HA!! There is no way I, or anyone, could put that definition into words. It just has to be "known"...if I had to make an attempt that MIGHT cover a few of the basis, I would say that God is Universal Mind (meaning material creation is intentional, not arbitrary), having as a core tenet the expression of love. What is love? Love is the expression of Unity Consciousness, and the awareness of being one with all of creation.
These definitions are limited to material expression (creation), in the spiritual realm they do not need to be "expressed"...they just "are"...love "is", Unity "is"
What is a better example of things out of control than one's death? "You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death" That, IMHO, explains absolutely everything that is happening around us. Yet, curiously, even the mainstream religions (especially the western ones) pay very little attention to that. They instruct how to live good material lives but are rather skimpy on the detail about the next step. Given how infinitesimally small a blip our earthly existence is in comparison to eternity, one would expect more interest and emphasis on the bigger part of our existence. One dies and then what? Charon? Spiritual miasma? Stuff happens? If there were a way, I'd be a practicing gnostic.
I think the "realm" beyond death (which is not something that "exists" in the time continuum) is ignored because once "you" have "died" you no longer are in the material realm. And as such, do not need to be taught anything. You then return to "all knowing"...we can go to "all knowing" while physical as well...but that takes all the fun out of it...part of the fun being the realization our present form is impermanent, so we try then to "make the most of it"...or just piss it away...either choice is "valid"...maybe one is less enjoyable than the other, or less "enlightening", but nonetheless, they are still viable choices.
Yes. But we are the first culture/civilization that either ignores the "all knowing" phase entirely, or assumes that it happens somehow. I could add more to this but why don't we leave it to the experts:
For my part, metaphysics, if not theories of etiology more generally, seem to lack much potential for monetization. Since I lost focus on maintaining employability, I've fallen into a pit of exploring wisdom and transcendent traditions, and they might end with quantum mechanics, another pit that I doubt I could monetize. While there appear to be immaterial incentives, I might prefer more material quality-of-life. So perhaps metaphysics is unpopular for being impractical.
If you're interested in restoring more spirituality to therapy, you might be interested in papers posted at https://independent.academia.edu/SamuelBendeckSotillos I've browsed several papers posted there, and I neglect more practical pursuits to prowl the academia.edu platform, I suppose to learn.
You nailed it. Humans are now in a very deep state of consumerism. Therefore anything that you can't monetize is essentially ignored as meaningless, impractical, and pointless. (and I AM being redundant!)
Well, that's my theory...and rather than learn to realize there are just some things we do not have control over and live with it...we desperately transfer that control to entities that claim they can keep us safe...
...which direction never builds personal resilience.
So, now we have two headaches to contend with. No chance of resilience to form organically, and no control whatsoever... as it is now tendered out to entities that promise the impossible. And this is not yet mentioning the issues that may surround that forfeited control being used against the people down the track in ways the original laws were never intended to be.
We are seeing a great example of this very situation in Australia, with the recent Hate Speech Laws that have just been passed by government.
My hippie-dippie friends I'd enjoy spiritual enlightenment discourse with introduced me to "surrendering the illusion of control" of most things that produce anxiety and fear. I hear that saying replay in my mind often when events around me prompt it. I think it came out of some Indian Daoist teachings of mystics and gurus.
My born again Christian evangelical friends, my truly devout friends of faith in God - not just performative - also surrender thoughts of control to God's will. Knowing they are in God's hands, his will is in control not ours.
Friends on both paths seem to suffer the least amount of anxiety and enjoy a calmness and serenity in a crazy world that others envy.
While this approach can also induce a level of apathy that meekly accepts one's fate and make people merely passengers in their own lives it is instructive and worthy of incorporating into one's own internal conversation and understanding of our place in this world.
I've experienced the surprising and awesome power of surrender. The courage and bravery it takes to surrender my own fate into the hands of the unknown, to faith that God or the metaphysical universe would care for me better than I was capable of, my illusion of control was all that was in the way. And have never felt more powerful and strong then when I've done that. Learning that true bravery and courage is sometimes found in surrender.
This isn't to be confused for passivity. We must take an active hand in our lives that influences our ultimate fate. Recalling sayings like "God helps those who help themselves."
The mystics and gurus of Daoist/Eastern philosophies and peaceful Christian lambs can often lead followers and flocks into being easily subdued and subservience by opportunistic predatory behavior, "my subjugation is my fate" resignation. The absence of any efforts to control one's own fate can be harmful.
But understanding we control so little is actually very empowering, and allows us to face the uncertainties of a dangerous world with calmness and strength that I've found others are drawn to.
Being a solid rock in a raging sea for others to draw comfort from is a trait man unconsciously seeks. That the rock surrendered control seems counterintuitive to those seeking its strength and protection. But it's the reality of it as I've experienced, as many have turned to me in the course of my life as I've learned to surrender.
And as I've turned to my friends of strong faith when I've felt weak and uncertain in a world when I've lost the illusion of control I thought I once had.
I admire people who can truly surrender at the times where they really do not have control. That is a very difficult thing to do...and as you say, it can lead to apathy...but usually not in things where truly there is no control.
I think a bad thing we are seeing is people releasing control to authority, the government, doctors, etc. for problems that are not so large, and are best to handle individually. This is where the true danger of apathy comes in. Hope that makes some sense...
I am definitely in touch with the metaphysical side of things. I remember even as a young child feeling an energy around me and it felt safe and good. I have lots of examples throughout my life as well. I can 'feel' the energy of a room, a place, and I take my cues from that feeling. It has literally saved my life on a couple of occasions. For me it is beyond being connected to a religion.
Religion came about as an attempt to explain metaphysics through materialist language...therefore it essentially falls short. Good for you to be aware of what you describe here, and to integrate it into your life. It is something we are seeing less and less of as scientism takes the place of spirituality.
Thanks Todd. I think a lot of folks go in for all or nothing. A term we often use -- "throwing out the baby with the bath water". Sometimes people get angry with their religion, or place of worship and then let it all go but maybe we need to understand that our connection to something bigger goes way beyond that. This is just my opinion. For those who have no belief, it won't be me trying to convince you otherwise.
Every atheistic argument I have heard, and some from very hard core, intelligent, atheists, is so surface and ridiculous (my favorite: "if there were a God, babies wouldn't die") I think even the major religions make some of these ridiculous claims...it just isn't that simple. And yet it is very simple...
I've heard that kind of example too. If it was only that simple. It goes way beyond that as you suggest. God doesn't stop people from killing or hurting each other. We get to have free will. And with that there is consequences as well as some very challenging experiences including grief and despair.
Speaking as a atheist control freak, the last thing I do when I'm anxious is hand over control to other people. I have no idea if there is existence beyond the material and I don't spend a great deal of time thinking about it. There's some comfort in the idea that we will continue in some form after death but it doesn't inform my life.
Could I get behind the idea of energy and mystery? Sure. But I can't assume it's benevolent and it's not something I can put my faith into to mitigate anxiety. That's the thing about wanting control -- I'm no more likely to give it up to the unseen than the seen.
Funny story...many years ago in suburban Toronto I got a knock on the door from two Jehovah's Witnesses. Normally I wouldn't even bother engaging but for some reason I entered into a conversation with them. I recall the conversation ending when they pressed me about whether I wanted to know why we live, why we die, what's life all about, etc. and I answered that no, I was actually OK living with uncertainty and that I really don't need answers to those questions. They really had nowhere to go from there and I think they were taken aback. I'm sure they were accustomed to people invoking different faith explanations but my impression was they were not accustomed to people not needing explanations and being comfortable living with the unknown.
I'm very much a libertarian -- whatever works for you is no business of mine. The trouble starts when believers of any faith seek to convert non-believers and exert control over them. Organized religion can be a "controlling system" in the same way government can, though I'm quite sure you're not making a case for religion, faith, spirituality, etc. taking the place of government as a mechanism for control. A thought-provoking piece, as always!
The only sense in which anything exists beyond the physical is as a metaphorical pattern in a mind, which nevertheless has a prerequisite material substrate as mind is a metaphor for the patterns in the brain.
I love hearing from people like you because you add richness to my own world view! "Like you" means people with different views of spirituality and religion, and metaphysics.
Funny that we have similar stories...when I was about 23 I had a pair of attractive women come to my apartment claiming they were Moonies. We went through the same basic conversation, and they did not leave happy. I do the same sort of thing when a salesmen says "don't you want to save money?" and I say "no, not really, I'm fine paying the list price"...gets 'em every time...
You can be pretty sure if someone is trying to sell you on salvation through their own path they really don't get it. Some people doing this are genuinely caring and want to see you "saved" but there's the catch. We are all already "saved," maybe our physical body will go through less pain if we know a little bit more about the metaphysical world, but to someone truly "enlightened" avoiding physical pain and suffering is not really the goal.
We are all here for our own reasons, reasons we may not even be consciously aware of, if those reasons require we go through life a bit more "unaware" than we could be, then that is part of the recipe we are here to experience. Even THAT sounds like prostelgzing, if it sounds that way to anyone reading this, just retract it!
Metaphysics is mostly unpopular bc what's called metaphysics is mostly esoteric, mystical, woo bullshit. Here's actual metaphysics: https://kaiserbasileus.substack.com/p/metaphysics-in-a-nutshell
By the way, what is God?
All versions of god are either an untestable force or a personified untestable force.
HA!! There is no way I, or anyone, could put that definition into words. It just has to be "known"...if I had to make an attempt that MIGHT cover a few of the basis, I would say that God is Universal Mind (meaning material creation is intentional, not arbitrary), having as a core tenet the expression of love. What is love? Love is the expression of Unity Consciousness, and the awareness of being one with all of creation.
These definitions are limited to material expression (creation), in the spiritual realm they do not need to be "expressed"...they just "are"...love "is", Unity "is"
Just now getting to read this.
Well said
thanks...
What is a better example of things out of control than one's death? "You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death" That, IMHO, explains absolutely everything that is happening around us. Yet, curiously, even the mainstream religions (especially the western ones) pay very little attention to that. They instruct how to live good material lives but are rather skimpy on the detail about the next step. Given how infinitesimally small a blip our earthly existence is in comparison to eternity, one would expect more interest and emphasis on the bigger part of our existence. One dies and then what? Charon? Spiritual miasma? Stuff happens? If there were a way, I'd be a practicing gnostic.
If there's anything else, you're not dead yet. And there's no mechanism by which your experience can exist outside its biological substrate.
I think the "realm" beyond death (which is not something that "exists" in the time continuum) is ignored because once "you" have "died" you no longer are in the material realm. And as such, do not need to be taught anything. You then return to "all knowing"...we can go to "all knowing" while physical as well...but that takes all the fun out of it...part of the fun being the realization our present form is impermanent, so we try then to "make the most of it"...or just piss it away...either choice is "valid"...maybe one is less enjoyable than the other, or less "enlightening", but nonetheless, they are still viable choices.
Yes. But we are the first culture/civilization that either ignores the "all knowing" phase entirely, or assumes that it happens somehow. I could add more to this but why don't we leave it to the experts:
https://youtu.be/btEdrm4PaIM?si=ZLNIqi3Y3trgV85N
For my part, metaphysics, if not theories of etiology more generally, seem to lack much potential for monetization. Since I lost focus on maintaining employability, I've fallen into a pit of exploring wisdom and transcendent traditions, and they might end with quantum mechanics, another pit that I doubt I could monetize. While there appear to be immaterial incentives, I might prefer more material quality-of-life. So perhaps metaphysics is unpopular for being impractical.
If you're interested in restoring more spirituality to therapy, you might be interested in papers posted at https://independent.academia.edu/SamuelBendeckSotillos I've browsed several papers posted there, and I neglect more practical pursuits to prowl the academia.edu platform, I suppose to learn.
You nailed it. Humans are now in a very deep state of consumerism. Therefore anything that you can't monetize is essentially ignored as meaningless, impractical, and pointless. (and I AM being redundant!)
...and all human disappointment is engendered, basically, by a (perceived) lack of control
Well, that's my theory...and rather than learn to realize there are just some things we do not have control over and live with it...we desperately transfer that control to entities that claim they can keep us safe...
...which direction never builds personal resilience.
So, now we have two headaches to contend with. No chance of resilience to form organically, and no control whatsoever... as it is now tendered out to entities that promise the impossible. And this is not yet mentioning the issues that may surround that forfeited control being used against the people down the track in ways the original laws were never intended to be.
We are seeing a great example of this very situation in Australia, with the recent Hate Speech Laws that have just been passed by government.
My hippie-dippie friends I'd enjoy spiritual enlightenment discourse with introduced me to "surrendering the illusion of control" of most things that produce anxiety and fear. I hear that saying replay in my mind often when events around me prompt it. I think it came out of some Indian Daoist teachings of mystics and gurus.
My born again Christian evangelical friends, my truly devout friends of faith in God - not just performative - also surrender thoughts of control to God's will. Knowing they are in God's hands, his will is in control not ours.
Friends on both paths seem to suffer the least amount of anxiety and enjoy a calmness and serenity in a crazy world that others envy.
While this approach can also induce a level of apathy that meekly accepts one's fate and make people merely passengers in their own lives it is instructive and worthy of incorporating into one's own internal conversation and understanding of our place in this world.
I've experienced the surprising and awesome power of surrender. The courage and bravery it takes to surrender my own fate into the hands of the unknown, to faith that God or the metaphysical universe would care for me better than I was capable of, my illusion of control was all that was in the way. And have never felt more powerful and strong then when I've done that. Learning that true bravery and courage is sometimes found in surrender.
This isn't to be confused for passivity. We must take an active hand in our lives that influences our ultimate fate. Recalling sayings like "God helps those who help themselves."
The mystics and gurus of Daoist/Eastern philosophies and peaceful Christian lambs can often lead followers and flocks into being easily subdued and subservience by opportunistic predatory behavior, "my subjugation is my fate" resignation. The absence of any efforts to control one's own fate can be harmful.
But understanding we control so little is actually very empowering, and allows us to face the uncertainties of a dangerous world with calmness and strength that I've found others are drawn to.
Being a solid rock in a raging sea for others to draw comfort from is a trait man unconsciously seeks. That the rock surrendered control seems counterintuitive to those seeking its strength and protection. But it's the reality of it as I've experienced, as many have turned to me in the course of my life as I've learned to surrender.
And as I've turned to my friends of strong faith when I've felt weak and uncertain in a world when I've lost the illusion of control I thought I once had.
Wonderful insight, thank you.
I admire people who can truly surrender at the times where they really do not have control. That is a very difficult thing to do...and as you say, it can lead to apathy...but usually not in things where truly there is no control.
I think a bad thing we are seeing is people releasing control to authority, the government, doctors, etc. for problems that are not so large, and are best to handle individually. This is where the true danger of apathy comes in. Hope that makes some sense...
Perfectly!
I am definitely in touch with the metaphysical side of things. I remember even as a young child feeling an energy around me and it felt safe and good. I have lots of examples throughout my life as well. I can 'feel' the energy of a room, a place, and I take my cues from that feeling. It has literally saved my life on a couple of occasions. For me it is beyond being connected to a religion.
Religion came about as an attempt to explain metaphysics through materialist language...therefore it essentially falls short. Good for you to be aware of what you describe here, and to integrate it into your life. It is something we are seeing less and less of as scientism takes the place of spirituality.
Thanks Todd. I think a lot of folks go in for all or nothing. A term we often use -- "throwing out the baby with the bath water". Sometimes people get angry with their religion, or place of worship and then let it all go but maybe we need to understand that our connection to something bigger goes way beyond that. This is just my opinion. For those who have no belief, it won't be me trying to convince you otherwise.
Every atheistic argument I have heard, and some from very hard core, intelligent, atheists, is so surface and ridiculous (my favorite: "if there were a God, babies wouldn't die") I think even the major religions make some of these ridiculous claims...it just isn't that simple. And yet it is very simple...
I've heard that kind of example too. If it was only that simple. It goes way beyond that as you suggest. God doesn't stop people from killing or hurting each other. We get to have free will. And with that there is consequences as well as some very challenging experiences including grief and despair.
People seem to think the only reason to believe in God is so if you are good to him you can avoid suffering, and even death.
Speaking as a atheist control freak, the last thing I do when I'm anxious is hand over control to other people. I have no idea if there is existence beyond the material and I don't spend a great deal of time thinking about it. There's some comfort in the idea that we will continue in some form after death but it doesn't inform my life.
Could I get behind the idea of energy and mystery? Sure. But I can't assume it's benevolent and it's not something I can put my faith into to mitigate anxiety. That's the thing about wanting control -- I'm no more likely to give it up to the unseen than the seen.
Funny story...many years ago in suburban Toronto I got a knock on the door from two Jehovah's Witnesses. Normally I wouldn't even bother engaging but for some reason I entered into a conversation with them. I recall the conversation ending when they pressed me about whether I wanted to know why we live, why we die, what's life all about, etc. and I answered that no, I was actually OK living with uncertainty and that I really don't need answers to those questions. They really had nowhere to go from there and I think they were taken aback. I'm sure they were accustomed to people invoking different faith explanations but my impression was they were not accustomed to people not needing explanations and being comfortable living with the unknown.
I'm very much a libertarian -- whatever works for you is no business of mine. The trouble starts when believers of any faith seek to convert non-believers and exert control over them. Organized religion can be a "controlling system" in the same way government can, though I'm quite sure you're not making a case for religion, faith, spirituality, etc. taking the place of government as a mechanism for control. A thought-provoking piece, as always!
The only sense in which anything exists beyond the physical is as a metaphorical pattern in a mind, which nevertheless has a prerequisite material substrate as mind is a metaphor for the patterns in the brain.
I love hearing from people like you because you add richness to my own world view! "Like you" means people with different views of spirituality and religion, and metaphysics.
Funny that we have similar stories...when I was about 23 I had a pair of attractive women come to my apartment claiming they were Moonies. We went through the same basic conversation, and they did not leave happy. I do the same sort of thing when a salesmen says "don't you want to save money?" and I say "no, not really, I'm fine paying the list price"...gets 'em every time...
You can be pretty sure if someone is trying to sell you on salvation through their own path they really don't get it. Some people doing this are genuinely caring and want to see you "saved" but there's the catch. We are all already "saved," maybe our physical body will go through less pain if we know a little bit more about the metaphysical world, but to someone truly "enlightened" avoiding physical pain and suffering is not really the goal.
We are all here for our own reasons, reasons we may not even be consciously aware of, if those reasons require we go through life a bit more "unaware" than we could be, then that is part of the recipe we are here to experience. Even THAT sounds like prostelgzing, if it sounds that way to anyone reading this, just retract it!