When was your awakening? or are you still asleep?

[Oneironaut]

apparently some of you think yelling will get your point across. fools.

Anyways, my point to Ermitonto would be this:

You're right. There is no scientific evidence for there being more than what our senses can tell us. But our senses do in fact deceive us. We don't see half of whats out there and yet we think we can construct the entire picture from what we do infer. Think of the human visual spectrum for example. Such a relatively insignificant portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. You can't even hear the same sounds that the majority of the animal kingdom can. You have no sense for the electromagnetic fields that can guide birds south during migration... etc.
Scientifically, we know there's more to life than just what we can rationally describe. But, in order to live life, we have to have beliefs concerning the rest.

But we do have scientific evidence for the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum, for sounds outside the range of our sensory organs, for magnetic fields which guide birds. But that doesn't make such things "beliefs concerning the rest". It's facts concerning the rest. Cold, hard facts which can be proven. However, we haven't the slightest shred of evidence that there's some transcendental thing controlling our thought patterns. On the other hand, we do have more cold, hard facts concerning this sort of thing, namely that our thought patterns are determined by the neural networks inside our brains.

So then, choosing to believe there's nothing is fine... But it's just as much a leap of faith as to choose God.

Huh? How is it a leap of faith to not concern yourself with things that there isn't any evidence for like souls or angels or leprechauns? I'm not saying there aren't things out there we can't detect. For all we know there could be an infinite number of universes outside our own. Or there could just be this one. It's just that if there are things we can't detect, they have no impact on my life and there's no use concerning myself with them. It's no more a leap of faith to not assume that my brain's neural network is controlled by some soul thing in a parallel universe than it is to not assume that my computer is actually run by an invisible turtle living on Jupiter.

I think some people on these boards have had experiences which demonstrate some of what's out there that hasn't been quantified. It gets worded differently everytime, and some people call it god, other people call it energy or prana, chi, etc. But there does seem to be some sort of experience in life which we simply lack the language to describe in a materialist (physical) language... Haven't you ever had such an experience?

No.

I just started reading...this energy is measurable. It all starts in your Brain.
People can read energy measures in an empty space, I don't know how. This whole Universe is made up of energy that we can't measure, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

If we can't measure it, then it has no interaction with our physical universe, and there's no use speculating about it. How could something interact with our physical universe (like my brain's neural network) and not be measurable?

Okay, just kept on reading it, and seeing how you're referencing my post...hold on.

Ok, where do you get the energy to process your thoughts into a "post", amino acids?

How do we have any energy to synthesize amino acids?

Food and water.

Everything has a gravitational pull. EVERYTHING. We can't just go up to someone and measure their gravity. Of course, a fatter person would have a greater gravitational pull. Moisture rises and falls over the Atlantic, and when the fronts make their way across the United States, they combine with the Moisture Patterns over the Atlantic because "water attracts water". If you place a drop of water near another, they will attract each other and it's an unmeasureably energy that causes them to attract (unmeasurable by my standards, anyway). I'm still asleep.

But we can prove to the satisfaction of the scientific community that all things have gravitational pull, that water attracts water. These are physical phenomena that can't be denied, because we have empirical evidence for them. But no matter how much research goes into the human brain, there just doesn't seem to be an invisible source of "energy" directing its actions (which you claim isn't actual physical energy but a different kind of "energy" that you can't define which has nothing to do with reality).

T. J. was a "Confederate" President. No? I'm not into American History, besides what I've learned in Elementary School.

You're thinking of Jefferson Davis. Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States, after Washington and Adams.

[beachguy in thongs]

Jefferson Davis and Thomas Jefferson were from Virginia, the first president from anywhere besides N.Y. or VA. was from Mississippi.

I wasn't asking about the biological process concerning amino acids, I was talking about the energy we need to convert food to potential-energy.

[Oneironaut]

What do you mean by converting food to potential-energy without biological processes? Are you implying that this "soul" is behind digestion too? As far as we can tell, the energy that we get from food is extracted through biological processes. We can explain digestion pretty well without postulating the existence of parallel universes of invisible "soul stuff".

[mrdevious]

In buddhist philosophy, there is no permanent, unchangable soul, and the nature of all existence is that everything is impermanent. just a little tid-bit I thought I'd throw in.


Personally, I think the concept of "soul" was a primitive idea designed to explain consciousness. From what I've observed, all religions involving god(s) use such concepts and many more to give a simplistic explanation to the complex mysteries of existence. After all, what's more appealing than having all the answers to all the questions, all the solutions to all your worries, neatly wrapped up in a simple package?

[Oneironaut]

Indeed, I have found Eastern philosophies to contain much more wisdom regarding the nature of reality than the monotheistic religions ever could. They don't teach that we need to bow down to the whims of some totalitarian dictator of the universe, but rather that we need to define our own existence. Recently I've been intrigued by Taoist philosophy in particular, which like Buddhism teaches that everything is temporary and that the path to happiness is self-cultivation rather than unquestioning submission.

[Monkey4Sale]

I awaken every morning around the same time, somewhere from 8-10am. On a spiritual level, I don't believe in God, or any of the other ideas. We are just animals on a planet, like the rest of the animals on the plant.

[mrdevious]

Indeed, I have found Eastern philosophies to contain much more wisdom regarding the nature of reality than the monotheistic religions ever could.
They don't teach that we need to bow down to the whims of some totalitarian dictator of the universe, but rather that we need to define our own existence. Recently I've been intrigued by Taoist philosophy in particular, which like Buddhism teaches that everything is temporary and that the path to happiness is self-cultivation rather than unquestioning submission.

monotheistic or polytheistic for that matter, though the monotheistic religions have certainly done a super job of jading our views on religion in general.

I totally agree with that analysis anyway, a "totalitarian dictator of the universe" is what it all comes down to. and considering the neglect of the people and numerous human rights violations, I think it's time for america to invade heaven now . time to restore democracy to the universe!

[UnViaje]

i have my own philosophies derived from my own experiences as well as everything i have learned from the lives others have lead. the mind does contol everything to me, even "heart", also the way we make ourself feel when we meditate n subconsciously have the paradigm that 'this' is sprituality. its pure brain power, a sort of universal transceiver. understanding & using the capabilty of ur own subconscience is spirtuality to me. i've also had my own "awakenings" but nothing that compared to the moment i was in salvia's trance. since then i've been more apperceptive to the world and universe and been able to dive deeper into my own mental realm of whats what

[Polymirize]

Where does this amazing sense of self-importance come from? To think that the entire universe in all it's complexity should limit itself so as to not go outside of your understanding?

Why? Give me one good reason to limit the scope of all that is, to that which I can understand...

[MyAntiDrugIsAmy]

Where does this amazing sense of self-importance come from? To think that the entire universe in all it's complexity should limit itself so as to not go outside of your understanding?

Why? Give me one good reason to limit the scope of all that is, to that which I can understand...

nicely put