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Dear Yuyutsu,

You wrote :

1. « Reality is much more than physical matter and energy. »
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I presume you’re referring to your beliefs, Yuyutsu, otherwise you would have already pointed to whatever scientific facts you are referring to - if, indeed, there are any.
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2. « … in the longer term energy too will eventually dissipate, but even then, events (such as thoughts) will still continue to occur in subtler levels … »
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If there is no longer any physical matter or energy, there won’t be anybody around to have thoughts. So far as I am aware, thoughts are the production of people’s brains. If there are no people, there are no brains to produce thoughts. No people, no brains, no thoughts, no events, no evolution, no time … the void.
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3. « Whether the above is true or not, "time ends when" is logically contradictory »
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So let’s drop the “when” and leave it as “time ends”.
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4. « The expression "no Reality" is similarly self contradictory. If one makes such a claim then they ought to be asked, "Is there REALLY no Reality?"! »
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Scientists’ best guess, given the current state of their art, is that that is how the universe and everything in it will ultimately end up : no reality – and, as I indicated in my previous post :

No reality = no events and no evolution = no time = the void.
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Let’s face it, Yuyutsu, we know next to nothing about the universe. The little we know is that there are about 400 billion stars in our galaxy (including our sun) and that there are about 2 trillion galaxies as far as we can see with our telescopes. We know that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate and how it is evolving over time.

By observing the light that has taken millions of years to reach us, we know more about the past than we will ever know about the future.

That’s about it - so far ...

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

1. «I presume you’re referring to your beliefs, Yuyutsu,»

Well of course I refer to scripture, not to science:
It was only in the previous century that science discovered the connection between energy and matter, formerly believed to be unrelated - hopefully it will one day also discover the connection between thoughts and energy, which scripture also pointed to thousands of years ago. I suspect that quantum mechanics hold the keys to that connection.

2. «So far as I am aware, thoughts are the production of people’s brains.»

Thoughts are somehow related to people's brains, but are not produced there.
Science never discovered thoughts, it only discovered corresponding electro-chemical events that occur in certain areas of the brain when one is thinking.
When similar events occur in your knee or even in other areas of your brain, you experience no thought.

Scripture tells that besides our gross physical bodies we also have subtle bodies that are essentially made of thoughts and persist even after our gross physical bodies die.

3. «So let’s drop the “when” and leave it as “time ends”.»

Rewording does not help: "time ends" means that there WILL be no events AFTER that, but what's "will" and "after" when there is no time?

Even while time is unreal, the limited human mind seems unable to conceive of the absence of time. It is this limitation, this very disability, which make us be subject to and suffer from the ravages of time.

4. "No reality" is self-contradictory.

If indeed there is no reality, then the reality is that there is no reality, hence there is a reality...

«No reality = no events and no evolution = no time = the void.»

Both science and scripture agree that physical matter will not last forever. Whereas scripture predicts that energy too will not last forever, science, for now at least, does not even attempt to predict the fate of energy or claim that there will be no further energetic events even after all matter is gone.

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Dear Yuyutsu,

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I guess all that has to do with Hindu spiritualism.

I’m sure it has served its purpose, as you say, for thousands of years, and no doubt it continues to be a guiding light for many Hindus and others today.

However, the vision of its early proponents seems to have been somewhat anthropocentric. The thoughts of mankind are held to pervade the entire universe – even after all physical matter and energy (reality) has disappeared.

Please correct me If I am wrong, but I understand that some (if not all) even go as far as claiming that all reality in the universe consists of thoughts.

That is a thought I’m afraid I cannot embrace.

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

«the vision of its early proponents seems to have been somewhat anthropocentric. The thoughts of mankind are held to pervade the entire universe»

Oh, nothing to do with mankind. Thoughts and feelings were there long before mankind and will still be there long after. Long before and after matter and energy even, so what to speak of humans!

Human thoughts are organised and catalogued by the human brain, which also ornaments them with words, names, shapes and similar content - I suspect that these elements are missing from raw thoughts, but that does not mean that they are not there. Dementia sufferers for example have thoughts and feelings like the rest of us, they are just unable to organise them and connect them with words.

«I understand that some (if not all) even go as far as claiming that all reality in the universe consists of thoughts.»

There could be the odd person who claims so, but that is not the view of Hinduism at large.

For centuries it was believed that the universe consists only of matter.
Then energy was discovered in the 19th century and in the 20th it was further discovered that matter is in fact also just a concentrated form of energy.

Hindu scriptures claim that energy too is just a concentrated form of thought (and hopefully science too will discover it soon enough),
but they never claim that reality ends there - rather that thoughts too are a concentration of something even subtler, and then even that subtler layer is not Reality itself (only a reflection of Reality through the prism of ignorance, to be technical).

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Dear Yuyutsu,

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Many thanks for those precisions.

I note, however, that as regards what I indicated to be my understanding that some (if not all) proponents of Hindu spiritualism claim “that all reality in the universe consists of thoughts”, you remarked :

“There could be the odd person who claims so, but that is not the view of Hinduism at large”.

Whereas you later indicated that “… matter is in fact … a concentrated form of energy, and that “Hindu scriptures claim that energy …is just a concentrated form of thought”.

Consequently, it would seem that, according to Hindu scriptures, “all reality [physical matter and energy] in the universe consists of thoughts” – “but that is not the view of Hinduism at large”.

That being the case, I should be interested to know exactly what “the view of Hinduism at large” is.

Am I right in thinking that the version of the scriptures is perhaps limited to what may be described as the Hindu elite, the so-called “intelligentsia” or, if such a movement exists, the Hindu fundamentalists ?

Also, Yuyutsu, I don’t wish to abuse of your knowledge and benevolence, but I should also be very interested in any details you could possibly provide regarding the nature and source of the “thoughts and feelings … that have nothing to do with mankind … that were there [in the universe] long before mankind and will still be there long after. Long before and after matter and energy …”.

I find that quite intriguing.

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

Yes, most ordinary Hindus never studied their scriptures in depth.
I suppose the same can be said for Christians and Muslims also.

According to Hindu scriptures, the only Reality is God, which has no qualities/properties. It is ignorance which covers the knowledge of God with figuratively five sheaths (or "koshas") like the rings of an onion, one grosser than the other, each sheath emanated by its preceding subtler sheath.
http://vikaspedia.in/health/ayush/yoga-1/pancha-kosha

The grossest sheath is called 'Annamayakosha', literally the food-cover, and it roughly corresponds with physical matter.
The next sheath within is called 'Pranamayakosha', literally the breath/energy-cover, roughly corresponding with physical energy.
Beneath that is 'Manomayakosha', the mental-cover, which contains emotions and desires.
Further subtler is 'Vijnanamayakosha', or the intellectual-cover, consisting of unbiased logical thoughts.
The innermost sheath is called 'Anandamayakosha', or the bliss-cover.

So when you ask:
«but I should also be very interested in any details you could possibly provide regarding the nature and source of the “thoughts and feelings … that have nothing to do with mankind … that were there [in the universe] long before mankind and will still be there long after. Long before and after matter and energy …”.»

You would be referring to the innermost sheath (Anandamaykosha), from which emerge intellect (vijnanamayakosha) and in turn emotions (manomayakosha).

That innermost sheath cannot be described in words because it is subtler than the intellect. It is said however that we experience it during deep, dreamless sleep. For the same reason we cannot remember this experience, because memory requires our intellect. We do however find deep solace in that experience and wake up refreshed (but note that we do not necessarily enjoy dreamless sleep every night - we could possibly be dreaming without remembering our dreams).

The experience of time is said to be included in that innermost sheath.
The outer four sheaths are cyclically generated in time and then eventually decay in time, but the innermost sheath, though still it should not to be confused with the Absolute Truth, is unaffected and cannot be destroyed in time because it is Time itself.