The Fourth Way & Ex Nihilo

[tentaclednephilim]

Is it just me, or are both of these concepts basically the same thing?

The way I look at it, The Fourth Way is just a practical, and personal, way of applying the concept of Ex Nihilo. In other words, they are at different ends of the abstraction ladder.

EDIT: This is where I first learned of Ex Nihilo:

[xiaogui17]

I see two sides to the primary nihilo. One is shunyata, the emptiness of all in existence, and the other is anatman, the emptiness of one's own identity. All entities are anatman, or without independent identity, and one's own anatman is simply the personal application of shunyata.

As I said before in my introductory post, both Buddhism and the Fourth Way accept the concept of anatman; what differs is the practical application that they derive from this. I think the three typical reactions I see to anatman correspond, in part, to the first three ways.

1) The way of the fakir (carnal) treats the concept of the absence of self as akin to death. The basic instinct of survival and self-preservation has been crushed, and the reaction is one of despair and existential meltdown. This is somewhat ignorant, because it acts as though the self ceased to exist when this concept was realized, when in fact it never existed to begin with.

2) The way of the monk (emotive) treats the absence of self as a motive for selfless behavior, or altruism. Compassion is promoted, and one sublimates one's in-existent "self" to the will of others. This is typically what cultural Buddhists do, which is why we see such a high amount of charitable behavior among Buddhist monks. This is also somewhat ignorant; others are also anatman, or without self. If their identity is no more real than one's own, it doesn't make any more sense to dedicate oneself to others than it does to dedicate oneself to oneself.

3) The way of the yogi (rational) reacts with dry, intellectual detachment. While the yogi has a conceptual understanding of anatman in the abstract, it isn't really applied to life in any discernable way. Rather, the yogi withdraws and spends his time pontificating the idea, mulling over it again and again, as though thinking about it were the ends in itself, and not a means to serve some purpose.

The Fourth Way, on the other hand, takes the concept of nihilo, or nothing, and evolves to ex nihilo, or "out of nothing." Basically, if you do not exist, then there are no limitations on what it is "you" can do. You are free to make yourself into anything. It is not cause for despair, or duty, or mere contemplation, but rather the most empowering realization possible.

Even more exciting is the realization that not only you, but reality itself, is subject to this law of shunyata, or emptiness. It would follow that, if you are free to form yourself into anything, then the same can be done to reality itself. Naturally, understanding one's own anatman and the self-mastery that results is a natural precursor to this. Only he who can first control himself can control the universe.

Awake!

[xiaogui17]

P.S. I thought the following excerpt from Cult of Cthulhu might expand on this idea...

"Consciousness will seem as a clear, empty black ocean, and from nothing will come something… an evil passion which is self-created, a resonance."

Awake!