Your view of this quote

[Entil'Zha]

This is a quote from the show Babylon 5. Wanted to see everyone's reaction's to it.

"If I take a lamp and shine toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. To often we assume the light on the wall is god. But the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, see nothing. What we perceive as God is the by produce of our search for god. It may simply be an appreciation of the light, pure and unblemished. Not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes, we stand in front of the light and assume we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do or turn to look at our shadow and assume all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and all it flaws. And in so doing better understand the world around us."
- G'Kar: Meditations on the Abyss

 

[Runt]

Hmm... true in so many ways...but the passage does not take the analogy to its fullest possibilities...

First, that wall is there whether or not you can see it... and that by seeing it you are still only understanding PART of its "reality" (you still have not touched, tasted or smelled that wall, and you do not have the senses of other creatures with which to explore and understand it). And, limited as we are by our human bodies, we never WILL have all the senses of other creatures (not even as acute senses that we may share with other creatures), nor all the senses POSSIBLE with which to "experience" that wall... and limited as we are by our human perception, we cannot decide for sure what the nature of that wall is, even when it is right before us. One may say "It is rock", another "It is matter", another "it is energy"...

 

[Lightkeeper]

I have heard it said that we are all the center of the Universe. I agree with Runt in that what we are seeking is already there, it's a matter of opening our eyes to perceive it. I don't believe that there is an end to the searching or a goal to be accomplished.

 

[Isis]

I agree with Lightkeeper in the sence that there is no goal or endpoint to be achieved. It is indeed the journey that gives us most, not the truth we see from it. In fact, i don't believe in solid truths, becasue as soon as you define something it changes (the only constant thing in this world is change) and if it no longer fits the definition than the truth we searched so long for becoems a burden instead of a release. Trying to define something puts it in a box and slices off all the other possible interpretations, blinding us to many (possibley good) views on a certian subject.

 

[Alaric]

I agree that when people 'find God' they are not really 'finding God' but only finding an interpretation of what they perceive that appeals to them. I don't agree that allowing ourselves to get in the way is really possible, though.

 

[jonjohnrob11]

i suggest u read dark night of the soul. it would illuminate deeper thought.