Science and Advaita - 7

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Philosophy

There is a further science that makes use of mind, but in a rather different way. This is the science of philosophy. It is a discipline whose aim is completely educational. It is not meant to achieve any object in the world. Nor is it meant to develop any physical or mental capability. All capabilities that it may develop are completely incidental to its proper aim.

That proper aim is described by the word 'philosophy'. In ancient Greek, 'philo-' means 'love' and 'sophia' means 'wisdom' or 'true knowledge'. The motivation of philosophy is thus described as an uncompromising love for truth. It is a discipline that looks for truth, beyond all compromise with falsity.

In this discipline, all capabilities are made to serve a single, over-riding aim. That aim is to know more clearly, by investigating and removing ignorance. Wherever knowing is confused, the clarifying must continue. It must keep on continuing, so long as any compromise remains, in what is taken to be true.

Thus, in philosophy, the use of mind is always skeptical. Philosophical ideas are not meant for the purpose of constructing theories or descriptions. Instead, they are meant to raise questions, about the beliefs and assumptions on which theories and descriptions have been built. These questions in themselves are constructed thoughts, which have arisen from beliefs and assumptions that are taken for granted. Accordingly, the questions must turn back upon themselves, to ask what their own concepts mean and what they take for granted.

As questions are thus turned upon themselves, they reflect into the depth of mind. But this reflection is not forcefully achieved, by any exercise of mental power. Instead, it is inspired naturally, whenever truth is genuinely sought. The search then turns upon itself; and thus keeps asking further down, to look for truer knowing. The asking does not work through force, but instead through a disinterested examination. Whatever mind conceives is examined carefully, in order to remove mistakes and thus to be more accurate.

In the European tradition, three approaches are distinguished, for philosophical enquiry:

 

 

The first approach is called 'metaphysical'. It asks what truly is, beyond the changing show of appearances that nature manifests. Here, truth is approached as invariant being. It is approached as a common reality that has been differently shown, through a variety of changing appearances.The second approach is called 'epistemological'.

 

It asks how knowing can be true, beneath our partial perceptions and our prejudiced ideas. Here, truth is approached as unbiased knowing. It is approached through a detachment of true knowing from our personal conditioning.

The third approach may be called 'ethical'. It asks for what we truly live, and why things happen in the world. Here, truth is approached as motivating value. It is approached as an underlying motivation, for whose sake all actions and all happenings take place. That motivation is shown personally in our microcosmic lives. And it is shown impersonally in the macrocosmic world.

These three approaches are found also in the Sanskrit tradition, where it is conceived that truth has three aspects. The first of these aspects is called `sat', which means `being' or `reality'. The second aspect is `cit', which means `knowing' or `consciousness'. And the third aspect is `ananda', which means `happiness'. These three aspects are approached in three ways:

 

 

'Sat' or 'reality' is approached through 'yoga' or 'union'. This is the way of meditation. It is meant to expand the mind beyond its limitations -- through meditative exercises that withdraw from conflicting objects, towards a final union with that one complete reality which underlies all differences.

 

'Cit' or 'consciousness' is approached through 'jnyana' or 'knowledge'. This is the way of philosophy. It is meant to reflect beneath all partial faculties -- by asking skeptical questions that keep on detecting and removing falsity, towards a clear knowing where no ignorance remains.

 

'Ananda' or 'happiness' is approached through 'bhakti' or 'devotion'. This is the way of spiritual surrender. It is meant to give up all petty claims of personal possession -- for love of an ultimate value that motivates all feelings, thoughts and actions in the physical and mental world.

 

Each of these three aspects has a further counterpart, in our individual personalities. 'Sat' or 'being' is made manifest in our transforming lives. 'Cit' or 'knowing' is made manifest in our investigating thoughts. And 'ananda' or 'happiness' gets to be manifest in our participating feelings, through which we take part in a functioning of nature that extends throughout the world.

 

As the aspect of being is approached through meditation, the living personality is meant to be transformed, towards a state of true perfection where all limitations have been overcome. As the aspect of knowing is approached through philosophy, the questioning of thought is meant to be reflected back, to an underlying truth where no falsity remains. As the aspect of happiness is approached through spiritual surrender, all feelings are meant to participate completely, in the realization of an ultimately valued truth.

In this division of three ways to truth, a special warning is needed, about the application of philosophy. In particular, it needs to be understood that philosophy is not an academic or an intellectual subject. Its questions can of course be debated academically, by intellectual scholars who belong to different schools of thought. It's through this debating that each school sets out its own system of thought, in competition with other schools. Here, each school attacks the views of other schools, in order to establish a systematic view of world that represents the school to those who see it from outside.

But this construction of world views is not the actual practice of philosophy. Its actual practice is no building up of any theoretical construction. Instead, it is an asking down -- which looks beneath all constructed thought and belief, in order to investigate a more direct experience of true knowing. As each school describes the world, it is only setting out an external view that must eventually turn inward, by provoking a reflective questioning. For every school of genuine philosophy, debate is no more than an intellectual preparation. It only serves to set the stage for a reflective questioning, which is the actual practice of philosophy.

That actual practice starts when one is skeptical of one's own views, thus opening one's own beliefs to question and correction. When one attacks the views and the beliefs of others, then this is just a theoretical debate with no essential effect upon one's own understanding. But when one's questioning turns round reflectively upon one's own mistaken assumptions, then one's own understanding is at stake. And if such questioning is genuine, then it amounts to an investigating experiment, in which one looks to see what clearer understanding may be found.

The results of such a questioning are then inherently practical; for the new understanding gets inherently expressed in further feelings, thoughts, actions and perceptions that arise from it. It's through such questioning that we get educated, as we learn in practice, from the process of continuing experience.

In the end, philosophy looks for a truth that is of value in itself. That truth is ultimately spiritual. To realize its final value, nothing more is needed than pure knowing. It needs no further justification, by any actions, thoughts or feelings that express it in some physical or mental form.

At this point, many people have a problem with philosophy. There seems to be a contradiction here, between the skepticism of philosophy and the faith that is required for a spiritual enquiry. But there is a simple way of resolving this contradiction. Philosophy is not a faithless enterprise. It does have a special faith, in the value of true knowing. So it investigates that knowing, by its reflective questioning of what the mind believes. If the enquiry is carried far enough, it reflects from all conceptions to investigate a knowing which is quite unmixed with any objects that the mind has conceived. That knowing is then purely subjective, and thus spiritual. It's in this way that philosophy proceeds to a spiritual enquiry.

There is, accordingly, a profound connection between philosophy and spiritual devotion. It is described in Shri Shankara's Viveka-cudamani (stanza 31):

 

moksha-sadhana samagryambhaktir eva gariyasi .sva-svarupa-'nusandhanambhaktir ity abhidhiyate ..

Among all ways of striving to be free,it's love that is the best, one must agree.To question one's own truth, to ask what's there:that is the love of those who ask with care.

Ananda