The end of the world

[drugo]

The end of the word has come.

The truth governing all existence recently sent an encrypted memo to the good people of earth in the hidden grammatology of all Holden V8 number-plates divided by the mass of methane gas that is produced by human vegans.

The urgent memo reads...

............................

Good People of Earth.

Your existence is preparing to undergo changes at the approximate level of 7478z trillion light years more than the human imagination can comprehend.

Each of you must individually choose to join ONE CHARIOT for the transition.

Those who do not choose to join one chariot will perish in absolute suffering defined by his or her greatest fears multiplied by the creative force of all malevolence known to the southern quadrant of the Milky Way.

We have reduced the religions of earth to the following categorical chariots in accordance with eternal standards of cosmo-bureaucratic efficiency. Sorry if your particular religion isn't available, we simply do not care for such 'alternative' peripheries and lifestyles.

The Four Luminous Chariots of Earth.

1) Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahai...)

2) Eastern religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism...)

3) Indigenous religions (African, American, Australian, Asian...)

4) Atheism (Hardball Science)

You can choose one and only one.

You must include a description of why you've chosen the particular chariot.

Yours sincerely,

Truth Governing All Existence

................................

Edited May 3, 2012 by drugo

[chnt]

it's a toss up between jashinism and reptylism, gonna have to go with one true god that is reptyle!

it's not an option, but but but... oh wait if i choose bahai under abrahamic, then i can proceed in my own independent investigation of truth and come to the conclusion that reptyle is the one true god, while still being a faithful practising bahai.

i think i just broke this thread.

[drugo]

I like your creativity!

The Bahai ideal of absolute tolerence and complete individual freedom is a nice ideal, embracing all the lovely postmodern aesthetics of relativity and partiality, but in practice these contridictions are no doubt slippery and troublesome. The absolute freedom of individual truth and practice would surely amount to chaos and an unharmonic shit-fight on the Bahai wing of the Abrahamic chariot.

Plus the whole 'independent' investigation vibe is too lonesome, hermit and neoliberal (read capitalism) for my liking.

I'd probably go the indigenous chariot, given the access to sacred plants, tribal beats and art, in social life.

[chnt]

i feel the need to state that i loathe the bahai faith, dont get me started...

independently investigate the truth but in the end come back to the bahai faith every time... yeah sure...

[qualia]

satan's chariot for me

[myco]

Atheist

Why cos there is no god

[reptyle]

yes there is.

here's a picture of him...

with two of his consorts...

accordingly he works for the british empire...

[reptyle]

...when he's a little bit older.

so now that i proved it... u must retract ure blasphemy and wash a statue of Isis with your tears.

[vual]

"cosmo-bureaucratic efficiency" fucken red tape even at a higher conciosness.....

why be there no rasta there!!!

[nabraxas]

i'll go w/the flow in chariot 2

ॐ नमः शिवाय

[drugo]

why?

[Amazonian]

Chariot # 2. ... because it feels right.

[whitewind]

What happened to all the gardeners? We can't all jump on the wagon, you know.

It's unfortunate, my mind changes depending upon which flower I happen to be smelling at the time.

With orchids, of course, it's difficult to believe there isn't a god.

The erotic scent of Damiana elicits scenes from the plains.

The sweet scent of Jasmine is reminiscent of the tao.

And Roses are the ultimate expression of western obsession with control.

Lets build a bridge between all the chariots, so we can all join our ideas and thoughts together.

Then, as the party develops we will entice everyone on the bridges and burn the chariots.

And when we burn the bridges we will fall screaming in to the void

Whereupon we will awake and realise with relief that it is, of course, but another dream.

[nabraxas]

Why?

well i typed out a long explanation ov my dealings w/Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism & Hindu saddhus, but closed it by accident.

So instead i'll just post a piece by Alan Watts which i suspect comes pretty close to being true:

 

 

OOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM ... Listen ... Listen ... Down ... Down with that sound!

 

 

 

WHAT IS IT? A current of air? Vibrating vocal cords? Your own ear drums? Something running in your head? It’s all of these. But goes so deep. This sound is You vibrating. And who are you?

 

 

 

Don't give me your name, address and occupation ... You know that's just a mask ... a front ... a big act. Who puts it on? Who puts it on ... your body? Huh! What an act that is! And who puts that on? Your father and mother? Did they put you on? Come off it. You know very well who You are, but you won't admit it. Deep in there in the middle, middle of your heart, You know it. You've always been around and always will be. And the You in you is the same as the You in me.

 

 

 

You're not some sort of tourist just visiting in this world for a short time. You belong here, like the apple on the tree. And as the apple is the energy of the tree, you, yes You, are the energy of the world.

 

 

 

You don't know who You are do you? You can't really get at yourself, just as the fingertip can't touch itself and the teeth can't bite themselves. And that's because You ... the far in you ... is what we call Brahman, the Self of the Universe. The Which of which there is no whicher. The Heart and Foundation of all that's going on.

 

 

 

You think you're going to die someday. Yes! That's because every now and then you have to go off so that you can know you're on. You can't have an up without a down ... or a back without a front ... or a light day without a dark night. The whole thing is pulse.

 

 

 

So what are you doing Brahman? You're playing on and off with yourself, hide and seek with yourself. You're just passing eternal time with adventure. You forget who you are really. Every now and then You make like you're just a John Doe or a Mary Smith, or a butterfly, or a worm, or a star and that you're lost in the middle of a big, big, outside world that isn't you, that you don't understand and that you don't control.

 

 

 

Of course! There has to be something else ... something other ... to bring out the feeling that You are you.

 

 

 

And so that You can feel really you, that outside world has to feel really strange, different, weird. You old trickster ... deep down in, You know the whole bit. And therefore, what You want is a surprise.

 

 

 

So you have to let things get out of control. You have to feel lost and lonely to know You is you. You play the thing out by inventing lusts and loves, fears and terrors, gnawing anxieties and screaming meemees. Also, you can imagine, "It's not really me ... it's IT that runs the show.

 

 

 

But our secret is ... as we say ... Tatvamasi ... You Are IT. You are running the show, by not letting your right hand know what your left is doing. By making life as a whopping great split between what You do and what happens to You. And this is what we call

Maya, the great illusion ... and Lila, the play, the big act.

 

 

 

And You don't just play your game with such simple elements as on and off, black and white, or life and death. To seem as real as real can be, this world that You are playing must be so complicated that you can't figure IT out ... especially if you are using figures to figure IT.

 

 

 

So between black and white, there is a whole range of colors, between thunder and silence, the whole scale of tones, and between something and nothing, between a smashing fist on the face, and trying to touch air, there are all the textures of feeling; burning, throbbing, pushing, hugging, fondling, tickling, kissing, brushing, and light wind on the skin.

 

 

 

Your world is all these elements of light and sound; of tastes, smell and touch, woven together in many dimensions on the fabulous loom of your brain. Your brain ... the most complicated thing in the world, which you ... Yourself ... grew ... without even thinking about it.

 

 

 

You have always been around. For You, I, the Self, is simply what there is ... and all that there is. All of us are rays from One center, teats on One sow, sounds on One flute, forever and ever. But it doesn't get monotonous, boring, because we keep forgetting IT. We keep the on's on by putting off's between them.

 

 

 

How big is IT ... and how long is on and how long off? Don't take these figures literally for their purpose is just to give an idea of vastness.

 

 

 

We say that man, human life, is a dance that lasts for 4,320,000 years. And, of course, there are all sorts of other dances going on at the same time with their own rhythms.

 

 

 

Star dances, rock dances, fish dances, insect dances, plant dances; and strange animal scenes, like crocodile dances, elephant dances ...

 

 

 

The human dance runs for 4,320,000 years, a span of time that we call a Kalpa. Before it begins and after it ends, there is always another Kalpa, or off period of rest during which the Self is simply the Self and doesn't pretend to be this me or that you. We call this rest period the Pralaya ... peace, uninvolvement, pure bliss.

 

 

 

When 4,320,000 years of rest draw to a close, the Lila dance begins again; though it always seems like the first time. Every day is today. And then through many centuries, through many pulses of waking and sleeping, life and death, you stretch your world out through a span of time that varies in mood like the rainbow; running from purple to red, from royal delight to destruction and fire. For as there is no purple without red, there is no pleasure without pain.

 

 

 

There are thus four great divisions of the Kalpa. We call each one a Yuga and name them after the four throws in the Hindu game of dice;

 

 

 

Krita, the perfect throw of four;

Treta, the slightly imperfect throw of three; Dvapara, the throw of two; and Kali, the worst throw of one.

 

 

 

And so the first period, the Krita Yuga ... runs for 1,728,000 years, during which the whole world is as perfect as a fresh flower and as unblemished as the skin of a young girl.

 

 

 

The second period, the Treta Yuga ... is a little shorter. It runs for 1,296,000 years, during which a small element of evil and decay comes into life and the tips of the petals are very slightly browned.

 

 

 

The third period is the Dvapara Yuga ... running for 864,000 years. The syllable Dva in Dvapara means two, double or dual, so that in this age, the powers of good and evil are equally balanced.

 

 

 

The fourth period is Kali Yuga ... running for only 432,000 years in which the power of evil and destruction takes over.

 

 

 

At the end, your eternal Self takes the form of Shiva, the Lord of renewal through death; blue bodied and ten armed with a necklace of skulls. BUT with one hand in the gesture called "fear not" as a reminder that all this is in illusion and play. And then Shiva dances the Tandala dance, the dance of fire in which the material world is destroyed and the Self returns to the state of Pralaya ... of peace, uninvolvement, and pure bliss.

 

 

 

All this goes on forever, through Kalpa after Kalpa after Kalpa ... and not only in this visible world that we call the universe, for this universe that we know is only a speck of dust in another universe. And all the specks of dust in this universe that we know contain minute universes without measure; boundless inward in the atom, boundless outward in the whole.

 

 

 

However vast, however incomprehensible, however terrifying this entire display may seem to be, all of it is at root, your own inmost Self; the Self which you cannot touch, or see, or pin down or control because IT’s too close, too new, right in the middle of everything. Because IT’s you ...

OOOOMMMMMMM.

 

 

this word is the whole universe. It is explained that everything past, present, and future is the sound OM. And whatever is beyond these three divisions of time, that also, indeed, is OM. In the beginning there was only the Self ... like a person alone. Looking around, IT saw nothing other than Itself. IT first said "I AM". And so there came the Name, I.

Thus, to this day, when one is asked, "Who is there?", he replies: "IT is I", and then gives what other name he may have.

 

The Self was afraid as one who is alone is afraid. But IT thought, "Since there is nothing beside Myself, of what am I afraid ?" Where at the fear vanished. For what could IT have feared? Fear can come only from something other ... But the Self had no delight as one alone has no delight.

 

 

 

IT desired another. IT expanded to the form of male and female in tight embrace and then fell into two parts. Thus it is that everybody is one half ... like one of the halves of a split pea. And the missing half is filled by a spouse.

 

 

 

Then He coupled with Her and produced all human beings.

 

 

 

She thought, "How can He have intercourse with me, having produced me from Himself? I will hide". She became a cow. But He became a bull and coupling with Her produced all cattle. And in turn, She became a mare and He a stallion; She a female donkey and He a male donkey; She a she-goat and He a he-goat; She a yew and He a ram. And thus were born from their union, all beings that exist in pairs down to the very ants.

 

 

 

He knew. I am in fact this universe, for I have produced it all. In this way, He became the universe ...

 

 

 

By whose direction is the mind aware of objects? By whose command does life first move? By whose will is this speaking uttered? And what god empowers the eye and the ear? IT is the Hearing of the ear, the Awareness of the mind, the very Sound of speech, the Life of the breath and the Sight of the eye.

 

 

 

Therefore, the wise surrendering themselves, go beyond this world and are immortal.

 

 

 

But IT is beyond the reach of sight, speech and thought and we neither know nor understand how IT can be taught.

 

 

 

IT is other than the known, and beyond the unknown. Thus we have heard from the wise.

 

 

 

IT is that which cannot be spoken, but by which we speak.

 

 

 

IT is that which cannot be thought, but by which we think.

 

 

 

IT is that which cannot be seen, but by which we see.

 

 

 

IT is that which cannot be heard, but by which we hear.

 

 

 

IT is the breath which cannot be held, but by which we breathe.

 

 

 

IT is known to those who do not know IT.

 

 

 

To those who know IT … IT is unknown.

 

 

 

IT is not understood by those who understand IT.

 

 

 

IT is understood by those who understand IT not.

 

 

 

There was never a time when I was not, nor you, nor these others. Nor will there ever be a time to come when we shall cease.

 

 

 

As one passes in this body through childhood, youth and old age, even so is the taking on of other bodies. This does not trouble the wise. Of the nonexistent, there is no coming to be. Of the existent, there is no ceasing to be.

 

 

 

That by which all this is pervaded cannot be destroyed. As one casts off worn out clothes, and puts on others that are new, even so, the Self casts off worn out bodies, and assumes others that are new.

 

 

 

Weapons cannot cut this Self.

 

 

 

Fire cannot burn IT.

 

 

 

Water does not make IT wet, nor the wind dry.

 

 

 

IT is eternal, all pervading, changeless, and unmoved.

 

 

 

IT is the same forever.

 

 

 

IT is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable and without change. Knowing IT thus you should not grieve ...

 

 

 

The Knower, the Central Self, is not born and does not die.

 

 

 

IT is not produced from anything, and produces nothing apart from ITSELF.

 

 

 

IT is unborn, eternal, enduring, primordial.

 

 

 

IT is not slain when the body is slain ... If the slayer thinks he slays or if the slain thinks he is slain, neither understand.

 

 

 

IT neither slays nor can be slain.

 

 

 

Smaller than the small, greater than the great, IT is the Self in the heart of all beings ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Bring here a fruit from that fig tree."

 

 

 

"Here it is, Sir."

 

 

 

"Break it."

 

 

 

"Sir, it is broken."

 

 

 

"What do you see inside?"

 

 

 

"There are, Sir, these minute seeds."

 

 

 

"Break one of them."

 

 

 

"It is broken, Sir."

 

 

 

"What do you see there?"

 

 

 

"Sir, I see nothing at all."

 

 

"My son, that subtle essence which you do not see is the Self of this whole universe, That is the Real, That is the Self, and you are IT." -- About Alan Watts

 

http://www.harisingh...eTheEssence.htm

Edited May 3, 2012 by nabraxas

[∂an]

The Four Luminous Chariots of Earth.

1) Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahai...)

2) Eastern religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism...)

3) Indigenous religions (African, American, Australian, Asian...)

4) Atheism (Hardball Science)

You can choose one and only one.

 

Surely the best chariot is one made from parts scavenged from the 'four luminous chariots of earth'? i.e. a syncretic faith. We must learn from all our brothers and sisters if we are to develop an understanding sophisticated enough to allow humanity to persevere through this bottle neck of history.

[curaezipirid]

The Four Luminous Chariots of Earth.

1) Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahai...)

2) Eastern religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism...)

3) Indigenous religions (African, American, Australian, Asian...)

4) Atheism (Hardball Science)

 

I have some kind of religious quandary going on over having to choose, BUT, I am able to give a scientific explanation of why.

My brain got itself trained into habits of mind that are what is known in religions, as "the fourth way"; AND, (well from here on in its going to be less scientific and more religious, unless counting the history and anthropology of religions as scientific), I also happen to have realised, reading the above statement, that, the way by which the metaphysical alignments of money's secret purposes, (well that's a bankers secret fantasy know how about controlling everybody via their coin, ie what Briggs-Myers personality type are you, and what type can be imposed upon you by bankers), via the Rosicrucian craft lodges within Masonic Temples, (scientifically, yes, I visited the Theosophists secret inner library to know they are Rosicrucian, and learned that Rosicrucians are Masonic craft lodges, from an Islamic website forum where a Muslim Mason was posting . . .), who fancied themselves having some kind of dippy old control in the economy, over the religious ideas, in which "the fourth way" had any meaning.

Now, in almost all of the points above, 1. 2. and 3. , "the fourth way" is a recognisable phenomenon.

But so are three other ways, obviously.

The names for the ways of men, come from sanscrit as the oldest known surviving lingo, and the original version of the Hindu caste system was divided into four along similar lines, but outmoded as it was never an exact fit. But all four ways are normally thought of as four ways into that room within ones metaphorical house, within which one can know the cause of one's existence, and so begin to work aligned with such cause, which is where the potential for real enlightenment etc springs from.

1. is the way of the Fakir, which means developing the "will power" of the body, by working the body's physical prowess, (saw youtube link in Facebook recent of an Indian sanyasan who had been keeping one of his arms straight up in the air for the past 10 years already, but if you don't like that idea, Cathy Freeman is a suitable role model of);

2. is the way of the Monk, which means developing the "will power" of the body, by working the body's emotions, (eg devotional prayers and Art and Music etc);

3. is the way of the Yogi, which means developing the "will power" of the body, by working the body's mind, until it sustains constantly accurate thought associations, (known to be associated with Yoga practice because control of the thinking is achieved by control of the posture);

4. is all of the above three ways working in unison.

Now I did happen to know, that the Rosicrucians have been attempting to decide for themselves who gets to be in which of those four categories, via the strings they imagined having on everybody's money, via how wealthy the Rosicrucians themselves once were. AND, that the alignment they happened to have been working at, was as silly as having been attempting to prove that everybody with any indigenous Australian identifications, was only allowed to express themselves economically in the way of the Fakir, (as though dead if expressing other ways, but they did not really have that kind of control, they only imagined to have).

However, when it gets put in the terms of there being 4 possibilities to choose from in belief, I say, well what about the fourth way! Which one is it!

My head reckons like this:

1. Abrahamic faiths have to be the way of the Yogi, because all the good sanity rules are in those religions.

2. Eastern religions have to be the way of the Fakir, because between them they have both Yoga and Tai Chi, and those are my favourite physical disciplines, and I hear Dzogchen practice is quite cool.

3. Indigenous religions have to be the way of the Monk, because they are all held stable by ancient initiatory rituals, by which men get taught the fundamentals of how to enable the emotions to be kept clean, and in control of the reins of choice making, . . . a kind of an intuitive sensibility we all seem to retain from our ancestors whoever our ancestors happen to be, that being responsible for intuitive sensibilities, is important.

but this leave the atheists in charge of the fourth way

or is it that fourth way adherents are in charge of the atheists

either way amounts to very much the same

in that within the belief, be it fully atheist, or fully fourth way, (in which it is taught, that all "willingness" and "doing" is only possible via One God being who is ultimately willing), it all amounts to the same

I think I resolved the quandary I had now thanks everybody

Therefore, I hate to have to say so, but I choose, . . . A Theism

[curaezipirid]

"cosmo-bureaucratic efficiency" fucken red tape even at a higher conciosness.....

why be there no rasta there!!!

 

Ras Tafari men belong among the Abrahamic beliefs, if we align ourselves with historical origins of thought. Haile Selasi was King in Ethiopia in which Kingdom was then held to be that realm of Zion.

[curaezipirid]

satan's chariot for me

 

Well, if you need to fit him in to only one, you'd think it'd be Atheist, wouldn't you, BUT, he rates a good mention in the Bible and Qur'an, (even as a son-of-god, and only just slightly mistaken whereas Jesus made no errors, and in the status of son-of-god, which means Arch Angel, of the highest order, aka Seraphim, even one tiny error is tantamount to having been doing all bad), AND, he is clearly not entirely absent from Asian religious practice, AND, within indigenous Australian culture, in many parts of Australia, among many Aboriginal men, he would be held to be one of the Aboriginal Spirit men who live in the sky near Alice, except, that in his form in the heavens above Alice, he had not yet fallen, not, that is, until this year perhaps, as some Aboriginal Australians dream with him in an already fallen state, and thereby converted to Christianity, beginning in around 1956 as a formal statement of self recognition of now needing Jesus, as Satan was manifestly mistaken in one matter, whereas, I know of a few Aboriginal men who still tonight even are dreaming with Satan at a time from before he fell, BUT ALSO, other Aboriginal Australians who had always been more within Islam's influence, (Indonesian historical records count the north of Australia as part of the once domineering empire of Islam), have already seen him in redemption, (but therefore have to trust Jesus as even Satan is now telling everyone to).

Basically, if you have to say "what about Satan" I'd say best count yourself among indigenous belief systems if you live in Australia. In other lands, the Devil is a different fallen Angel at times, (eg Lucifer is known in Native American cultures), even though Satan tends to be dominating, due to his rank among all Angels. But Lucifer is a fallen Cherubim, so tends to be just as strong as a fallen Seraphim.

Mind but, I am expressing all this within an Abrahamic faith's point of view, of course, and an indigenous point of view, would start with a yarn about the Alice Spirit Beings in the sky, and how they are all of our ancestors, and how they are willing to fall to save us all, but that then, they first turn into the land forms, but now are having to constantly work their way back through the evolution of species (hard core science or what), into human form, and live a perfect human life, (which is why Jesus is well respected in indigenous culture, because the stories all say someone will, then we all will), but we all fall loads of times before we work it all out perfect, and can go back into the Sky to live again.

As for expressing within Asian religions, all I have to say, is didn't anybody watch the TV show of Monkey, (or are you all too young to remember).

[nabraxas]

Monkey, (or are you all too young to remember).

give me a break

Monkey was repeated on ABC in like 1997 or something.

i used to watch it on BBC in 1979

i can't answer the rest ov your post because i'm too drunk to understand it.

but i will say that :

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

The world is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane

[Opticaldelusion]

Surely the best chariot is one made from parts scavenged from the 'four luminous chariots of earth'? i.e. a syncretic faith. We must learn from all our brothers and sisters if we are to develop an understanding sophisticated enough to allow humanity to persevere through this bottle neck of history.

 

There is a golden thread that weaves through all belief systems. Some have frayed it more than others but the essence of it remains for our interpretations...

[nabraxas]

^

 

The golden threads weaving the fabric of civilization have been cultured by the seven major world religions that follow in alphabetical order. There's no "first" or "better" judgment here. The golden rule/law language transcends win/lose hierarchy with a win/win playing field for the global game of life based on universal rules of love.

 

 

 

In the Game of Life, only bad players ignore the rule book or try to rewrite it to serve their own "win at any cost" agendas. There have always been good players - good sorts who champion good sport. Good trade, civility and civilization are established through cooperation under the Golden Rule at the heart of the Game. It's only bad players who lack the intent to "go for the gold" with the "

gold standard" of good gaming.

 

 

 

The whole purpose in the Game of Life is how you play the game. It's not whether you "win" or "lose" in worldly terms -- we die to that world soon enough. The whole point is how you play the game with the Spirit that matters while we're here. We take nothing with us -- PAST this life -- except that which we LEARN in the Game.

 

 

 

We can learn the hard way -- as bad sports of win/lose sorts -- or we can learn the easy way as good sports who would spiritualize matter with a global win/win that's both personal and planetary. This is the Spirit that matters, raising the standard of the rule of law with the golden rule for good gaming... global peace...

LOVE-in-action.

 

 

 

It all boils down to the rule book and how we play the game. The rules are simple enough. The seven Great Religions of the World have all referenced the same rules in the same basic way. There have always been bad sorts who are bad sports and twist those rules from "for-giving" to "for-getting".

 

 

 

Instead of the power of love, these bad sorts love power that breaks the rule of good gaming. Their self-serving "golden rule" is too often, "He who has the gold, makes the rules." Monied power -- without the power of love -- is always a rule-breaker.

 

 

 

http://www.heartcom.org/GoldenRule.htm

[ThunderIdeal]

eastern religions cuz hinduism. in a word the goal is to connect/join. it's the most credible religion from what i can gather, and the other, newer religions drew from it as it must have drawn from sumeria etc. my views and practices fit in pretty closely with hinduism, which i'll add offers a number of different approaches. it endorses vegetarianism as do i. it promotes self improvement and righteous behaviour, for instance instead of wasting time at a church listening to a pedophile read a roman fiction, handing over some of your pay, and being forgiven for being an asshole all week...... you spend some time each morning with an exercise which is also a meditation. having attained good health you can sit comfortably for longer periods without distraction, probing further into meditation. aside from spiritual benefits now you can handle stressful situations with less mood fluctuation, and so forth, now you can put your ego in it's place. i can get into it without feeling as though i'm taking on board somebody elses fantasies, because it's a science of finding oneself and with that in mind i feel like an eclectic path won't result in "you're going to hell". i reject any discrimination based on gender, sexuality, race or birth status eg economic strata, and anybody who still practices that stone age bullshit does not have my respect or backing. it would be brash to throw the dishes out with the dishwater, especially if the dishes are otherwise quite tolerant. religions pre-date the civil rights movement and that kind of discrimination must have gone on almost everywhere in times past.

i can see how the feel of it, depending on where you start reading, could throw people off. one could draw a picture very different to the one i've drawn. to me it's the result of favourable factors. a written language that is useful for communicating lofty ideas (sanskrit). a huge and stable culture to grow a religion in, therefore, lots of adherents with lots of spare time to explore the mysteries, and they're make better headway because they train their minds and impulses.

little wonder if tripping is mostly looking into a mirror, but to me the cosmology is psychedelic, hinduism and tripping just go together so well. i reckon mushrooms contributed in some way, but maybe they didn't need mushrooms, relying on self-mastery instead. i don't know if it's strictly condoned but plenty of hindus seem to use drugs in their spiritual life.

i could actually go to india and meet a living example of the qualities i hold in esteem.

Edited July 27, 2012 by ThunderIdeal

[BentoSpawn]

ill go with 4)

Cuz the chariot is staying on earth because theres no hardball science that the world is ending in 2012- thus theres no point for atheists to bother going anywhere.

[Stillman]

No 5 the Great magnet. Waxing and waining the moon and dragging the seas up and down and sending people mental as we spin around a burning sphere of gas and god knows what.

Makes you think really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYSXBsGOVuc

[Rualbe]

This world will most assuredly end for those who live as if it is going to end.

I could not pick one of your options at the expense of another as I must deal with the whole of reality.

Also having ancestors from all the major first nation racial groups I would also be forced to discriminate against myself.

Divide and conquer you say.

You are divided and conquered I say.