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Jiva

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MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA<br />

M.M.NINAN<br />

Leucippus (5th century B.C.E.) and Democritus (c. 460–c. 370 B.C.E.) believed in an<br />

infinite number of indivisible bodies which he called atoms which were moving in a void<br />

(nonbeing). Their movements, aggregations, and interactions explain every aspect of<br />

experience, including mental life.<br />

This is Democritus' atomic theory exactly:<br />

1.All matter consists of invisible particles called atoms.<br />

2. Atoms are indestructible.<br />

3. Atoms are solid but invisible.<br />

4. Atoms are homogenous.<br />

5. Atoms differ in size, shape, mass, position, and arrangement.<br />

->Solids are made of small, pointy atoms.<br />

->Liquids are made of large, round atoms.<br />

->Oils are made of very fine, small atoms that can easily slip past each other.<br />

Epicurus (Epíkouros, "ally, comrade"; 341 BC – 270 BC)<br />

Epicurus (Greece, 341–270 B.C.E.) developed an atomistic ethics, claiming that the<br />

pleasures of the mind and the deliverance from passions constitute human happiness.<br />

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life,<br />

characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of<br />

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