What is your belief in regards to God?

[Rick O'Shez]

... pure consciousness?

What exactly do you mean by "pure consciousness"?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Actually, you experience the state of pure consciousness nightly during your sleep cycle - during the period of dreamless sleep. (I believe the Sanskrit term for it is "turiya.") You can also experience it during meditation or while under anesthesia. (If you are a practitioner of meditation, then you should be experiencing it regularly.) The point is that it is indistinguishable from unconsciousness.

Pure consciousness is indistinguishable from unconsciousness? I've never heard of a meditation method which aims to develop unconsciousness, what a strange idea.

 

[atanu]

Actually, you experience the state of pure consciousness nightly during your sleep cycle - during the period of dreamless sleep. (I believe the Sanskrit term for it is "turiya.") You can also experience it during meditation or while under anesthesia. (If you are a practitioner of meditation, then you should be experiencing it regularly.) The point is that it is indistinguishable from unconsciousness.

That is not correct representation of Turiya.

 

[allfoak]

God is the All.
The unknowable source.

 

[Timothy Bryce]

I probably consider the word "God" to be a metaphysical expression (kind of like a punctuation mark) that can be used to describe various things depending on the whim of the individual.

Some of the most sense I've been able to make out of "god" within this context is identifying "god" as the universe in its entirety; in which each individual perceives via their arbitrarily evolved senses, thereby creating a mirror-like state in which we are all our own individual "gods". I remember once rambling about how a person's drive to get up in the morning is literally their own personal "act of god" that they are exercising simply by sustaining their own life; essentially rendering the only "true atheists" to be suicide victims.

Consciousness and truth are fragile; the word or arbitrary conception of "god" seems to serve as a cushion in a lot of cases.

 

[Gambit]

What exactly do you mean by "pure consciousness"?

Being conscious of awareness itself and nothing else.

 

[Gambit]

Pure consciousness is indistinguishable from unconsciousness? I've never heard of a meditation method which aims to develop unconsciousness, what a strange idea.

I believe the Sanskrit term for this is "samadhi."

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

God is the All.
The unknowable source.

If it's unknowable, how could you know it's "the All" or a "source"?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

What is your belief in regards to God? Is it theistic, atheistic, or agnostic? (Please explain why for your choice.)

I am a theist because I believe "God" qualifies as the only explanation to the mystery of existence.

I believe that belief in god, in whatever myriad of ways that people define the term, is sufficiently explained by psychology and sociology. It's an understandable projection and wish of the human mind.

 

[Desert Snake]

I believe that belief in god, in whatever myriad of ways that people define the term, is sufficiently explained by psychology and sociology. It's an understandable projection and wish of the human mind.

Hi Mr Trout.

I believe that atheism or lack of belief in G-d is a projection and wish of the human mind. Also understandable.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Hi Mr Trout.

I believe that atheism or lack of belief in G-d is a projection and wish of the human mind. Also understandable.

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, no matter how unsupported.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Hi Mr Trout.

I believe that atheism or lack of belief in G-d is a projection and wish of the human mind. Also understandable.

Funny - I generally consider gods to br anthropomorhisms of people's ideas of things like virtue.

Why would somebody who believed in God wish that God didn't exist?

 

[Desert Snake]

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, no matter how unsupported.

Fair enough.

Funny - I generally consider gods to br anthropomorhisms of people's ideas of things like virtue.

Why would somebody who believed in God wish that God didn't exist?

Eh, well actually there are other reasons to believe in a Deity... Anyway, It can be done, however this does not mean that all Deities or G-d is some sort of projected idea from a viewpoint of anthropomorphizing ideas.

An atheist does not have to believe in a G-d, that is why they can project that non-belief onto their worldview, in the first place. Some one who secretly believes in a Deity, yet tries to convince themselves otherwise, is not technically an atheist. They are merely presenting that position, or holding that position against their ''actual'' belief.
There are various reasons to not believe in a deity, or rather to project that belief, and those are sometimes linked to the Ego.

 

[atanu]

That which is not uttered by speech, that by which the word is expressed,.......

 

[Jumi]

. Some one who secretly believes in a Deity, yet tries to convince themselves otherwise, is not technically an atheist. They are merely presenting that position, or holding that position against their ''actual'' belief.
There are various reasons to not believe in a deity, or rather to project that belief, and those are sometimes linked to the Ego.

I believe it is more common to not believe in a deity while professing belief than the other way around. When I was atheist I had just the lack of belief, no projection.

 

[Desert Snake]

I believe it is more common to not believe in a deity while professing belief than the other way around. When I was atheist I had just the lack of belief, no projection.

From your comments on the forums, I'm not sure to what degree you would be known as an ''atheist'', in the first place. From my biased perspective, /my personal experience/, atheism is linked to an actual belief that deity does not exist, period. There is nothing of a grey area, there, it's a very plain and direct statement. This, regardless of how long the person has held that idea, is clearly a projection of some sort, it's not merely a lack of belief, usually.

Hence, a projection, and if taken in the same regard as Theism, no less of a projection of an idea, certainly.

 

[viole]

There are various reasons to not believe in a deity, or rather to project that belief, and those are sometimes linked to the Ego.

The Ego?

Does not believing in a divinity, who allegedly created at least 100 billion galaxies (and all the rest) so that I could exist, has something to do with my Ego?

Ciao

- viole

 

[Jumi]

From your comments on the forums, I'm not sure to what degree you would be known as an ''atheist'', in the first place.

If it wasn't clear that's why I said "when I was an atheist."

I still do not have any beliefs on any deity that could interact with the physical universe.

From my biased perspective, /my personal experience/, atheism is linked to an actual belief that deity does not exist, period.

You accuse me and others of lying, because it doesn't fit your preconceptions. Your admittedly biased perspective is wrong. It is based on your lack of understanding of different perspectives and not listening to what others tell you.

 

[allfoak]

If it's unknowable, how could you know it's "the All" or a "source"?

It is the same relationship that a child has with a parent.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

An atheist does not have to believe in a G-d, that is why they can project that non-belief onto their worldview, in the first place.

"Projecting non-belief"? Isn't that just seeing what's actually there? Not imagining something extra?