[Johnny_Lim]

With reference to the post Causes + Conditions = Result?, I would like to bring up a very interesting observation to see that phenomena are born out of conditions. Imagine we want to fry an egg. We need egg, oil, and frying pan. These 3 items already exist. They are past and real. The action to ignite a fire is our volition. The fire is an external environmental factor. The moment we start cracking up the egg and frying it in the frying pan with hot oil, things are beginning to look interesting. The past items (egg, oil, frying pan) have changed. i.e. Egg has been cracked; Oil has turned hot; Frying pan has turned hot; After some time, the oil gets spewing hot and we react to this and turn down the fire a bit. i.e. Our reaction has been changed; The fire has been changed; So, we clearly see that neither the egg nor the oil, nor the frying pan determines the outcome. Neither we nor the fire determines the outcome. Nothing from the past, us, or external environmental factor can single-endedly determine the outcome. What really happened is all the variables at play are just influencing one another, constantly undergoing further changes. Phenomena is just a constant flux of the manifestation of conditions influencing one another that bear a multi-facet outlook. I personally think this is a very good exercise to help us debunk determinism and externalism. A bhante specifically mentioned that a person who sees all phenomena as being born out of conditions will not have the concept of past, present, and future. Past memories and the present are just our ‘cognitive landmarks’ when we cross-reference these two. Future is just an anticipation, an extrapolation. All these come from our ‘I-making’, ‘mine-making’ habits.