The Supreme Court has ruled that genetic technology or engineering that deals with the manipulation of the bodies of living organisms is no different from any other technology that deals in the manipulation of matter.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
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As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, a machine is a machine, a product is a product, an invention is an invention. There is no difference between a so-called living invention or a living machine and a nonliving machine or nonliving invention.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
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Mankind doesn’t own the lower or higher species of life.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
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The basis of ethical protest against genetic engineering on lower and higher species is respect. And the basis of our respect for living beings is our perception of a fundamental distinction between the living and the nonliving. We see life as special. Without that respect for the living, there is no basis for protesting the treatment of the living as if they were nonliving.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes | SEEKING SATISFACTION
SEEKING SATISFACTION
If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave.
But sense gratification does not satisfy. This is further evidence that you are not the body. No matter how much sense pleasure you have, you are still never satisfied within.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
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Nor is sense gratification considered “bad.” Sense gratification comes and goes as a natural occurrence of the senses. For example, one cannot eat without tasting. The point is that a life that is centered around sense enjoyment, that makes sense enjoyment the goal, is a wasted life. Economic development is necessary for the maintenance of the body; so therefore it cannot be neglected. But to seek economic development simply for the sake of endlessly increasing sensual pleasure is foolish. No amount of sensual pleasure will ever really satisfy a person, so no amount of economic development will ever be considered “enough.” This is why people in modern Western societies are still not satisfied, even though they are so economically advanced and thus have so much facility for sense enjoyment. They always want more.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave.
But sense gratification does not satisfy. This is further evidence that you are not the body. No matter how much sense pleasure you have, you are still never satisfied within.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
======
Nor is sense gratification considered “bad.” Sense gratification comes and goes as a natural occurrence of the senses. For example, one cannot eat without tasting. The point is that a life that is centered around sense enjoyment, that makes sense enjoyment the goal, is a wasted life. Economic development is necessary for the maintenance of the body; so therefore it cannot be neglected. But to seek economic development simply for the sake of endlessly increasing sensual pleasure is foolish. No amount of sensual pleasure will ever really satisfy a person, so no amount of economic development will ever be considered “enough.” This is why people in modern Western societies are still not satisfied, even though they are so economically advanced and thus have so much facility for sense enjoyment. They always want more.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Quotes | You are your body, right?
- You are your body, right? You are chemical in essence ... right? At least, that’s what one of America’s most influential scientists claims:
- I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules called Carl Sagan.
You are a collection of almost identical molecules with a different collective
label.*
“I’m Susan. I’m blond, 29 years old, a mother, and still 36-24-36!”
“I’m Henry. I’m a white American male and proud of it!”
“I’m John. I’m a lawyer. I’m 40 years old and getting older every day.”
“I’m Alice. I’m a female student. I’m fat and I’m a Methodist.”
Name, race, age, sex, religion, nationality, occupation, height, weight, and so on—all these are bodily labels. Therefore if you consider your body to be yourself, you automatically identify yourself with such labels. If your body is fat and ugly, you think, “Woe is me! I am fat and ugly.” If your body is 60 years old and female, you think, ”I am a 60-year-old female.” If your body is black and beautiful, you think, “I am black and beautiful.”
But is the body really the self? Are you really your body?
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
*Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), p. 127.
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In the same way that we do not befriend or reject somebody just on the basis of the type of clothing he is wearing, we should not feel prejudice nor bigotry towards others just because of the type of body that they are wearing. We should know that we aren't our bodies and thus not relate with others according to their temporary bodies.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Controlling the mind | Jagad Guru Chris Butler
Controlling the mind
Gaze intently at some nearby image in your immediate environment. Now close your eyes and look at the picture of that image in your mind. Try to hold the image in your mind and look at it for quite some time. If it begins to move around, try to steady it; if it begins to fade away, bring it back. This exercise should make it quite clear how hard it is to control the mind—to keep something in your mind that you want to keep in your mind. If you can think thoughts you do not want to think, this further illustrates that you are different from your mind.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
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If you wrongly identify yourself with your body—your senses—you will erroneously conclude that you can achieve happiness through material sense gratification.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
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Watching Your Dreams
Tonight, as you are lying in bed almost ready to fall asleep, watch your body fall asleep. Mentally say to yourself, “I am aware that my body is falling asleep.” As you fall deeper and deeper into sleep, there is a good chance that you will begin dreaming. In this state you will be half-awake, half-asleep. Watch these dreams. Mentally say to yourself as the dream begins, “I am aware that I am dreaming.” By persisting in this practice, you will eventually be aware that you are dreaming, even in deep sleep. But this ability is only a side benefit; the real point is to experience yourself as the viewer of the stream of mindstuff.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
Gaze intently at some nearby image in your immediate environment. Now close your eyes and look at the picture of that image in your mind. Try to hold the image in your mind and look at it for quite some time. If it begins to move around, try to steady it; if it begins to fade away, bring it back. This exercise should make it quite clear how hard it is to control the mind—to keep something in your mind that you want to keep in your mind. If you can think thoughts you do not want to think, this further illustrates that you are different from your mind.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
======
If you wrongly identify yourself with your body—your senses—you will erroneously conclude that you can achieve happiness through material sense gratification.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
======
Watching Your Dreams
Tonight, as you are lying in bed almost ready to fall asleep, watch your body fall asleep. Mentally say to yourself, “I am aware that my body is falling asleep.” As you fall deeper and deeper into sleep, there is a good chance that you will begin dreaming. In this state you will be half-awake, half-asleep. Watch these dreams. Mentally say to yourself as the dream begins, “I am aware that I am dreaming.” By persisting in this practice, you will eventually be aware that you are dreaming, even in deep sleep. But this ability is only a side benefit; the real point is to experience yourself as the viewer of the stream of mindstuff.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Science of Identity Foundation
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Quotes on Racism and Solving Crime
Racism is the identification of a person/self according to the race of the body that self is in. This is like identifying people with their shirts. If you walk along the street, you will see many different-colored shirts. If one of those shirts is purple, you don’t see the person wearing that shirt as a purple person; you see him as someone who merely is wearing a purple shirt. Racism is based on the inability to see that different-colored bodies are just like different-colored shirts.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The fact is that the crime rate will continue to remain high as long as people are ignorant of their true identity and are bombarded with the message that more sense gratification will equal more satisfaction and happiness. As long as success in life is gauged by the amount of material goods amassed, the crime problem cannot be solved.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The foundation of racism and racial conflict is the false identification of the body (“clothing”) with the person.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The false identification of the body as the self leads to more than just racial conflicts. International conflicts, religious conflicts, sexual conflicts, and many other conflicts are rooted in this false identification.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The fact that there are at least as many “wealthy” criminals as there are “poor” criminals effectively destroys the materialists’ theory that the root cause of crime is poverty and that the solution to the crime problem is to make everybody rich. Obviously, if poverty were the cause of crime, then no wealthy people would commit crimes. Besides, the term “poverty” is relative. A poor American, for example, would be a wealthy Ethiopian.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The fact is that the crime rate will continue to remain high as long as people are ignorant of their true identity and are bombarded with the message that more sense gratification will equal more satisfaction and happiness. As long as success in life is gauged by the amount of material goods amassed, the crime problem cannot be solved.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The foundation of racism and racial conflict is the false identification of the body (“clothing”) with the person.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The false identification of the body as the self leads to more than just racial conflicts. International conflicts, religious conflicts, sexual conflicts, and many other conflicts are rooted in this false identification.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
The fact that there are at least as many “wealthy” criminals as there are “poor” criminals effectively destroys the materialists’ theory that the root cause of crime is poverty and that the solution to the crime problem is to make everybody rich. Obviously, if poverty were the cause of crime, then no wealthy people would commit crimes. Besides, the term “poverty” is relative. A poor American, for example, would be a wealthy Ethiopian.
Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Self Gives the Body Value - Jagad Guru Chris Butler
Because it is the self who uses the body, this self sees value in the body. Other people see value in the body of some other self primarily because the body is a means by which that self communicates with them, expresses love to them, works for them, and so on.
Jagad Guru - Science of Identity Foundation
The body and individual body parts are valuable only so long as a self can use them. If there is no self who can use the body, then it is of no value.
Jagad Guru - Science of Identity Foundation
The Self is the Perciever of the Mind | Science of Identity Foundation
...So sensory experiences determine the content of your mind, and you are the viewer of that content. It’s just like going to a movie. You are the viewer of the content of the movie. You, the self, are in the “theater” of the body, watching the movie that is appearing on your mind. You’re like a person in a theater viewing a film that is appearing on the screen. Your eyes, ears, and other organs of perception are like cameras, recorders, and so on. Your mind is like the film or tape that the information is recorded on. You, the self, are like the moviegoer who perceives all the information (forms, colors, sounds, feelings, and so on).
Jagad Guru - Science of Identity Foundation
Despite the difference between sense perception and thoughts and feelings, both are perceived by you, the self. Both are seen or perceived, whereas you are the seer or perceiver.
Jagad Guru - Science of Identity Foundation
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