Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 1

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 70

VALIDITY OF PERCEPTUAL COGNITION
59
This idealistic position is asserted to be unsound since it lacks confirmation. There is no evidence of the subject-objectless pure consciousness, so far as our experience is concerned. In our every day experience we encounter durable solid objects with diverse attributes and this experience cannot be condemned as unreal as that will lead to perfect deadlock of our physical and mental activities. Pure consciousness is not experienced by anyone of us in spite of the protestation of the idealist that such a transcedental unitary consciousness is realized by the mystic. There are mystics in every camp of philosophers and every community of men and the priests and the prophets swear by their experience. But there is vital difference between the experience of one mystic from that of another. So mysticism cannot be absolutely banked upon in our scientific and philosophical investigations. The contention of the idealist, if true, will provide powerful disincentives against cultivation of science and thought. However much may the world have been condemned one cannot escape from it and the limitations and imperfections of this earthy earth are being overcome step by step. The tangible results of science prove that world movements are governed by laws and not by chance, What is called chance is due to our lack of objective knowledge. The greatest charge against religion is that it fosters other-worldliness which is more often than not a device of escapism.
The arguments of the idealist advanced to prove the impossibility of the constitution of solid material reals based on the atomic theory have now become trite and commonplace. As regards the difficulty relating to the combination of atoms one may say that it is only a destructive argument. Modern science has gone beyond the atoms which are proved to consist of electrons and protons. It is still a riddle how the intangible energy gives rise to the tangible material bodies. We must allow the scientist to carry on his researches further and further to throw light on this apparently baffling problem. To say beforehand that the world we inhabit is irrational and cannot be explained by science or philosophy will only beg the question. We may point out to the Buddhist idealist the difficulty consisting in the consciousness-atoms giving rise to the sense of personal identity. The logical difficulties alleged against personal identity are not weightier than those ensuing from denial of it. If consciousness-atoms can give rise to their coherence in personal identity, the material atoms also may have similar efficiency though we do not know how this occurs. The Buddhist asserts that awareness of personal identity and identity of material bodies are false appearances on the basis of his assertion that pure consciousness is the