form and emptiness (was Re: Platonism in modern science)

[Gordon Fitch]

> > >In the case of the phenomena which lead us to say "brick" or
> > >"molecule", we can't make even this guess, although clearly
> > >there are some categories of experience more associated with
> > >brickness than others.  This is what I mean by saying
> > >consciousness is what is real.  (It is curious that it has
> > >been turned into an epiphenomenon, whereas matter, which has
> > >less of a reality certificate, is held to underlie it.  Given
> > >the attributes we assign to both, it would be much likely to
> > >suppose that mind produces matter than the other way around.

Chris Burford:
> You really think that?

It seems obvious.  We generally attribute consciousness and
will to mind; to matter, only reaction.  Then we try to figure
out how the latter could produce the former.  But does it not
seem easier for the living to play dead, than for the dead
to play living?

That's if matter exists at all -- as I pointed out, its
certificate is inferior (we know mind directly, but matter
only through phenomena).

Gordon