INNER HARMONY: Life, Consciousness and Self

Monday, October 27, 2008

Life, Consciousness and Self

Life and consciousness are magic, white magic I should say. We'll never understand the charms and spells behind such phenomena. But we should just appreciate the show without any concern about who the magician is or how the tricks work. The SELF —the EGO— is the supreme illusion that feels so real it clouds our sight and distorts whatever is out there. According to the sages, when the EGO fades away, clouds disappear and we perceive the world very differently. This new way of seeing is intuitive knowledge, —direct knowledge, the third kind of knowledge Spinoza described. Supposedly the new reality so discovered is the TRUE REALITY. Call it Heaven, God, Pure Consciousness, the Eternal… but we cannot see IT through the eyes of common reason.

http://pragmatic-buddha.com/Book.aspx

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The Author

Gustavo Estrada graduated in chemical engineering at the National University of Bogota (Colombia) and the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg (Sweden). He has worked as director and consultant of information technology projects for many years. Besides his professional interests, he has also been a serious student of Eastern philosophy and evolutionary sciences and has practiced both meditation and yoga for more for three decades. Although he has participated in dozens of seminars and retreats, Gustavo Estrada’s resume lacks some attributes that are common in the credentials of Eastern scholars: he is not affiliated to any Buddhist tradition, does not have a spiritual teacher or master, has not been secluded in any monastery, has not been re-baptised with a different name in any of the Buddhist sacred languages, has never been in Asia. Still these shrotcomings, instead of being weaknesses to the author, become real strenghts that provide independence to his writings. Gustavo lives with his wife in Atlanta, Georgia, since year 2000.