Jainism is the name of one of the religions traditions that have their origin in the Indian subcontinent. The teachings are eternal and hence have no founder.
According to their thought, the basic constituents of reality are souls, matter, motion, rest, space, and time. The 4 elements -earth, water, air, fire, are the components of matter.
Space is understood to be infinite in all directions, but not all space is inhabitable. A finite region of space, usually described as taking the shape of a standing man with extended arms, is the only region of space that can contain anything. This is so because it is the only region of space that is pervaded with the principle of motion (dharma). The physical world resides in the narrow part of the middle of inhabitable space. The rest of the inhabitable universe contain other elemental beings.
Jainism is dualistic -that is matter and souls are thought to be entirely different types of substance. The universe is eternal, matter and souls being equally uncreated. The universe contains spirits who may be worshiped for various reasons, but there is no being outside it exercising control over it. For them gods and superhuman beings are all just as subject to karma and rebirth as humans are. By their actions, souls accumulate karma, which is understood to be a kind of matter, and that accumulation draws them back into a body after death. Hence, all souls have undergone an infinite number of previous lives, and -with the exception of those who win release from the bondage of karma -will continue to reincarnate, each new life determined by the amount of karma accumulated. Release is achieved by purging the soul of all karma, good and bad.
Every living thing has a soul, so every living thing can be harmed or helped. For purposes of assessing the worth of actions, living things are classified in a hierarchy according to the kinds of senses they have; the more senses a being has, the more ways it can be harmed or helped.
Plants, various one-celled animals, and elemental beings (beings made of one of the 4 elements -earth, water, air, fire) have only one sense, the sense of touch. Worms and many insects have the senses of touch and taste. Other insects, like ants and lice, have those 2 senses plus the sense of smell. Flies and bees, along with other higher insects, also have sight. Humans along with birds, fish, and most terrestrial animals, have all 5 senses. This complete set of senses (plus a separate faculty of consciousness) makes all kinds of knowledge available to human beings, including knowledge of the human condition and the need for liberation from rebirth.
The idea of reality is multifaceted or non-one-sided, such that no one view can capture it in its entirety.
While the lists of valid sources of knowledge differ no one is skeptical. The Jain list of knowledge includes sense perception, valid testimony (scripture), extra-sensory perception, telepathy, and the state of omniscience of a perfect soul.
Any judgment is true only from the viewpoint or perspective of the judge, and ought to be expressed. Given the multifaceted nature of reality, no one should take his or her own judgments as the final truth about the matter, excluding all other judgments.
By seeing all that surrounds us as embodied with life and worthy of respect, Jainism offers a different angle, and angle that decentralizes and universalizes ethics, taking away overly anthropocentric concerns, and brings into vivid relief the urgency of life in its various forms. It might well be an angle of immediacy and care because of the value of it.
Jainism has been described as a spiritual pathway, with a love for the spiritual life and dislike for the world. The living soul that permeates all reality is understood to be a life-giving spirit, which inhabits everything, but paradoxical can become trapped in the inert/non-living matter.
While refraining from the belief in a Creator God, the concept is already framed just with the desire of preservation of life in its purest form.
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