Jain Spirit 2002 06 No 11

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 58

PHILOSOPHY
The Relatives of Relativity
NEW BOOK: ANEKANTA - THE THIRD EYE
By Acharya Mahaprajna Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute,
Email: books@jvbi.org
nothing more than a dance of energy whose stability and solidity is only a result of our relative position within it. The fourth proposition of inexpressibilty results from an attempt to conceive of these two propositions simultaneously.
My final comment is on another great scientist whose grasp on the realms of relativity could be said to have emerged from his work on the most subjective of all objects -- the human brain, and in particular his own experience of it from within. His name is John Cunningham Lilly and his work in the field of interspecies communication with dolphins and whales has contributed a great deal to the prevailing recognition of these creatures as intelligent beings. He was also the inventor of the floatation tank - a valuable tool for deep relaxation and contemplation and when talking of his own experiences in the tank, he would often use the phrase "as if in much the same way as the Jains use 'in some respects so as to communicate the relativity of their experience and escape the fallacies of absolutes. To Dr. Lilly any absolute was merely a belief that had not yet been transcended. This idea that the relativist imposes no boundaries upon themselves and is therefore at liberty to learn and expand their consciousness indefinitely is expressed in the following excerpt taken from his book Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer. "In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true, is true or becomes true within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further heliefs to be transcended. In the mind there are no limits." 42
Anekanta, The Third Eye, is Acharya Mahaprajna's eloquent exposition of Mahavir's teachings. He reveals the essence of Jainism to truth-seekers in this book, discussing the metaphysics of anekanta in terms of its practical application. He relates elegant stories to highlight the role of anekanta in understanding fundamental concepts like co-existence, equanimity, balance and optimistic perception. He writes:
"Anekanta is an eye. With the two physical eyes man is able to see the gross world, but is not able to see or
ANEKANTA understand the inner world.
THE THIRD EYE What is the other person or nation thinking? Where, why and in what state is he thinking? What is he doing?
Acharya Mahaprajna When is he doing what he is doing? How is he doing what he is doing? And in what state is he while saying what he is saying? Unless these factors are known, understood and
lain Vishya Bharati Institute evaluated, justice can neither be meted out nor can the
32eeeee changes that take place in the material world be understood.,,
Jason Brett Serle lives in London, and is fond of philosophical enquiry.
www.joinspiril.org
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Jain Spirit . June - August 2002