UPDATE: This is a very good discussion which can be understood within a Buddhist ‘mind only’ framework (or not). I have posted it especially because it seems to conform very well with what the Buddha might have thought and/or how later Buddhists came to understand Buddhist enlightenment, the cessation of all suffering through fully understanding all of reality. This video is the first part of a planned two-part discussion. The second part has not yet been posted. The second part is going to start with the question why the universal mind itself does not experience metacognition. I have some idea how Kastrup will answer that question, but will wait for his take before commenting further. Kastrup’s work in general seems to me to be a good way to consider Buddhist practice and thought from a modern point of view, using vocabularies and concepts we are familiar with or which can be readily accessed. It is important to know that the captions for the above video rarely correctly render the term Markov Blanket. This is an important term for understanding Kastrup’s ideas. More information can be found here: Markov Blanket. ABN
UPDATE 2: Near the end of the discussion linked above, Kastrup says he is incapable of meditation. I hope he reads this because I want to point out to him and others that meditation, or samadhi in Buddhism, is the method for the ‘small self’, which resides inside its Markov Blanket, to commune with the One Mind (Kastrup’s term, which works well with Buddhist thought). Samadhi is a natural state. When you take your attention away from Kastrup’s ‘dashboard’ and open the windows (let’s ignore the wind in his metaphor), your ‘small self’ perceives and experiences One Mind. Like all experience, samadhi states become richer and richer the more we experience and appreciate them. I would like to also encourage Kastrup and others to read this description of the Five Skandhas. The ‘consciousness’ which arises out of the first four skandhas is the consciousness of the small self, the self ensconced in its Markov Blanket. Whether he knows it or not, Kastrup has done an excellent job of describing Buddhist thought and practice in modern terms. I particularly like his work because, as far as I know, he has never mentioned Buddhism. For this reason, he provides a very refreshing take on the Dharma very clearly explicated and coming from a different angle from all others. ABN
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