Vinaire's Blog
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Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
Buddha’s Four Noble Truth’s, that were announced to the world about 2500 years ago, have had a wonderful effect of bringing civilization to the world. Today, we need to revisit these truths and see how they can be applied more effectively under present conditions.
According to Buddha, one must let go of attachments, greed, and delusion in order to eliminate the cause of suffering. But this is increasingly becoming difficult in today’s societies because of misconceptions. This primary misconception is the view one has of “I” that is suffering.
In this paper we examine the view of “I” following the process of “Neti, neti.”
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In Abrahamic Religions, a person views himself as the eternal soul. When applying the process of “neti, neti.” I look at “What is this thing called soul?” “Do I fully understand the nature of soul?” “Am I this soul that I am thinking about?”
The concept of soul started as a life‑principle, something that animates the body and departs at death. it was closely linked to breath. In the Hebrew Bible, the soul (nephesh) primarily means a living being, life, or throat/breath, not an inherently separable, immortal inner entity. In Christianity, a more dualistic model takes hold: humans are mortal bodies plus immortal souls, and death is seen as the separation of soul from body, destined for resurrection and judgment. Islamic thought affirms that God creates each human soul and “breathes” it into the body. A widely held traditional view is that the soul enters the fetus around 120 days after conception.
Here soul is defined as an entity that exists separate from the body and gives life to the body. Thus, there are individual souls that are created by God; but, once created, these souls exist eternally without disappearing. This idea of soul basically originates from the phenomena of life and death. It is a postulate that tries to explain life and death.
Am I this postulate of soul as described above? According to “neti, neti,” I am not. If not, then who am I?
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In Scientology, a person views himself as an eternal thetan. A thetan is different from soul in the sense that a person may say that he has a soul; but he does not have a thetan, because he is the thetan. This difference between soul and thetan is a big deal in Scientology.
Scientology defines thetan as the awareness of awareness unit which has all potentialities but no mass, no wave-length and no location. It is the being who is the individual and who handles and lives in the body. A thetan has no time or location in space except by consideration or postulate. The thetan is not a thing; it is the creator of things. Scientology does not teach that the thetan was “created” by something else; rather, thetans are taken to be beginningless, immortal spiritual beings that either always existed or, in some accounts, “willed themselves into existence” and then collectively created the universe.
The concept of thetan was put forth by L. Ron Hubbard to explain the source of life and life itself. Is the individuality of the thetan another identity? Scientology does not venture further into this area.
Am I this postulate of thetan as described above? According to “neti, neti,” I am not. If not, then who am I?
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In Eastern religions, Atman is the universal divine essence, or pure consciousness, which is not identified with anything in the universe. It does not have any individuality. However, Atman reduces to jivatman as it identifies with its postulates and considerations, and accumulates unsettled karma (action).
Jivātman (or Jīva) is the individual representing the conscious life force that inhabits a physical body. Jivatman is essentially wrapped up in a bundle of karma (identifications). As jivatman resolves the unsettled karma, it rises in consciousness to Atman.
Upon death of a body, the bundle of karma continues as genetic programming in other bodies, where it is activated by the jivatman of those bodies. If a person thinks that he is that jivatman, he is basically identifying with the unsettled karma.
The idea of “reincarnation” has to do with the continuation of unsettled karma that the “I” is identifying with. There is no more “reincarnation” when all karma is resolved.
Am I this unsettled karma or the jivatman? According to “neti, neti,” I am not.
Am I this Atman? Certainly not as an individuality, because Atman does not have any individuality. Now we are looking at an anomaly and a misconception.
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Buddha was the first to call out the anomaly of Atman. This shall be taken up in the next chapter.
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Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
According to its postulates, the universe is ought to be something wonderful. But, unfortunately, it is not.
The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is the existence of Dukkha, which asserts that life inherently contains unsatisfactoriness, pain, and instability. It is not a pessimistic view, but a realistic observation that birth, aging, sickness, death, and not getting what one wants are inescapable forms of suffering.
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The Second Noble Truth states that the cause of suffering (dukkha) is craving, desire, or thirst. It teaches that suffering arises from internal mental reactions—specifically craving pleasurable sensations, continued existence, or cessation of experience—rather than just external events. Postulate Mechanics agrees with Buddhism that suffering arises from internal mental reactions; but it looks further into the cause of those reactions.
The Third Noble Truth states that the cessation of suffering (dukkha) is possible by eliminating its cause, which is craving (tanha). It asserts that by letting go of attachments, greed, and delusion, one can achieve freedom, peace, and ultimate happiness, known as Nirvana. Postulate Mechanics observes that letting go of attachments, greed, and delusion is the right goal, but it has been difficult to attain, because the actual cause goes deeper.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the “Path to the Cessation of Suffering,” which prescribes a “Middle Way” balancing moderation with mental discipline, offering a guide for ethical living, mindfulness, and wisdom to achieve liberation. Postulate Mechanics observes that this path has been difficult to follow because of misconceptions.
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The primary misconception is not having a proper understanding of that, which is suffering, or that, which needs to be liberated. We all think that “I am suffering.” But who or what is this “I”?
This “I” is the individuality. This individuality is identifying itself with the phenomena of the universe made up of postulate and considerations. But, it is not aware that it is identifying. Even when aware, it does not know what it is identifying with.
This brings us to the ultimate enquiry conducted as, “Neti, neti”; that is, “I am not this, I am not that.” By eliminating what I am not, I, ultimately, come to realize what I am.
It is easy to theorize that I must be pure awareness because I am not what I postulate or consider to be; but, it actually requires going through the process of “neti, neti” to realize that.
As part of this process, I look at something carefully and ask myself, “Am I this _____? What is this _____ anyway? Do I fully understand the nature of this _____?” Only after understanding this _____ fully, can I say with certainty that I am not this _____.
I peel off the layers of matter, radiation and thought to finally arrive at the underlying postulate, and see if I am that or not.
Only then, may be sooner than later, I may come to realize what pure awareness is like!
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Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
The universe is constructed out of postulates. When we talk about the universe, we include in it individuality and Self that basically reduce to awareness. Awareness may also be found in other entities in the universe to different degrees.
The ultimate experience of universe is described in the Vedic philosophy as SAT-CHIT-ANANDA. This may be presented as the postulates of Substantiality-Awareness-Oneness.
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The universe can be sensed and known, therefore, it is substantial. In other words, the universe must be made of substance. The degree of substantiality may be denoted by the “thickness” of substance. It is visible as density, firmness, viscosity, etc.
The substance of the universe may be divided into the following categories: (1) Matter, (2) Radiation, and (3) Thought. Science may not accept radiation and thought as “substance”; but, these are considered “substance” in Postulate Mechanics because they are substantial enough to be sensed and known.
Matter has the most thickness called “mass.” Radiation is considered to have no mass, but it still has thickness, which is sensed mostly as motion or “energy” and measured as “frequency.” Thought has thickness that is sensed mentally instead of physically, and it may be measured as “heaviness.” For example, hate has much more thickness than love. Fixed ideas have much more thickness than a fleeting thought.
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Awareness arises as we sense the universe. Sensations assimilate into perceptions, memories, experience and knowledge. All knowledge assimilates, ultimately, into knowingness. Pure awareness is based on total assimilation.
Identification is superficial awareness that is limited to labels and symbolisms. It is memory intensive as there is little assimilation.
Knowingness is deep and intuitive awareness resulting from total assimilation. It does not require memory. It operates on an instantaneous basis.
Assimilation resolves lack of awareness. Awareness increases from identification to knowingness. In knowingness one is fully aware of all phenomena.
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“Ananda” means bliss, but that is just an aspect of oneness. Essential elements of oneness are harmony, consistency and continuity. For example, in oneness, both observer and observed are in complete harmony.
Bliss, rationality. beauty, health, etc., arise from oneness. In fact, everything that is positive, arises from oneness.
Oneness may be compared to a state in which everything is in equilibrium. When oneness is disturbed there is a natural effort to restore that equilibrium. Assimilation is the process that restores the equilibrium.
The word UNIVERSE literally means, “all things combined into one.” In Postulate Mechanics, this implies that
All elements of the universe are in a dynamic harmony, consistency and continuity with each other at all times.
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Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
The original Self is identifying itself with some postulates. It is in total harmony within itself. Therefore, it operates as a single entity. The totality of the postulates appears as the Universe. The Self is part of the Universe.
As the Self continues to identify, it assumes individuality. Thus there are many individualities operating in the same universe. Each individuality has its own will. It continues to postulate and modifies itself and its universe. But underlying all these modifications, there is a common Self and a common Universe.
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The original Self is identified as BRAHMAN by the ancient Vedas of the East. Each individual is ultimately identical with Brahman, and only appears separate due to ignorance and the conditioning of body‑mind. As the ignorance is removed the individuality becomes one with Brahman.
The original Self is identified as GOD by the Abrahamic religions of the West. Each individual is a direct creation of God, made intentionally rather than as an emergent by‑product of nature. God endows the individuals with a soul or spirit that links them to the divine, while their bodies are formed from the created world (earth, clay, “dust,” etc.). The individuality, forever, remains separate from God, but it is supported by God.
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The individuality is linked back to the Self. Different religion advance different theories to explain this separation of individuality from the Self. Two of the main theories are explained above. But underlying any theory there are postulates.
Basically, the Self disintegrates into individualities as it continues to identify increasingly with more postulates. This course is reversed as individuality comes to recognize those identifications and realizes that it is pure awareness.
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The universe is the sum total of all postulates. Individuality is made up of some of those postulates. Other postulates combine into other entities and life forms. An individuality is thus surrounded by a universe made up of all kind of entities and life forms.
The postulates that this universe is made up of are hidden, but they are knowable. It is the mystery of the universe and the ignorance of its underlying postulates that keeps awareness trapped in it. Freedom lies in spotting and recognizing these postulates.
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Reference: Postulate Mechanics (PM)
Both awareness and postulate must be present together for postulate to even appear. The appearance of postulate implies that awareness is present. Even when awareness and postulate manifest together, they are two different phenomena. Only when we identify awareness with postulate that the idea of self comes about.
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Awareness is present while postulates appear and disappear. Awareness is not any of those postulates that it is aware of. The moment awareness wonders what it is, it is looking to identify itself. And, the moment awareness gets an idea of what it is, it has identified itself with some postulate.
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A postulate is a statement assumed to be true without proof, serving as a foundational premise for further reasoning. Einstein postulated the speed of light to be a universal constant to derive his theory of relativity. Postulate has been described in detail in PM Chapter 1: Introduction. All postulates and the considerations derived from it describe to us the reality of the universe.
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The moment awareness introverts into looking at what it is, it identifies itself with some postulate. In that moment it becomes a self. If the introversion continues the identification continues to occur and the self comes to acquire various colors and attributes.
At first, the self is in total harmony within itself, and it operates as a single entity. But as the attribute of individuality comes about, it breaks into many individual selves. All the earlier experience is shared by the individualities. That experience of total harmony within oneself becomes the idea of God. It extends to harmony within the society. It extends, ultimately, to harmony of humanity, and of all life.
God then comes to be regarded as the symbol of oneness. God is looked upon as the original form of self as a harmonious single whole.
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