ex-l wrote:... One cant "prove" something like the 5,000 Year Cycle. It is a statement of blind faith. And, for me, an unsatisfactorily explained one. What would interest me is the history of the concept ... The problem is, you start from the point of hugely unproven assumptions. There is nothing wrong with devotional poetry, mind you. Only it serves a different interest... to inflame faith rather than reason....
Apologies ex-l, for having taken the liberty of pruning your eloquent post as above; and apologies to you too new_world for seeming to lend further credence to issue of "Faith and Reason" as down to earth questions within the discussion of F(t) = F(t + IT).
As a BKWSU student this discussion set me to wondering whether my faith in the idea of the World Drama Cycle would become irrevocable (unshakeable) were it proven, by any means currently available to mankind, to be an actuality. Having had much greater exposure to BKWSU oblox than the study of statistics, I am left with the feeling that all the other implications arising from the
'truth of the World Drama Cycle' would still be so revolutionary in nature that faith would always outweigh reason. Admitedly, faith
is indeed a necessary ingredient in much of human endeavor but as ex-l points out in the post below what when faith becomes inflamed? The assertions that we are presented with as students of Raja Yoga do not seem to be dependant on reason, and why should they one may ask, seeing as the whole construct rests upon the Supreme Authority of GOD, Himself.
As a layman it strikes me that none of mankind's endeavors in science nor maths seeks specifically to disprove the existence of a G-O-D. Conversely, the study of Raja Yoja presents concepts that fly in the face of reason WITHOUT PROVIDING US PROOFS and perhaps more controversially WITHOUT ENCOURAGING REASONED DISCUSSION. Does this differ from any other religion? Maybe not.
Given my personal opinion as expressed in this post i still regard it as commendable that you have taken time to share with us the work you have done in this area and hopefully you will continue to enlighten us. Someone with not much of a scientific background once said to me that the problem with scientists is that they 'develop a theory and then try to prove it as a scientific fact'. The implication being that the mind's of scientists are 'closed'. i still think about that remark to this day and at the same time i wonder whether it could be argued that the BKWSU does not feel the need to prove or question anything because in their scripture it is written: "God Speaks".
As ex-l shared with us: you cant divide a number by a concept. And when that number is passed down by the Almighty Authority Himself what need is there for statistics or mathematics? Only Faith is needed, is it not? But just in case you are correct, what chances do you think that the organisations represented here will add a basic study of mathematics and statistics to the 7-Day course?
Looking forward to your follow-up articles on this topic. Thanks a lot.
P.S. I took the liberty of 're-touching' this post a little bit in the light of ex-l's finer point below regarding 'inflamed faith'. I excuse myself in doing this because in this post it may not have been clear that i was NOT castigating faith in favour of reason or separating them as 2 opposing 'energies' - and yes this is a sign that abek can be a bit pedantic at times. However, in this case i hope that some form good is being served and I trust that this post will be taken in good faith
. As always there is nothing to beat honest human interaction and i won't even mention George Michael because i gotta have faith ... Which might be interpreted to mean that I cannot do anything without faith.