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Is the thought of a lack of an "Afterlife"...; ...scary & depressing?
Topic Started: Sep 28 2005, 01:42 PM (360 Views)
Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
You know, I constantly have this argument with my best friend about whether or not life is a random occurance, or if it's truly unique and special and there's a purpose to it all.
It always ends up this way:

How do you know that the universe isn't constantly expanding and collapsing perpetually and the fact that life exists is simply a chance occurence?

To which I answer: I don't. But something tells me it isn't.

It all comes down to faith. Either you have it or you don't. It's entirely possible that life is a random occurence, but for some strange reason, I don't think so.
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who
Have light saber. Will travel.
Noah, it can be based on faith but that was not enough for me perhaps because of my scientific background. What it took for me was the actual experience of God. I often liken it to explaining what colour vision is like to someone who is blind. You know it when you have had it but it is impossible to explain it to someone who has not.
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captain_proton_au
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A Robot in Disguise

who
Sep 29 2005, 01:25 PM
I often liken it to explaining what colour vision is like to someone who is blind. You know it when you have had it but it is impossible to explain it to someone who has not.

The same analogy can be used with mind altering drugs, you cant explain the effect to someone thats never used them ;)

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who
Have light saber. Will travel.
captain_proton_au
Sep 29 2005, 08:23 PM
who
Sep 29 2005, 01:25 PM
I often liken it to explaining what colour vision is like to someone who is blind. You know it when you have had it but it is impossible to explain it to someone who has not.

The same analogy can be used with mind altering drugs, you cant explain the effect to someone thats never used them ;)

Same for a deaf person. B}
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Franko
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psyfi
Sep 29 2005, 05:24 AM
It was a sense of being Loved wholly and totally and without conditions of any kind. There was no notion of sin or condemnation. The light was pure Love and as the person began to feel this Love and let it fill them, they would rise upward.




This is conceptually a strong testimony to some of the things I have experienced as well. Just to go a step further, I've sometimes sensed that this dimension of "love" involves a sense of unity and the dissolution of our ego-defences. Since humans are essentially barbarians, there is a need to let go of these instincts in such a state as opposed to needing them in order to survive the trials of the temporal world.

But can one totally interpret these impressions by way of emotion and intellect?
Sometimes it seems as though there is another state that goes beyond these two considerations. I suppose that this might be truly our "spiritual" state; that sense of where we have moved beyond the usual interpretive tools to something that incorporates a whole new and different kind of understanding.

I prefer to call it "spiritual intuition". But in my personal experience it is a little more than just "faith". It is also where I part company with religious dogma. I can't devote myself to something that seems cruel and irrational. Sorry. On the other hand, I can't discount the fact that meaningful spiritual insights are perhaps a gift; and in that I try to find joy and appreciation as well as meaning.

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psyfi
psyfi
Franko
Sep 30 2005, 12:17 AM
psyfi
Sep 29 2005, 05:24 AM
It was a sense of being Loved wholly and totally and without conditions of any kind. There was no notion of sin or condemnation. The light was pure Love and as the person began to feel this Love and let it fill them, they would rise upward.




This is conceptually a strong testimony to some of the things I have experienced as well. Just to go a step further, I've sometimes sensed that this dimension of "love" involves a sense of unity and the dissolution of our ego-defences. Since humans are essentially barbarians, there is a need to let go of these instincts in such a state as opposed to needing them in order to survive the trials of the temporal world.

But can one totally interpret these impressions by way of emotion and intellect?
Sometimes it seems as though there is another state that goes beyond these two considerations. I suppose that this might be truly our "spiritual" state; that sense of where we have moved beyond the usual interpretive tools to something that incorporates a whole new and different kind of understanding.

I prefer to call it "spiritual intuition". But in my personal experience it is a little more than just "faith". It is also where I part company with religious dogma. I can't devote myself to something that seems cruel and irrational. Sorry. On the other hand, I can't discount the fact that meaningful spiritual insights are perhaps a gift; and in that I try to find joy and appreciation as well as meaning.

I very much agree that this dimension of love involves unity and a shedding of ego defenses. I also agree with your notion of no longer needing instincts required in a temporal world. I do, however, believe that we can shed our ego defenses and instincts in this world. But this takes quite a few miracles.

Regarding that idea of moving beyond the usual interpretive tools to something whole and new and different, I agree with this too. I would say that just as we shed ego defenses, so also do we shed perception and move into a realm of Knowing.

When it comes to religious dogma, just remember that perception is always interpretive (which is why it is NOT knowing). What we perceive as religious dogma can sometimes be seen quite differently and in a manner that is actually much more in accord with the things we believe than we ever thought it could be. I think this type of seeing has to do with finding what love we can in a given principle, bible story, article of faith and instead of condemning or judging against what is not love, giving it no meaning at all. I have found that when I do this, I soon see nothing but the love and as a result can find God in all religions and faiths, in every bible story, and in most spiritual principles, even ones that on the surface appear to be contrary to one another.


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