The Buddhist alternative

Religious discussions got quite extensive, before being declared off bounds on "Open Forums" (sic.) :-). To redress what I saw as an imbalance in those discussions, I eventually adopted the persona of Sensei, and started topic 246, intended to examine Buddhism as a radically different religious and/or philosophical system. Here are some of the more substantial notes, which might be of interest to others. However, I've rearranged their order a bit, placing Humphreys' attempted summary at the end, rather than at the beginning -- it is substantive and worthy, but let's face it, a bit dull. :-)

Some NOTES readers made the mistake of assuming that I was expressing my own views. In fact, I was merely attempting an honest summary of some of the aspects of Buddhism as I understand it from my reading. I am no Buddhist, as another discussion made abundantly clear, though I must admit that of all religions I find Buddhism to be the most sympathetic one.

The discussion eventually departed from the declared theme of the topic (they always do!) and two of the below items are not really about Buddhism. Nevertheless, I think it is appropriate to present them in the context in which they were contributed, and Smullyian's conversation with God is a brilliant exploration of complex issue, well worth reading in any context.

NB, two of the notes refer to my main NOTES persona: Grand Duke Arnautoff.

> > the illusory nature of personal identity...
>
>  I'm curious as to why this is desirable ?

If a polemic were the point of this discussion, I would point out that I never said it was desirable - I was merely listing some major differences between Buddhism and Christianity.

The true answer, of course, is that the "illusory nature of personal identity" is neither "desirable" nor "undesirable". It is a simple statement of reality - to assert its un/desirability would necessarily deny the statement itself by giving an objective reality to the desiring self.

The best metaphor for the Buddhist view of self is a waterfall. It appears to have an objective reality, shape, even an impact on its environment! In fact it is a mere "illusion", shaped by the flow of water through the requisite features of the landscape. Take away the water and nothing is left. Take away the landscape feature creating the waterfall and it is gone. Buddhist equate water in this metaphor with the life force flowing through all living beings and the landscape with the karmic circumstances shaping the flow.

You may be interested to know that his Dukishness considers this metaphor inappropriate and argues that a flame is a much better one, incorporating the - as he claims - essential self-catalytic features of the mind.

Be it as it may, the point is that "mind" is purely a process, not an "object", as Westerners are inclined to view it. This inclination being probably due to the Christian tradition that each individual has an immortal (unchanging, "objective") component called soul and that this soul is preserved unchangingly and indefinitely in some kind of afterlife. From the Buddhist point of view this is nonsensical. When a process ends there is nothing that persists except whatever tangible consequences the process may have left in its environment. Once you turn water off - where's the soul of a waterfall?

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A brief, and utterly inadequate attempt at "pointing out" the flavour of Zen Buddhism - the most radical and interesting of all Buddhists schools. Quotes from several books by Alan Watts.

First, an all-embracing keynote:

Attributed to Buddha: "I obtained not the least thing from the unexcelled, complete awakening, and for this very reason it is called 'unexcelled, complete awakening'".

Or more down-to-earth, as expressed by a Zen master:

"Before I studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains and waters are not waters. But now that I have got to its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains and waters once again as waters."

The basic insight of satori (set against the background of seeking release from the Wheel of Life):

In the moment of his satori Hakuin cried out: "How wondrous! How wondrous! There is no birth-and-death from which to escape, nor is there any supreme knowledge after which one has to strive!"

Or

[...] the very life of the universe [...] is complete at every moment and does not need to justify itself by aiming at something beyond.

In a striking parallel to humanist understanding of ethics, only too often misunderstood as amorality in both cases:

Zen lies beyond the ethical standpoint, whose sanctions must be found not in reality itself, but in the mutual agreement of human beings. When we attempt to universalize or absolutize it, the ethical standpoint makes it impossible to exist [...]

As for metaphysics:

As 'the fish swims in the water but is unmindful of the water, the bird flies in the wind but knows not of the wind', so the true life of Zen has no need to 'raise waves when no wind is blowing', to drag in religion or spirituality as something over and above life itself. This is why the sage Fa-yung received no more offerings of flowers from the birds after his satori, for his holiness no longer 'stood out like a sore thumb'.

Or more directly:

Zen masters are quite human. They get sick and die; they know joy and sorrow; they have bad tempers or other little 'weaknesses' of character just like anyone else, and they are not above falling in love and entering into a fully human relationship with the opposite sex. The perfection of Zen is to be perfectly and simply human. The difference of the adept in Zen from the ordinary run of men is that the latter are, in one way or another, at odds with their own humanity, and are attempting to be angels or demons.

Or, quite brutally, a poem by Ikkyu:

We eat, excrete, sleep and get up;
This is our world.
All we have to do after that -
Is to die.

And Ikkyu again:

My self of long ago,
In nature non-existent;
Nowhere to go when dead,
Nothing at all.

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Peace to all beings.

"Before I studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains and waters are not waters. But now that I have got to its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains and waters once again as waters."

At least two of you misunderstood the meaning of the above saying. This is easily done. Zen masters have a great aversion to speaking plainly. This is not because they wish to obfuscate some arcane knowledge, or the lack of same. The reason is much simpler: Zen masters do not consider the basic insight of satori to be communicable in words. They believe that attempting to provide a clear explanation is tantamount to deceiving the audience. The clearer the explanation, the more likely is the audience to fix onto the explanation and miss altogether that which it is attempting to explain.

The technique of Zen is instead to bypass the level of verbal explanation and to "startle" the audience into a recognition of Reality. It is not surprising that humour - particularly the irreverent mocking and self-mocking kind - is a well established weapon in a Zen master's armoury. This is in fact the very point at which Zen differentiated itself from other Buddhist schools. According to a Zen tradition, one day when Buddha's followers gathered for yet another lecture, without saying a word the All-Enlightened One merely showed the audience a flower and then indicated that the lecture was over. While the assembled pundits reacted with either a stunned silence or furious disputes over the deep meaning of this revelation, the First-Patriarch-of-Zen-to-be merely smiled, thus showing that he alone got Buddha's little joke. Thus was Zen founded.

So don't seek in the above quotation any deep "wisdom". The Master was mocking himself, and through himself all those of us who would seek a meaning to his words deeper than the words actually warrant. In that way and that way alone do his words embody a true wisdom.

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<  How about a book list. I recommend Zen and the Art of Archery.

My son,

The best instruction possible is available from the book of life. To recommend to Westerners any specific book or list of books is to mislead. A book can be read and re-read and studied and a meaning derived therefrom - it has no way of defending itself against such misuse.

<  I hear that Zen monasteries have gone downhill lately. Lots of
<  sadistic unenlightened self-professed 'masters' going round bashing
<  adepts over the head with sticks willy-nilly.

Sadly, this appears to be true. The Western mind is so accustomed to the permanent mental cramp of ego-will, that it is unable to grasp the ego-less state of Enlightenment as anything other than violent physical behaviour.

<  A relative of mine once asked a Zen monk if he had achieved enlightenment.
< "Sometimes, he replied, but it comes and goes." Huh!

Well, I call it commendable honesty!.

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This rather long and entirely fictitious conversation with God is due to one Raymond Smullyan - a well known logician, puzzle inventor and "a kind of Taoist".

Mortal: And therefore, O God, I pray thee, if thou hast one ounce of mercy for this thy suffering creature, absolve me of having to have free will!

God: You reject the greatest gift I have given thee?

Mortal: How can you call that which was forced on me a gift? I have free will but not of my own choice. I have never freely chosen to have free will. I have to have free will, whether I like it or not!

God: Why would you wish not to have free will?

Mortal: Because free will means moral responsibility, and moral responsibility is more than I can bear!

God: Why do you find moral responsibility so unbearable?

Mortal: Why? I honestly can't analyze why; all I know is that I do.

God: All right, in that case I absolve you from all moral responsibility but leave you still with free will. Will this be satisfactory?

Mortal (after a pause): No, I am afraid not.

God: Ah, just as I thought! So moral responsibility is not the only aspect of free will to which you object. What else about free will is bothering you?

Mortal: With free will I am capable of sinning, and I don't want to sin!

God: If you don't want to sin, then why do you?

Mortal: Good God! I don't know why I sin, I just do! Evil temptations come along, and try as I can, I cannot resist them.

God: If it is really true that you cannot resist them, then you are not sinning of your own free will and hence (according to me) not sinning at all.

Mortal: No, no! I keep feeling that if only I tried harder I could avoid sinning. I understand that the will is infinite. If one whole-heartedly wills not to sin, then one won't.

God: Well now, you should know. Do you try as hard as you can to avoid sinning or don't you?

Mortal: I honestly don't know! At the time I feel I am trying as hard as I can, but in retrospect, I am worried that maybe I didn't!

God: So in other words, you don't really know whether or not you have been sinning. So the possibility is open that you haven't been sinning at all!

Mortal: Of course this possibility is open, but maybe I have been sinning, and this thought is what so frightens me!

God: Why does the thought of your sinning frighten you?

Mortal: I don't know why! For one thing, you have a reputation for meting out some rather gruesome punishments in the afterlife!

God: Oh, that's what's bothering you! Why didn't you say so in the first place instead of all this peripheral talk about free will and responsibility? Why didn't you simple request me not to punish you for any of your sins?

Mortal: I think I am realistic enough to know that you would hardly grant such a request!

God: You don't say! You have a realistic knowledge of what requests I will grant, eh? Well, I'll tell you what I am going to do! I will grant you a very, very special dispensation to sin as much as you like and I give you my divine word of honour that I will never punish you for it in the least. Agreed?

Mortal (in great terror): No, no, don't do that!

God: Why not? Don't you trust my divine word?

Mortal: Of course I do! But don't you see, I don't want to sin! I have an utter abhorrence of sinning, quite apart from any punishments it may entail.

God: In that case, I'll go you one better. I'll remove your abhorrence of sinning. Here is a magic pill! Just swallow it, and you will lose all abhorrence of sinning. You will joyfully and merrily sin away, you will have no regrets, no abhorrence and I still promise you will never be punished by me, or yourself, or by any source whatever. You will be blissful for all eternity. So here is the pill!

Mortal: No, no!

God: Are you not being irrational? I am removing your abhorrence of sin, which is your last obstacle.

Mortal: I still won't take it!

God: Why not?

Mortal: I believe that the pill will indeed remove my future abhorrence for sin, but my present abhorrence is enough to prevent me from being willing to take it.

God: I command you to take it!

Mortal: I refuse!

God: What, you refuse of your own free will?

Mortal: Yes!

God: So it seems that your free will comes in pretty handy, doesn't it?

Mortal: I don't understand!

God: Are you not glad now that you have the free will to refuse such a ghastly offer? How would you like it if I forced you to take this pill, whether you wanted it or not?

Mortal: No, no! Please don't!

God: Of course I won't; I am just trying to illustrate a point. All right, let me put it this way. Instead of forcing you to take the pill, suppose I grant your original prayer of removing your free will --- but with the understanding that the moment you are no longer free, then you will take the pill.

Mortal: Once my will is gone, how could I possibly choose to take the pill?

God: I did not say you would choose it; I merely said you would take it. You would act, let us say, according to purely deterministic laws which are such that you would as a matter of fact take it.

Mortal: I still refuse.

God: So you refuse my offer to remove your free will. This is rather different from your original prayer, isn't it?

Mortal: Now I see what you are up to. Your argument is ingenious, but I'm not sure it is really correct. There are some points we will have to go over again.

God: Certainly.

Mortal: There are two things you said which seem contradictory to me. First you said that one cannot sin unless one does so of one's own free will. But then you said you would give me a pill which would deprive me of my own free will, and then I could sin as much as I liked. But if I no longer had free will, then, according to your first statement, how could I be capable of sinning?

God: You are confusing two separate parts of our conversation. I never said the pill would deprive you of your free will, but only that it would remove your abhorrence of sinning.

Mortal: I am afraid I'm a bit confused.

God: All right, then let us make a fresh start. Suppose I agree to remove your free will, but with the understanding that you will then commit an enormous number of acts which you now regard as sinful. Technically speaking, you will not then be sinning since you will not be doing those acts of your own free will. And these acts will carry no moral responsibility, nor moral culpability, nor any punishment whatsoever. Nevertheless, these acts will all be of the type which you presently regard as sinful; they will all have this quality which you presently feel as abhorrent, but your abhorrence will disappear; so you will not then feel abhorrence towards the acts.

Mortal: No, but I have present abhorrence towards the acts, and this present abhorrence is sufficient to prevent me from accepting your proposal.

God: Hm! So let me get this absolutely straight. I take it you no longer wish me to remove your free will.

Mortal (reluctantly): No, I guess not.

God: All right, I agree not to. But I am still not exactly clear as to why you now no longer wish to be rid of your free will. Please tell me again.

Mortal: Because, as you have told me, without free will I would sin even more than I do now.

God: But I have already told you that without free will you cannot sin.

Mortal: But if I choose now to be rid of free will, then all my subsequent evil actions will be sins, not of the future, but of the present moment in which I choose not to have free will.

God: Sounds like you are pretty badly trapped, doesn't it?

Mortal: Of course I am trapped! You have placed me in a hideous double bind! Now whatever I do is wrong. If I retain free will, I will continue to sin, and if I abandon free will (with your help, of course) I will now be sinning in so doing.

God: But by the same token, you place me in a double bind. I am willing to leave you free will or remove it as you choose, but neither alternative satisfies you. I wish to help you, but it seems I cannot.

Mortal: True!

God: But since it is not my fault, why are you still angry with me?

Mortal: For having placed me in such a horrible predicament in the first place.

God: But according to you, there is nothing satisfactory I could have done.

Mortal: You mean there is nothing satisfactory you can do now, but that does not mean that there is nothing you could have done.

God: Why? What could I have done?

Mortal: Obviously you should never have given me free will in the first place. Now that you have given it to me, it is too late --- anything I do will be bad.But you should never have given it to me in the first place.

God: Oh, that's it! Why would it have been better had I never given it to you?

Mortal: Because then I never would have been capable of sinning at all.

God: Well, I am always glad to learn from my mistakes.

Mortal: What!

God: I know, that sounds sort of self-blasphemous, doesn't it? It almost involves a logical paradox! On the one hand, as you have been taught, it is morally wrong for any sentient being to claim that I am capable of making mistakes. On the other hand, I have the right to do anything. But I am also a sentient being. So the question is, Do I or do I not have the right to claim that I am capable of making mistakes?

Mortal: That is a bad joke! One of your premises is simply false. I have not been taught that it is wrong for any sentient being to doubt your omniscience, but only for a mortal to doubt it. But since you are not mortal, then you are obviously free from this injunction.

God: Good, so you realise this on a rational level. Nevertheless, you did appear shocked when I said "I am always glad to learn from my mistakes."

Mortal: Of course I was shocked. I was shocked not by your self- blasphemy (as you jokingly called it), not by the fact that you had no right to say it, but just by the fact that you did say it, since I have been taught that as a matter of fact you don't make mistakes. So I was amazed that you claimed that it is possible for you to make mistakes.

God: I have not claimed that it is possible. All I am saying is that if I make mistakes, I will be happy to learn from them. But this says nothing about whether the if has or ever can be realised.

Mortal: Let's please stop quibbling about this point. Do you or do you not admit it was a mistake to have given me free will?

God: Well now, this is precisely what I propose that we should investigate. Let me review your present predicament. You don't want to have free will because with free will you can sin, and you don't want to sin. (Though I still find this puzzling; in a way you must want to sin, or else you wouldn't. But let this pass for now.) On the other hand, if you agreed to give up free will, then you would now be responsible for the acts of the future. Ergo, I should never have given you free will in the first place.

Mortal: Exactly!

God: I understand exactly how you feel. Many mortals --- even some theologians --- have complained that I have been unfair in that it was I, not they, who decided that they should have free will, and then I hold them responsible for their actions. In other words, they feel that they are expected to live up to a contract with me which they never agreed to in the first place.

Mortal: Exactly!

God: As I said, I understand the feeling perfectly. And I can appreciate the justice of the complaint. But the complaint arises only from an unrealistic understanding of the true issues involved. I am about to enlighten you as to what these are, and I think the results will surprise you! But instead of telling you outright, I shall continue to use the Socratic method. To repeat, you regret that I ever gave you free will. I claim that when you see the true ramifications you will no longer have this regret. To prove my point, I'll tell you what I am going to do. I am about to create a new universe --- a new space-time continuum. In this new universe will be born a mortal just like you --- for all practical purposes, we might say that you will be reborn. Now, I can give this new mortal --- this new you --- free will or not. What would you like me to do?

Mortal (in great relief): Oh, please! Spare him from having to have free will!

God: All right, I'll do as you say. But you do realise that this new you without free will, will commit all sorts of horrible acts.

Mortal: But they will not be sins since he will have no free will.

God: Whether you call them sins or not, the fact remains that they will be horrible acts in the sense that they will cause great pain to many sentient beings.

Mortal (after a pause): Good God, You've trapped me again! Always the same game! If I now give you the go-ahead to create this new creature with no free will who will nevertheless commit atrocious acts, then true enough he will not be sinning, but I again will be the sinner to sanction this.

God: In that case, I'll go you one better! Here, I have already decided whether to create this new you with free will or not. Now, I am writing my decision on this piece of paper and I won't show it to you until later. But my decision is now made and absolutely irrevocable. There is nothing you can possibly do to alter it: you have no responsibility in the matter. Now, what I wish to know is this: Which way do you hope I have decided? Remember, now the responsibility for the decision is entirely on my shoulders, not yours. So you can tell me perfectly honestly and without any fear, which way do you hope I have decided?

Mortal (after a very long pause): I hope you have decided to give him free will.

God: Most interesting! I have removed your last obstacle! If I do not give him free will, then no sin is to be imputed to anybody. So why do you hope I will give him free will?

Mortal: Because sin or no sin, the important point is that if you do not give him free will, then (at least according to what you have said) he will go around hurting people, and I don't want to see people hurt.

God (with an infinite sigh of relief): At last! At last you see the real point!

Mortal: What point is that?

God: That sinning is not the real issue! The important thing is that people as well as other sentient beings don't get hurt!

Mortal: You sound like a utilitarian!

God: A am a utilitarian!

Mortal: What!

God: Whats or no whats, I am a utilitarian. Not a unitarian, mind you, but a utilitarian.

Mortal: I just can't believe it!

God: Yes, I know, your religious training has taught you otherwise. You have probably thought of me more like a Kantian than a utilitarian, but your training is simply wrong.

Mortal: You leave me speechless!

God: I leave you speechless, do I! Well, that is perhaps not too bad a thing --- you have a tendency to speak too much as it is. Seriously, though, why do you think I ever did give you free will in the first place?

Mortal: Why did you? I have never thought much about why you did; all I have been arguing for is that you shouldn't have done! But why did you? I guess all I can think of is the standard religious explanation: Without free will, one is not capable of meriting either salvation or damnation. So without free will, we could not earn the right to eternal life.

God: Most interesting! I have eternal life; do you think I have ever done anything to merit it?

Mortal: Of course not! With you it is different. You are already so good and perfect (at least allegedly) that it is not necessary for you to merit eternal life.

God: Really now? That puts me in a rather enviable position, doesn't it?

Mortal: I don't think I understand you.

God: Here I am eternally blissful without ever having to suffer or make sacrifices or struggle against evil temptations or anything like that. Without any type of "merit", I enjoy blissful eternal existence. By contrast, you poor mortals have to sweat and suffer and have all sorts of horrible conflicts about morality, and all for what? You don't even know whether I really exist or not, or if there really is any afterlife, or if there is, where you come into the picture. No matter how much you try to placate me by being "good", you never have any real assurance that your "best" is good enough for me, and hence you have no real security in obtaining salvation. Just think of it! I already have the equivalent of "salvation" --- and have never hade to go through this infinitely lugubrious process of earning it. Don't you ever envy me for this?

Mortal: But it is blasphemous to envy you!

God: Oh come off it! You're not talking to your Sunday school teacher, you are talking to me. Blasphemous or not, the important question is not whether you have the right to be envious of me but whether you are. Are you?

Mortal: Of course I am!

God: Good! Under you present world view, you sure should be most envious of me. But I think that with a more realistic world view, you no longer will be. So you really have swallowed the idea which has been taught you that your life on earth is like an examination period and that the purpose of providing you with free will is to test you, to see if you merit blissful eternal life. But what puzzles me is this: If you really believe I am as good and benevolent as I am cracked up to be, why should I require people to merit things like happiness and eternal life? Why should I not grant such things to everyone regardless of whether or not he deserves them?

Mortal: But I have been taught that your sense of morality --- your sense of justice --- demands that goodness be rewarded with happiness and evil be punished with pain.

God: Then you have been taught wrong.

Mortal: But the religious literature is so full of this idea! Take for example Jonathan Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". How he describes you holding your enemies like loathsome scorpions over the flaming pit of hell, preventing them from falling into the fate that they deserve only by dint of your mercy.

God: Fortunately, I have not been exposed to the tirades of Mr. Jonathan Edwards. Few sermons have ever been preached which are more misleading. The very title "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" tells its own tale. In the first place, I am never angry. In the second place, I do not think at all in terms of "sin". In the third place, I have no enemies.

Mortal: By that do you mean that there are no people whom you hate, or that there are no people who hate you?

God: I meant the former although the latter also happens to be true.

Mortal: Oh come now, I know people who have openly claimed to have hated you. At times I have hated you!

God: You mean you have hated your image of me. That is not the same thing as hating me as I really am.

Mortal: Are you trying to say that it is not wrong to hate a false conception of you, but that it is wrong to hate you as you really are?

God: No, I am not saying that at all; I am saying something far more drastic! What I am saying is absolutely nothing to do with right or wrong. What I am saying is that one who knows me for what I really am would simply find it psychologically impossible to hate me.

Mortal: Tell me, since we mortals seem to have such erroneous views about your real nature, why don't you enlighten us? Why don't you guide us the right way?

God: What makes you think I am not?

Mortal: I mean, why don't you appear to our very senses and simply tell us what is wrong?

God: Are you really so naive as to believe that I am the sort of being which can appear to your senses? It would be more correct to say that I am your senses.

Mortal (astonished): You are my senses?

God: Not quite, I am more than that. But it comes closer to the truth than the idea that I am perceivable by your senses. I am not an object; like you, I am a subject, and a subject can perceive, but cannot be perceived. You can no more see me than you can see your own thoughts. You can see an apple, but the event of seeing an apple is in itself not seeable. And I am far more like the seeing of an apple than the apple itself.

Mortal: If I can't see you, how do I know you exist?

God: Good question! How do you know I exist?

Mortal: Well, I am talking to you, am I not?

God: How do you know you are talking to me? Suppose you told a psychiatrist, "Yesterday I talked to God". What do you think he would say?

Mortal: That might depend on the psychiatrist. Since most of them are atheistic, I guess most would tell me I had simply been talking to myself.

God: And they would be right!

Mortal: What? You mean you don't exist?

God: You have the strangest faculty of drawing false conclusions! Just because you are talking to yourself, it follows that I don't exist?

Mortal: Well, if I think I am talking to you, but I am really talking to myself, in what sense do you exist?

God: Your question is based on two fallacies plus a confusion. The question of whether or not you are now talking to me and the question of whether or not I exist are totally separate. Even if you were not now talking to me (which obviously you are), it still would not mean that I don't exist.

Mortal: Well, all right, of course! So instead of saying "if I am talking to myself, then you don't exist", I should rather have said, "if I am talking to myself, then I obviously am not talking to you".

God: A very different statement indeed, but still false.

Mortal: Oh, come now, if I am only talking to myself, then how can I be talking to you?

God: Your use of the word "only" is quite misleading! I can suggest several logical possibilities under which your talking to yourself does not imply that you are not talking to me.

Mortal: Suggest just one!

God: Well, obviously one such possibility is that you and I are identical.

Mortal: Such a blasphemous thought --- at least had I uttered it!

God: According to some religions, yes. According to others , it is the plain, simple, immediately perceived truth.

Mortal: So the only way out of my dilemma is to believe that you and I are identical?

God: Not at all! This is only one way out. There are several others. For example, it may be that you are part of me, in which case you may be talking to that part of me which is you. Or I may be part of you, in which case you may be talking to the part of you which is me. Or again, you and I may partly overlap, in which case you may be talking to the intersection and hence talking both to you and me. The only way your talking to yourself might seem to imply that you are not talking to me is if you and I were totally disjoint --- and even then, you could be conceivably talking to both of us.

Mortal: So you claim you do exist.

God: Not at all. Again you draw false conclusions! The question of my existence has not even come up. All I have said is that from the fact that you are talking to yourself one cannot possibly infer my non- existence, let alone the weaker fact that you are not talking to me.

Mortal: All right, I'll grant your point! But what I really want to know is do you exist?

God: What a strange question!

Mortal: Why? We've been asking it for countless millennia.

God: I know that! The question itself is not strange; what I mean is that it is a most strange question to ask of me!

Mortal: Why?

God: Because I am the very one whose existence you doubt! I perfectly well understand your anxiety. You are worried that your present experience with me is a mere hallucination. But how can you possibly expect to obtain reliable information from a being about his very existence when you suspect the non-existence of the very same being?

Mortal: So you won't tell me whether or not you exist?

God: I am not being wilful! I merely wish to point out that no answer I could give could possibly satisfy you. All right, suppose I said, "No, I don't exist". What would that prove? Absolutely nothing! Or if I said, "Yes, I exist". Would that convince you? Of course not!

Mortal: Well, if you can't tell me whether or not you exist, then who possibly can?

God: That is something which no one can tell you. It is something which only you can find out for yourself.

Mortal: How do I go about finding this out for myself?

God: That also no one can tell you. This is another thing you will have to find out for yourself.

Mortal: So there is no way you can help me?

God: I didn't say that. I said there is no way I can tell you. But that doesn't mean there is no way I can help you.

Mortal: In what manner then can you help me?

God: I suggest you leave that to me! We have gotten side-tracked as it is, and I would like to return to the question of what you believed my purpose to be in giving you free will. Your first idea of my giving you free will in order to test whether you merit salvation or not may appeal to many moralists, but the idea is quite hideous to me. You cannot think of any nicer reason --- any more humane reason --- why I gave you free will?

Mortal: Well now, I once asked this question of an Orthodox rabbi. He told me that the way we are constituted, it is simply not possible for us to enjoy salvation unless we feel we have earned it. And to earn it, we of course need free will.

God: That explanation is indeed much nicer than your former but still is far from correct. According to Orthodox Judaism, I created angels, and they have no free will. They are in actual sight of me and are so completely attracted by goodness that they never have even the slightest temptation towards evil. They really have no choice in the matter. Yet they are eternally happy even though they have never earned it. So if your rabbi's explanation was correct, why wouldn't I have simply created only angels rather than mortals?

Mortal: Beats me! Why didn't you?

God: Because the explanation is simply not correct. In the first place I have never created any ready-made angels. All sentient beings ultimately approach the state which might be called "angelhood". But just as the race of human beings is in a certain stage of biologic evolution, so angels are simply the end result of a process of Cosmic Evolution. The only difference between the so-called saint and the so-called sinner is the former is vastly older than the latter. Unfortunately it takes countless life cycles to learn what is perhaps the most important fact of the universe --- evil is simply painful. All the arguments of the moralists --- and the alleged reasons why people shouldn't commit evil acts --- simply pale into insignificance in the light of the one basic truth that evil is suffering. No, my dear friend, I am not a moralist. I am wholly a utilitarian. That I should have been conceived in the role of a moralist is one of the great tragedies of the human race. My role in the scheme of things (if one can use this misleading expression) is neither to punish nor reward, but to aid the process by which all sentient beings achieve ultimate perfection.

Mortal: Why did you say your expression is misleading?

God: What I said was misleading in two respects. First of all it is inaccurate to speak of my role in the scheme of things. I am the scheme of things. Secondly, it is equally misleading to speak of my aiding the process of sentient beings attaining enlightenment. I am the process. The ancient Taoists were quite close when they said of me (whom they called "Tao") that I do not do things, yet through me all things get done. In more modern terms, I am not the cause of the Cosmic Process, I am Cosmic Process itself. I think the most accurate and fruitful definition of me which man can frame --- at least in his present state of evolution --- is that I am the very process of enlightenment. Those who wish to think of the devil (although I wish they wouldn't!) might analogously define him as the unfortunate length of time the process takes. In this sense, the devil is necessary; the process simply does take an enormous length of time, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. But, I assure you, once the process is more completely understood, the painful length of time will no longer be regarded as an essential limitation or an evil. It will be seen to be the very essence of the process itself. I know this is not completely consoling to you who are now in the finite sea of suffering, but the amazing thing is that once you grasp this fundamental attitude, your very finite suffering will begin to diminish --- ultimately to the vanishing point.

Mortal: I have been told this, and I tend to believe it. But suppose I personally succeed in seeing things through your eternal eyes. Then I will be happier, but don't I have a duty to others?

God (laughing): You remind me of the Mahayana Buddhists! Each one says, I will not enter Nirvana until I first see that all other sentient beings do so". So each one waits for the other fellow to go first. No wonder it takes them so long! The Hinayana Buddhist errs in a different direction. He believes that no one can be of the slightest help to others in obtaining salvation; each one has to do it entirely by himself. And so each tries only for his own salvation. But this very detached attitude makes salvation impossible. The truth of the matter is that salvation is partly an individual and partly a social process. But it is a grave mistake to believe --- as do many Mahayana Buddhist --- that the attaining of the enlightenment puts one out of commission , so to speak, for helping others. The best way of helping others is by first seeing the light oneself.

Mortal: There is one thing about your self-description which is somewhat disturbing. You describe yourself essentially as a process. This puts you in such an impersonal light, and so many people have a need for a personal God.

God: So because they need a personal God, it follows that I am one?

Mortal: Of course not. But to be acceptable to a mortal a religion must satisfy his needs.

God: I realise that. But the so-called "personality" of a being is really more in the eyes of the beholder than in the being itself. The controversies that have raged about whether I am a personal or an impersonal being are rather silly because neither side is right or wrong. From one point of view, I am personal, from another, I am not. It is the same with a human being. A creature from another planet may look at him purely impersonally as a mere collection of atomic particles behaving according to strictly prescribed physical laws. He may have no more feeling for the personality of a human than the average human has for an ant. Yet an ant has just as much individual personality as a human to beings like myself who really know the ant. To look at something impersonally is no more correct or incorrect than to look at it personally, but in general, the better you get to know something, the more personal it becomes. To illustrate my point, do you think of me as a personal or impersonal being?

Mortal: Well, I am talking to you, am I not?

God: Exactly! From that point of view, your attitude toward me might be described as a personal one. And yet, from another point of view - no less valid - I can be also looked at impersonally.

Mortal: But if you are really such an abstract thing as a process, I don't see what sense it can make my talking to a mere "process".

God: I love the way you say "mere". You might just as well say that you are living in a "mere universe". Also, why must everything one does make sense? Does it make sense to talk to a tree?

Mortal: Of course not!

God: And yet, many children and primitives do just that.

Mortal: But I am neither a child nor a primitive.

God: I realise that, unfortunately.

Mortal: Why unfortunately?

God: Because many children and primitives have a primal intuition which the likes of you have lost. Frankly, I think it would do you a lot of good to talk to a tree once in a while, even more good than talking to me! But we seem always to be getting side-tracked. For the last time, I would like us to try to come to an understanding about why I gave you free will.

Mortal: I have been thinking about this all the while.

God: You mean you haven't been paying attention to our conversation?

Mortal: Of course I have. But all the while, on another level, I have been thinking about it.

God: And have you come to any conclusion?

Mortal: Well, you say the reason is not to test our worthiness. And you disclaimed the reason that we need to feel that we must merit things in order to enjoy them. And you claim to be a utilitarian. Most significant of all, you appeared so delighted when I came to the sudden realisation that it is not sinning in itself which is bad, but only the suffering which it causes.

God: Well, of course! What else could conceivably be bad about sinning?

Mortal: All right, you know that, and now I know that. But all my life I unfortunately have been under the influence of those moralists who hold sinning to be bad in itself. Anyway, putting all these pieces together, it occurs to me that the only reason you gave free will is because of your belief that with free will, people will tend to hurt each other - and themselves - less than without free will.

God: Bravo! That is by far the best reason you have yet given! I can assure you that had I chosen to give free will, that would have been my very reason for so choosing.

Mortal: What! You mean to say that you did not choose to give us free will?

God: My dear fellow, I could no more choose to give you free will than I could choose to make an equilateral triangle equiangular. I could choose to make or not to make an equilateral triangle in the first place, but having chosen to make one, I would then have no choice but to make it equiangular.

Mortal: I thought you could do anything!

God: Only things which are logically possible. As St Thomas said, "It is a sin to regard the fact that God cannot do the impossible, as a limitation of His powers". I agree, except that in place of his using the word sin I would use the term error.

Mortal: Anyhow, I am still puzzled by your implication that you didn't choose to give me free will.

God: Well, it is high time I inform you that the entire discussion - from the very beginning - has been based on one monstrous fallacy! We have been talking purely on a moral level - you originally complained that I gave you free will, and raised the whole question as to whether I should have done. It never once occurred to you that I had absolutely no choice in the matter.

Mortal: I am still in the dark!

God: Absolutely! Because you are only able to look at it through the eyes of a moralist. The more fundamental metaphysical aspects of the question you never even considered.

Mortal: I still do not see what you are driving at.

God: Before you requested me to remove your free will, shouldn't your first question have been whether as a matter of fact you do have free will?

Mortal: That I simply took for granted.

God: But why should you?

Mortal: I don't know. Do I have free will?

God: Yes.

Mortal: Then why did you say I shouldn't have taken it for granted?

God: Because you shouldn't. Just because something happens to be true, it does not follow that it should be taken for granted.

Mortal: Anyway, it is reassuring to know that my natural intuition about having free will is correct. Sometimes I have been worried that determinists are correct.

God: They are correct.

Mortal: Wait a minute now, do I have free will or don't I?

God: I already told you do. But that does not mean that determinists are incorrect.

Mortal: Well, are my acts determined by the laws of nature or aren't they?

God: The word determined here is subtly but powerfully misleading and has contributed so much to the confusions of the free will versus determinism controversies. Your acts are certainly in accordance with the laws of nature, but to say that they are determined by the laws of nature creates a totally misleading psychological image which is that your will could somehow be in conflict with the laws of nature and that the latter is somehow more powerful than you, and could "determine" your acts whether you liked it or not. But it is simply impossible for your will to ever conflict with natural law. You and natural law are really one and the same.

Mortal: What do you mean that I cannot conflict with nature? Suppose I were to become very stubborn, and I determined not to obey the laws of nature. What could stop me? If I became sufficiently stubborn, even you could not stop me!

God: You are absolutely right! I certainly could not stop you. Nothing could stop you. But there is no need to stop you, because you could not even start! As Goethe very beautifully expressed it, "In trying to oppose Nature, we are, in the very process of doing so, acting according to the laws of nature!". Don't you see that the so-called "laws of nature" are nothing more than a description of how you act, not a prescription of how you should act, not a power or force which compels or determines your acts. To be valid, a law of nature must take into account how in fact you do act, or, if you like, how you choose to act.

Mortal: So you really claim that I am incapable of determining to act against natural law?

God: It is interesting that you have twice now used the phrase "determined to act" instead of "chosen to act". This identification is quite common. Often one uses the statement "I am determined to do this" synonymously with "I have chosen to do this". This very psychological identification should reveal that determinism and choice are much closer than they might appear. Of course, you might well say that the doctrine of free will says that it is you who are doing the determining, whereas the doctrine of determinism appears to say that your acts are determined by something apparently outside you. But the confusion is largely caused by your bifurcation of reality into the "you" and the "not you". Really, now, just where do you leave off and the rest of the universe begin? Once you can see the so-called "you" and the so-called "nature" as a continuous whole, than you can never again be bothered by such questions as whether it is you who are controlling nature or nature who is controlling you. Thus the muddle of free will versus determinism will vanish. If I may use a crude analogy, imagine two bodies moving towards each other by virtue of gravitational attraction. Each body, if sentient, might wonder whether it is he or the other fellow who is exerting the "force". In a way it is both, in a way it is neither. It is best to say that it is the configuration of the two which is crucial.

Mortal: You said a short while ago that our whole discussion was based on a monstrous fallacy. You still have not told me what this fallacy is.

God: Why, the idea that I could possibly have created you without free will! You acted as if this were a genuine possibility, and wondered why I did not choose it! It never occurred to you that a sentient being without a free will is no more conceivable than a physical object which exerts no gravitational attraction. (There is, incidentally, more analogy than you realise between a physical object exerting gravitational attraction and a sentient being exerting free will!) Can you honestly even imagine a conscious being without a free will? What on earth could it be like? I think that one thing in your life that has so mislead you is your having been told that I gave man the gift of free will. As if I first created man, and then as an afterthought endowed him with the extra property of free will. Maybe you think I have some sort of "paint brush" with which I daub some creatures with free will and not others. No, free will is not an "extra"; it is part and parcel of the very essence of consciousness. A conscious being without free will is simply a metaphysical absurdity.

Mortal:Then why did you play along with me all this while discussion what I thought was a moral problem, when, as you say, my basic confusion was metaphysical?

God: Because I thought it would be good therapy for you to get some of this moral poison out of your system. Much of your metaphysical confusion was due to faulty moral notions, and so the latter had to be dealt with first. And now we must part - at least until you need me again. I think our present union will do much to sustain you for a long while. But do remember what I told you about trees. Of course, you don't have to literally talk to them if doing so makes you feel silly. But there is so much you can learn from them, as well as from the rocks and streams and other aspects of nature. There is nothing like a naturalistic orientation to dispel all these morbid thoughts of "sin" and "free will" and "moral responsibility". At one stage of history, such notions were actually useful. I refer to the days when tyrants had unlimited power and nothing short of fears of hell could possibly restrain them. But mankind has grown up since then, and this gruesome way of thinking is no longer necessary. It might be helpful to you to recall what I once said through the writings of the great Zen poet Seng-Ts'an:

If you want to get the plain truth,
Be not concerned with right and wrong.
The conflict between right and wrong
Is the sickness of the mind.

I can see by your expression that you are simultaneously soothed and terrified by these words! What are you afraid of? That if in your mind you abolish the distinction between right and wrong you are more likely to commit acts which are wrong? What makes you so sure that self-consciousness about right and wrong does not in fact lead to more wrong acts than right ones? Do you honestly believe that so-called amoral people, when it comes to action rather than theory, behave less ethically than moralists? Of course not! Even most moralists acknowledge the ethical superiority of the behaviour of most of those who theoretically take an amoral position. They seem so surprised that without ethical principles these people behave so nicely! It never seems to occur to them that it is by virtue of the very lack of moral principles that their good behaviour flows so freely! Do the words "The conflict between right an wrong is the sickness of the human mind" express an idea so different from the story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of Man due to Adam's eating of the fruit of knowledge? This knowledge, mind you, was of ethical principles, not ethical feelings - these Adam already had. There is much truth in this story, though I never commanded Adam not to eat the apple, I merely advised him not to. I told him it would not be good for him. If the damn fool had only listened to me, so much trouble could have been avoided! But no, he thought he knew everything! But I wish the theologians would finally learn that I am not punishing Adam and his descendants for the act, but rather that the fruit in question is poisonous in its own right and its effects, unfortunately, last countless generations. And now I really must take leave. I do hope that our discussion will dispel some of your ethical morbidity and replace it by a more naturalistic orientation. Remember also the marvellous words I once uttered through the mouth of Lao-tse when I chided Confucius for his moralizing:

All this talk of goodness and duty, these perpetual pin-pricks unnerve and irritate the hearer - you had best study how it is that Heaven and Earth maintain their natural course, that the sun and moon maintain their light, the stars their serried ranks, the birds and beasts their flocks, the trees and shrubs their station. This you too should learn to guide your steps by Inward Power, to follow the course that the Way of Nature sets; and soon you will no longer need to go round laboriously advertising goodness and duty . . . . The swan does not need a daily bath in order to remain white.

Mortal: You certainly seem partial to Eastern philosophy!

God: Oh, not at all! Some of my finest thoughts have bloomed in your native American soil. For example, I never expressed my notion of "duty" more eloquently than through the thoughts of Walt Whitman:

I give nothing as duties,
What others give as duties, I give as living impulses.

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This is a modern summary of twelve principles all schools of Buddhism (from Theravada to Zen) are prepared to agree on - though some interpret these principles more literally than others. It is quoted from Christmas Humphreys' autobiography.

Twelve Principles of Buddhism

1. Each human being is responsible for the consequences of his own thoughts, words and deeds. There is no Saviour, human or divine, who can give him enlightenment or prevent him attaining it. The purpose of life is to attain complete enlightenment, a state os consciousness in which all sense of separate selfhood is purged away. This purpose is fulfilled by treading the Eightfold Path, which leads from the 'house of self', aflame with hatred, lust and illusion, to the end of suffering for oneself and all beings.
2. The Buddha pointed out three Signs of Being. The first fact of existence is the law of change and impermanence. All that exists, from a man to a mountain, from a thought to a nation, passes through the same cycle of existence - birth, growth, decay and death. Life alone is continuous, ever seeking self-expression in new forms. This life-force is a process of flow, and he who clings to any form, however splendid, will suffer by resisting the flow.
3. The law of change applies equally to the 'self'. There is no principle in an individual which is immortal and unchanging. Only the ultimate Reality, which the Buddha called 'the Unborn, Unoriginated, Unformed', is beyond change, and all forms of life, including man, are manifestations of this Reality. No one owns the life-force which flows in him any more than the electric lamp owns the current which gives it light. It is the foolish belief in a separate self, with its own selfish desires, which causes most of human suffering.
4. The universe is the expression of law. All effects have causes, and man's character is the sum total of his own previous thoughts, words and acts. Karma, meaning action-reaction, governs all existence, and man is the sole creator of his circumstances and his reactions to them, his future condition, and his final destiny. By right thought and action he can gradually purify his nature, and so attain in time liberation from rebirth. The process covers great periods of time, involving life after life on earth, but ultimately every sentient being will reach Enlightenment.
5. The life-force in which Karma operates is one and indivisible though its ever changing forms are innumerable and perishable. There is no death, save of temporary forms, but every form must pass through the same cycle of birth, growth, decay and death. From an understanding of life's unity arises compassion, a sense of identity with the life in other forms. Compassion is wisdom in action, a deep awareness of universal harmony. He who breaks this harmony by selfish action must restore it at the cost of suffering.
6. The interests of the part should be those of the whole. In his ignorance man thinks he can successfully strive for his own interests, and this wrongly directed energy of selfish desire produces suffering. He learns from his suffering to reduce and finally eliminate its cause. The Buddha taught four Noble Truths: (a) The omnipresence of suffering; (b) its cause, wrongly directed desire; (c)its cure, the removal of the cause; and (d) the Noble Eightfold Path of self-development which leads to the end of suffering.
7. The Eightfold Path consists in Right (or perfect) Views or preliminary understanding, Right Attitude of Mind, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Concentration of mind development, and finally, Right Samadhi, leading to full Enlightenment. As Buddhism is a way of living, not merely a theory of life, the treading of this Path is essential to self-deliverance. 'Cease to do evil, learn to do good, cleanse your own heart; this is the teaching of the Buddha'.
8. The Buddha described the Supreme Reality as 'the Unborn, Unoriginated, Unformed'. Nirvana, awareness of this Reality, is a state of Awakening (to the Truth within) or Enlightenment, and is the goal of the Eightfold Path. This supreme state of consciousness, the extinction of the limitations of self-hood, is attainable on earth. All men and all other forms of life contain the potentiality of Enlightenment, and the process therefore consists in consciously becoming what we already potentially are. 'Look within; thou art Buddha.'
9. From potential to actual Enlightenment there lies the Middle Way, the Eightfold Path 'from desire to peace', a process of self-development between the 'opposites', avoiding all extremes. The Buddha trod this way to the end, and faith in Buddhism includes the reasonable belief that where a Guide has trodden it is worth our while to tread. The Way must be trodden by the whole man, not merely the intellect, and Compassion and Wisdom must be developed equally. The Buddha was the All-Compassionate One as well as the All-Enlightened One.
10. Buddhism lays stress on the need of inward concentration and meditation, which leads in time to the development of the inner spiritual faculties. The subjective life is as important as the daily round, and periods of quietitude for inner activity are essential for a balanced life. The Buddhist should at all times be 'mindful and self-possessed', refraining from mental and emotional attachment to the things and occasions of daily life. This increasingly watchful attitude to circumstance, which he knows to be his own creation, helps him to keep his reaction to it always under control.
11. The Buddha said, 'Work out your own salvation with diligence.' Buddhism knows no authority for truth save the intuition of the individual, and that is authority for himself alone. Each man suffers the consequences of his own acts, and learns thereby, while helping his fellow men to the same deliverance; nor will prayers to the Buddha or to any God prevent an effect from following its cause. The utmost tolerance is practised towards all other religions and philosophies, for no man has the right to interfere in his neighbour's journey to the Goal.
12. Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor 'escapist'. It is a system of thought, a religion, a spiritual science and a way of life which is reasonable, practical and all-embracing. For 2,500 years it has satisfied the spiritual needs of nearly one third of mankind. It appeals to those in search of truth because it has no dogmas, satisfies the reason and the heart alike, insists on self-reliance coupled with tolerance for other points of view, embraces science, religion, philosophy, psychology, mysticism, ethics and art, and points to man alone as the creator of his present life and sole designer of his destiny.

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