dfnj
Well-Known Member
There's a Buddhist saying, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him!" I've always interpreted this to mean when it comes to opinions about spirituality absolute authority comes from within. After claiming absolute authority comes from within, I will often tell people anyone who tells you differently is either trying to sell you something or trying to get you to join the power structure of their cult.
Recently during a conversation with some evangelicals I’ve been saying, “I believe absolute authority comes from within” probably too many times. After hearing their comments, I started thinking maybe what I am saying is not so obvious. So, I started really thinking about what absolute authority from within really means. I've been thinking about this idea what is the source from within or what is the source of our thoughts.
Many people believe consciousness is a delusion. Many people think of our consciousness with a computer metaphor. What we experience as thoughts is the running of a computer program. Everything making of our minds is a side effect emanating from the material of our brains. And there are parts of our brain that correspond to parts of a computer like memory and MPU. People who believe consciousness is a delusion claim our mind only exists and will only ever exist within the material of our brain. And therefore, there is no soul, no one is psychic, and there is no such thing as telepathy.
The thing is after over 100+ years of research we have no clear idea how memory works inside our brains. I recently read somewhere our brains are more like an analog radio receiver than a computer. Our brains process signals coming from the Universe and from within our own minds. And our thoughts are the result of an interpretation of signals. Also, at the same time our thoughts are a transmission of a signal back to the Universe. And even further, with this model, our memories are part of collective field of energy existing in some higher dimension which we tap into it. The idea is our memories do not necessarily exist entirely within the material substance of our brains.
I have seen this idea of our brains being more like an analog radio receiver being used as a possible explanation of the Flynn effect:
Flynn effect - Wikipedia
There are people who have researched this way of thinking. I read book title, “Living in a mindful Universe” by Eben Alexander. He describes his story of being in a coma with no measurable brain activity and then coming back with memories and profound insights into the nature consciousness. He was a staunch materialist who then did a complete 180 degree turn after his own near death experiences.
Lately I’ve been studying panpsychism. In the philosophy of the mind panpsychism is the idea consciousness is a fundamental part of existence. With panpsychism there is a mind-like aspect to every organization of matter in the Universe.
Panpsychism - Wikipedia
Criticisms of panpsychism is it leads to many bizarre theories that cannot be empirically tested. But who wants to be a “square” living within a box of narrow-minded views? Having a filter of only accepting ideas that can be empirically tested is boring. People who are boring never get invited to parties! Thinking outside the box is the spice of life! I am drawn to panpsychism because it helps me to frame my understanding of what I consider to be some of the more stranger aspects of our experiences being here.
Combine panpsychism with the negentropic principle and the purpose of our Universe and the purpose of evolution is the creation of consciousness so the Universe can experience itself with greater and greater levels of complexity and beauty.
I’ve been thinking about what the source of all our thoughts is and our relationship to it. Many people claim authority about spirituality can only come from somewhere out-there. Somewhere along the line I hooked into the idea of killing the Buddha. For many years I’ve been resonating with the idea absolute authority comes from within with regards to our opinions about God and spirituality.
I don’t mean this is the sense of having an over weaning ego. I don’t mean it in the sense of being an arrogant bully to other people and their beliefs. I mean it the sense each of us is on our own path with our spiritual awakening. No one can take the journey for you. The answer to our spirituality is not out-there. We have everything we need to figure out who we are and our place in the Universe from within. I will go further and make a leap of intuition and say unless you do the hard work yourself you will not successfully achieve the result.
People often use a mirror metaphor to describe the nature of our minds. When our mind is cluttered with emotions and thoughts of this and that our mirror is dirty. We are not able to get a clear vision of who we are when our mirror is dirty. Our connection to the source of all consciousness is clouded by a having a dirty mirror. It’s probably more like lens or a two-mirror where some of the information is coming through from the other side beyond the mirror.
So, I’ve been thinking about this idea where does the source of all our thoughts come from. Many theists have claimed to have had profound experiences which is the reason or cause of their belief in God. I’ve heard people claim there are moments where one feels a presence of something bigger and more transcendent that just our normal experience of reality. I’ve been resonating on the idea that the source of all our thoughts is coming from this transcendent mind. And where things get fouled up is in our interpretation of the signal which gets distorted by our lens or our mirror being dirty.
I’ve been also recently resonating with the idea of the Holy Trinity. The trinity is thought of as three different aspects of the same one God. The Father God part is thought of as the ground of all being. Father God is the ultimate consciousness. Father God is the ultimate source of being. God is the "I am the I am".
Father God is differentiated from two other functions in the World. There is the principle of Form. The principle of Form is known at the Word of God. The Word of God is the division of all things. God divides the whole into parts, light from darkness, Heaven from Earth, etc. The principle of form is also known as the Son where the Son is a separate from Father God.
The third function is the principle of Energy. This is brought about by God speaking or the breath of God. God said, "Let there be light" etc. This is experienced as movement and change. Or the experience of time itself. The breath of God is what flows through all of existence. This is also known as the Holy Spirit.
God is one but composed of all three of these aspects. God is often thought of as being an old man with a long white beard who acts like a tyrant king. I think this is the wrong view. There is a knowable part of God. And then there is an unknowable part of God which transcends all thoughts and experience. Both parts are necessary in understanding the idea of God.
I’ve been resonating with the idea of Apophatic theology or negative theology. With this way of thinking God cannot be defined with words. We can only speak about God in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. This is combined with cataphatic theology which attempts to define the knowable parts of God. The Holy Trinity is composed of a relationship between these two types of theology. I really like this quote as an insight into the nature of God:
"Dionysius describes the kataphatic or affirmative way to the divine as the "way of speech": that we can come to some understanding of the Transcendent by attributing all the perfections of the created order to God as its source. In this sense, we can say "God is Love", "God is Beauty", "God is Good". The apophatic or negative way stresses God's absolute transcendence and unknowability in such a way that we cannot say anything about the divine essence because God is so totally beyond being. The dual concept of the immanence and transcendence of God can help us to understand the simultaneous truth of both "ways" to God: at the same time as God is immanent, God is also transcendent. At the same time as God is knowable, God is also unknowable. God cannot be thought of as one or the other only"
I’ve also been resonating with the philosophical idea called, “unity of opposites.” A unity of opposites is the idea that meaning only can come from having two opposites locked in a field of tension or relationship. This is the idea of the famous Taoist yin-yang symbol.
The unity of opposites is described as a revelation of the oneness of things previously thought to be different as seen in relationship to each other. But from a more transcendent view is the realization the two only have meaning in relationship to each other.
Unity of opposites - Wikipedia
So, I believe the three aspects of God form a unity of opposites. There is dance going on between the principle of form and the principle of energy. And behind it all or transcending it is the Father God part which is the ground of all being.
The ritual of communion is intended to experience the Holy Trinity in the moment. The body of Christ is the word of God, the blood of Christ is the Holy Spirit, and the ritual is meant for us to appreciate or have an experience of the presence of Father God in the moment.
Recently during a conversation with some evangelicals I’ve been saying, “I believe absolute authority comes from within” probably too many times. After hearing their comments, I started thinking maybe what I am saying is not so obvious. So, I started really thinking about what absolute authority from within really means. I've been thinking about this idea what is the source from within or what is the source of our thoughts.
Many people believe consciousness is a delusion. Many people think of our consciousness with a computer metaphor. What we experience as thoughts is the running of a computer program. Everything making of our minds is a side effect emanating from the material of our brains. And there are parts of our brain that correspond to parts of a computer like memory and MPU. People who believe consciousness is a delusion claim our mind only exists and will only ever exist within the material of our brain. And therefore, there is no soul, no one is psychic, and there is no such thing as telepathy.
The thing is after over 100+ years of research we have no clear idea how memory works inside our brains. I recently read somewhere our brains are more like an analog radio receiver than a computer. Our brains process signals coming from the Universe and from within our own minds. And our thoughts are the result of an interpretation of signals. Also, at the same time our thoughts are a transmission of a signal back to the Universe. And even further, with this model, our memories are part of collective field of energy existing in some higher dimension which we tap into it. The idea is our memories do not necessarily exist entirely within the material substance of our brains.
I have seen this idea of our brains being more like an analog radio receiver being used as a possible explanation of the Flynn effect:
Flynn effect - Wikipedia
There are people who have researched this way of thinking. I read book title, “Living in a mindful Universe” by Eben Alexander. He describes his story of being in a coma with no measurable brain activity and then coming back with memories and profound insights into the nature consciousness. He was a staunch materialist who then did a complete 180 degree turn after his own near death experiences.
Lately I’ve been studying panpsychism. In the philosophy of the mind panpsychism is the idea consciousness is a fundamental part of existence. With panpsychism there is a mind-like aspect to every organization of matter in the Universe.
Panpsychism - Wikipedia
Criticisms of panpsychism is it leads to many bizarre theories that cannot be empirically tested. But who wants to be a “square” living within a box of narrow-minded views? Having a filter of only accepting ideas that can be empirically tested is boring. People who are boring never get invited to parties! Thinking outside the box is the spice of life! I am drawn to panpsychism because it helps me to frame my understanding of what I consider to be some of the more stranger aspects of our experiences being here.
Combine panpsychism with the negentropic principle and the purpose of our Universe and the purpose of evolution is the creation of consciousness so the Universe can experience itself with greater and greater levels of complexity and beauty.
I’ve been thinking about what the source of all our thoughts is and our relationship to it. Many people claim authority about spirituality can only come from somewhere out-there. Somewhere along the line I hooked into the idea of killing the Buddha. For many years I’ve been resonating with the idea absolute authority comes from within with regards to our opinions about God and spirituality.
I don’t mean this is the sense of having an over weaning ego. I don’t mean it in the sense of being an arrogant bully to other people and their beliefs. I mean it the sense each of us is on our own path with our spiritual awakening. No one can take the journey for you. The answer to our spirituality is not out-there. We have everything we need to figure out who we are and our place in the Universe from within. I will go further and make a leap of intuition and say unless you do the hard work yourself you will not successfully achieve the result.
People often use a mirror metaphor to describe the nature of our minds. When our mind is cluttered with emotions and thoughts of this and that our mirror is dirty. We are not able to get a clear vision of who we are when our mirror is dirty. Our connection to the source of all consciousness is clouded by a having a dirty mirror. It’s probably more like lens or a two-mirror where some of the information is coming through from the other side beyond the mirror.
So, I’ve been thinking about this idea where does the source of all our thoughts come from. Many theists have claimed to have had profound experiences which is the reason or cause of their belief in God. I’ve heard people claim there are moments where one feels a presence of something bigger and more transcendent that just our normal experience of reality. I’ve been resonating on the idea that the source of all our thoughts is coming from this transcendent mind. And where things get fouled up is in our interpretation of the signal which gets distorted by our lens or our mirror being dirty.
I’ve been also recently resonating with the idea of the Holy Trinity. The trinity is thought of as three different aspects of the same one God. The Father God part is thought of as the ground of all being. Father God is the ultimate consciousness. Father God is the ultimate source of being. God is the "I am the I am".
Father God is differentiated from two other functions in the World. There is the principle of Form. The principle of Form is known at the Word of God. The Word of God is the division of all things. God divides the whole into parts, light from darkness, Heaven from Earth, etc. The principle of form is also known as the Son where the Son is a separate from Father God.
The third function is the principle of Energy. This is brought about by God speaking or the breath of God. God said, "Let there be light" etc. This is experienced as movement and change. Or the experience of time itself. The breath of God is what flows through all of existence. This is also known as the Holy Spirit.
God is one but composed of all three of these aspects. God is often thought of as being an old man with a long white beard who acts like a tyrant king. I think this is the wrong view. There is a knowable part of God. And then there is an unknowable part of God which transcends all thoughts and experience. Both parts are necessary in understanding the idea of God.
I’ve been resonating with the idea of Apophatic theology or negative theology. With this way of thinking God cannot be defined with words. We can only speak about God in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. This is combined with cataphatic theology which attempts to define the knowable parts of God. The Holy Trinity is composed of a relationship between these two types of theology. I really like this quote as an insight into the nature of God:
"Dionysius describes the kataphatic or affirmative way to the divine as the "way of speech": that we can come to some understanding of the Transcendent by attributing all the perfections of the created order to God as its source. In this sense, we can say "God is Love", "God is Beauty", "God is Good". The apophatic or negative way stresses God's absolute transcendence and unknowability in such a way that we cannot say anything about the divine essence because God is so totally beyond being. The dual concept of the immanence and transcendence of God can help us to understand the simultaneous truth of both "ways" to God: at the same time as God is immanent, God is also transcendent. At the same time as God is knowable, God is also unknowable. God cannot be thought of as one or the other only"
I’ve also been resonating with the philosophical idea called, “unity of opposites.” A unity of opposites is the idea that meaning only can come from having two opposites locked in a field of tension or relationship. This is the idea of the famous Taoist yin-yang symbol.
The unity of opposites is described as a revelation of the oneness of things previously thought to be different as seen in relationship to each other. But from a more transcendent view is the realization the two only have meaning in relationship to each other.
Unity of opposites - Wikipedia
So, I believe the three aspects of God form a unity of opposites. There is dance going on between the principle of form and the principle of energy. And behind it all or transcending it is the Father God part which is the ground of all being.
The ritual of communion is intended to experience the Holy Trinity in the moment. The body of Christ is the word of God, the blood of Christ is the Holy Spirit, and the ritual is meant for us to appreciate or have an experience of the presence of Father God in the moment.
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