Philosophy beyond Gyan

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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howiemac

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Philosophy beyond Gyan

Post28 May 2006

I recommend this well written and thought provoking article Time and Eternity, in which Paul Brocklehurst, a former Zen Buddhist and BK discusses with himself philosphical issues such as the nature of time, karma, the dangers of detachment, his difficulties in integrating his spiritual perspectives with life in the material world, and how his Volkswagen van became an extension of his body ...

Intriguingly, he maintains the time is cyclical, but confesses to being "enchanted" by Darwinism ... of his BK experience, he says:
Paul Brocklehurst wrote:It took a few months for the Honeymoon Period to wear off. Then.... my family fell apart; and almost all my friends disappeared. As if that wasn't enough, I also felt like I too was starting to disappear or fall apart. The idea of cyclical time had dislodged some of the foundations of my identity. All the things that I had believed in and based my world upon had been cast into doubt. I remember asking myself over and over again, "Is there anything left that I can be certain about?" And the only answer that I could find was "uncertainty". The world seemed to be full of paradoxes and it felt as though all that was left was a drifting empty shell. I'd lost the feeling that I had any control. I felt like all I could do was watch and see what happened next.

And finally he describes how the BKs destroyed his faith in science:

I just knew that science was correct and religion was wrong! All the evidence proved it to be so ... But what I did not realise until much later was that all beliefs, including a belief in natural selection, are taken entirely on a basis of faith. I had been so much indoctrinated to think that science was different and that scientific experiments and methods could be used to "prove" things to be true. It wasn't till I was with the Brahma Kumaris that the coin finally dropped.

It happened one day when I was in India ... A girl was saying to the founder of the BKs (a man whom people used to call "Baba") that she was having difficulty having faith in The Cycle of time. She wanted to believe, and was looking for some sort of explanation or proof of it that would be so convincing that she would lose all her doubts. But instead of giving an explanation, Baba responded, "Just have blind faith!"

I am not sure how the girl responded to that, I think she was a bit disappointed. But as I heard him say it, it suddenly occurred to me that, really, all faith is blind! There is only blind faith! Everything we believe in, we take on trust. We may think things can be proved or have been proved, but it's just not true ... Nowadays my attitude is that if a belief works, it might as well be true ... The same could be said of falling in love. It's a sort of madness or psychosis really, but it's a useful one. Without it, people would find it almost impossible to open up to each other enough to discover what really lies inside. Faith, likewise, enables us to take steps into the dark that we would not otherwise take.
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zhukov

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Post29 May 2006

One of the interesting things I learned when I was with the BKs, was that people can be willing to join up to an organisation, outwardly identify with its philosophy and even teach it to other people, and yet even after years of membership, not have the slightest understanding of its true implications. Indeed I gradually became aware that for the majority of people in the Brahma Kumaris the theory of cyclical time had almost no impact on them at all, despite it being completely central to the BK philosophy. Most of them were in the organisation because they liked it there and I guess that was all that mattered to them.

Interesting link, thanks howiemac.
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bro neo

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Post14 Apr 2007

Great link.

When I was in Gyan, which was less then 10 years ago, I was lucky enough to have all of Jagdish Bhai's books on 'Scientific explanations' of The Cycle and its validity and the falsity of scientific theories schools teach us.

I remember giving the 7 Day Course to people going on about the 'Facts' of reincarnation and how carbon dating is not reliable and evolution being almost impossible, as said by Darwin himself.

Since leaving Gyan, I have struggled with accepting or believing several different philosophies of the past of world history. None of which can really be proven. For me, personally, I feel science to be most reliable, although I don’t have complete faith in it.

Now a days I focus on trying to understand reality based on my experience of it, sometimes with the validation of others (but not always) which more or less limits most of what I 'Know' to my present life time.
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paulkershaw

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Post16 Apr 2007

Bro Neo wrote:Since leaving Gyan, I have struggled with accepting or believing several different philosophies of the past of world history. None of which can really be proven. For me, personally, I feel science to be most reliable, although I don’t have complete faith in it.

Suggestion: Then just as before - have Blind Faith ~ but this time in yourself and your own abilities ... all else seems subject to change at any time.

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