Saturday, November 21, 2020

Scientists cannot produce even a grain of rice

[Sadhu Sanga] New Book" Idols of the Mind vs True Reality, by Bhakti Madhava Puri, Ph.D.

Idols of the Mind vs True Reality, by Bhakti Madhava Puri, Ph.D.

"One must therefore go back 300 years and reflect on how one could have proceeded differently at that time, and how the whole subsequent development would then be modified." - Schroedinger

The theme of the new book, "Idols of the Mind vs True Reality" by Bhakti Madhava Puri, Ph.D. is concerned with the clear exposition of the pivotal conceptions and misconceptions of Galileo's and others' ideas that produced the subsequent development of what would become modern mathematized science.

The confusions and almost complete ignorance that exist today regarding something so fundamental as consciousness is immediately cleared up when the obvious errors are seen in the ad hoc presumptions of the original founders of modern science who were blindsided by the metaphysical ontologies that held sway during their lives, but to which we no longer adhere, thanks to the development of philosophy beyond that period. We trace this progress out in a concise way in the book.

The modern mind, thanks to science education, is focused on the one-sided empirical approach to knowledge by sensuous perception, but this fails to account for the role of subjective cognition or conception - the role of consciousness in such perceptions. This artificial separation of the original unity-in-difference between conception and content has been rendered impossible to broach because of the historical metaphysical tradition of dualism firmly held by the fathers of modern science such as Galileo and Descartes.

The presumed impossible gap between subject and object is bridged once we realize that the object is what the subject knows it to be. This does not reduce the object to the subject as the abstract idealists (monists) naively are only too hasty to presume as an immediate identity (oneness). Mediation is involved; there are both difference and identity at play. It is merely lazy un-thinking that ignores the intricate dynamic in the mediating activity that is the heart and life of consciousness. The main purpose of the book is to restore the central importance of the conceptual moment that is integral to science and which makes it truly worthy of the name Science or scientific knowledge. 

Google Groups "Sadhu-Sanga Under the holy association of Spd. B.M. Puri Maharaja, Ph.D." group.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Online_Sadhu_Sanga/1133390763.405791.1594563986079%40mail.yahoo.com

“The scientists would say ‘everything is made from some electrons.’ The smallest atom is hydrogen and that is made of an electron [and a proton and neutron] but that doesn’t produce consciousness or life. We are not just moving electrons – electricity. Produce all the electricity you want but you cannot produce life. The scientists cannot produce even a grain of rice. We could not live if we were depending on the scientists. Life is the most important principle, not matter, but where is it coming from?”

— Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D.
(Serving Director, Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute)