The transformation of the Buddha from a light bringer to a secular Buddha has been made possible by ignoring much of what the Buddha taught, especially, when it it is not well understood in the first place having nothing in common with modern secular society which worships at the golden calf of materialism guarded by the high priests of holy science.
But the sciences like any other institution is a mix of the good, bad and the ugly. It would not be false to say that the sciences have their share of dogmas that the bad and the ugly hold dear. They could not care less if the data goes against their prized dogma, in the example of cosmological redshift or black holes. These people will defend their turf to the hilt; and woe unto anyone who raises a sword against them, and their golden idol.
When it comes to near death experiences (NDEs) which further opens the door to the acknowledgement of the postmortem survival of consciousness, which the Buddha claimed happens, consciousness being the transmigrant, the bad and the ugly side of science comes out in full force. These materialist inquisitors, who could not care less about the so-called neutral position of science, are quick to let their a priori prejudices become the basis of a new Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches).
But now let's cut to the chase: Why are these people so up in arms when it comes to NDEs and what it implies, namely, postmortem survival? The answer could prove controversial and unwelcome. It might be because the answer, itself, is to be greatly feared if true. It reveals that cognitive dissonance has been going on for some time.
This means that when a person finds themselves confronted by two mutually exclusive things such as death without postmortem survival and rebirth, the subsequent tension generates certain actions to reduce the conflict. This begins a drive to suppress what is believed to be the most dissonant of the pair and by doing so, learn to live with the less dissonant. But then what if the more dissonant of the two starts finding reasonably solid evidence in the form of NDEs? The scary thing happens: We have to face the fact that not only will there be postmortem survival for us but what if this survival means we have to come back into another life far worse than the one we just exited? Of course, there is no absolute certainty that this is true but on, the other hand, since we’ve been born once already there is less absolute certainty that we will not be born again.
Loved your pic here of Conrad Veidt from the Silent-Film classic, "The Man Who Laughs".
Posted by: MStrinado | August 19, 2013 at 04:04 PM