In what might be one of our most philosophically rigorous discussions yet, we explore the four main orientations to life: Scientific Materialism, Dualistic Religion, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta (Non-Duality). In this "compare and contrast" style lecture, we attempt to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each school of thought with the view that they are all incredible paths appropriate for different times suiting different dispositions.
“Truth is One, though sages call it differently. (Rig Veda 1:164:46)
And, sometimes it is only through studying the context in which a school of thought emerges and through studying its opposition, that we can truly come to understand it.
Chapter Markers:
00:00:00 Introduction: How Does Indian Philosophy Work?
00:04:30 Meet The Players On The Stage: The Four Streams of Thought
00:09:50 What is "Advaita Vedanta" (Hindu Non-Duality)?
00:19:03 History of Scientific Materialism (Charvaka)
00:27:00 Galen's "Hard Problem of Matter" and Chalmer's "Hard Problem of Consciousness"
00:31:07 Promissory Materialism and the Benefits of Science
00:35:30 The Drawbacks of Scientific Materialism
00:47:37 The Mystics of Science
00:52:00 Dualistic Religion: What is God?
00:57:00 The Benefits of Dualistic Religion
01:06:00 Dualistic Hinduism: Shaivism vs Vaishnavism
01:08:53 The Drawbacks of Dualistic Religion: "The Problem of Evil" (Theodicy) 01:17:11 Another Drawback of Dualistic Religion: "Time Based Liberation can END" 01:19:29 Buddhism
01:27:35 Madhyamika Buddhism of Nagarjuna: "Samsara = Nirvana"
01:35:35 The Logical Problem of Buddhism
01:38:20 The Advaitic Solution
01:46:33 How To Deal With The Evil in the World? (Political Action)
01:50:00 How To Cultivate Unconditional Love
01:54:45 Is This A Dream? (An Experiment to Show Non-Duality)
02:02:30 What Happens After Non-Dual Awakening?
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Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
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