In this Galaxy, you gotta get The Ancient Scrolls.
Then when you get The Ancient Scrolls, you get The Power.
Then, when you get The Power, then you get The Criminal Empire of Followers.
And you can do anything you want.
EPISTEMOLOGY
“One of the central concerns of philosophy is to investigate how we know what we know, if there is such a thing as certain knowledge, and, if so, how it is attained.
This is a topic of concern to the Tantra as well, and it is explored in depth by the scholar-sages Utpala Deva and Abhinava Gupta. The difficult and abstruse nature of these discussions invite us to focus on a simpler formulation offered by the second author in his Essence of the Tantras.
There Abhinava tells us that the process of creative contemplation or holistic meditative inquiry (bhāvanā-krama) that leads to experiential knowing of reality is based on these three supports:
❖ sound and careful reflection on your experience (sat-tarka)
❖ the guidance of a great teacher (sad-guru) who is skilled in meditative enquiry and has attained its fruit
❖ the wisdom of the scriptures (sad-āgama)
When these three come together in agreement, Abhinava suggests, we know we have arrived at truth.
One or two of them is insufficient for certainty. In fact, allowing ourselves to abide in uncertainty about anything not supported by all three keeps us open and in a process of learning that closes down if we prematurely decide that we know. Usually in Indian philosophy, the first two valid means of knowledge that are argued for are direct perception and valid inference; here they are combined into sat-tarka, which means the process of drawing sound conclusions based on one’s experience.
In logic (both Western and Indian), a conclusion is “sound” when the premises are true and the structure of thought leading to the conclusion is valid.
To give a slightly modified version of the standard Indian example of a logical argument:
Premise 1: Where there is smoke, there is fire (axiom based on the aggregate of one’s experiences).
Premise 2: There is smoke on the mountain over there (direct observation).
Conclusion: Therefore, there is fire on the mountain.
The argument is called valid structurally because if the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.
But it is only sound (= correct) if the premises are in fact true. And this particular argument is an example of inference because there is no way to be one hundred per cent sure that there is always fire whenever and wherever there is smoke.
The standard argument in the Indian system of logic is not deduction, which seeks to establish irrefutable certainty, but inference. Unlike in Western philosophy, in the Indian system you never decide that you know for sure, and so you never completely close yourself to unguessed possibilities.
Thus the sense of wonder and openness that is the foundation of all philosophy is maintained. The problem of direct experience as a means of knowledge is that people often draw conclusions based on their experience that are logically invalid. They don’t realize they are doing so because their assumptions and the process by which they draw their conclusions usually go unexamined.
Even more basically, they are often unable to separate their experience from their interpretation.
People can get ruffled when their interpretation of their experience is questioned, saying, “But that’s my experience!”
In fact, anything you can say in words about your experience is an interpretation, not the experience itself. On the path of inquiry into truth, we never devalue or dispense with reflection on our personal experience (note that Abhinava mentions it first), yet since we cannot be one hundred per cent certain about the conclusions we draw or how universally applicable they are, we soften our iron grip on our apparently safe and comfortable sense of certainty and seek to corroborate it with trusted authorities: the teacher and sacred scripture.
To some Westerners, having the spiritual teacher and scripture as the other two legs of the tripod seems redundant. But this system of checks and balances is well worked out.
Scripture exists as a representative document of a whole community; because even if a given scripture was written by just one person, it is transmitted (copied and recopied) for centuries if and only if some of its contents are effective for a wider group of people. As a document of collective wisdom perpetuated by community, scripture protects you from an aberrant teacher who preaches his own idiosyncratic experience as if it were universal, thereby potentially leading you astray. Of course, for this setup to work, you must read a scripture with your own judgment, not solely on the basis of the teacher’s interpretation of it.
On the other hand, though scriptures are presumed to have been written by an awakened master, a healthy skepticism is maintained by requiring their wisdom to be corroborated by the other two sources of knowledge.
Further, the requirement of the living teacher means that you are protected from an off-the-wall interpretation of scripture you arrived at in your own head. Such an interpretation might make sense to you, might even feel good, but is seen by the teacher with clear long-term view to be one that will eventually take you off track.
Such a teacher will rarely say, “You’re wrong,” but will more likely challenge you to contemplate deeper, beyond your conditioned mind.
This system of double corroboration for valid knowledge allows us to come up with seeds of wisdom that we can count on and build a spiritual life on. But the process is not completed until these seeds come to life as living, vibrating wisdom within us.
That is, in the Tantra, we seek not just to know wisdom but to fully embody it. The evidence that you have done so is that you no longer need the external form of the teaching (the words or concepts); it has simply blossomed into living experience, unsupported by any reminders.
When this happens, then no matter how beautiful the words of the teaching are, they seem to be flat or pale or inadequate in comparison with the actual experience.
Hate is just Love with it’s directional polarity inverted.
The Unified Force of Emotion is called Care — TRUE CARE
Whenever you hate someone, you are caring about them, intensely.
“I Don’t Want to Fight You.”
“I Don’t Care.”
LIAR — You Do Nothing Else — ALL YOU DO is Care
< A door opens and Vincent enters>
MICHAEL
(rises and walks over to Vincent)
You look pale. Bad news.
Tell me right away
VINCENT
It's not just a bad banking deal.
These guys are butchers.
MICHAEL
What guys?
VINCENT
Lucchesi.
He controls all of them --
Altobello, the Archbishop, other people higher up, P2* maybe, secret unknown.
They're running things.
[*Propaganda Due. This is a reference to a (real-life) Masonic lodge, based in Rome, and alleged(known?) to be comprised of only the highest echelon of elite power players including Italy's major political and corporate figures, high-ranking Vatican clergy, and of course Mafiosi. There are a number of conspiracy theories connected with this group. (Thanks to "Don Rico" for this info).]
MICHAEL
I'm in their way?
VINCENT
He's hired a professional assassin to kill you.
He's Sicilian. I don't know his name.
They say he never fails.
MICHAEL
Then no one is safe.
Even the Pope is in danger.
VINCENT
No. We still have time.
We can prevent this.
MICHAEL
I tried Vincent. I tried, to keep everything from coming to this.
But it's not possible.
Not in This World.
VINCENT
Give me the order.
MICHAEL
You won't be able to go back. You'll be like me.
VINCENT
Good.
MICHAEL
All my life I wanted out.
I wanted The Family, out.
VINCENT
Well I don't want out.
I want the power to preserve The Family.
(then)
I'm asking for The Order.
<Michael doesn’t say anything, but it’s apparent he’s given The Order. The door opens and Connie enters.>
VINCENT (to Connie)
It's done.
MICHAEL
Because I can't do it any more.
CONNIE
It doesn't matter. Vincent knows what to do.
Come on outside. Take a rest and -- and don't think about it.
MICHAEL
All I do is think about it.
VINCENT
I am your son.
Command me on all things.
MICHAEL
Give up my daughter.
That's the price you pay, for the life you choose.
<Vincent nods. Michael goes to the door and motions for Calo, Al Neri and Armand to come in.>
MICHAEL (to Vincent)
Nephew, from this moment on, call yourself Vincent Corleone.
<Vincent kisses Michael's hand. Michael motions for him to sit down as Calo, Al Neri and Armand acknowledge their new Don.>
CALO (kissing Vincent's hand)
Vincenzo.
VINCENT
Grazie, Calo.
AL NERI (kissing Vincent's hand)
Don Corleone.
ARMAND (kissing Vincent's hand)
Don Vincenzo Corleone.
<Michael, watching, turns away and leaves with Connie, the door closes.>
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