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<v Speaker 1>In this existential mode of anxiety, who was faced with

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<v Speaker 1>a chilling encounter with nothingness and felt a spetch of

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<v Speaker 1>guests taking hold of him. At this point, all the

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<v Speaker 1>ordinary necessary things of life all lose their necessity and utility.

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<v Speaker 1>When he's rubbed from what ones had made life worth living.

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<v Speaker 1>The questions why did this happen to me? What can

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<v Speaker 1>I do about it? Are transformed into the questions who

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<v Speaker 1>am I? Why do I exists?

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<v Speaker 2>Help? City? Moly? Who? All right? Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

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<v Speaker 2>This is David Patrick Carey with Church of the Eternal Logos,

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<v Speaker 2>and today we have a very special stream sponsored by

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<v Speaker 2>our brother AC. Shout out to AC if he's out there.

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<v Speaker 2>I know he might be busy today with the family.

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<v Speaker 2>I shot him an email earlier to let him know

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<v Speaker 2>that I'll be doing his stream, and this is long awaited,

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<v Speaker 2>so I even reached out to AC and apologized. It

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<v Speaker 2>took me a while to get to this one, in which,

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<v Speaker 2>due to request, we're going to be analyzing Keji Nishitani's

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<v Speaker 2>magnus Opus magnum Opus Religion and Nothingness, which is really

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<v Speaker 2>a sort of conversation. I mean, it's not as explicit,

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<v Speaker 2>but what he's trying to do is reconcile Western nihilism

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<v Speaker 2>and materialistic atheism and Christianity with his understanding of the Sunyata,

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<v Speaker 2>which is the concept of emptiness or nothingness within Buddhism.

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<v Speaker 2>And so we're going to be diving into this book.

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<v Speaker 2>As you can see, I got so many freaking tabs.

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<v Speaker 2>Why got done? I'm thinking, Okay, maybe we're not going

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<v Speaker 2>to be able to read all those, so we're going

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<v Speaker 2>to find some of the most important ones. But we're

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<v Speaker 2>going to be discussing each chapter. It's a six chapter book.

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<v Speaker 2>It's about three hundred page and so we're going to

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<v Speaker 2>be talking a little bit about who Nishatani was and

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<v Speaker 2>why he is important. Because he is an important thinker

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<v Speaker 2>and he's a very well read man. You can't read

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<v Speaker 2>this book and not think come away from it by thinking, Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't really agree with the book, but it is

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<v Speaker 2>coming from somebody who's read a lot about Western philosophy,

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<v Speaker 2>and so he himself actually studied under Martin Heidegger. And

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<v Speaker 2>phenomenology is a central focus of Nishatani, along with existentialism,

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<v Speaker 2>and he gets a lot of that from Sartra along

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<v Speaker 2>with he was a major fan of Nietzsche, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>where his conversations on nihilism come together. And his sort

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<v Speaker 2>of I wouldn't say a great understanding of Christianity, certainly

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<v Speaker 2>not orthodox, but from a Japanese Buddhist philosopher who's studying

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<v Speaker 2>Western Christianity, I think he does a pretty good job.

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<v Speaker 2>And in the book he really doesn't bash Christianity very much.

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<v Speaker 2>He really bashes atheist materialism and what he sees as

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<v Speaker 2>the sort of secluded nature of the person or the

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<v Speaker 2>self or the ego within Western existentialism and nihilism. And

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<v Speaker 2>he believes that his concept of emptiness, coming from his

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<v Speaker 2>Zen Buddhist tradition, is going to reconcile these things. So

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<v Speaker 2>I'm skeptical if he does this. Obviously I don't believe

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<v Speaker 2>he does. But due to AC and a major thank

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<v Speaker 2>you to AC for sponsoring today's stream, we're going to

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<v Speaker 2>be covering it. We'll talk a little bit about who

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<v Speaker 2>Nishatani is. I'll give you my three central critiques of

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<v Speaker 2>why his project actually doesn't work because his emptiness nothingness

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<v Speaker 2>again shinyata can be translated various ways. He kind of

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<v Speaker 2>interchanges between emptiness and nothingness is an entirely different paradigm

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<v Speaker 2>and does not reconcile Western atheism, although I get the

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<v Speaker 2>point he's making. It does not reconcile Western ittsisial atheism, nihilism,

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<v Speaker 2>and existentialism with the transcendent meaning of Christianity. But it's

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<v Speaker 2>a good go, and so we're gonna I'll give that.

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<v Speaker 2>Then I got a video that really is just a

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<v Speaker 2>sort of overview of the work of Nishitani because most

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<v Speaker 2>of our conversation is going to be focused on this book.

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<v Speaker 2>This is what AC wanted me to cover, and this

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<v Speaker 2>book I can see why AC wanted me to cover

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<v Speaker 2>it because it's actually very important for John Verveake. So

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<v Speaker 2>if you guys have been following the channel, you know

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<v Speaker 2>that we've been following the ongoing conversation of the Meaning Crisis, right,

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<v Speaker 2>which is a dialogue that really got going between John Verveak,

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<v Speaker 2>Jordan Peterson. Pagio has been part of it. Although I

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<v Speaker 2>wouldn't consider him one of the central progenitors of the

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<v Speaker 2>Meaning crisis, Vervek's really sort of taken the mantle on that,

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<v Speaker 2>and we've discussed his sort of neo Playtonism, his technocratic

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<v Speaker 2>silicon sages that he believes AI is gonna transplant and

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<v Speaker 2>become more wise than the Buddha or Laozu or Socrates,

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<v Speaker 2>and he specifically said it'll be more virtuous than Jesus Christ.

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<v Speaker 2>So we already have laid out. If you haven't seen those,

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<v Speaker 2>you can go check out the other streams I've done

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<v Speaker 2>on John Vervaiki after this stream, but this one's we're

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<v Speaker 2>gonna be focusing on this book. So the video I

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<v Speaker 2>have for you is really an overview of Nishatani, his

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<v Speaker 2>life and his work, so that when we go through

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<v Speaker 2>chapter by chapter of the of this book, it'll make

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<v Speaker 2>a little bit more sense. And also what I wanted

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<v Speaker 2>to point out is I can see why John Vervaiki

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<v Speaker 2>likes this book because your average Western New Age, spiritual,

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<v Speaker 2>not religious, semi Buddhist Eastern mystic isn't going to find

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<v Speaker 2>this book entirely useful because it is very academic. This

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<v Speaker 2>is not your you know, go sit out in your zen,

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<v Speaker 2>meditative lotus posture, whatever you're doing and coming up with

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<v Speaker 2>these you know, these beautiful ecstatic experiences of of Satori

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<v Speaker 2>or whatnot. It's not This is him putting his Buddhism,

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<v Speaker 2>his Zen Buddhist perspective and conversation with particularly German philosophy.

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<v Speaker 2>So I said, he actually studied under Heideger for two

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<v Speaker 2>years and he's a big fan of Nietzsche, although he

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<v Speaker 2>believes Nietzsche comes short of the ultimate conclusion. He has

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<v Speaker 2>actually has a funny quote. He says, Nietzscha, you know

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<v Speaker 2>that there's a how Nietzscha stared into the Abyss and

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<v Speaker 2>got lost in it. Well, Nishatani has a funny quote

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<v Speaker 2>that says, uh, Nietzscha stood in or stared in the Abyss,

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<v Speaker 2>but he didn't stare long enough. And this comes from

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<v Speaker 2>again this Buddhist understanding that by a meditative contemplation on

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<v Speaker 2>the understanding of emptiness or this sort of underground undergirding

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<v Speaker 2>of the sort of transcendent nothingness that undergirds all reality,

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<v Speaker 2>that Nietzscha would eventually there if he just stood a

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<v Speaker 2>little or stared a little bit further into the Abyss.

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<v Speaker 2>I disagree, but my point is this book is very academic.

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<v Speaker 2>So if you're wondering, like maybe you went through a

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<v Speaker 2>New Age phase or something and you didn't read this book.

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<v Speaker 2>It's probably because this is a little bit more technical.

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<v Speaker 2>There's a lot of technical terms here, and so there's

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<v Speaker 2>a there's a handful I want to address that's going

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<v Speaker 2>to be brought up over and over throughout this conversation,

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<v Speaker 2>and so let me hit those. There's about five that

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<v Speaker 2>I want to get out right from the beginning. The

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<v Speaker 2>first one, as I already said, is shinyata, and this

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<v Speaker 2>is a Buddhist concept for the sort of transcendent reality

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<v Speaker 2>beyond concept. So Nishitani is actually a I wouldn't call

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<v Speaker 2>him anomenalist, because he believes there's a sort of utility

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<v Speaker 2>and the concept of essences and substances, but he rejects

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<v Speaker 2>their ultimate reality because they're ultimately grounded on nothingness, and

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<v Speaker 2>this nothingness penetrates all things. And so you're gonna hear

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<v Speaker 2>Sunyata like, for example, chapter three, nihilism in Sunyata, chapter four,

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<v Speaker 2>the standpoint of Shunyata, Chapter five, Shunyata in Time, chapter six,

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<v Speaker 2>Shunyata in history. So this is central to his whole thing,

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<v Speaker 2>is putting this concept of emptiness or nothingness in place,

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<v Speaker 2>or some sort of reconciliation, some sort of middle ground

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<v Speaker 2>between what he sees as atheist existential materialism that leads

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<v Speaker 2>to a sort of detrimental understanding of nihilism and then

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<v Speaker 2>transcendent meaning in Christianity. And he's arguing that this Shunyata

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<v Speaker 2>concept within Buddhism is essentially the thing that's gonna reconcile

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<v Speaker 2>these and allowed for a transcendent meaning. But ultimately there

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<v Speaker 2>is an undergirding of nothingness that is the foundation of reality.

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<v Speaker 2>Another concept, as we've talked about it, and we did

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<v Speaker 2>a stream on an introduction of Buddhism. We talked about

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<v Speaker 2>the differences between Terravada, Mahayana Vadriyana. The Tibetan form of Buddhism,

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<v Speaker 2>which has very tantric has many forms of gods, is

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<v Speaker 2>the on atman. So if you're familiar with the Hindu

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<v Speaker 2>concept of atman, which is a soul or sometimes translated

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<v Speaker 2>as an ego, and Buddhism they believe in an on atman,

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<v Speaker 2>a no soul or no ego, and they believe this

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<v Speaker 2>to be the core of yourself. So his entire work

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<v Speaker 2>is going to be an opposition to a Christian understanding

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<v Speaker 2>of a sort of personal soul that is a dimension

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<v Speaker 2>of us that is made in the image of God,

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<v Speaker 2>the imago day. Although he's going to reference these things,

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<v Speaker 2>but he does ultimately reject any existence of a soul,

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<v Speaker 2>and in some of the passages we read, he's going

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<v Speaker 2>to probably mention the on Atman. So I want to

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<v Speaker 2>lay that one out. Another one is Indra's net. So

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<v Speaker 2>another important concept he uses for his work is the

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<v Speaker 2>idea of Indra's net, which, again, if you're familiar with

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<v Speaker 2>Hinduism or Buddhism, is a concept related to again this

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<v Speaker 2>sort of maya of existence, the illusory nature of the

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<v Speaker 2>perceived world. And so he believes that the relationship between

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<v Speaker 2>subject and object subjective experience and objective reality is an illusion,

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<v Speaker 2>and that again this emptiness, the shunyata, is really what's

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<v Speaker 2>underneath what he calls Indra's net, Indra's net, this matrix

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<v Speaker 2>of associations between my subjective self or perception of self

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<v Speaker 2>verse objective reality. And so he considers this the sort

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<v Speaker 2>of codependence that true enlightenment and true meaning is actually

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<v Speaker 2>the transcendence of Indra's net, or the transcendence of this

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<v Speaker 2>correspondent relationship between the subjective self and objective objects, which

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<v Speaker 2>include metaphysical universals like essences, natures, or substances. He believes

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<v Speaker 2>those things are also objects, though mental or cognitive objects

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<v Speaker 2>that are still illusory and build this correspondent relationship between

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<v Speaker 2>self and those or self in other Another one is

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<v Speaker 2>some maadi some hobdi is meditative consciousness. That is, so

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<v Speaker 2>it's more of the phenomenological experience of nothingness. This again,

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<v Speaker 2>for him, the emptiness that undergirds all of reality, and

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<v Speaker 2>so the actual experience of this emptiness is a term

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<v Speaker 2>called samadi, and he'll use this multiple times as well.

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<v Speaker 2>And then the last one, just to give more clarification,

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<v Speaker 2>is the great doubt. He references the Great doubt multiple

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<v Speaker 2>multiple times in regards to Nietzsche or any sort of

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<v Speaker 2>nihilistic worldview, moving towards what he believes is the ultimate

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<v Speaker 2>purpose of Zen Buddhism, which is this continual doubting, doubting

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<v Speaker 2>of existence, doubting of the reason why you're here, doubting

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<v Speaker 2>of your own self, perception and identity, doubting ultimate questions

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<v Speaker 2>until you eventually doubt the concept of doubt, and then

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<v Speaker 2>once you have doubted everything, the great doubt is the

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<v Speaker 2>zin awakening to the limits of rationality and meaning itself,

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<v Speaker 2>therefore awakening to emptiness and nothingness. So those are the

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<v Speaker 2>five main terms that I just want to give clarification

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<v Speaker 2>for because everything else is going to be in pretty

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<v Speaker 2>straightforward English. But if you're not familiar with those, it

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<v Speaker 2>may cause a little bit of problem moving forward. And

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<v Speaker 2>so Kaiji Nishatani live from February twenty seventh, nineteen hundred

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<v Speaker 2>two November twenty fourth, nineteen ninety and so he's ninety

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<v Speaker 2>years old. He lived during a very interesting period of time,

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<v Speaker 2>especially for a Japanese man, because obviously World War II

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<v Speaker 2>occurs during this period, and that's going to affect him

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<v Speaker 2>personally in regards to his opportunity to hold any sort

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<v Speaker 2>of public position or teaching position in the United States,

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<v Speaker 2>because by the time of nineteen forty six, he's actually

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<v Speaker 2>banned from any professional or public teaching position in the

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<v Speaker 2>United States. So that's a point there. So he is

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<v Speaker 2>part of the Japanese Kyoto School, which is the Kyoto

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<v Speaker 2>School was founded by his teacher, Kataro Nishida, who the

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<v Speaker 2>Kyoto School is really about Japanese typically Buddhist philosophers engaging

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<v Speaker 2>with Western philosophy to sort of develop a new philosophical dialogue,

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<v Speaker 2>and so he is part of that tradition, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>partly why he goes to Germany in nineteen thirty seven

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<v Speaker 2>through nineteen thirty nine SOL, a two year period in

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<v Speaker 2>which he is already an accomplished writer philosopher, and studies

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<v Speaker 2>under Heidegger, because he's very much interested in German philosophy.

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<v Speaker 2>He really doesn't talk much about any of the analytic

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<v Speaker 2>philosophical tradition, really doesn't talk much about, at least in

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<v Speaker 2>a positive way, about science and the sort of remnant

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<v Speaker 2>of the scientific process that leads to what he argues

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<v Speaker 2>is atheist materialism, which we would agree with, We would

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<v Speaker 2>absolutely agree with. So he's much less a proponent of

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<v Speaker 2>Western analytic philosophy, but much more of a proponent of

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<v Speaker 2>German idealism or phenomenology specifically speaking. And this is because

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<v Speaker 2>his work is not interested in larger sociological or cultural understandings.

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<v Speaker 2>His work is really really focused on the individual. And

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<v Speaker 2>this is because Nishatani had his own sort of meaning crisis,

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<v Speaker 2>if you will, And so really what led him to

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<v Speaker 2>become this philosopher is because of his own experi of

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<v Speaker 2>nihilism and him wanting to try to he are. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>we have a quote I'm going to show you where

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<v Speaker 2>he literally says it was life or death that he

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<v Speaker 2>was thinking about killing himself because he came to the

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<v Speaker 2>conclusion that everything was ultimately meaningless, and so philosophy for

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<v Speaker 2>him was the way in which he sort of climbed

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<v Speaker 2>out of this meaningless pit, if you will. So, so

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<v Speaker 2>his work really focuses on the individual, which makes sense

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<v Speaker 2>why he's so interested in German philosophy. And also he

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<v Speaker 2>has a section which I don't know if we're going

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<v Speaker 2>to read about, which talks a lot about em Manual

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<v Speaker 2>cont Now, you guys know, we've done whole streams on metaphysics.

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<v Speaker 2>I did a whole stream just on am Manual Kant

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<v Speaker 2>and his impact on metaphysics due to his critique of

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<v Speaker 2>pure reason. And Nishatani's basically going to pick up on this,

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<v Speaker 2>and he's going to argue in favor of the idea

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<v Speaker 2>that the exterior world isn't totally knowable, right, because this

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<v Speaker 2>is what Kant does. He calls calls into question the Noah,

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<v Speaker 2>the intelligibility, no ability, ultimate truth of the exterior world

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<v Speaker 2>and argues in favor of these a priori cognitive categories, which,

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<v Speaker 2>through sense impression, this is the world that we actually experience.

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<v Speaker 2>Whatever is out here, whatever this book is in its reality,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know. But what I do know is these

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<v Speaker 2>cognitive a priori categories, which he takes from Aristotle to

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<v Speaker 2>ten categories, which he adds two more as twelve. Kant

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<v Speaker 2>does that. He says, this synthetic experience where these sort

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<v Speaker 2>of blend together. Yes, this is kind of his understanding

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<v Speaker 2>as well. However, he would argue in favor of this Shunyata,

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<v Speaker 2>this Buddhist is in concept of nothingness undergirding all that,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's where he believes they kind of came up short.

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<v Speaker 2>So he is critical of German idealism, which comes after Kant,

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<v Speaker 2>because they believed in these cognitive categories as being ontologically real,

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<v Speaker 2>which he rejects. So he says, yeah, they're useful. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>there's something in which allows us to give rational discourse

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<v Speaker 2>to the exterior world. However, he does not believe in

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<v Speaker 2>sort of these metaphysical universals ultimately speaking, because everything is

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<v Speaker 2>innately nothingness empty, it's empty, it's void, and therefore we

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<v Speaker 2>need to fully come to this concept, and so he's

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<v Speaker 2>a very very well read man. So you can't read

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<v Speaker 2>hisself without recognizing that he's a very well read man.

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<v Speaker 2>But I want to give you a few points of

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<v Speaker 2>his philosophy, so I have a few notes. So the

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<v Speaker 2>foundations of his philosophy is the influences in Buddhism. Nishatani's

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<v Speaker 2>philosophical perspective is deeply rooted in Zen Buddhism. He employs

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<v Speaker 2>the concept of shinyata, as I said, not as a

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<v Speaker 2>nihilistic void, but as a foundational reality. Right, So for him,

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<v Speaker 2>nihilism is not the absence of meaning, it's the fullness

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<v Speaker 2>of meaning, because nihilism isn't a thing, it's a reality

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<v Speaker 2>that undergirds all things. Now you may think that's not

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<v Speaker 2>that big of a distinction, but for him, this is

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<v Speaker 2>a major distinction because this is what he's trying to criticize,

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<v Speaker 2>the Western philosophical project and why he believes has sort

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<v Speaker 2>of come to a dead end. So that's that and

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<v Speaker 2>from which all things emerge and from which they will

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<v Speaker 2>all return. So all things again very Buddhists, right, this

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<v Speaker 2>is pretty standards in Buddhism. Right here, this understanding influences

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<v Speaker 2>his interpretation of existence, identity, and the cosmos. Another central

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<v Speaker 2>point of his philosophy is dialogue with the West. Nister

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<v Speaker 2>Tania engaged extensively with philosophers such as Nietzsche, Heidiger, and Sartra.

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<v Speaker 2>His encounter with Nietzsche's proclamation of the death of God

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<v Speaker 2>and Heidegger's analysis of being toward death led him to

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<v Speaker 2>explore the depths of nihilism and the possibility of overcoming

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<v Speaker 2>it through a return to the existential and religious dimensions

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<v Speaker 2>of human life, which ultimately means the realization that everything

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<v Speaker 2>is empty and nothing and then. The engagement with nihilism

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<v Speaker 2>is central theme in Nishatani's work, which he wrote a

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<v Speaker 2>whole book just on nihilism. This one is mostly about nihilism,

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<v Speaker 2>but it's a little bit more expansive, and that his

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<v Speaker 2>work is the confrontation with nihilism. He saw the crisis

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<v Speaker 2>of nihilism not just as a Western problem, but as

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<v Speaker 2>a universal human issue, and so Nishatani argued that both

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<v Speaker 2>Western and Eastern traditions could provide pathways out of nihilism

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<v Speaker 2>through a radical reorientation towards the experience of nothingness as

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<v Speaker 2>a positive foundational aspect of existence. And then this obviously

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<v Speaker 2>leads to the concept or the field of nothingness, where

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<v Speaker 2>he believes that this notion of a field of nothingness

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<v Speaker 2>as a metaphysical framework where the individual selves and phenomena

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<v Speaker 2>are interconnected. So he even makes lip service to Leibniz's

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<v Speaker 2>monad towards the end of it of the book talking

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<v Speaker 2>about this, that's chapter four, That this emptiness and once

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<v Speaker 2>we come to this, Samadi, this realization and c really

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<v Speaker 2>incorporate this transcendent meaning of nothingness. I know it sounds

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<v Speaker 2>oxy moronic, but that then we can have this sort

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<v Speaker 2>of collapsing of these dualistic problems. Right so subject and object,

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<v Speaker 2>self and other being a non being, all these things

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<v Speaker 2>are collapsed once we come to this fuller realization of nothingness.

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<v Speaker 2>And so so in regards to this book, particularly speaking,

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<v Speaker 2>the major themes that I wrote down is obviously the

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<v Speaker 2>crisis of nihilism. Nishatani identifies nihilism as a pervasive condition

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<v Speaker 2>of modern life, characterized by the loss of meaning and value.

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<v Speaker 2>This crisis is exacerbated by the decline of traditional religious

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<v Speaker 2>beliefs and the disenchantment of the world in the face

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<v Speaker 2>of scientific rationalism. We can all agree with that. So

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<v Speaker 2>he has things that we would certainly agree with it. Really,

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<v Speaker 2>his criticism of science, atheist, materialism, nihilism from the Western context,

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<v Speaker 2>not his, and existential are pretty on point. So I

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<v Speaker 2>think we can pretty much adopt most of that. Now.

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<v Speaker 2>When he gets into Christian theology, I'm gonna mention it here.

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<v Speaker 2>In a second. He gets into meister Eckhart, who is

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<v Speaker 2>not Orthodox and certainly is even deemed a heretic within

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<v Speaker 2>the Catholic tradition. Although he's ring of been. He's tried

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<v Speaker 2>to been revived here recently, especially in the last two

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<v Speaker 2>hundred years. But anyways, I digress. I'll get to that

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<v Speaker 2>in just this moment. So he argues that Nishatani traces

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<v Speaker 2>the roots of nihilism and Western thought, drawing on Nietzsche Heidegger,

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<v Speaker 2>and suggests this confrontation with nothingness is essential to overcoming

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<v Speaker 2>existential impass of nihilism. So the way you get through

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<v Speaker 2>nihilism is to appreciate and embody nihilism or for him,

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<v Speaker 2>emptiness shunyata nothingness. The next one is religion and the

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<v Speaker 2>encounter with nothingness. Nishitani posits that genuine religious experience, which

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<v Speaker 2>he posits as an individual endeavor. So we're going to

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<v Speaker 2>get into chapter one is where he's defining what is religion. Well,

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<v Speaker 2>he basically defines it as an individual relationship with transcendent meaning,

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<v Speaker 2>and we can probably agree to that to an extent,

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<v Speaker 2>but to characterize all of religion of that, you can

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<v Speaker 2>see the presuppositions he already has focusing so much on

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<v Speaker 2>the individual as opposed to collective identity. So there's that.

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<v Speaker 2>But he believes that religious experience encounters the abyss of nothingness,

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<v Speaker 2>leading to a transformation of the self. This encounter is

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<v Speaker 2>not a nihilistic surrender, but a liberating realization that frees

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<v Speaker 2>the individual from an egocentric illusion of the world and

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<v Speaker 2>reveals the interconnectedness in the emptiness of all things. And

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<v Speaker 2>so then he goes from nihilism to religious awakening. These

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<v Speaker 2>are just themes, So we're going to go through the chapters.

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<v Speaker 2>This is not in a particular order, but the journey

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<v Speaker 2>through nihilism to religious awakening requires a shift from the

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<v Speaker 2>standpoint of the ego to the standpoint of nothingness. Nishatani

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<v Speaker 2>outlines a path of spiritual practice and existential inquiry that

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<v Speaker 2>leads to this transformation, emphasizing the importance of meditation and

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<v Speaker 2>the cultivation of the great doubt to awaken to the

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<v Speaker 2>reality of nothing and the ethics and social engagement. Nishatani's

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<v Speaker 2>vision of religion and nothingness has profound it for him

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<v Speaker 2>ethical implications by recognizing that emptiness and interconnectedness of all things.

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<v Speaker 2>Individuals then are called to act with compassion and responsibility

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<v Speaker 2>towards all life of the natural world because of our

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<v Speaker 2>realization that of this interconnectedness or that we're all one.

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<v Speaker 2>And if you don't, you're going to have karma build

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<v Speaker 2>up and you're going to reincarnate at another point in

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<v Speaker 2>time anyway, So you might as well come to this

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<v Speaker 2>realization now. And so he believes karma samsara, the cycle

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<v Speaker 2>of death and rebirth in carnation. This is for him

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<v Speaker 2>the ethical basis of nihilism and why it actually gives

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<v Speaker 2>you for what he believes, a ethical justification for love

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<v Speaker 2>and compassion towards the world. So those are the main

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<v Speaker 2>themes right there that we're going to be discussing today. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>as you you guys can pick up, we're going to

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<v Speaker 2>be hearing a lot of the term nothingness in emptiness,

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<v Speaker 2>because this is the whole basis. Now, there's a few

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<v Speaker 2>critiques that I want to make, so right off the

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<v Speaker 2>bat here in regards to looking at this from a

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<v Speaker 2>Christian perspective, I have three major critiques which why his

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<v Speaker 2>project doesn't work because it doesn't recognize the holistic nature

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<v Speaker 2>of paradigms and worldviews. And so number one, the utilizing

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<v Speaker 2>his concept of shunata doesn't work in this reconciliation of

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<v Speaker 2>Christianity and material atheism, because one, he rejects divine revelation

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<v Speaker 2>and is in favor of the subjective experience of nothing

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<v Speaker 2>of emptiness. And so I highlight that he's really in

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<v Speaker 2>no better epistemic ground than somebody claiming divine revelation or

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<v Speaker 2>reading the Bible literally, because his whole argument is that

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<v Speaker 2>we have to come through a subjective phenomenological experience to

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<v Speaker 2>realize that the world is ultimately empty and nothing. And

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<v Speaker 2>this is the basis for his whole book. So this

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<v Speaker 2>is the presupposition that is for him objectively true. This

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<v Speaker 2>is the case, guys, that there's nothing that's undergirding reality.

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<v Speaker 2>It's total nothing emptiness. And because of that, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>you have to go through a meditative, contemplative state so

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<v Speaker 2>that you can get to this understanding, so that you

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<v Speaker 2>can buy you can sort of break through nihilism through

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<v Speaker 2>the understanding of the ultimate totality of nihilism, meaning nothingness.

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<v Speaker 2>So that's a bit of a critique. There's no real epy.

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<v Speaker 2>He's not on any better epistemic ground, and I wouldn't

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<v Speaker 2>say he's even on any better epistemic ground than the

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<v Speaker 2>atheist materialists that he correctly criticizes for their own belief

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<v Speaker 2>and objective truth or that science is the ultimate arbiter

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<v Speaker 2>of truth, which yet they operate on all these other

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<v Speaker 2>presuppositions that they can't justify. So here's the main points

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<v Speaker 2>that he makes that I wrote down. Number one, religion

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<v Speaker 2>is ultimately an individual relationship towards transcendent meaning. So he

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<v Speaker 2>makes it explicit, and I think I have this. This

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<v Speaker 2>is like the first tab we have that religion is

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<v Speaker 2>ultimately an individual process or an individual experience. And he's

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<v Speaker 2>not concerned. He speaks explicitly, he's not concerned with the

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<v Speaker 2>societal or the sociological or the cultural implications of religion.

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<v Speaker 2>He believes that is culturally relative. But therefore the main

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<v Speaker 2>core of what religion is is this individual experience towards

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<v Speaker 2>transcendent meaning. Then he says that what religion offers humanity

408
00:26:54.480 --> 00:27:00.240
<v Speaker 2>then is access to these fundamental questions of life, like

409
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:02.920
<v Speaker 2>why are you here, where are you going? What do

410
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:08.359
<v Speaker 2>you want? And he would argue that like atheist materialism

411
00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:13.599
<v Speaker 2>in the West doesn't really provide sufficient doubt for these

412
00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:17.200
<v Speaker 2>questions because of the scientific rationalism, it already has these

413
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.880
<v Speaker 2>explicit answers, so like why are you here? Well, big bang,

414
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:25.240
<v Speaker 2>Darwinian macro evolution, that's why you're here. You're a sort

415
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:28.200
<v Speaker 2>of cosmic happening. You're insignificant. So he would argue that

416
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.440
<v Speaker 2>science believes it's answering these questions, but it's really not,

417
00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:36.079
<v Speaker 2>and because of its sort of epistemic hubris, that it

418
00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:39.680
<v Speaker 2>isn't allowing for the great doubt that we talked about.

419
00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:42.680
<v Speaker 2>It's not allowing for the doubt that is a sort

420
00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:46.400
<v Speaker 2>of growing of knowledge and within oneself, which he believes

421
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:50.359
<v Speaker 2>moves you towards the realization of emptiness. Okay, he also

422
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:56.039
<v Speaker 2>talks about the self awareness of reality in that again

423
00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:00.160
<v Speaker 2>getting into the anapman, the absence of a soul, that

424
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.759
<v Speaker 2>this is what allows you to fully understand reality, because

425
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.680
<v Speaker 2>once you have a full self awareness of the absence

426
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.079
<v Speaker 2>of a soul or the absence of a permanent self,

427
00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:12.960
<v Speaker 2>now you can see reality as it truly is. Obviously,

428
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:16.240
<v Speaker 2>as a Christian we totally reject that. And as we've

429
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:18.680
<v Speaker 2>talked about in multiple streams, I would argue that it's

430
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.519
<v Speaker 2>the relationship you build with Christ. Right. I just talked

431
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.799
<v Speaker 2>about this with my priest today about how some young

432
00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:27.240
<v Speaker 2>men who are coming to the Orthodox Church and who

433
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.880
<v Speaker 2>are let's say, going down some of these conspiratorial rabbit

434
00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.599
<v Speaker 2>holes and they're putting dots together. We've all talked about

435
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:38.000
<v Speaker 2>how Christianity uniquely fits everything together, that when you look

436
00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:39.799
<v Speaker 2>at the world and you look at the chaos, and

437
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.599
<v Speaker 2>you look at the degeneracy, the only thing that actually

438
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.599
<v Speaker 2>gives you an understanding of why this is happening is

439
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:50.799
<v Speaker 2>the Christian worldview. And so I would argue that it's

440
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:53.480
<v Speaker 2>your relationship with Christ which gives you new eyes to

441
00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:56.839
<v Speaker 2>see and new ears to hear. Right, So Christ healing

442
00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:00.680
<v Speaker 2>the blind, which happens multiple times throughout scripture, is not

443
00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:04.319
<v Speaker 2>just a historical happening of a miracle which did happen.

444
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.119
<v Speaker 2>It's a happening that's occurring to you and me right now.

445
00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:11.000
<v Speaker 2>It's the cleansing of our news. It's the cleansing of

446
00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.440
<v Speaker 2>our noetic faculties, the eye of the heart, the eye

447
00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:16.119
<v Speaker 2>of the soul. Again, he rejects these things, so he

448
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:19.640
<v Speaker 2>believes that by you realizing they don't exist, it's actually

449
00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:21.960
<v Speaker 2>going to bring you to a better understanding of reality.

450
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:25.160
<v Speaker 2>I would argue that it's your personal relationship with Christ

451
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:28.079
<v Speaker 2>and understanding the moral implications of the world we live in.

452
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:30.880
<v Speaker 2>That that's what gives you the eyes to see and

453
00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:33.720
<v Speaker 2>the ears to hear and fully understand what's happening in reality.

454
00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:38.720
<v Speaker 2>Another point, the great doubt. We've already kind of talked

455
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.640
<v Speaker 2>about this. So he talks about the importance of doubting

456
00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:44.839
<v Speaker 2>and why religion ask these fundamental deeper questions, and so

457
00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:47.240
<v Speaker 2>we can go on the great doubt, which is a

458
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.400
<v Speaker 2>Buddhist concept. So the great doubt is not something he's invented.

459
00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:54.559
<v Speaker 2>This is something that's indicative of Zen Buddhism itself. And

460
00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:59.119
<v Speaker 2>so the great doubt is this sort of prodigal journey

461
00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:02.119
<v Speaker 2>of doubting things in the world, where eventually you get

462
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:06.200
<v Speaker 2>to the bottomless pit of nihilism and then you doubt it,

463
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:09.559
<v Speaker 2>and you doubt your doubts, and now you can break

464
00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:14.799
<v Speaker 2>through into the Sunyata. Then he talks about rational materialism

465
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.599
<v Speaker 2>and existentialism, and he actually has a great critique of Sartre,

466
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:19.519
<v Speaker 2>which I'll try to read. I have that one tagged.

467
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.400
<v Speaker 2>And then he talks about subjective nothingness, and he highlights

468
00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:32.640
<v Speaker 2>this relationship with hedonism, scientism, Western existentialism, that it sort

469
00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:37.519
<v Speaker 2>of relicates the self to like Sartre, for example, that

470
00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:40.000
<v Speaker 2>you're a person happening within space and time. There are

471
00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:43.599
<v Speaker 2>new universal claims, and therefore you need to existentially make

472
00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:48.559
<v Speaker 2>yourself and you are whatever you're doing. And so Sartra

473
00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:52.480
<v Speaker 2>makes a claim that Nishatani critiques that you, well, he

474
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:54.680
<v Speaker 2>kind of critiques because he has similarities with it. But

475
00:30:54.720 --> 00:31:00.000
<v Speaker 2>the idea that Sartre makes is you because nothing exist

476
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:03.400
<v Speaker 2>and there's no ultimate meaning and religious religion is a joke.

477
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:08.119
<v Speaker 2>Sartra says, well, then humanity, however you live your life,

478
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:10.319
<v Speaker 2>if you choose to get married and you have kids,

479
00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:13.279
<v Speaker 2>then that is you saying to the world that that's

480
00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:16.440
<v Speaker 2>what everybody should do. And if you're Sartra and you

481
00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:19.440
<v Speaker 2>believe that you want to have sexual relations with underage

482
00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:23.119
<v Speaker 2>people and that your girlfriend's gonna aid in that facilitation. Well,

483
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:26.240
<v Speaker 2>then you believe that's the way that humanity should operate,

484
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:31.359
<v Speaker 2>and that is you then expressing sort of ultimate questions

485
00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:34.839
<v Speaker 2>and the ultimate te los of humanity. It's how you

486
00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:37.559
<v Speaker 2>act in the world. So those are the main points

487
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:41.319
<v Speaker 2>in chapter one. So let's go through now chapter one

488
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:47.319
<v Speaker 2>and read some of Nishatani' stuff. So Dean Limb tooth

489
00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:49.680
<v Speaker 2>that sends in five dollars over on the Dono chat

490
00:31:50.359 --> 00:31:54.480
<v Speaker 2>and he says a little something this, Well, thank you

491
00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:56.319
<v Speaker 2>Dean Limb too. It I need a little something this

492
00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:00.200
<v Speaker 2>right now, So thank you for that, brother, hilarious, really

493
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:03.160
<v Speaker 2>appreciate you. Okay, So first one, this is on page two.

494
00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:07.119
<v Speaker 2>This is him answering what is religion, and Nishatani says this.

495
00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:10.720
<v Speaker 2>Two points should be noted from what was just been said. First,

496
00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:14.880
<v Speaker 2>religion is at all times the individual affair of each individual,

497
00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:19.519
<v Speaker 2>you see, So he has no collective So Durkheim, Emmanuel Durkheim,

498
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:22.240
<v Speaker 2>the father of sociology, he'd be very frustrated with this

499
00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:26.400
<v Speaker 2>definition of religion because his is all about the sociological

500
00:32:26.440 --> 00:32:29.799
<v Speaker 2>and the totemic symbol that unifies people or tribes. He's

501
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.880
<v Speaker 2>saying it's totally individual. This is more of a William

502
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:36.720
<v Speaker 2>James take on what religion is. I mean, it's very

503
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:42.960
<v Speaker 2>much William James. This sets it apart from things like culture, which,

504
00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:47.200
<v Speaker 2>while related to the individual, do not concern each individual. Accordingly,

505
00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:49.960
<v Speaker 2>we cannot understand what religion is from the outside. The

506
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.079
<v Speaker 2>religious quest alone is the key to understanding it. There

507
00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:56.440
<v Speaker 2>is no other way. This is the most important point

508
00:32:56.440 --> 00:32:59.759
<v Speaker 2>to be made regarding the essence of religion. Second, from

509
00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:02.640
<v Speaker 2>that standpoint, the essence of religion is a mistake to

510
00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:06.359
<v Speaker 2>ask what is the purpose of religion for us? For

511
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.880
<v Speaker 2>and one that clearly betrays an attitude of trying to

512
00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:12.599
<v Speaker 2>understand religion apart from the religious quest. It is a

513
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:16.279
<v Speaker 2>question that must be broken through by another question coming

514
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:19.240
<v Speaker 2>from within the person who asks it. There is no

515
00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:21.559
<v Speaker 2>road that can lead you to an understanding of what

516
00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:25.319
<v Speaker 2>religion is and what proposes or what purpose it serves.

517
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:29.640
<v Speaker 2>The counter question that achieves this breakthrough is one that

518
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.559
<v Speaker 2>asks for what purpose do I myself exist? Of everything else?

519
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:37.240
<v Speaker 2>We can ask its purpose for us, but not of religion.

520
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.720
<v Speaker 2>With regard to everything else. We make a tlose of

521
00:33:40.759 --> 00:33:44.599
<v Speaker 2>ourselves as individuals a man or as mankind, and evaluate

522
00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:47.000
<v Speaker 2>those things in relation to our life and existence. We

523
00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:51.160
<v Speaker 2>put ourselves as individuals, as men, as mankind at the

524
00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:54.640
<v Speaker 2>center and way the significance of everything, as the contents

525
00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:58.680
<v Speaker 2>of our lives as individuals. But religion upsets the posture

526
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:02.160
<v Speaker 2>from which we think of ourselves as telos and center

527
00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:05.960
<v Speaker 2>for all things. Instead, religion poses a starting point to

528
00:34:06.039 --> 00:34:08.679
<v Speaker 2>the question for what purpose do I exist? Now I

529
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:12.119
<v Speaker 2>get the point he's making. But again from an Orthodox perspective,

530
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.599
<v Speaker 2>there is a telos to the individual, and that is theosis,

531
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:21.039
<v Speaker 2>that is our graceful unification with God himself. That is

532
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:24.800
<v Speaker 2>not me coming up with my own ramification or from

533
00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:28.559
<v Speaker 2>my own telos, which he's going to associate with Sartra.

534
00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:33.360
<v Speaker 2>So let's skip forward here to the next one. And

535
00:34:33.400 --> 00:34:36.320
<v Speaker 2>so here's him defining what he means by self awareness.

536
00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:41.000
<v Speaker 2>By this self awareness of reality, I mean both are

537
00:34:41.079 --> 00:34:43.480
<v Speaker 2>becoming aware of reality and at the same time, the

538
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:47.440
<v Speaker 2>reality of realizing itself in our awareness. So he you

539
00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:50.159
<v Speaker 2>see the very Buddhists. You see how he's always hitting

540
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:53.920
<v Speaker 2>both sides. The English word realize with its twofold meaning

541
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:57.280
<v Speaker 2>of actualize and understand is particularly well suited to what

542
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.239
<v Speaker 2>I have in mind here, although I am not that

543
00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:03.159
<v Speaker 2>sense of understood does not necessarily connote the sense of

544
00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:06.760
<v Speaker 2>reality coming to actualization in us. Be that as it may,

545
00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:09.440
<v Speaker 2>I am using the word to indicate that our ability

546
00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:13.679
<v Speaker 2>to perceive reality means that reality realizes itself in us.

547
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:17.000
<v Speaker 2>This is the shunata, This is the emptiness. It realizes

548
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:21.000
<v Speaker 2>itself inside of you. That this, in turn is the

549
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:25.079
<v Speaker 2>only way that we can realize appropriate through understanding the

550
00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:28.639
<v Speaker 2>fact that reality is so realizing itself in us that

551
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:33.000
<v Speaker 2>in so doing, the self realization of reality itself takes place.

552
00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:38.039
<v Speaker 2>So you get now you're getting a taste of what

553
00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:40.960
<v Speaker 2>it's like to read him. It goes back and forth.

554
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:46.039
<v Speaker 2>So here is him talking about the sort of development

555
00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:49.480
<v Speaker 2>of the mechanical worldview of the West. He's very critical

556
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:53.519
<v Speaker 2>of Descartes because he's critical of the rationalist project itself

557
00:35:53.719 --> 00:35:56.639
<v Speaker 2>that believed in metaphysical universals or believe that we can

558
00:35:56.679 --> 00:36:00.360
<v Speaker 2>get to the grounding of reality through reason, and so

559
00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:05.559
<v Speaker 2>he says, so he just criticized this whole West becoming mechanical.

560
00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:08.239
<v Speaker 2>And he says that such a mechanistic view of the

561
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.840
<v Speaker 2>world would come into being, and that the world itself

562
00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:14.079
<v Speaker 2>would turn into a world of death. We might say

563
00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:18.000
<v Speaker 2>already implicate in Descartes identification of matter with the extension

564
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:21.639
<v Speaker 2>of his consideration that the extension as the essence of things,

565
00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:26.320
<v Speaker 2>so metaphysical universals. This did enable the image of the

566
00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:30.320
<v Speaker 2>world we find in modern modern natural science to come about,

567
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:33.639
<v Speaker 2>and did open the way for the control of nature

568
00:36:33.679 --> 00:36:37.239
<v Speaker 2>by scientific technology. But it had other consequences. To the

569
00:36:37.239 --> 00:36:39.840
<v Speaker 2>self centered ego of man, the world came to look

570
00:36:40.199 --> 00:36:43.719
<v Speaker 2>so much like raw material. By wielding his great power

571
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:46.679
<v Speaker 2>and authority and controlling the natural world, man cam to

572
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:51.280
<v Speaker 2>surround himself with a cold, lifeless world. Inevitably, each individual

573
00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:55.480
<v Speaker 2>ego became like a lonely but well fortified island floating

574
00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:58.440
<v Speaker 2>on a sea of dead matter. The life was snuffed

575
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:01.639
<v Speaker 2>out of nature in the things of nature, the living

576
00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:04.400
<v Speaker 2>stream that flowed at the bottom of man and all

577
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:09.159
<v Speaker 2>things and kept them bound together and dried up. So

578
00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:12.159
<v Speaker 2>we can probably agree with many of his criticisms of

579
00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:18.079
<v Speaker 2>Western rational materialism. Now here's another one. This is again

580
00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:22.000
<v Speaker 2>we're still in chapter one. Here he's talking about the realization.

581
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:24.760
<v Speaker 2>Now the realization we are speaking of here is not

582
00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:29.559
<v Speaker 2>of self consciousness therefore, but consist rather in breaking through

583
00:37:29.559 --> 00:37:33.840
<v Speaker 2>the field of consciousness and self consciousness. Consciousness is the

584
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:37.800
<v Speaker 2>field of relationships between those entities characterize as self and things.

585
00:37:37.840 --> 00:37:41.079
<v Speaker 2>So he's he's saying, look, this is again why I

586
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:43.079
<v Speaker 2>wanted to play that video. You remember in the video

587
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:47.280
<v Speaker 2>it was talking about consciousness, nihilism, and then emptiness. These

588
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.320
<v Speaker 2>are his three stages right well, he's saying that Western

589
00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:54.400
<v Speaker 2>philosophy is caught at the level of consciousness, and therefore,

590
00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:58.000
<v Speaker 2>because we're analyzing the world through consciousness, there's always a

591
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:00.519
<v Speaker 2>sense of self, and there's a sense of any object,

592
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:03.119
<v Speaker 2>and this needs to be broken through if one's going

593
00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:07.400
<v Speaker 2>to attain enlightenment. For him, that is that the fields

594
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:10.559
<v Speaker 2>of being in which the nilty that lies beneath the

595
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:14.519
<v Speaker 2>ground of being remains covered over. At this level level,

596
00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:17.920
<v Speaker 2>even the self, in its very subjectivity is still only

597
00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:22.159
<v Speaker 2>represented self consciously as self. So you only self consciously

598
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:25.320
<v Speaker 2>have a self. It is put through a kind of

599
00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:29.599
<v Speaker 2>object objectivization so that it can be grasped as an

600
00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:33.159
<v Speaker 2>actual being. Only when the self breaks through the field

601
00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:35.920
<v Speaker 2>of consciousness and the field of beings and stands on

602
00:38:35.960 --> 00:38:38.920
<v Speaker 2>the ground of nihilism. Is it able to achieve a

603
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:43.760
<v Speaker 2>subjectivity that it can no way be objectivized. This is

604
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:47.239
<v Speaker 2>the eternal realization that reaches deeper than self consciousness and

605
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:51.440
<v Speaker 2>standing subjectively on the field of nihilism. But in fact

606
00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:54.960
<v Speaker 2>there is literally no place to stand on. The self

607
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.599
<v Speaker 2>becomes itself in a more elemental sense. When this takes place,

608
00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:01.960
<v Speaker 2>the being of the self is itself nullified along with

609
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:05.519
<v Speaker 2>the being of everything else. Nullification does not mean that

610
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:08.679
<v Speaker 2>everything is simply annihilated out of existence. It means that

611
00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:12.960
<v Speaker 2>nihilty appears at the ground of everything that exists, that

612
00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:16.440
<v Speaker 2>the field of consciousness and its separation from the within

613
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.840
<v Speaker 2>and the without is surpassed subjectively, and that nilty opens

614
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:24.800
<v Speaker 2>up at the ground of the within towards the without.

615
00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:28.320
<v Speaker 2>So you see again everything that we already laid out there.

616
00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:32.239
<v Speaker 2>This is exactly what we were talking about. Therefore, this

617
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:35.920
<v Speaker 2>opening up of nihilty is one of the elemental realizations

618
00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:39.719
<v Speaker 2>of subjectivity. You see, he's so focused on the subjective

619
00:39:39.800 --> 00:39:45.199
<v Speaker 2>because again, for his argumentation, we have to subjectively phenomenologically

620
00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:50.320
<v Speaker 2>experience this undergirding field of emptiness, and therefore he's not

621
00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:53.719
<v Speaker 2>concerned so much. Now he's making objective claims about it,

622
00:39:54.280 --> 00:39:57.920
<v Speaker 2>but he's making objective claims based on subjective experience. And

623
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:00.280
<v Speaker 2>I told you earlier, as we began the stream, his

624
00:40:00.519 --> 00:40:04.480
<v Speaker 2>entire focus is on the individual, so you can see

625
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:08.440
<v Speaker 2>this here. The self presentation of nilty is rather a

626
00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:11.960
<v Speaker 2>real presentation of what is actually concealed at the ground

627
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:14.519
<v Speaker 2>of the self and everything in the world. On the

628
00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:17.760
<v Speaker 2>field of consciousness, this nilty is covered over and cannot

629
00:40:17.800 --> 00:40:21.679
<v Speaker 2>make itself really present. When it does make it self present, however,

630
00:40:21.800 --> 00:40:25.400
<v Speaker 2>everything that was taken for external and internal reality at

631
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:28.800
<v Speaker 2>the field of conscious becomes unreal, and in its very

632
00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:33.920
<v Speaker 2>reality it is nullified, but it's not annihilated. Self being

633
00:40:34.119 --> 00:40:37.239
<v Speaker 2>and the being of all things combined to make one question.

634
00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:41.360
<v Speaker 2>All being becomes a single great question mark. This elemental

635
00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:44.719
<v Speaker 2>subjective realization goes deeper than the self evidence of self

636
00:40:44.760 --> 00:40:50.119
<v Speaker 2>consciousness clinging to itself like within but shut up inside itself.

637
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:54.199
<v Speaker 2>It is an awareness that only can emerge in the

638
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:59.320
<v Speaker 2>reality of the extends. This is the existential being that

639
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:02.800
<v Speaker 2>overstepped the limitations of being. So it's this is where

640
00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:05.000
<v Speaker 2>he would agree with the sort of willful will to

641
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:08.159
<v Speaker 2>power now not the Nietzschean same concept of will to power.

642
00:41:08.159 --> 00:41:11.519
<v Speaker 2>But you have to willfully break through nihilism. You have

643
00:41:11.599 --> 00:41:16.199
<v Speaker 2>to extend this is a German term, and in that

644
00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:19.880
<v Speaker 2>awareness that lies on the far side of everything that

645
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:23.480
<v Speaker 2>psychology can apprehend, precisely by virtue of being on all

646
00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:28.400
<v Speaker 2>the more near side of the subject. So I hope

647
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:29.920
<v Speaker 2>that made a little bit of sense to you, guys.

648
00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:33.639
<v Speaker 2>Here's a paragraph of him trying to describe the great doubt.

649
00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:36.639
<v Speaker 2>Remember I said this was a central point of chapter one.

650
00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:40.400
<v Speaker 2>Here along the same line. It would be an error

651
00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:43.159
<v Speaker 2>to regard the self presentation of the great doubt as

652
00:41:43.199 --> 00:41:46.199
<v Speaker 2>a kind of psychological state that takes place in the

653
00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:49.639
<v Speaker 2>course of a religious practice, as even a great number

654
00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:53.000
<v Speaker 2>of religious people seem to see it nowadays. And the

655
00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.719
<v Speaker 2>state of doubt the self is concentrated single mindedly on

656
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:00.880
<v Speaker 2>the doubt alone and to the exclusion of everything else,

657
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:05.679
<v Speaker 2>and becomes a pure doubt in itself Samadi Enlightenment. This

658
00:42:05.960 --> 00:42:08.599
<v Speaker 2>much is certain, since it no longer questions of a

659
00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:10.920
<v Speaker 2>self that doubts something on the field of consciouness, but

660
00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:13.280
<v Speaker 2>rather a point at which the field of conscienness has

661
00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:16.079
<v Speaker 2>been a race of course, the fact remains that when

662
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:20.360
<v Speaker 2>doubt is concentrated and brooded over, it provides its own

663
00:42:20.440 --> 00:42:25.320
<v Speaker 2>psychological state against Samadi enlightenment. When we speak of a

664
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:29.199
<v Speaker 2>grief deep enough to drown the world in oneself in it,

665
00:42:29.320 --> 00:42:32.239
<v Speaker 2>or a joy that sets one hands a flutter and

666
00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:35.400
<v Speaker 2>one's feet at dancing, we have the same sense of

667
00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:39.639
<v Speaker 2>a single mindedness or a becoming that one experiences. But

668
00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:43.039
<v Speaker 2>it matters not whether we call it single mindedness or Samadi.

669
00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:46.440
<v Speaker 2>It is not to be interpreted as a mere psychological state.

670
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:49.719
<v Speaker 2>The mind of single mindness is not a mind in

671
00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:58.400
<v Speaker 2>any psychological sense. All right, And now he's this is

672
00:42:58.599 --> 00:43:03.000
<v Speaker 2>him getting into Buddhists, Buddhism's thought on evil. So this

673
00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:05.760
<v Speaker 2>is his take on Buddhist the odyssey, which he'll he'll

674
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:10.159
<v Speaker 2>hammer out more in later chapters. Basically, this first chapter

675
00:43:10.360 --> 00:43:12.239
<v Speaker 2>he lays out and then by the end of the

676
00:43:12.280 --> 00:43:15.679
<v Speaker 2>book it's all self referencing back to the first chapter

677
00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:18.480
<v Speaker 2>he got you can see the cyclical dimension which he

678
00:43:18.559 --> 00:43:21.360
<v Speaker 2>was trying to do. Again, give him credit. It's very

679
00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:26.000
<v Speaker 2>consistent with his Buddhism. So he says, uh, this also

680
00:43:26.039 --> 00:43:28.920
<v Speaker 2>explains why Buddhism thinks of evil in terms of karma

681
00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:33.000
<v Speaker 2>from times past without beginning, and why Christianity turns to

682
00:43:33.079 --> 00:43:38.000
<v Speaker 2>the notion of the original sin again Augustinian Western notion

683
00:43:38.760 --> 00:43:41.559
<v Speaker 2>transmitted from one generation to the next. So he's trying

684
00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:45.320
<v Speaker 2>to say, well, look, Christianity has original sin. That's basically

685
00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:50.400
<v Speaker 2>just like the Buddhist concept of karma. Not quite. And

686
00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:53.280
<v Speaker 2>again we don't support original sin in that same sense.

687
00:43:53.360 --> 00:43:56.519
<v Speaker 2>We inherit the consequences. We don't inherit the guilt. He's

688
00:43:56.519 --> 00:43:59.840
<v Speaker 2>insinuaing we inherit the guilt. Each of these concepts contains

689
00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:02.480
<v Speaker 2>a real perception of evil and sin and Christianity. It

690
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:04.599
<v Speaker 2>has said that the sinful existence of man is the

691
00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:08.400
<v Speaker 2>result of atoms sin of disobedience. The sinful existence of

692
00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:12.039
<v Speaker 2>man is the result of man's sin of disobedience against God,

693
00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:14.639
<v Speaker 2>and thus in turn is interpreted as we ourselves having

694
00:44:14.679 --> 00:44:18.159
<v Speaker 2>committed sin as an atom. No, we did not commit

695
00:44:18.199 --> 00:44:21.719
<v Speaker 2>the same sin as Adam. That is not an orthodox perspective.

696
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:26.159
<v Speaker 2>Put more subjectively, in existentially, this simply means that both

697
00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:28.519
<v Speaker 2>the sinfulness of the self and the sinfulness of all

698
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:32.079
<v Speaker 2>mankind make themselves present in an elemental sense as in

699
00:44:32.199 --> 00:44:36.599
<v Speaker 2>one reality, meaning a person you and are actualized and

700
00:44:36.679 --> 00:44:40.199
<v Speaker 2>appropriated in such in the self. So the concept of

701
00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:43.360
<v Speaker 2>the self it is, so to speak, an appropriation of

702
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:46.079
<v Speaker 2>the evil of all men within the evil of the self,

703
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:48.440
<v Speaker 2>and at the same time of the evil of the

704
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:55.599
<v Speaker 2>self within all the evil of all men. Okay, and

705
00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:58.360
<v Speaker 2>I have this one highlighted here. This is he starts

706
00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:00.679
<v Speaker 2>getting into Greek philosophy and stuff like that. I'm not

707
00:45:00.719 --> 00:45:03.039
<v Speaker 2>going to bore you with that whole section, but he says,

708
00:45:03.079 --> 00:45:05.719
<v Speaker 2>the locus of nothingness that I am speaking of here

709
00:45:05.800 --> 00:45:08.000
<v Speaker 2>is the point in which the self is a nothingness,

710
00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:11.800
<v Speaker 2>at which the self has ceased to be a self

711
00:45:11.880 --> 00:45:15.480
<v Speaker 2>any longer and has become the realization of sin as

712
00:45:15.519 --> 00:45:19.199
<v Speaker 2>a great reality as it is itself nothingness. It is

713
00:45:19.239 --> 00:45:22.760
<v Speaker 2>the locus wherein God's love can be accepted really and

714
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:27.480
<v Speaker 2>actually just as it is. So therefore, once you understand

715
00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:31.559
<v Speaker 2>this inherited guilt and that it's really just this imposition,

716
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:34.559
<v Speaker 2>so that you can sort of be a singular point

717
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:38.400
<v Speaker 2>within space and time, now you can appreciate God's love. No,

718
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:44.079
<v Speaker 2>not quite, not quite. Let's see the next one we

719
00:45:44.199 --> 00:45:47.400
<v Speaker 2>have here. This is on page thirty within chapter one,

720
00:45:48.679 --> 00:45:52.840
<v Speaker 2>and he's getting into Sartra. Now, So, for Sartra, existentialism

721
00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:54.840
<v Speaker 2>and nothing other than an attempt to draw out the

722
00:45:54.880 --> 00:45:59.880
<v Speaker 2>consequences of a coherent atheistic position. God does not exist

723
00:46:00.119 --> 00:46:03.719
<v Speaker 2>and is not and is necessary to draw the consequences

724
00:46:03.760 --> 00:46:07.039
<v Speaker 2>on his absence right to the end. As early as

725
00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:09.559
<v Speaker 2>the last century, people were saying that God has become

726
00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:12.599
<v Speaker 2>a useless, outdated hypothesis, and that it was possible to

727
00:46:12.679 --> 00:46:15.599
<v Speaker 2>establish simply a standpoint of humanism, a set of a

728
00:46:15.760 --> 00:46:19.400
<v Speaker 2>priori values that would yield norms for society, culture, morality,

729
00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:22.639
<v Speaker 2>and so forth. This was an altogether optimistic brand of humanism,

730
00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:25.519
<v Speaker 2>one of the most forceful expressions of which is to

731
00:46:25.559 --> 00:46:29.519
<v Speaker 2>be found in the anthological approach of Foreherbach. But the

732
00:46:29.599 --> 00:46:33.079
<v Speaker 2>humanism of our time, says Sartra, is an existentialism that

733
00:46:33.239 --> 00:46:37.320
<v Speaker 2>quote finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist unquote.

734
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:40.559
<v Speaker 2>He cites the words of Dostoevsky that quote, if God

735
00:46:40.639 --> 00:46:45.159
<v Speaker 2>did not exist, everything would be permitted unquote to illustrate

736
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.920
<v Speaker 2>the starting point of his existentialism. So again Sartra, who

737
00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:58.400
<v Speaker 2>was again interested in unique relationships with children, his beginning

738
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:01.400
<v Speaker 2>philosophical point is God doesn't exists, and therefore all things

739
00:47:01.400 --> 00:47:05.440
<v Speaker 2>are permitted. Hmm hmmm. That sounds about right for the

740
00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:09.199
<v Speaker 2>modern West. For Sartre, the foundation of human existence is

741
00:47:09.280 --> 00:47:14.079
<v Speaker 2>nothingness that man can no longer rely on, either within

742
00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:18.360
<v Speaker 2>himself or without, constitutes the basis of existentialism. Moreover, the

743
00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:21.239
<v Speaker 2>reason that existentialism is based on atheism is that we

744
00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:24.039
<v Speaker 2>have awakened to the fact that nothingness we encounter at

745
00:47:24.079 --> 00:47:26.880
<v Speaker 2>the ground of our very being is itself one with

746
00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:31.199
<v Speaker 2>the ground, and is the basis of our very subjectivity. Accordingly,

747
00:47:31.519 --> 00:47:36.480
<v Speaker 2>Sartre describes existentialism as a subjective standpoint. Atheism, or the

748
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:39.599
<v Speaker 2>assertion that man finds nothing to rely on, either within

749
00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:43.559
<v Speaker 2>himself or without, appears to have appears then as a

750
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:47.639
<v Speaker 2>deepening of human subjectivity. So he's very much interested in

751
00:47:47.719 --> 00:47:57.559
<v Speaker 2>the development of this subjectivity. And let's see here, there's okay,

752
00:47:57.719 --> 00:48:00.239
<v Speaker 2>here is a the next one. He's talking talking a

753
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:04.000
<v Speaker 2>little bit about Heidegger, Sartra, all this different stuff, and

754
00:48:04.039 --> 00:48:06.960
<v Speaker 2>now he's putting in his Buddhist perspective and conversation with

755
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:10.159
<v Speaker 2>it even less. So are we dealing here with the

756
00:48:10.159 --> 00:48:14.679
<v Speaker 2>Buddhist notion of Sunyata. Nothingness in Buddhism is non ego,

757
00:48:15.239 --> 00:48:19.440
<v Speaker 2>while This nothingness in Sartra is an imminent ego. Whatever

758
00:48:19.480 --> 00:48:23.760
<v Speaker 2>transcendence this may allow for, remains glued to his ego.

759
00:48:24.239 --> 00:48:27.440
<v Speaker 2>Sartra considers this his nothingness, to be the ground of

760
00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:30.840
<v Speaker 2>the subject, and yet he presents it like a wall

761
00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:33.360
<v Speaker 2>at the bottom of the ego, or like a springboard

762
00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:37.480
<v Speaker 2>underfoot of the ego. This turns his nothingness into a

763
00:48:37.519 --> 00:48:41.119
<v Speaker 2>basic principle that shuts up the ego within itself. By

764
00:48:41.239 --> 00:48:45.519
<v Speaker 2>virtue of this partition, the nothingness sets up at a

765
00:48:45.559 --> 00:48:48.320
<v Speaker 2>ground of the self. The ego becomes a vast and

766
00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:51.719
<v Speaker 2>desolate cave. It reminds me of the ancient Zen tradition

767
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:54.920
<v Speaker 2>that calls life inside of the black mountain or living

768
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:58.079
<v Speaker 2>in the demon's cavern. One is holed up inside a

769
00:48:58.119 --> 00:49:00.880
<v Speaker 2>cave of the self conscious ego go and has nothing

770
00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:04.000
<v Speaker 2>at its ground and as nothing. As long as this

771
00:49:04.119 --> 00:49:06.760
<v Speaker 2>nothingness is still set up as something called nothingness at

772
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:10.519
<v Speaker 2>the bottom of the self, it remains what Buddhism repudiates

773
00:49:10.559 --> 00:49:15.480
<v Speaker 2>as the emptiness pervasively clung to the subjectivity of man

774
00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:19.280
<v Speaker 2>must be fundamentally deepened, but it still hangs on with

775
00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:23.039
<v Speaker 2>a devilish tenacity. The self that sets up this nothingness

776
00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:26.360
<v Speaker 2>is thereby bound by and attached to it. Nothingness may

777
00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:29.159
<v Speaker 2>seem here to be a denial of self attachment, but

778
00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:34.199
<v Speaker 2>in fact that attachment is rather an exponentialized and concealed

779
00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:39.480
<v Speaker 2>So he's saying that Sartra's nothingness is not his nothingness,

780
00:49:39.480 --> 00:49:42.239
<v Speaker 2>because Tartra's nothingness is like a ground in which he's

781
00:49:42.280 --> 00:49:47.079
<v Speaker 2>able to existentially make himself. Nishatani's trying to say that, no,

782
00:49:47.360 --> 00:49:50.960
<v Speaker 2>that nothingness is actually the ground of reality. Something. Again,

783
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:54.880
<v Speaker 2>I've already hammered that, So I apologize if I'm being

784
00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:57.880
<v Speaker 2>a bit redundant. Now this is the This is towards

785
00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:00.519
<v Speaker 2>the close of chapter one, and this is my last

786
00:50:00.519 --> 00:50:03.639
<v Speaker 2>little tag in chapter one, And this is him trying

787
00:50:03.639 --> 00:50:08.199
<v Speaker 2>to talk about the Christian standpoint. So let me express

788
00:50:09.199 --> 00:50:14.199
<v Speaker 2>the traditional standpoint of Christianity implies an estrangement from the

789
00:50:14.239 --> 00:50:18.039
<v Speaker 2>awakened subjectivity of modern man. Might it not be that

790
00:50:18.239 --> 00:50:22.440
<v Speaker 2>these two mutually exclusive positions, the freedom of man carried

791
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:26.559
<v Speaker 2>all the way to a subjective nothingness nihilism nietzsche nihilism

792
00:50:26.880 --> 00:50:34.199
<v Speaker 2>Sartrain existentialism and the subjectivize atheism and the religious freedom

793
00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:38.840
<v Speaker 2>appearing in traditional Christianity require some sort of higher synthesis

794
00:50:38.880 --> 00:50:42.039
<v Speaker 2>in our times. Christianity cannot and must not look on

795
00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:46.199
<v Speaker 2>modern atheism merely as something to be eliminated. It must

796
00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:51.079
<v Speaker 2>instead accept atheism as a meditation to a new development

797
00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:54.800
<v Speaker 2>of Christianity itself. Be that as it may. The question

798
00:50:54.920 --> 00:50:57.719
<v Speaker 2>needs to be asked, at what point has Christianity become

799
00:50:57.840 --> 00:51:02.000
<v Speaker 2>so problematic for modern man to make him advance in

800
00:51:02.039 --> 00:51:05.440
<v Speaker 2>the direction of an estrangement from Christianity. I should like

801
00:51:05.480 --> 00:51:08.679
<v Speaker 2>to consider this question briefly with regard to the Christian

802
00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:11.599
<v Speaker 2>view of God, and in particular the transcendent and personal

803
00:51:11.679 --> 00:51:15.400
<v Speaker 2>character of the Christian God. Christianity speaks of a creatio

804
00:51:15.599 --> 00:51:19.519
<v Speaker 2>x nilo. God created everything from a point which there

805
00:51:19.559 --> 00:51:21.880
<v Speaker 2>was nothing at all, and since all things have this

806
00:51:22.039 --> 00:51:25.039
<v Speaker 2>nihilism at the ground of their being, they are absolutely

807
00:51:25.079 --> 00:51:28.559
<v Speaker 2>distinct from their creator. This idea is a plain expression

808
00:51:28.559 --> 00:51:32.039
<v Speaker 2>of the absolute transcendence of God. Compared to the Greek

809
00:51:32.079 --> 00:51:34.960
<v Speaker 2>notion of a demiurge who fashioned things by giving shape

810
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:38.599
<v Speaker 2>to an already existing material, the notion of a God

811
00:51:38.639 --> 00:51:42.280
<v Speaker 2>creating everything from nothing at all represents a more advanced

812
00:51:42.280 --> 00:51:45.320
<v Speaker 2>idea of God and enables us to conceive of the

813
00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:49.280
<v Speaker 2>absoluteness of God. But then he's going to talk a

814
00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:53.599
<v Speaker 2>little bit further about the problems of that ultimate transcendence,

815
00:51:53.719 --> 00:51:57.679
<v Speaker 2>because then people are going to be too sort of

816
00:51:57.719 --> 00:52:04.000
<v Speaker 2>psychologically and cognitively attached to the subject object differentiation between

817
00:52:04.039 --> 00:52:08.159
<v Speaker 2>self and God. See. He eventually gets to the point

818
00:52:08.199 --> 00:52:11.960
<v Speaker 2>where this concept of a totally transcendent creator God, although

819
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:15.079
<v Speaker 2>it's a higher development in the idea of God as

820
00:52:15.079 --> 00:52:19.519
<v Speaker 2>he highlights compared to the Greek pantheon, he'll later elucidate

821
00:52:19.679 --> 00:52:23.599
<v Speaker 2>for him why that's problematic, because it still maintains a

822
00:52:23.719 --> 00:52:27.400
<v Speaker 2>subject object distinction that is in the field of consciousness

823
00:52:27.400 --> 00:52:30.239
<v Speaker 2>and limits somebody to getting to the bottomless pit of

824
00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:35.199
<v Speaker 2>nihilism and then breaking to the ultimate groundwork of emptiness.