Dharma Wheel

Is there a truth to existance, or of the universe?

When I ponder the truth of the universe, how can I exclude my preconceptions from polluting my perspective?

When we are born, all is a blank slate, there are no preconceptions, no memories, or experiences but we lack the mental faculties to question, and seek answers.

By the time we arrive at a place where we are capable, our minds our filled with preconceptions about existence.

But if we peel back these preconceptions, and attempt to view the universe in a form which isn't influenced by our memories and experiences, what is there to find?

I find that my perspective changes when my body is no longer the point from which I view the universe, once you move past this localized viewpoint, where the conciousness is not transfixed in any single location the very meaning of my questions seem to change.

The question being more of an intuitive feeling/concept when pondering what all of this is. this existence, consciousness, life.

If I were to strip away further, I imagine the questions would only change form and meaning even more, becoming so obscure at to lose any meaning that would make logical sense to a person in a normal state of mind.

So is it the case that the universe is something like a blank slate, void of any inherent meaning?
or is it that the universe itself is relative, and not only changes by the observation of, but by the experience of the observer and the viewpoint from which they are looking?

I ask what the truth is, and the truth seems to be relative, in so many ways its hard to put into words,

I meditate on this feeling I get when I think of, how is it that I exist? but the concept is more complex than that, the feeling is like staring at a wall; unable to move past and yet, absolutely sure there is an answer on the other side of the wall.

I guess the wall is my own ignorance, and perhaps even the limit of my knowledge and imagination.

I think you are on the right track.

I think the universe is completely lacking in inherent meaning. That doesn't necessarily mean it is meaningless though - it can have however much meaning you choose to assign to it.

What I find interesting is that nothing ever had to have happened, but it did. It all did!

I think the universe is completely lacking in inherent meaning. That doesn't necessarily mean it is meaningless though - it can have however much meaning you choose to assign to it.

Catmoon, This is the conclusion I've reached also, but I can't help not being satisfied with it. Since we are not separate entities existing within the universe, but are actually a part of the universe itself, I have this hunch, however irrational it may be that there is more to it than this, and during meditation there is a very distinct profound feeling when pondering these questions, that drives me to continue searching even though I'm fully aware that logically, there is no inherent meaning to be found.

Sometimes the very idea that I can find some objective truth about the universe, just by meditating and thinking makes me feel foolish, but I can't entirely discredit that there may be something to be found in the practice either.

PadmaVonSamba, I sure hope I am on the right track, or any track for that matter, haha.

It's one thing to find meaning and quite another to find truth. The pursuit of truth in or out of meditation often yields results and it is reasonable to expect this to happen as a result of effort.

But meaning is very different. It implies a value judgement, or the arbitrary assigning of value. Out here in samsara, value is entirely a creation of the observer, and does not reside in the universe. Meaning is not out there, it is a part of our reaction to what is out there. It's internal.

Of course, you can blow the whole discussion out the window by looking at these things in the ultimate sense, but I'm not going there today.