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What are your spiritual/religious views?

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Apocolypto!

question every damn thing

Why? is the best question tho

Knowing who you are

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i believe there is only one sentient entity (life force). its within the we are all partitions of... not just you and me but all living things across the universe=1.

I also think the universe has its own sentient quality... i think all things have perception. not as articulate as ours but its there non the less. for example, paper knows a whitch temprature it will combust. as does water knowing it will run to its lowest point... as lightning knows it will take the shortest and easiest course to ground.

but really what i believe is irrelevant to others as we are all equal and as a result can have our own theorys and belief.

overnout.

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I'm gonna have a wee rant.

Gradually I am finding I have less and less spiritual beliefs.

Over the past few months I've been through a rather gruelling process of dis-illusionment, which has led me to question the foundations of all my favourite personal fairy-stories (I've always been a fan of elaborate stories) and weed out those (oh so many) which have not proven themselves to have any tangible correlations to my own life and experience.

There are certain ideas which have powerful resonance with the past and current context of my life, although they have become so deeply assimilated that I feel it's uneccessary to even articulate them to anyone, my beliefs should be implicit within my behaviour and the nature of my relationships with others. Holding this perspective encourages continual consideration of my own conduct, and gradual refinement of my influences and responses in internal and external arenas. I don't see any end point though. I will always be a learner, and I am now going to be especially wary of anyone who tries to tell me they have any firm grasp on what's going on with this species and this planet.

I think we are each looking through a window, and what we see might seem temporarily to be a definite view of reality, but we each only see a snippet, the snippet which that particular window looks out onto at that particular moment in time.

I have had dealings with a number of extremely spiritually inclined people throughout my life, who have unintentionally warped my perspective and drawn me into their stories too much. Through engaging with these sorts recently, I have eventually been able to see that too much of anything, especially seeking spiritual insight, leads to sore neglect of all the other avenues required for a healthy lifestyle.

Healing and growth evolve symbiotically, but can only sprout when interwoven with a fulfilling and multidimensional life.

The only concepts which really hold much significance for me in terms of spirituality right now, are the Maori concepts of ako and manaakitanga.

Ako - Ako describes the relationship of reciprocal teaching and learning between two beings. You learn as you teach and you teach as you learn. I have come to believe ako is a relationship dynamic of incredible significance in this world. I believe we all teach each other and learn from each other. We often can't recognise the nature of this interpersonal learning, so much of it is unspoken and transferred subconsciously, but it is exchanged none-the-less. Also the nature of the learning exchanged is often disparate. What I learn in any given exchange with a child or my cat will be extremely different to what the child or my cat will learn from me, but the learning is usually of equal value when seen within the wider context of life. No one is superior or inferior, we are all just running on our own borrowed time in the school of life, and we each have been entrusted with some degree of agency to create change in our own lives and those of others.

Manaakitanga - Manaakitanga foregrounds nurturing relationships, encouraging us to rise above our personal perceptions of other beings and treat them with respect for their innate worth as a living organism. To me this extends far beyond humanity. Animals, plants, insects, ecosystems and the land itself deserve respect and love, and for our actions to be guided by the intention that any impact made should ultimately support transpersonal well-being.

I am finding there are no hard and fast rules with this approach, what was appropriate yesterday may hinder or even hurt if I extend the same words/actions/energy today. I also think its crucial to cultivate manaakitanga towards yourself, as if you do not love and nurture your own being, your efforts to love and nuture others will only backfire.

I cannot and will not claim to always live by this principle, as I have seen that extending manaakitanga too freely can lead to others taking advantage or abusing your good will in ways that eventually lead to your own suffering, and allowing this to dominate your relationships in an inbalanced way is not extending manaakitanga to yourself, but in general I am learning that every person has been saddled with some kind of unfortunate circumstance and there's no need to add any judgement or negativity to their burden... The ol' if you can't say (or do) anything nice don't say (or do) anything at all.

And last but not least, the only other thing of importance in my psychospiritual toolkit nowadays is

Discernment

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I believe in nothing but myself and my ability to create an existence I want. When I fuck it up, and I do, its no ones fault but my own and when I get it right, and I do, I pat myself on the back.

Cannot fathom an existence requiring anything or anyone else to find spiritual fullfilment, it's within....

Getafix

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there is nothing to do and there is no where to go

there is nothing to be and there is no one to know

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first of all i'm very happy to read about Ceres spiritual evolution (throwing away a couple useless mumbojumbo stories)

then (getafix)

When I fuck it up, and I do, its no ones fault but my own

this reminds me of one very nice stand up comedian who commenting on the fact the stand up comedian is a writer, director and actor (that is having 100% control of his show) , said something:

"I like that, because If I fail, then its all my fault, noone to blame, if I do good its my own archievement"

I like very much that approach to individualism, of which I am obviously a practicing mofo

For example, these two last years mostly (but not only now), I have an increasing suspicion that I might end up fucking all in my life.. Contrary to most people that like to bitch about unfairness of life and all, I am pretty aware that I will have brought this to myself or whatever comes, so this doesn't feel at all bitter or unfair.

Atheists should promote such thought patterns as indicators of what hapens if you're living without god... you become more responsible of your own actions, as a first..

I have not yet thought about the spiritual implications of why failing consciously is better (to me) than succeeding in the eyes of the mass.

****

I was thinking yesterday what some dude said about extreme/horrific films.. he said what you breathe in , you are getting inside you...

I dont think this is the case when watching films, but maybe it is the case with negative thoughts, negative energy, insulting peop[le and all this agressive behaviour of mine some times or even often.

In this period of my life, I am pretty much asocial for my standards, haven't really been hanging around with friends actually there has been a distance with most older friends, mostly or mainly because of me maintaining this agression towards them all. Of course other reasons exist too: those friends decided (or couldnt aford) out of this bohemian life (beer and smokes every day and all). This would normally be very sad, but it come to me as a natural evolution of both me and my friends... despite distance, my friends remember me from time to time, for the nice traits I still got , only for me to remind them I am as agressive as ever and a relentless debater, in case of a disagreement, esecially in politics.. And because I have been educating myself with all the recent and older political shit for a year now or so, I can bash each and every one of them's face in (arguement wise) because most people in greece dont give a fuck about politics...

There are a couple new friends though...

What I am trying to say is that I am starting to think whether such a large number of fights simultaneously and constantly can damage the person, how much can the psych take?? on the other hand, I never thought I was making a mistake.. I feel that I am right by being myself, even insulting attacking someone because he said something stupid with an arrogant style.. But sometimes I feel I got spiritually poisoned by my own interactions, and especially from my own poison...

Peace

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I consider myself agnostic - I'd rather just live my life as a decent person and wait and see what happens than jump prematurely to any conclusions - but this is basically my best guess so far.

I recently was having a discussion with someone about this video, which led me to basically explain what I suspect is going on regarding god, consciousness, etc:

http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you

I think he comes very close to the mark but misses the point, just barely. He proposes that "you" are effectively a self-aware collection of experiences, memories, beliefs, and so on, which gather together to build up a sense of identity, self, and separation. I think what he's actually describing is literally the mind/ego, which is actually a physiological extension of the brain (which is - among other things - a complex network of neurons that create associations between concepts). I'd describe the real 'ego trick' as the delusion that this network of concepts is "you".

When you break it down, everything is just atoms in various arrangements, and these atoms and arrangements of atoms have their own histories. What I'm saying is that our arrangement of atoms as human beings has developed such that they can now create an awareness that can remember that history at a certain level - that is, the brain, recording our experiences.

Once we die, that arrangement becomes broken and it ceases to function, and all of that disappears. Most people consider the brain and it's records as the "I", but really it's just an extension of the rest of the universe that's complex enough to record things. So that's the "core" that most people think of, but it isn't really a core at all. The waterfall, meanwhile, doesn't have such a structure, so it doesn't become deluded into believing that it has a core. I guess I am agreeing with the guy on this, but getting into more nuances here.

But what is actually doing the experiencing, then? Who is the waterfall? Who is the witness that gets caught up in these neat flesh sacks and then sucked into the ego delusion? What is our consciousness, considered as separate from the mind and the brain? Instead of individuals each having separate consciousnesses that disappear or go somewhere when your body dies, I propose that we all share a single, universal consciousness with each other, animals, the waterfall, inanimate objects, and the rest of existence. Like an ocean of consciousness. This is how nature is all connected and in harmony; you could describe it as 'mother nature' or 'god' or 'oneness' or 'the whole' or perhaps even 'the universe itself', or whatever term you want to use to try and describe it. I think that this is the world that we came out of to experience existence as humans.

Animals, trees, waterfalls, inanimate objects, etc, are all part of this consciousness as well, but are considerably less equipped to do anything about it. A rock it is still experiencing existence as a rock, but can only sit there and be a rock. A river, or a waterfall maybe can express itself a little, but it is still just going to be a waterfall. An animal can go out and live, but it is still not quite developed enough to truly enjoy freedom and choice. As humans, we're lucky enough to have a better equipped vessel.

If you think of animals, you can see that they are conscious, but are less in control of their experience. They are innocent, intuitive, and rely on instinct to function. I think the same can easily be said for plants, but I'd go even further and suggest that even inanimate objects may have some degree of consciousness (perhaps as smaller parts of a whole - for example, rocks as a part of a mountain, a mountain as part of the earth, and so on). Entities that are more evolved have more control over their experience, and humans have evolved to the point where we have become self-aware and autonomous. The problem is that in the process we have lost our awareness of the whole which we are a part of.

The chemical and physiological arrangement which has made us capable of freely doing and experiencing and recording what we please has also made us vulnerable to delusions of separateness from this consciousness. Our society is likely a huge factor in propagating this delusion, also. When our body dies, that illusion will shatter; but to reach our full potential while we are still alive, we would ideally become once again aware of our connection to the whole (which i interpret as becoming enlightened).

I think that this is a universal truth that is central to all major religions, but simply approached in different ways (for different audiences of different cultures at different times) and then eventually over-elaborated and misinterpreted and manipulated to such an extent that the message is hardly even there any more. I think this idea is referred to as the Perennial Philosophy. Huxley wrote a great book on it.

Maybe I'm completely wrong about the whole thing! But I think it is a nice way to look at things. It's nice to think that everyone, everything you interact with is really an extension of yourself. Why would you be anything but kind to an extension of yourself? Even the most terrible person can become considered as a poor, confused extension of yourself trapped in a meat sack that's been indoctrinated too much.

Edited by Scarecrow
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My views could best be described as a mixture of Pantheism and Pandeism. Although the two are so very similar. One conclusion I came to a few years ago was that every single person, every living conscious, breathing being, plants animals bacteria is all a part of the universe and a "Cosmic conscious" but provides the universe a ever so slightly different view point on itself and the nature of existence. When we die our consciousness or energy or whatever you want to call it, just dissolves back into the greater flow and adds what it learnt/observed in it's lifetime to the greater bank of knowledge.

But my spiritual beliefs are always changing but really took a back seat after a few trips where I kinda felt like 'wow after that why bother learning anything new. That must be it" if you know what I mean??

Cool story bro

Edited by Yawning Man

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I am a Jedi Knight :)

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Born Again Reincarnationist,

Cheers Godiam

PS: my nic sums up my Spiritual beliefs, We are all a part of the Universe ( as opposed to apart from the Universe) experiencing our selves in a 3D perceptual reality.

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