[Buddha-l] Being unable to imagine dying and living

[lemmett at talk21.com]

There are many views referred to in that paper, and it is unclear to me which of them you don't think you believe. There was one quotations that stated just about exactly what I believe: "For only death annihilates all sense, all becoming, to replace them with non-sense and absolute cessation." I gather the paper was aimed at making people see the inadequacy of that belief through a series of thought experiments. The thought experiments did not have that effect on me. I still believe what I have believed since I was about five years old, namely, that "only death annihilates all sense, all becoming, to replace them with non-sense and absolute cessation." But maybe it's only because, as Paul Simon put it, "A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest." I want death to annihilate all sense and all becoming, and if it doesn't I will be pissed off. Being an American, I'll probably start looking around right away for someone to sue.

Richard

<<Me too [that is the view I meant], I still fancy that I remember what I was thinking as a 5 year old to get to that conclusion. But then I worry it doesn't quite seem hard boiled enough to be the default view. So thanks!