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The Buddha's view of life also has much to offer in the understanding our present societal and environmental struggles. The Buddha rightly saw that humans were life forms, constantly changing and interacting with the rest of life, and a part of the universe. Therefore our attitudes and behaviors not only effect our own lives but also have a deep and profound impact on the rest of life.
The Buddha taught the Middle Way as a way to limit our own suffering while promoting the welfare of the rest of life. The Middle Way is the path beyond extremes and a path of Understanding and Compassion that sees human thoughts, words, and deeds as directly responsible for much of the suffering of humanity. The Middle Way is a path between materialism and sensuality and the dogmaticism and fundamentalism of societal religious intolerance and ignorance.
Ultimately, the Buddha taught that ignorance was the source of suffering. The Buddha would not, in my opinion, ask humanity to abandon technology and science to transform humanity. Indeed humans wouldn't listen to that advice. No matter how much people pretend to believe in this or that philosophy or religion, their ultimate goal is generally self preservation.
Instead the Buddha would have asked humanity to consider what is helpful and beneficial to all of the various life forms and what is the source of happiness in life. The Buddha would have rightly pointed to the truth that Compassion and Understanding for life will help us through transhumanism with greater dignity and less mental and spiritual suffering.
If the Buddha were asked about God or whether a particular religion were true, he would have maintained the Noble Silence. These questions, the Buddha rightly observed, would not help humanity discover the source of joy and wholeness in life.
The Buddha doesn't deny a spiritual existence, however, he just sees the numerous spiritual worlds as ultimately subject to the same forces of change and suffering.
The Buddha taught the truth of Nirvana, the blowing out of desire and grasping, and the realization to pure and infinite awareness. No matter whether man develops into a near machine or remains a purely biological entity, there will always be the truth that the Universe is aware and we are all aspects of that awareness. As we move beyond structures, systems, and complex egos and relationships, there is the Still source of tremendous joy found in pure awareness and infinite wholeness beyond movement.
As humanity moves toward transhumanism, Buddhism offers the fundamental truth that no matter how we transform there is a way to Peace and Joy. That way is found in stilling the mind and focusing on the truth of our infinite pure awareness that is untouched by matter and energy or by any structures or systems. We can rest in this infinite zero or vacuum of being and it will transform our understanding of our relations and our place in the world. It is the source of infinite potentiality in the world and the resting place of the Great Buddha's of humanity.
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