Separate consciousness, that which is us, an individual awareness able to perceive that it is separate and alone. This makes us constantly aware of our state of isolation and seek to find some form of companionship or belonging. We perceive our world as extensions of ourselves, we have our group, our town, our state, our country. These we see as the most important, the most right, the best. This is a natural process of extension of self and everyone for the most part favours all extensions of self. However this has the effect of making other groups, towns, countries less regarded.
We usually support our country because it is our country and never look beyond this, it is fair to say we are programmed to be this way. In fact most people favour all extensions of themselves, their race, their ethnic group, their school, their sports team etc., etc. An easy to see example of this in action is to look at any newspaper, how often have you seen a story on the front page about some political or celebrity scandal often continued on other pages while on page 6 is a 3 line item about thousands of people dying in a far off land? They are not included in our group extension of self and because of this they are treated with less regard. Yet we are all beings on this Earth and it is only circumstance that puts us in a given location.
So it is our constant awareness of our separateness that leads us into the belief that these beliefs are valid. This gets even sillier when we consider religion, most think that their religion is the best and only religion. Some actually hate the followers of other religions or non-believers based on this belief and are willing to kill and die themselves for the sake of this belief. Without getting into the bizarrely twisted logic of a belief that can promote death to anything. (I thought that religion was supposed to be a spiritual growth idea?) What exactly is it that tells them their religion is the "one" in the first place?
What overpowering evidence is there for any given one? Is there any actual evidence at all? From what I can see it mostly comes down to a few basic things, chief among them is one that states, "look we have a book that tradition says is the word of god and it must be right because it says so," even though it is compiled and written by man! This annoying problem is solved by saying that god told them what to write. Convenient and unprovable. Another method is to accept a self proclaimed "representative of god on earth" and follow them. What these have in common is they require "faith" mostly procured by use of choices between threats of eternal damnation or of some next life advantage. To obtain this next life advantage (also conveniently unprovable) all demand acceptance of a programmed doctrine that enforces a slave mentality to a supposed superior being and by default the religion and its dogmas and demands of its human controllers. I am the only one that can see the danger in this?
Some say in the past god walked among men and maybe that happened or maybe people from somewhere or somewhen showed up with a technology that was advanced enough to appear as magic to people who lack the knowledge of the technology. The thing is we have little evidence for the former and quite a bit for the later but it is all subject to interpretation, which we do based on our beliefs and the knowledge we have gained from each other.
One thing is certain, our awareness of our separateness and instinctive desire to not be alone makes us vulnerable to easy manipulation. And our history is full of examples of this and our willingness to be lead blindly, and unthinking into the void. We see in this age a greater willingness to preserve the environment as many people transcend convenience and selfishness to assist preserve the what is more important to them. Early days but if this can be expanded to encompass a reference for all life, to being able to see the importance of and our impact upon other living beings be they plant or animal. Some will say it is good to have national pride, that it does not affect other countries and just helps make theirs better. But it is very attitude that allows one country to commit atrocities against another. This also allows us to stand by and watch these things happen to another and do nothing. I say it is better to have global pride if one has a need for pride. I often wonder if anyone ever really saw the pictures of our home from space, that tiny blue orb that exists in the blackness of space, the only visible living thing we can recognise in our solar system or anywhere else for that matter. Are we not all equally part of this?
We are long overdue in forming a caring consciousness, one that allows us to see that we are all equals, all entitled to be here. The problem is we are afflicted with a separateness of consciousness and the natural outcome of this is an me and them approach to life. It is our normal state and accepted, in fact encouraged as it suits those wishing to control and manipulate us. We must change, and change soon, and it will not be easy. Many religions encourage the ideals of caring and sharing but only within the group thus perpetuating selfishness. In this way the words of the great ones that have arisen among us have been corrupted and twisted to suit the selfishness of the group extension of self that develops. The message is then lost, the path blurs and damage is done, despite the good intentions of the many, who reel back saying "we only wanted to help." Sadly this results in an even more rigid group self extension.
We need to be more than ourselves, to put all creation before us rather than us before all creation. I have heard the argument for survival of the fittest. An entirely selfish idea. They say it is reflected in nature, but when I looked to nature all I saw was survival through cooperation. Nature works to the principle of a universal oneness were all work to the benefit others which brings benefit to all. Just to put the record straight here, I am not condemning religions or the people that follow them, I think many will reach a true understanding of the way it is no matter the path they take, just as a person that does not follow any religion but learns from observation of nature or listens to and understands their own inner voice.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A word or two on belief
I do not think it is a valid idea to have "faith" in a thing to the degree that you just hope against hope that a certain thing is true. Especially if you consider that any truth in this existence is at its best a half truth. We have the nature of the density of this realm to thank for this. The trouble is we as beings here seem to be unable to even half grasp half of a half truth.
In my time in this world I have observed a few things, one of the most basic is that the simpler a thing the more likely it is to be right. I like to live in peace with people, to me it is a simple path that requires no judgements other than that we do no harm to each other I do not care if you think hamsters will save the world or if you like to dance naked under the moon, regardless of what we believe or don't believe we should be able to coexist in peace. Many will say this is an impossible dream, and for them it will be! Why? Because that is the world they choose to live in. Their belief. Ultimately it is our choices, simple choices that define and create the world.
Fear is the biggest issue we as beings hold on to, we defend it and foster it, we fear everything and the system of control we live in encourages and enhances this at every turn. You are told everything is too hard, too complex, too difficult, just follow us, we will take care of the things that are too hard, too complex, too difficult and in time you believe it. You do as you are directed and you do so because you fear these things. But hold on, who is making things too hard, complex and difficult? Why the very ones that promise to make it easier if you will just do as they say. A simple deception that has worked on the masses for a millennia. A distraction in the guise of a belief preventing you from learning the Universal laws that allow you to mould your reality. Do you know what our biggest failure is? Not seeing what is in front of us, every day.
It is often said that love is the one force that surpasses all others and it is true, but it is understanding the type of love that does this. It is simple, it is unselfish love. Possibly the most difficult form as it requires that you leave yourself out of the equation. Many of us have doubts, these are often the result of our own egos. We defeat ourselves by seeing everything through a "me" filter.
Regardless of whether or not you believe it, your beliefs control your destiny. What you think and believe greatly affects your world and what you are in it, be that good or bad or anything in between. It is through our beliefs that we empower our intent and it is the force that changes our world to be what it is. It works like this, a belief itself is just an idea and has no real substance on its own, but we act according to our beliefs, and our actions do have effects. We see in our lives the results of our actions, these are things we can see and feel. It is important to understand this as the effects of our actions, which result from our beliefs, are exactly the things that we use to determine the value, good or bad, of any given belief.
For example if I am kind to you because I believe you are a member of my tribe, then that kindness is seen as real and true. A good belief. It is something we can know is good. Kind actions are transcendent of language or culture or whatever you see as truth. Likewise if i was cruel to you because I believed you were from another tribe, then those actions would be seen as a bad belief by you. The results of the beliefs are clear here but in our general day to day lives the results of our beliefs are rarely so obvious.
So what is a good belief? I think that to love in a unselfish way is a good belief. To care for others, to be compassionate, to be kind are all qualities of this belief. Unselfish love. A simple enough idea. If we can agree that this is a good belief and act upon it then it can be used as a guide to measure goodness for want of a better term. And if we adopt this measure then we could also use it as a standard to measure spirituality as surely any worth its name would adhere to these simple tenents.
In fact if unselfish love is the belief to follow it can be used as a measure of all beliefs. This is why we must analyse and compare the effects of our beliefs. Do our beliefs further the manifestation of unselfish love or restrict it? Do they cause harm, anger, hate? or tranquillity, love, healing? Discarding beliefs that fail to measure up is a fundamental step to change. People have and do use their beliefs as an excuse to hurt and murder other people who do not share their beliefs. If you stop and consider this you can clearly see it is a form of insanity. Just think of all the wasted lives and misery that has been fostered and committed in the name of certain beliefs. It is so much it is hard to get one's mind around it. Yet we think there is no power in belief it's just an idea!
When we discuss beliefs we often encounter opinions of truth, this is an area that presents many difficulties because what is truth? As beings existing in a state of separate consciousness we inevitably develop ideas about truth based on our observations and experiences. These are our points of view. The difficulty is that we all have different points of view as we all are different in makeup, experience and learning. We have all heard the story of the blind men and the elephant and quietly laughed at the foolishness of these blind men not realising the whole because of their not being able to see. But do any of us see? Picture an classic car in a parking lot that is perfect on one side but badly damaged on the other. Now picture two people passing this car on opposite sides on their way to their destination. One sees a perfect looking rolls and the other sees a damaged car of unknown heritage due to the damage. When they reach their destination if they are asked one would see the car as being perfect and valuable and the other would see it as a wreck and worth very little. Each has a point of view and each sees theirs as the truth.
Worse still they are both right and yet both wrong. Each view point is opposite from the other. This appears to be a paradox. It is only resolved when you can see the whole vehicle, which then becomes the greater truth. We have moved beyond each individuals point of view and thus we are able to reconcile the two vastly different points of view. This is the problem we face in this realm, we often only see at best one side of any give thing. In our example we see that one view had the car as being very valuable and the other viewed it as worthless. The new point lets us see the good and the bad and gives us a new understanding of the vehicle in that while it is true it is damaged it is also a classic, neither overly valuable or totally worthless.
So the more perspectives we can use the broader our points of view become the more we are able to form opinions and beliefs about our world. We must however be always on the alert for that other way of seeing. A persons point of view is affected by the programming the consciousness has been given and it is usually dominant. This varies with awareness either up or down and points of view change to match the new level of consciousness.
In my time in this world I have observed a few things, one of the most basic is that the simpler a thing the more likely it is to be right. I like to live in peace with people, to me it is a simple path that requires no judgements other than that we do no harm to each other I do not care if you think hamsters will save the world or if you like to dance naked under the moon, regardless of what we believe or don't believe we should be able to coexist in peace. Many will say this is an impossible dream, and for them it will be! Why? Because that is the world they choose to live in. Their belief. Ultimately it is our choices, simple choices that define and create the world.
Fear is the biggest issue we as beings hold on to, we defend it and foster it, we fear everything and the system of control we live in encourages and enhances this at every turn. You are told everything is too hard, too complex, too difficult, just follow us, we will take care of the things that are too hard, too complex, too difficult and in time you believe it. You do as you are directed and you do so because you fear these things. But hold on, who is making things too hard, complex and difficult? Why the very ones that promise to make it easier if you will just do as they say. A simple deception that has worked on the masses for a millennia. A distraction in the guise of a belief preventing you from learning the Universal laws that allow you to mould your reality. Do you know what our biggest failure is? Not seeing what is in front of us, every day.
It is often said that love is the one force that surpasses all others and it is true, but it is understanding the type of love that does this. It is simple, it is unselfish love. Possibly the most difficult form as it requires that you leave yourself out of the equation. Many of us have doubts, these are often the result of our own egos. We defeat ourselves by seeing everything through a "me" filter.
Regardless of whether or not you believe it, your beliefs control your destiny. What you think and believe greatly affects your world and what you are in it, be that good or bad or anything in between. It is through our beliefs that we empower our intent and it is the force that changes our world to be what it is. It works like this, a belief itself is just an idea and has no real substance on its own, but we act according to our beliefs, and our actions do have effects. We see in our lives the results of our actions, these are things we can see and feel. It is important to understand this as the effects of our actions, which result from our beliefs, are exactly the things that we use to determine the value, good or bad, of any given belief.
For example if I am kind to you because I believe you are a member of my tribe, then that kindness is seen as real and true. A good belief. It is something we can know is good. Kind actions are transcendent of language or culture or whatever you see as truth. Likewise if i was cruel to you because I believed you were from another tribe, then those actions would be seen as a bad belief by you. The results of the beliefs are clear here but in our general day to day lives the results of our beliefs are rarely so obvious.
So what is a good belief? I think that to love in a unselfish way is a good belief. To care for others, to be compassionate, to be kind are all qualities of this belief. Unselfish love. A simple enough idea. If we can agree that this is a good belief and act upon it then it can be used as a guide to measure goodness for want of a better term. And if we adopt this measure then we could also use it as a standard to measure spirituality as surely any worth its name would adhere to these simple tenents.
In fact if unselfish love is the belief to follow it can be used as a measure of all beliefs. This is why we must analyse and compare the effects of our beliefs. Do our beliefs further the manifestation of unselfish love or restrict it? Do they cause harm, anger, hate? or tranquillity, love, healing? Discarding beliefs that fail to measure up is a fundamental step to change. People have and do use their beliefs as an excuse to hurt and murder other people who do not share their beliefs. If you stop and consider this you can clearly see it is a form of insanity. Just think of all the wasted lives and misery that has been fostered and committed in the name of certain beliefs. It is so much it is hard to get one's mind around it. Yet we think there is no power in belief it's just an idea!
When we discuss beliefs we often encounter opinions of truth, this is an area that presents many difficulties because what is truth? As beings existing in a state of separate consciousness we inevitably develop ideas about truth based on our observations and experiences. These are our points of view. The difficulty is that we all have different points of view as we all are different in makeup, experience and learning. We have all heard the story of the blind men and the elephant and quietly laughed at the foolishness of these blind men not realising the whole because of their not being able to see. But do any of us see? Picture an classic car in a parking lot that is perfect on one side but badly damaged on the other. Now picture two people passing this car on opposite sides on their way to their destination. One sees a perfect looking rolls and the other sees a damaged car of unknown heritage due to the damage. When they reach their destination if they are asked one would see the car as being perfect and valuable and the other would see it as a wreck and worth very little. Each has a point of view and each sees theirs as the truth.
Worse still they are both right and yet both wrong. Each view point is opposite from the other. This appears to be a paradox. It is only resolved when you can see the whole vehicle, which then becomes the greater truth. We have moved beyond each individuals point of view and thus we are able to reconcile the two vastly different points of view. This is the problem we face in this realm, we often only see at best one side of any give thing. In our example we see that one view had the car as being very valuable and the other viewed it as worthless. The new point lets us see the good and the bad and gives us a new understanding of the vehicle in that while it is true it is damaged it is also a classic, neither overly valuable or totally worthless.
So the more perspectives we can use the broader our points of view become the more we are able to form opinions and beliefs about our world. We must however be always on the alert for that other way of seeing. A persons point of view is affected by the programming the consciousness has been given and it is usually dominant. This varies with awareness either up or down and points of view change to match the new level of consciousness.
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