Calling all atheists, agnostics, believers, and seekers! A must hear.....

by journey-on 47 Replies latest jw friends

BurnTheShips

I found this in the Omega Point article on wiki.
I could buy that assuming the space time is proven constant at some point.
Google the Jesuit Priest Teilhard.
I'd like to read his book one day.
BTS
Narkissos

If you live mostly "in" your left brain, deny any conscious spiritual energy at work, death will probably be mostly a left brain experience. Perhaps, you will prove yourself correct: When you die, the consciousness that you were/are will die and that’s that….gone silent. Perhaps, the right brained consciousness oriented will experience something else along the lines of Taylor’s description, and will experience this enormous expansive "at one with energy" peacefulness.
Or, how old dualism kicked out through the front door works itself back into New Age soteriology through the rear window...
Actually I can see centuries of past theology ready to unfold again within the new (?) paradigm. Are the happy "right-brained" people what they are through predestination or free will? Is their "right brain" blessedness vicariously helpful to the ~~sinners~~ "left brained," or are they just "saving" themselves? Is there ultimately some "right brain" salvation for the "left brained," through some sort of purgatorian fire perhaps? Or is there an irremissible "sin against 'right brain' consciousness"?
Attention to structures (admittedly a "left brain" feature) will raise a Qoheleth smile at every "novelty," I guess.
BurnTheShips

Attention to structures (admittedly a "left brain" feature) will raise a Qoheleth smile at every "novelty," I guess.
It may all be vanity in the end but we need some entertainment in this plane.
The more convincing the better.
BTS
journey-on

Or, how old dualism kicked out through the front door works itself back into New Age soteriology through the rear window...
Maybe this is how you see it.....some old way sneaking back in under a new guise that you choose to label New Age.
I see it more like spiritual evolution. The "old brain" had the potential built in, but the time was not
yet right socially nor technologically for it to develop the ability to perceive on a higher level of consciousness. It was still trying
to make sense of the basic idea of creator/creation, thus the dualistic nature of looking at the world. When the
conditions have changed and a sufficient amount of growth and development have taken place within these new social and
technological parameters, an evolutionary quantum leap will take place spiritually. Actually.........
The beginnings of this are already visible as evidenced by Indigos. Just as Christ said,"....Unless you turn around and
become as young children, you will be no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens." In Jill Bolte Taylor's speech,
she described the feeling of being an infant in a woman's body, and feeling no separation or defined boundaries of this
energy. She felt this enormous expansive at-one-ness with this universal energy and felt a connectedness through
the consciousness of the one human family.
I have chosen the words of Jesus from the book of Matthew regarding becoming as a child in order to enter the Kingdom
of the Heavens. I believe, just as Jesus said, there is a deeper more esoteric meaning to his teachings and he taught
these deeper things to chosen disciples. The others heard the literal words and received the moral and social lessons,
but the mysteries behind his words were revealed only to those he chose to teach on a deeper level.
As the world changes and goes through the upheavals and social distresses, some of which we are witnessing now, there
will be those who have taken that evolutionary spiritual leap to guide us. Indigos are natural born leaders and will not possess
the selfishness and egocentric motives leaders today display. I think the future will be a better place, more peaceful and
nurturing than you can even imagine.
Anti-Christ

I'm replying to this wile watching TV and drinking 500ml of Boris, I guess it's the best time to talk about brain activity.
I think that we evolve with the right and left has a necessity and I don't think it is a good idea to take one over the other, we need both to function, I think we must find a way to balance both.
I also feel it is important to learn from the awesome manifestation of someone's extreme experience of life and see how this can enhance our own understanding and way of being. Not to make their experience wrong, to try and make them 'fit' our reality, but to use it as a point of self-inquiry where I might recognise and evolve my own perception.
If you what to hear some experience I could share, I have mention a bit in Nark's topic about mental suicide, my experience was very scary, I was very confused I could see myself act ( out of body ) but could not control anything, I was running outside naked in the cold it was around - 20c. I hallucinated many things, I could see a bright door surrounded by darkness when I open it all I can see was space and I could hear people clapping and laughing, saying that I have finally figured it out, what it's was I still don't know.
My take on it is that we are born predominantly residing in right brained. Babies feel at one with everything, feel no separation from mother. Children are highly sensitive and easily feel the emotions and energies of others. As we grow older the urge is to develop a separate identity and so begins our left brain development, finding sense and meaning of the world so we can define ourselves.
I can tell you that once in a wile I can "feel" other peoples emotions, I find it difficult to deal with. Sometimes in a conversation I start to feel weird and my vision starts to go wonky, everything around me goes from big to small very fast and I know what every body is going to say, trust me it's a uncomfortable feeling. I am thinking of consulting a professional to see if I have a brain disorder. Mental problems run in my family, I have a schizophrenic aunt, one off my brothers has a growth in his brain that connects the left and the right side of the brain in places where it is not supposed to, he is on meds to remain "normal".
zensim

Nark:
Whoever "preaches" a panacea ("left brain," "right brain," of even "balance" for all) is just playing his/her own part in the overall drama, which keeps advancing at its own pace.
Absolutely - I completely agree that it is at a collective level - and thank god otherwise the world would be a very boring place :) However, I also believe that one has to come to a certain level of balance internally to welcome all these vast differences. How many are consciously aware in the moment that they are taking up either a dual position or a merging position - and that is ok, but it is not a place to land? My awareness is that there is a vast difference between moving freely in duality (being duality) and reacting in duality. The former is what I refer to as balance - all the time fully conscious that, in taking up this perception, I myself am part of this collective drama ;)
I found immense delight in your comment:
Wait: who's speaking? "Right brain" or "left brain" posturing as "right brain"?
... though in the past I would have been blowing a head gasket trying to figure that one out - lol.
I would like to point out however, that even though you purport not to take up this dualism, I have noticed that in all your threads you have ascribed 'happy/blessed' feelings to 'right brain' and 'jaded/sinners' qualities to 'left brain'. Personally, I love the endless fascination and joy I receive from my 'left brain'. I am also very experienced now, that it is extremely important for my sanity (and those around me) to take time out to be still, be in nature, be present to my emotions, to come back into my body's senses (so many of us live in our heads) and use my imagination. My left brain doesn't stop working whilst I do those things, but it is certainly given a chance to rest from dominance.
BTS:
I have just recently discovered Teilhard and have loved what I have read so far. For those who are also interested, I have found much fascination in this magazine (which I have to order from OS): http://www.wie.org/
Anti-Christ:

I haven't read Nark's Suicide thread so I will respond just from what is here for me now. Mental problems run in my family also. I certainly believe these are complex issues and, as such, am wary of 'feel good/one size fits all' solutions. I do believe everything you have described is 'normal' - by degrees :) This:
Sometimes in a conversation I start to feel weird and my vision starts to go wonky, everything around me goes from big to small very fast and I know what every body is going to say, trust me it's a uncomfortable feeling.
... I have experienced similar (and still experience occasionally, except that I have grown comfortable with feeling uncomfortable) and I completely understand.
Your first experience is a lack of integration. This is what I mean by 'degrees'. A lot of experiences discussed here by others (including the Jill BT experience) are quite natural and well within the scope of 'normal'. Normal is relative though, depending on how evolved the consciousness of those around you, not to mention how evolved collective consciousness is. And then there is the matter of what provokes these experiences as to whether they fall into the category of healthy or unhealthy.
Sorry, I find it hard to do this justice because it is a very complex matter. Even something as simple as saying Jill BT's experience was caused by a stroke, can be interpeted differently by people as being provoked by a healthy or unhealthy body response. Each experience, in each moment, even if it is seemingly created 'unhealthily' - can be transformed into something healthy. I am very cautious in saying this though because I think this is where a lot of people get very angry with any New Age type speak which puts a positive spin on everything.
Each experience can be like a throw of the coin. So in working with people, I understand that their situation is to be taken very seriously (especially when it comes to mental issues). Sometimes you just don't know which way the coin is going to land. For the most part though, you can do a lot in your power to influence the coin to land positively. I would recommend seeing a professional. I am happy for you to pm me if you would like assistance in knowing how to find the right kind of professional (because that in itself can be a minefield).
Narkissos

zensim,
I have noticed that in all your threads you have ascribed 'happy/blessed' feelings to 'right brain' and 'jaded/sinners' qualities to 'left brain'.
In all my threads? I can't say. In this one, I meant it more as a parody actually (a sympathetic one, although it may not have come across as such).
Like everybody else -- perhaps a bit more consciously than some -- I tend to express what I feel/think is missing in the argument as I read it. That might be branded as reactive ("bad" in current popular psychology, I know), but so it is, and sometimes helpful hopefully. I would advocate intuition with a rationalist, critical analysis with a mystic, lol. The fact is that I am less and less concerned with persona(l) consistency (maybe a long-term reaction to my JW past) -- especially on a discussion forum!
Actually I tend to identify less and less with either "ideas" or "feelings". If I am anything I am the ever-moving shore where they meet.
I guess it's just my own provisional way of achieving ~~balance~~viable imbalance (at least in this particular context).
But you're definitely not the kind of person I would feel like contradicting. Take that as a compliment.
zensim

Reactive is not bad in my book, life would be quite stultifying if we were to analyse every action, feeling, idea etc :) I am more a 'fruits of action' type person and increasingly interested in alchemy.
Sounds like you have found your own I AM'ness My 'I AM' is the ocean
(PS I am honoured by your compliment)

Calling all atheists, agnostics, believers, and seekers! A must hear.....

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