Living Systems in Jainism: A Scientific Study: 01.02 ►Soul: The Subject and the Object

Published: 24.03.2018
Updated: 28.03.2018

In the absolute sense, the soul can only be conscious of itself, because it alone exists in a state of pure singularity. When we say “it is conscious of itself,” we separate the intellectual level of the soul into two aspects: (1) the aspect in which it is the observer and (2) the aspect in which it is observed (although they are one and the same). Intellectual examination, in fact, reveals the existence of three values within consciousness that are inherent in any process of conscious experience or observation: (1) the observer, (2) the observed, and (3) the process of linking the observer and the observed. Even though there is nothing but one consciousness, this principle of three emerges. Consciousness, being awake to it, experiences itself and is at once the knower, the process of knowing, and the known; the observer, process of observation, and the observed; or the subject, object, and the process of linking them. In this state of absolute consciousness, these three values are one and the same, yet they represent aspects of the same singularity.

It is obvious that every experience requires a subject coming together with an object. This coming together takes place on both the level of attention and the sensory level of perception. When the subject comes together with the object through the process of observation, then this experience occurs: the subject knows the object. Knowledge, therefore, is the result of the coming together of the observer, the process of observation, and the observed.

Since one consciousness leads to three aspects, the interaction between these three, and the resulting aspects and their relationships and interaction, etc., leads to an infinite number of ever-expanding possibilities. All of these possibilities, all of these forces of interaction and relation, exist in the soul.

This interaction of forces, even though it happens within the soul, creates a dissymmetry, a distortion as it were, in the flat and homogeneous - yet infinitely flexible - absolute singularity of soul. The virtual pull and push, rise and fall, vibration and silence, dynamism and silence, leads to the formation of a virtual structure within the soul. This structure is the result of the apparent breaking of the infinite symmetry. With all interactions always taking place in accordance with the fundamental forces that uphold them; this structure is actually the result of the virtual distortion generated by the interaction of forces.

In the pure soul or the soul of an Omniscient this structure is absent, and the subject and object are the same pure consciousness. In the impure soul, the subject is the consciousness and the object is the structure created by the virtual distortion. This structure identifies the perverted state of the soul.

Sources
Title: Living System in Jainism: A Scientific Study
Author: Prof. Narayan Lal Kachhara
Edition: 2018
Publisher: Kundakunda Jñānapīṭha, Indore, India
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Some texts contain  footnotes  and  glossary  entries. To distinguish between them, the links have different colors.
  1. Consciousness
  2. Omniscient
  3. Soul
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