People, probably don't know squat, and aren't designed to.
Aha -- but that is what the afterlife is for! To find out all that stuff -- finally!
And that is why I find the notion of the "absolute separation of knowledge and being" uncongenial, unless by "being" you mean purely "physical being."
Besides, speculation gives us such pleasure, even when it does not lead to Certain Knowledge. To quote Robert Frost:
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.
..............................
..............................
They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?
I'll go even further, and say that it is precisely because speculation does not and cannot lead to Certain Knowledge that it gives us such pleasure!
That is why I like to conceive of the afterlife as a "cosmic learning process." Who wants to find out all The Truths at once, in one fell swoop? Then what is one to do for the rest of eternity? BOR-ing...So let's drag the process out as long as we can, one truth at a time, to prolong the pleasure...<g>
I'm not sure I would go for sat, chit, and ananda. Sounds a little too static for me, a little too once-and-for-all. But I don't know enough about Indian philosophy to say. My problem with Oriental religions/philosophies in general is their passion for numbering everything. The Three Paths. The Four Noble Truths. The Eightfold Way. The Three Karmas. And so forth and so on. You alluded to this practice in your post, and frankly, it drives me crazy. So neat!!
Joan |
