Chapter 440: Questions About the Spiritual Path
The other party suddenly switched from small talk to the main topic, which made Li Qi a little confused, but he immediately realized that the previous stories were just foreshadowing.
The spiritual path, in the final analysis, encountered the same problem as Li Qi did at the beginning.
Wang Dun continued: "The demons of the extreme north live in a bitter and cold place, and they cannot get enough material life all year round. So there, the most common way for them to spend the winter is to gather together and listen to the elders of the tribe preaching. This also makes them develop the characteristics of not caring about material enjoyment and paying more attention to spiritual enjoyment."
"However, after leaving the body for the first time, they encountered a problem, that is, although the spirit can exist by itself, it cannot perceive. To be precise... the spirit can only perceive itself. Li Qi, do you understand it?" Wang Dun looked at Li Qi and asked.
"Of course I understand it. I have also thought about this problem." Li Qi smiled.
This is indeed a problem. The spirit can only perceive itself and exist by itself, but cannot confirm the existence of other minds. This is also the basis for the birth of the magic path.
The magic path focuses on self-perception and self-existence, so much so that it completely ignores the existence of other spiritual entities. This is why the magic path always does extremely absurd things, because they don't care about the feelings of other spirits.
All this is just because the mind only has the ability to perceive itself, but not the ability to perceive the outside world. Only matter has the ability to perceive the outside world.
Each of us can intuitively perceive that we have spiritual experience from a first-person perspective.
However, when the self looks at other people, it is like Li Qi looking at Wang Dun. Li Qi can only see Wang Dun's body and confirm the other person's existence in the material, but cannot feel Wang Dun's inner experience and cannot confirm Wang Dun's spiritual existence.
This is the so-called asymmetry of spiritual perception, which is one of the essential attributes of the spirit.
In the past, the Taoist Nanhua Zhenren once discovered this, so there was the judgment of "You are not a fish, how can you know the joy of fish?" and the question of "Is Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, or is the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou?"
Each of us must not be someone else, so we must not be able to perceive things other than ourselves, which is a great difficulty for pure spirit.
"This almost caused the spiritual path to completely merge with the demon path, and almost caused a disaster. However, fortunately, the spiritual path finally found a way to observe other minds, which is now the 'Dao Ze reader'."
"With the 'Dao Ze reader', the spiritual path can clearly perceive the existence of other spirits and the existence of the material world. Therefore, this thing has become the eyes, ears and other senses of people in the spiritual path, as well as evidence of the existence of other people, in order to maintain the stability of the spiritual path."
"For those of us who have physical bodies and physical senses, we don't need to use this thing. It is meaningless to us and only increases consumption." Wang Dun spread his hands.
At this point, Wang Dun immediately asked: "So, Li Qi, can you tell me why you have a Tao Reader? You are using this thing to replace your physical senses. Why? This is very inconsistent with your identity as a shaman?"
But Li Qi did not answer this question, but said: "Let's talk about these later. May I ask, brother Wang, how does this Tao Reader work? How can we confirm the existence of the outside world?"
"You already have a Tao Reader, don't you know it yourself? Of course, it is through the verification of Tao." Wang Dun said as a matter of course.
"In the spirit, only pure thinking and logic can exist, but these things in pure logic can produce a wonderful correspondence with the real material world, which is enough to prove the strange connection between spirit and matter, isn't it?"
Li Qi nodded in agreement.
Pure logic can indeed reflect the material world in a wonderful way, such as mathematics.
Things that are a priori in mathematics can always be reflected in the material world, but anything that can be established in mathematics can basically be established in the material world.
This is the mapping relationship between logic and the world. This world ultimately follows logic, even if the logic itself is not perfect.
Seeing that Li Qi understood this, Wang Dun continued to explain: "So, this is very simple. If logic can be mapped to reality, then you only need to understand logic and then map it to reality to understand the essence of the real material world. This is the Tao Reader. The reason why it is called this name is because Lingdao believes that Tao is logic and logic is Tao."
"If the world runs according to logic, such as the existence of the law of causality, then logic is undoubtedly a priori and guiding. Then such a thing cannot be called Tao, and what can be called Tao?"
"If such a thing can be called Tao, then it must conform to the rules of logic. As long as it is verified and communicated through logic, it is naturally possible to observe the minds of others to determine the existence of their minds, isn't it?"
Wang Dun said so.
Li Qi fell into deep thought.
After thinking for a while, he suddenly realized it, and then clapped his hands and cheered!
So that's it!
It's really wonderful, wonderful!
Tao can be compared to language.
A language must conform to certain rules in order to be understood by others. If it is a so-called private language, that is, purely subjective feeling, and it has no rules, you will not be able to understand it after a while, so this kind of thing cannot be understood or communicated.
Once language has rules, then these rules must be public. As long as you can understand it, it can be understood by others in principle, so it is not a private language.
Through this kind of proof by contradiction, it can be proved that the so-called private language does not exist. It is impossible to have a language that only I can know in principle, but others cannot know it.
In other words, it is impossible for there to be a "Tao" that only I can understand and others cannot understand.
When we use language, or something else, such as mathematics and Tao, to express our inner feelings, it must abide by a language rule. It must be public and can be understood by others. Otherwise, the language that cannot be understood by others cannot be understood by ourselves.
The significance of this kind of language or Tao communication is not that it reflects our inner secret ideas, but that it is an activity and a practice. The significance of language lies in its use in practice.
This Tao communication is a manifestation of behavior. We use language to report and describe. Language is always a manifestation of action, an activity and a practice.
And all activities and practices must be implemented, which is beyond doubt.
Therefore, questioning whether other people's minds exist is not an object of cognition or theorization.
It is meaningless to question this.
For example, if you throw out the skeptical argument that others do not actually have minds, then who do you expect to listen to this skeptical statement?
You say that other people may not have minds, they are all puppets, or they are all reflections of your own heart. Then when you ask other people this question, you expect these puppets to listen and explain to you, right?
If you expect so, do you already subjectively believe that other people have the ability to answer and think?
Or, from the perspective of others, you are a puppet who may not have a mind, so for me, this question is thrown out by a puppet, a puppet saying that we are puppets?
So, it is not worth paying attention to.
Such skeptical arguments will make any communication between people meaningless.
Therefore, we can trust others through "language" or Tao, and use others to provide guarantee for the objective reality of this world. Although the inaccessibility of others' hearts cannot be cancelled, an absolute a priori self is not the whole of the objective world, because it has been proved through the logic of Tao.
Li Qi suddenly realized and exclaimed that it was wonderful!
This exchange directly deepened Li Qi's explanation of the information flow perspective.
So that's it.
Just this conversation, Li Qi suddenly had a new understanding, which will definitely be used next time!
Going out to travel can really increase your knowledge!
"Okay, okay, let's go back and digest it slowly later. Li Qi, let's talk about why you have a Tao reader. This thing can't be made by witchcraft." Wang Dun smiled and asked Li Qi to calm down, and asked the question again, and emphasized the tone.
Obviously, he was a little suspicious of Li Qi's previous several times.
"Haha, since the doubts in my heart have been solved, it's okay to tell Brother Wang that this Dao reader also came from a similar dilemma." Li Qi said with a smile, feeling very comfortable.
He got the second weapon to fight against the demon!
The demon is the ultimate solipsism, which is also the essence of the magic way, that is: "Everything in the world is the spiritual projection of "I", and everything in the world has no meaning except "I".
The demon even created the "desire realm" that encompasses all realities.
And now, the spiritual way has given an answer that can confirm the answer of other spiritual existences. Although the demon may have ten thousand ways to refute this answer, it doesn't matter. Li Qi just needs to have this answer in his heart.
"Similar dilemma? What do you mean?" Wang Dun was puzzled.
"It's like this. I had an adventure in the past. I was accidentally stained by a drop of five elements of demon blood..." Li Qi began to tell.
"Stained by five elements of demon blood? Can you still live?!" Wang Dun was shocked!
He didn't die after being stained by the five elements of demon blood. What kind of fierce man is this?
You should know what kind of existence is the Five Aggregates Demon?
The four demons of the demon path.
The leader is naturally the Transformation-free Heavenly Demon, who can transform into various terrifying forms to scare practitioners at night, or show the five wonderful desires to disturb Bodhisattvas, or change the hearts of people in the world into great offerings. If practitioners are greedy for offerings, they will lose their mind of the path. This is an illusory demon.
The other three demons are:
The affliction demon is the 108 kinds of afflictions in the body, which can disturb the minds of sentient beings, take away their wisdom and life, and prevent them from achieving Bodhi.
The death demon, who cuts off people's lives and causes death, can cause sentient beings to disperse the four elements, die young, and make it impossible for practitioners to continue their wisdom.
The Five Aggregates Demon, that is, the accumulation of the five aggregates of color, feeling, thought, action, and consciousness, which form the bitter fruit of life and death. This law of life and death can take away wisdom and life, and can cause sentient beings to suffer various obstacles.
The Four Demons are the nightmare of countless practitioners and have destroyed the spiritual aspirations of countless people. They are all true giants in the demonic world, wandering the heavens, spreading evil thoughts, and countless worlds have fallen into their hands, unable to extricate themselves.
If a drop of blood from the Five Aggregates Demon falls on a seventh-grade person, it should be directly dissolved, and the body and mind will fall, and he will never be reincarnated. How can he still stand up and laugh with others?
Not to mention the seventh grade, even the fourth and fifth grades can't find a way to survive.
"Brother Wang is serious. That is not the real five-aggregate demon blood, but the purified and inactive five-aggregate demon blood. Although it is also very dangerous, its power has been greatly reduced." Li Qi explained quickly.
Mahakala holds a kabala bowl in his hand, which contains the blood of the four demons. He often drinks this blood from the bowl, which symbolizes the demon-suppressing power of his Buddhist protector.
What Li Qi came into contact with was a drop of blood spilled from this bowl.
"Purified? Impossible! Who has the ability to purify the blood of the Five Aggregates Demon? That's the Five Aggregates Demon! Who can have such ability?" Wang Dun didn't believe it.
Li Qi uttered three words:
"Maikala."
When the word Mahakala came out, Wang Dun was speechless and didn't know what to say.
In the end, he could only hand it over: "Brother Li's encounter was so bizarre, it's really amazing."
"Getting back to the subject, anyway, after I came into contact with that drop of five aggregates demon blood, the five aggregates were blinded, lost all perception, and lost the ability to observe matter." Li Qi said.
"Understandable, but... you were able to survive in that desperate situation. Did you develop this Taoist reader from scratch? Or was it inherited by accident?" Wang Dun asked curiously.
He has completely understood.
Li Qi had also been exposed to pure spirit and created a Taoist reader himself.
"It's not like starting from scratch, because I have made speculations about the pure spirit before. That time it just forced me to conduct research in that area again." Li Qi said modestly.
Wang Dun was in awe: "I actually started from scratch. Brother Li is really awesome. He is so talented. I don't know if I would like to reward you with honor. Come to my society and tell us how we did it at that time? Don't worry, My academy is in Dongyu, and I won’t miss Brother Li’s reward!”
"Today's conversation with Brother Wang has benefited me a lot. If we can really exchange information, what's the harm in telling a few things? There is no need for compensation. I should be preparing ships in Dongyu today, waiting for you to be free. I can do it anytime." Li Qi happily agreed.
The two chatted happily and seemed to hit it off immediately. Neither of them ever suspected that the other was lying. They each agreed on the next meeting and then said goodbye.
However, as soon as he turned around, Li Qi's expression darkened.