posthumous book “Brief Answers for the Big Questions’, however, reiterated his opinion that there is no God.
The present is the point that separates the past and future. While the past is history, the future is uncertain. In discussing the topic on whether a human has free will in his life, it is necessary to separate the interval before and after conception. From conception to the moment a human has the ability to decide and from the moment a human has the ability to decide until the death moment of his life.
Apart from the assumption that the afterlife is a natural process, some of the laws of nature such as Law of Cause and Effect and the Law of Conditions must be clearly understood. A complete correct understanding of apparent truth and ultimate truth is equally important in this discussion too.
Before conception, the mind with its sufficient positive deposit to be born into the category of human, will settle into a family, society and country which is suitable for the mind to express the potential stored in the evolution of the mind. The potential of this mind is dependent on the past actions that has been committed. In this aspect, the mind has no free will.
Humans have been born into this environment because of the deposits in the mind to allow for the free flow of the reactions which has matured and fructified at the time of conception. In this aspect, human has no free will because the past cannot be changed.
After conception to the time a human develops the ability to decide, infants are subject to parental support in terms of food and shelter. Our discussion now is to investigate whether a child, after developing the ability to decide, has free will until the last moment of his life.
The potential in the mind in allowing the free flow of the reactions will lay out the possible journey mapping the deposit in the mind. We can imagine this possible journey similar to the river of life. Same as the river that flows only in one direction, humans can only grow old while boulders at each cross section of the river of life represents the obstacles that we experience in our lifetime.
The future is uncertain because we humans do not know our past actions, hence we do not know the entire profile of all the cross sections of the river of life ahead of us.
A Canadian fashion designer working in New York decided to die in style after she was diagnosed with cancer and was given a few months to live by the doctor. She travelled to either Tibet or somewhere near Tibet and started living a monastic life.
One day after telling her story to a monk, she was told that since life is so important to a layman like her, maybe she can try to increase the energy in her mind in order to create a condition where she does not need to follow the path of dying from cancer.
She moved back to her fishing village in Canada. There, she would buy a quantity of shrimp from fishermen and release them to the sea on a regular basis. She continuously did that until her health condition improved to the extent that she was under remission. With a healthy body, she went back to the fashion industry in New York but under stressful conditions, she went into relapse. Repeating what she has done before by saving lives to increase the energy in her mind, she is still living and has quit the stressful life.
This is an example of the possibility to alter the profile of the cross sections of the river of life. A situation where the increased energy in her mind is so tremendous that it provided the conditions, so she did not need follow the path of dying from cancer.
The profile of the cross sections of her river of life could be that she has to die from cancer or otherwise which is unknown to normal humans. It could well be after saving the lives of the shrimp, she will still die from cancer.
On the question whether she could still die from cancer after all the effort to increase the energy in her mind, we need to touch on apparent truth and ultimate truth. Apparent truth is subject to ultimate truth, which again, is in accordance with the law of conditions.
Some humans are born into countries where euthanasia is practiced. The apparent truth is that the patient is subject to the laws of the countries. But the result, whether a human has the free will to die is subject to the ultimate truth.
The result could well be that the river of life was mapped out to accommodate the deposits in that human’s mind. In this instance, where a patient lives in a country where euthanasia is not practiced, he has no free will to die. This is only the apparent truth where he submits to the laws of the country he lives in.
But the final situation is a result of the ultimate truth. Yes, subject to ultimate truth, human has free will.
Just like a burning candle can go off in three different scenarios, the wick has run out, the wax has run out or a strong wind came blowing. Humans can die of natural death following the river of life or meeting an accident and died prematurely.
A 21-year-old, using his free will to decide to take drugs and speed in a vehicle, was actually creating and providing a condition for accident to happen to take his life. It could well be that his profile of river of life was such that it lasted and flow for 21 years only. It could also be that his profile of river of life should be some 70 to 80 years, but he used his free will to create the conditions for the unpleasant to happen.
Humans do not know the profile of the river of life which was mapped out based on the potential in the mind during conception, but human has free will hence the future is uncertain.
Nobody knows the profile of the river of life for Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spate and Robin William. They could have died prematurely or followed the length of their river of life. But they had their free will.
In one of the talk where he was asked the question ‘Does suicide send you to hell?’, Dr Ravi Zacharias responded that it is an ultimate disrespect to god, a violation of the image of god and if it was him, after taking his own life, he will not want to meet god. He advised people not to commit suicide. He did not answer the question directly.
With regards to the question asked by a member of the audience during a talk hosted by Dr Zacharais on whether a human will go to hell if he committed suicide, the answer depends on the person’s deposit in his evolution current. In this case, chances are the deposits are not good because the last thoughts must have been in a defiled state since he was committing suicide. The afterlife could be unpleasant.
Those who committed suicide were in great mental pain. They were lost. They were having the complete blindness of the second kind. To some great extent, even those who committed suicide, they did not have the choice. They have lost the ability to reason because they were completely in blindness of the second kind. One does not need to worry whether one will go to the hell if one committed suicide because there is no hell.
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Apparent Truth Versus Ultimate Truth
Dr Ravi Zacharias once said in his speech, truth is more powerful than a nuclear weapon. But we have to define truth by separating the apparent truth from the ultimate truth.
It’s only apparent truth that when a person works hard, smart, being in the right place meeting the right person and becoming financially comfortable in his life. Another person could be equally smart and going through the similar opportunities but failed to make it. Both the examples are subject to the Law of Conditions.
In another of his talks titled ’How do you know that Christianity is the one true worldview’, he tried to justify it first by giving example of a Thai lady who wished to be ordained as a nun but could not do so because in Thailand, no woman can be ordained. So, she travelled to Sri Lanka to be ordained. She has a PhD in philosophy, is a married mother with children.
Doctor Zacharias learned from her that she would drive frequently from her temple to see one of her children and said it is one of the most difficult moments for her. Zacharias pointed out to her that is it not the teaching of Buddhism to be detached. On the same topic, he pointed out that the Dalai Lama has the primary pursuit to free Tibet, is it not a form of desire? Dr Zacharias has merely pointed out the characteristics of human nature in growing attached to people and things. The weakness is within Dalai Lama and the Thai nun as human beings, but not in Buddhist education.
In both the examples given by him, and before Doctor Zacharias answered the topic of Christianity being the one true worldview, he indirectly indicated the weakness in Buddhist teaching. With complete correct understanding of nature, lives and the universe, it is true that Buddhist teachings does not need to have a country. It can be taught and practiced anywhere on this earth.
He also mentioned that during one of his talks with an Islamic clergy, indirectly he told the audience that the Islamic clergy by the name of Hussein started to agree not to question the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross.
After these examples, he guaranteed that only Christianity is the only religion that provides the true worldview by giving his answers in the form of discussion and explanation on origin, meaning, morality and destiny. He stressed that only Christianity provides the true worldview with the answers that correspond with truthfulness and is coherent of the true worldview that withstands the test of time. He did not answer the question directly.
Once getting out of ignorance, a person lives in both the apparent and ultimate world. Truth can be untold but cannot be eliminated or compromised. Darkness cannot eliminate light. Doctor Zacharias was asked the question why does god allow evil to exist by one of the audience, and had a discussion with John Piper on the similar topic. It’s a situation where a blind is leading another blind. The discussion will not lead to any conclusion partly because they have made the very first wrong view that god exist.
By nature, human minds are more inclined to defiling thoughts which leads to evil actions. Pope Francis, on 25th Feb 2019, made a statement that the abusive clergy who committed sexual abuse are tools of Satan. Actually, when there is no god, there is no Satan. Again, sexual desire is a form of defiling thoughts and human by nature are more inclined to defiling thoughts. Due to this natural pull of human mind towards evil thoughts and actions, there is a common debate on why God allows evil to exist in this world.
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Only Those Recognised By Nature Can Be Considered As The Ultimate Truth
In order to distinguish the ultimate truth from apparent truth, position yourself as nature looking at the world from afar. When the sun shines on one part of the earth, the sun does not recognise borders of countries, nationalities, race or religions. The way nature makes its recognition is through the ultimate truth. The way events take place, things that happen to a human based on the mapping of the river of life, one’s actions and reactions and the law of conditions are all part of the ultimate truth.
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Observation 16 - Fate Is Only True For The Past
Everything happens when all the conditions are there for something to happen. Everything that has happened in the past, we can if we so choose to say, is fated. However, fate is only true for past events. The future is uncertain. The profile of the river of life in the mind waits for the appropriate situation to fructify all the potential in the evolution current of the mind. Our present life is not completely predetermined. Our past actions influence the flow of our lives, directing them towards pleasant or unpleasant experiences. However, our present actions towards the present situation has effect on the predetermined flow of life. Depending on the intensity of our present actions and the predetermined cross section of the river of life in the mapping drawn up in the evolution current, humans have the ability to decide their course of action. Hence, fate is only true for the past and future is uncertain.
Tsunami-prone Areas
We are born in different countries because the character in our evolution current required such environments to allow for the free flow of the reactions which had taken their places to mature and fructify at the time we took conception. The particular area, society or country in which we are born in corresponds with the mature impressions which are about to fructify in this life.
A 9-month-old baby is born in a tsunami-prone area and is killed by the natural tragedy. The baby has not acquired the ability to decide and take actions in his or her life to enhance the positive deposits in their evolution current so as to avoid the tragedy.
In this instance, it is due to the deficiency in the positive deposit in the evolution in the mind of the baby, which was mapped out according to the river of life. For those who believe in fate, this is what they would label as ‘fated’. For the believers in God, they may have some difficulties to explain why this unfortunate tragedy happens.
Observation 9 - Good News And Bad News Are Just Information
With reference to the Law of Condition, Law of Cause and Effect and the Law of Process, everything is just the way it is. There is no good and no bad. Similar to how both music and noise are simply sounds. When something pleasant happens due to the Law of Condition, it happens. When the unpleasant happens, it is because the conditions are right for the cause to fructify. So, if you put all the three laws of nature together, there is no good and bad. It is just the way it is.
Observation 10 - Both Music And Noise Are Simply Sounds
Music and noise are apparent truths. Ultimately, they are sounds. Rock music may be appreciated by some while others prefer the opera. One may categorise the other’s taste as unpleasant noise. That is how we live life wanting music and hating noise. Little do we pay attention to the ultimate truth that both are sounds. Similarly, we only wish to have the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant. Little do we know that it is just the way it is. If human can live lives by seeing the ultimate truth, living would be less stressful.
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