I think many people's sense of self worth and identity become tied to their belief systems and what they think this life we are living is all about. It can be difficult to free oneself from "oneself". Caitlin has written about this need for self-realization. Maybe what is happening here is consciousness is trying to learn. Many spiritual traditions view earth as a kind of school.
But maybe the nihilists are right. Life is just an accidental farce, and free-will is a fantasy and when it comes down to it, we're all just biological automatons in a universe that couldn't really give a damn if we existed or not.
I sure don't have the answers to this. I'm not some kind of all knowing guru. I do draw a redline though when it comes to genocide - for whatever raison d'etres are obscenely used to justify mass murder, whether it comes from religion or secularism.
Well, my parents were raised Catholic but they didn't raise us Catholic, so in that regard I'm on my own. Good. I always thought war was crazy, I mean grown ups killing each other, and I couldn't give my brother a smack when he broke my toys. I don't think of life as a farce, and although not raised in any religious faith I always thought I had a soul that didn't belong to me, and the only thing I had to do was protect it, and let it guide me in my perception of things, and it certainly is loud and clear about war. There was a clip on Aljazeera of a child, no more then 10, 11, or 13. She was in the hospital with a leg amputated, alone, her father, mother and siblings all gone. She said she wanted to be a doctor and care about people when she grew up, but that won't happen because she died. I'm glad nothing life that is on my soul.
My biological parents were catholic. Though in my later youth I was raised in foster homes. Yes - war makes no sense, and you don't need to believe in anything "spiritual" for it not to make any sense. One can be a secularist and still believe war is senseless. Genocide even more senseless.
Very sad about the Palestinian child. The question of suffering is a central motif in most theological traditions. Has been answered in many various ways. The secularists also come up with answers for suffering as well. Just the fact we are all alive for a relatively short period of years - allowed to love and feel attached to life, but then be put away forever - it's sometimes hard to take any of it seriously. However, if life itself is a kind of "play" or as Shakespeare might have said "all the world is a stage" - then perhaps what is perceived as tragedy is not really a tragedy once a "soul" leaves the stage. Then some of the suffering would make more sense - at least to me. But who knows the truth of it? Maybe consciousness is just a random event - and we are lucky to experience a brief existence just for a moment and then are extinguished forever. Sad if true. Reminds me of a quote by Marcus Aurelius: "It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none."
I always adopted a who knows who cares attitude about God, when one night I was driving home and under an el train I felt the presence of God. There is more to the telling, but I asked why so much suffering in this world, and the answer was there would be much less if we realized although the body may die the soul lives on, but not for everyone, since many lose it along the way. There was a lot more, All my life I've had spiritual experiences, and many are very concrete. I have had many experiences in which I knew things that could not have been known if the world as defined by science is an absolute given.
Very moving. Thanks for sharing Fran. I've also had a number of personal experiences that lead me to believe there probably is something more. But am I 100% sure? No. But I keep some hope alive.
I think many people's sense of self worth and identity become tied to their belief systems and what they think this life we are living is all about. It can be difficult to free oneself from "oneself". Caitlin has written about this need for self-realization. Maybe what is happening here is consciousness is trying to learn. Many spiritual traditions view earth as a kind of school.
But maybe the nihilists are right. Life is just an accidental farce, and free-will is a fantasy and when it comes down to it, we're all just biological automatons in a universe that couldn't really give a damn if we existed or not.
I sure don't have the answers to this. I'm not some kind of all knowing guru. I do draw a redline though when it comes to genocide - for whatever raison d'etres are obscenely used to justify mass murder, whether it comes from religion or secularism.
Well, my parents were raised Catholic but they didn't raise us Catholic, so in that regard I'm on my own. Good. I always thought war was crazy, I mean grown ups killing each other, and I couldn't give my brother a smack when he broke my toys. I don't think of life as a farce, and although not raised in any religious faith I always thought I had a soul that didn't belong to me, and the only thing I had to do was protect it, and let it guide me in my perception of things, and it certainly is loud and clear about war. There was a clip on Aljazeera of a child, no more then 10, 11, or 13. She was in the hospital with a leg amputated, alone, her father, mother and siblings all gone. She said she wanted to be a doctor and care about people when she grew up, but that won't happen because she died. I'm glad nothing life that is on my soul.
My biological parents were catholic. Though in my later youth I was raised in foster homes. Yes - war makes no sense, and you don't need to believe in anything "spiritual" for it not to make any sense. One can be a secularist and still believe war is senseless. Genocide even more senseless.
Very sad about the Palestinian child. The question of suffering is a central motif in most theological traditions. Has been answered in many various ways. The secularists also come up with answers for suffering as well. Just the fact we are all alive for a relatively short period of years - allowed to love and feel attached to life, but then be put away forever - it's sometimes hard to take any of it seriously. However, if life itself is a kind of "play" or as Shakespeare might have said "all the world is a stage" - then perhaps what is perceived as tragedy is not really a tragedy once a "soul" leaves the stage. Then some of the suffering would make more sense - at least to me. But who knows the truth of it? Maybe consciousness is just a random event - and we are lucky to experience a brief existence just for a moment and then are extinguished forever. Sad if true. Reminds me of a quote by Marcus Aurelius: "It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none."
I always adopted a who knows who cares attitude about God, when one night I was driving home and under an el train I felt the presence of God. There is more to the telling, but I asked why so much suffering in this world, and the answer was there would be much less if we realized although the body may die the soul lives on, but not for everyone, since many lose it along the way. There was a lot more, All my life I've had spiritual experiences, and many are very concrete. I have had many experiences in which I knew things that could not have been known if the world as defined by science is an absolute given.
Very moving. Thanks for sharing Fran. I've also had a number of personal experiences that lead me to believe there probably is something more. But am I 100% sure? No. But I keep some hope alive.
I understand, really do.