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HERMANN KUHN
SUTRAS
This selective filter within us determines how much of reality we perceive and how clear or distorted it appears to us. It contains all the preconceptions and patterns we position like a screen between our consciousness and the outer and inner world. It further influences the way we see the objects and events we selected for perception.
On this plane we e.g. perceive someone judged ugly in a particular social environment as the most beautiful person in the world - if we are in love with him or her. Here we determine whether we see a glass as half full or half empty, i.e. whether we generally interpret events as conducive to our growth - optimistically, - or as a - pessimistic - confirmation of a general decline.
Our preconceptions and patterns may even be so far removed from the existing reality that we perceive the entire world in a distorted way. Drastic examples for this type of misconception are absolute dictators who feel secure in the loyalty of their people - until their fall makes them perceive a 'more genuine' reality.
On this plane (sthapana) we direct our consciousness towards those contents and values we feel - positively or negatively - attracted to. This alignment happens mostly without us being much aware of it. Yet we can fully influence and control this process. The Tattvarthasutra describes how to master the respective mechanisms.
- The plane of all potentially possible features of the elements
(dravya) contains in inactive, latent form all the potentially possible features and variants the elements of our reality (consciousness, matter, space, karma etc.) can assume. It is a kind of blueprint of everything that may appear in our reality.
This plane comprises all possible variations the elements can take on during their manifestations. We do not perceive this plane directly, since it exists as a solely potential, unmanifested state.
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