In the last book talk I talked about my book “How does the Mind work?”. That was about our current scientific understanding of the Mind.
Interest in this most complex and intriguing entity namely the Mind, is not something new. Thousands of years ago the Greek philosophers and their counterparts in India researched this wonderful subject albeit with almost no gadgets that we have today.
Though many modern researchers would like to dismiss their finds as mere speculations, anyone who has studied their contributions probably would think twice before arriving at such hasty conclusions.
Contributions of Greek philosophers to the understanding of Mind are well known. But what is lesser known is the contributions of ancient Indian philosophers which are by no means less fascinating.
In today’s book talk I am talking about my book “Missing dimensions in our current understanding of the Mind” in which I have summarized some of the extremely intriguing and insightful finds of ancient Indians. Branding these contributions as speculative would be grossly short sighted.
The simplistic answer given by some of our scientific community namely “It is for the survival and continued existence as a being” does not satisfy at all. We are faced with many aspects of our lives that are not just limited to survival and procreation.
These are the aspects or dimensions of our Mind that I focus in this book.
There is a whole range of theories I cover in this book, all revolving around Mind. I have summarized the contributions of the early Greeks which seem to have lot of parallels with the contributions of their Indian counterparts.
While the Greek philosophies were centered around the Psyche or the soul, of which Mind was assumed to be a part, some of their Indian counterparts like the Buddhists came up with amazing theories of Mind which don’t assume any Psyche at all!. Or in other words, theirs was a psychology without the Psyche!
Then we have the early Sankhya philosophers of India who predate both the Buddhists and the Greek philosophers. They have an elaborate theory of Mind, its emergence, its composition, its working, its purpose, and so on.
Later Indian philosophers blurred the distinction between the Mind and the soul and attributed the very cause of our existence to Mind. While some of the Buddhists philosophers like Vijnyana Vaadis almost said that what exists is only Mind and nothing else. The world is “just in our Mind”!.
But the theistic Vedic philosophers like Gaudapada for example, tried to correct these Buddhist views by saying that the world that exists in the Mind, exists in an all pervading and unique Mind, and not in individual Minds. Gaudapada had his “Mind only theory” to explain our existences.
Successor of Gaudapada, namely Sankara came up with his well known “theory of illusion” according to which the world exists, but not in the way it appears to be. Our perceptions are illusive!
My book covers all these fantastic theories each of which contribute to our understanding of the Mind in its own way, and try to explore the missing dimensions.
Our Mind limits us to our experiences as human beings. There could be states beyond our comprehension and beyond our Mind. Ancient Indian Upanishads focus mainly on those states that are beyond the reach of the Mind. They also suggest how one can reach those states. Their theories and methods are precursors to Yoga.
There is one crucial aspect of our existence that can potentially unlock all the mystery of our existence. That is the possibility of rebirth. Most ancient philosophies did talk about the possibility of rebirth. If rebirth is proven, it seems to provide a completely new outlook into our current understanding of the Mind. This is so since Mind seems to be a link between two successive births.
Rebirth is no longer a speculative subject. Though not yet proven, many well known scientists have ‘almost’ proven the possibility. More specifically, in India itself there were two theories of rebirth, that I discuss in this book.
You can find all these interesting ideas in this book and many more. Instead of dismissing them as speculations of some primitive people, we need to look at them in an unbiased way. May be then, we stand to gain lot of insights into Mind which our current scientific explorations have missed out.
See https://books2read.com/MissingDimensions for a preview/purchase in these formats. This is an universal book link that would list most stores where the book is available and if you click the store icon, you will be taken to that store in your region.
I am sure you will greatly get benefited by reading this book.
Bye then, till we meet again, week after next, with another of my books.
In today’s book talk I am talking about my book “Missing dimensions in our current understanding of the Mind” in which I have summarized some of the extremely intriguing and insightful finds of ancient Indians. Branding these contributions as speculative would be grossly short sighted.
What missing dimensions am I talking about?
Our current scientific explorations about the Mind look into only physical aspects of the Mind. With an overemphasis on objectivity, science totally ignores the subjective side of our existence. We are not just a bundle of cells. If we were, the million dollar question would be to ask “why this complex apparatus called Mind which even eludes all our all attempts to understand it fully?”The simplistic answer given by some of our scientific community namely “It is for the survival and continued existence as a being” does not satisfy at all. We are faced with many aspects of our lives that are not just limited to survival and procreation.
These are the aspects or dimensions of our Mind that I focus in this book.
While the Greek philosophies were centered around the Psyche or the soul, of which Mind was assumed to be a part, some of their Indian counterparts like the Buddhists came up with amazing theories of Mind which don’t assume any Psyche at all!. Or in other words, theirs was a psychology without the Psyche!
Then we have the early Sankhya philosophers of India who predate both the Buddhists and the Greek philosophers. They have an elaborate theory of Mind, its emergence, its composition, its working, its purpose, and so on.
Later Indian philosophers blurred the distinction between the Mind and the soul and attributed the very cause of our existence to Mind. While some of the Buddhists philosophers like Vijnyana Vaadis almost said that what exists is only Mind and nothing else. The world is “just in our Mind”!.
But the theistic Vedic philosophers like Gaudapada for example, tried to correct these Buddhist views by saying that the world that exists in the Mind, exists in an all pervading and unique Mind, and not in individual Minds. Gaudapada had his “Mind only theory” to explain our existences.
Successor of Gaudapada, namely Sankara came up with his well known “theory of illusion” according to which the world exists, but not in the way it appears to be. Our perceptions are illusive!
My book covers all these fantastic theories each of which contribute to our understanding of the Mind in its own way, and try to explore the missing dimensions.
Our Mind limits us to our experiences as human beings. There could be states beyond our comprehension and beyond our Mind. Ancient Indian Upanishads focus mainly on those states that are beyond the reach of the Mind. They also suggest how one can reach those states. Their theories and methods are precursors to Yoga.
There is one crucial aspect of our existence that can potentially unlock all the mystery of our existence. That is the possibility of rebirth. Most ancient philosophies did talk about the possibility of rebirth. If rebirth is proven, it seems to provide a completely new outlook into our current understanding of the Mind. This is so since Mind seems to be a link between two successive births.
Rebirth is no longer a speculative subject. Though not yet proven, many well known scientists have ‘almost’ proven the possibility. More specifically, in India itself there were two theories of rebirth, that I discuss in this book.
You can find all these interesting ideas in this book and many more. Instead of dismissing them as speculations of some primitive people, we need to look at them in an unbiased way. May be then, we stand to gain lot of insights into Mind which our current scientific explorations have missed out.
Where can I find this book?
You can find this book in almost every online store that sells books, such as amazon, apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, scribd and so on. This book is available both in e-book as well as in print book formats.
See https://books2read.com/MissingDimensions for a preview/purchase in these formats. This is an universal book link that would list most stores where the book is available and if you click the store icon, you will be taken to that store in your region.
I am sure you will greatly get benefited by reading this book.
Bye then, till we meet again, week after next, with another of my books.
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