A puzzle for weekend

From: Romanos Avaqian <rom.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 15:07:18 +0400

Guys,
In my previous message the wording of puzzle was not so correct.
More correct form is as follows:
Why misconceptions of “common sense” (e.g., flatness of the earth,
geocentrism, the absoluteness of time before Galileo, Copernicus,
Einstein ) always are related one way or another to human perception of
space. In this connection what could mean the maxim of Shvetashvatara
Upanishad “When people roll up space like a skin, then there will be an end
of evil without knowing God” (VI, 20) ?


An easier version of the same puzzle sounds as follows:
Presence of misconceptions in the “common sense” (on which all rational
thinking and science are based) shows that it has some very essential latent
defect(s).
On the one hand, many old Hindu scriptures insist that perception of God is
impossible without purifying the mind from the cause of those defects, which
distort the real picture of reality, by reflecting it like through a
distorting mirror. .
On the other hand, the most revolutionary discoveries of last 1000 years
(e.g. roundness of the Earth, heliocentrism, relativity of time) related
with overcoming misconceptions of “common sense” show that those defects
somehow are connected with specific human perception of space or even caused
by it. One of Upanishads also figuratively conditions knowing God by
removing something related with space.
A hint: The body of man also has a spatial form .
My puzzle is: May be there is a similar latent misconception about man?
If so, what is ?


Romanos Avaqian
e-mail: rom.domain.name.hidden
Received on Thu Jul 08 1999 - 04:09:26 PDT