Philosophy of Soul and Matter

Author(s): Chitrabhanu, Clare Rosenfield
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Center

Page 38

CHAPTER TWo
DISTINGUISHING "I" FROM "NOT I"
When a child watches someone "hide" a seed under the soil and cover it with heavy earth and some water, he thinks it is gone. He cannot imagine that such a small seed could push its way out from its apparent hiding place and reappear. But when you see someone plant a seed, you know that it is going to sprout up and grow. You know that it is not going to disappear and die..
What is it that makes you know that the seed will grow? And what is the child lacking which causes him to think that it has vanished? Experience. Experience gives you the power to know that within the seed there is something which has so much energy that it can break the soil and come out. Lacking that experiential knowledge a child does not yet have the vision of the one who knows.
There is a similar difference between a person with
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