frankiespeakin: perhaps we are all the same thing,"consciousness" and the individuality we experience is caused by a know&knower entanglement so maybe this all incompassing consciousness can be called god
Something like this was expressed by brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor when she had a stroke. The part of her mind that separated her from her environment was disabled. She felt a terrific connection to the world around her; no distinguishing. The ability to distinguish, say, hand from keyboard is pretty essential to our ability to function every day. But what if we could turn off that function at will, and feel the essential oneness of our existence? It seems to me by trying to define or contain this somehow would be to diminish the experience.
I agree with you that making decisions based on fear is fundamentally flawed. Fearing God may be fundamentally flawed.
_______
rip van winkle:
One of the mind exercises I’ve had lately is coming to understand Nature as a force. She’s kind of unavoidable here. I sense there is a deep lesson and I am determined to find it. Besides the great call of life, there is the undertone of sudden, violent death. It stalks every creature that would be prey. It gnaws in the belly of every predator. Paradoxically, beside the great symphony of life, is the impersonalness of death. Nature allows the weak to fall and perish, without shedding a tear. It doesn’t seem terribly fair.
_____
OTWO: I believe searching for the connection all humans have to each other is very beneficial. I think that this life we live right now is all that we get, but it can be so meaningful and powerful and leave its own footprint after we are gone.
This might be the best expression of where my belief is leading me. Rationalism killed my notion of an afterlife. It may be there, but there is no evidence. This has changed my perspective to something that may be a little more Jewish. That is, impart the best that I am to my children, for them to inherit. Besides imparting to our children, perhaps the most enduring way to leave a legacy is to write.
_____
King Solomon: When you understand such truths (which are as close to "universal truths" as we get), I don't see a need to bog it down with more baggage
I like that. It does seem to be human nature, though. First we have the iconoclasts, the innovators. The second generation are the systemizers and codifiers. The third generation try to wipe out the competitors. Fourth generation split; a new generation of iconoclasts.
Is there a place for unifiers? Here’s a call for religions to come together based on those universal truths. I wonder who is listening? http://charterforcompassion.org/
I agree with you on your assessment of Witness spirituality. I am mindful of the cyborg. They remind me of Twain’s “seekers after truth”, who have laid out their shingle and defend it against all assault.
http://www.twainquotes.com/Truth.html
_____
still thinking: If you don't like reality...god is for YOU.
For those who need God for comfort, this would apply. When I speak of reaching beyond our base natures, I am speaking of that part of us that is altruistic, thinking big thoughts, going beyond survival. I suggest this desire, whether sought after within the framework of religion or without, is a twinkle of god.
_____
Mall Cop:
I find that fear of death to be especially the siren call of the Witness faith. For all their talk of hope, a good part of their activity is to prevent that most dreaded outcome. The goad, if you will, that drives them door-to-door.
_____
Twitch: Perhaps taking on the god/father archetype is nothing more than challenging fate for dominance of our own destiny.
This is deep, deserving of its own mental exercise. I’ll get back to you in a few months.
Twitch: It's a divide by zero question, undefinable and has no answer ;)
I really like how you put that. I agree with you.
______
Phizzy:
I agree that the Witness God-concept and their general belief in Armageddon leads to passive thinking, passive lives. When I think of all the potential lost, especially for the young ones, my heart weeps.
The denial of evolution and the evidence of our eyes I agree also is counterproductive.
Now, regarding “believe what is not real”, this is where my mind is at war. There’s the fully awakened rationalist side that will not believe without evidence and with evidence is not shaken, and then there’s the intuitive side that calls that there is more. I’m not talking about justifying magic thinking here, just that holistic ability we all share to take in information that is not linear. Dare I ignore that voice?
______
Knowsnothing:
I’m more of the iconoclast school. I think as soon as we codify we lose something fundamental.
Regarding your more personal question, I think there is a nest of neurons that allows us to transcend the evolutionary call, to reach beyond necessity and to act on universal good. For me, that good is summarized in “Reverence for life”. I think it leads me to altruistic acts, and to fight entropy.
_____
Perfect1: he is trying too hard to be MIGHTY
Kind of like the runt of the class, eh? When I look at the size of Israel on a map, it does look runty considering the human forces at work there.
I’ve read the anthropological view that the rise of agriculture gave birth to one God. The rise of city-states gave birth to the concept of individual faith.
By the way when I speak of base nature, I do not mean to imply that this is bad. In our base nature is love, parenthood, relationships, hunger, justice, satiation to name a few.
_____
LV101:
You are welcome. Too often in polarized debate tempers flare and reason disappears. I love what a discussion board can be - a meeting of minds...even if the conclusion is we continue to disagree.
