concise and accurate

Most of the Bible in my honest opinion is metaphorical just like a lot of major Hindu scripture. A lot of scripture is written by devotees/disciples and isn't even the "word of" Christ/Buddha/Krishna/etc.

Who is the "I" in the Bible. Is it God? or is it just you? Is it not you reading a book in your own mind?

Who is the "We" in the Bible? Honest questions!

What I'm saying about the "fear" isn't a bad thing at all. Like I said that's why the Abrahamic faiths have been so successful. Hindus and Buddhist really don't give a shit if anyone believes them that's why their culture/story is preserved word for word and has never been manipulated like the Abrahamic texts which have been manipulated thousands of times. That's why they are constantly in-fighting to this very day to the point of dragging us into a World War. The Hindus and Buddhist didn't go crusading or "spreading the gospel". If you want to know about it cool. If not. That's fine too. I was raised Catholic and practice a philosophy called Vedanta. Vedanta basically means the "end of knowledge". You eventually come to a point where arguing about whose god is the true god is laughable. It's the same God we just all call it by different names. The definition of God is totally different across all religions but they are all trying to get you to see that underlying truth. You are that. You can fight it. You can run from it. You can worship it. You can love it or hate it. Inevitably you end there. On God. What's left to know if you've studied all things? The one thing people never take the time to fully understand. God.

It's not likely to happen, that all conscious life dies at once, but it is a real possibility and thus not one of fantasy. This idea of 'creation' and 'gift' and 'divine spark' is fantasy though; it is wish fulfilment and death denial. To the best of our current understanding, consciousness is merely an emergent, evolved trait that increased our ability to survive and to develop and maintain complex thought processes and social constructions. It also facilitates expedited learning due to our capacity to experience the qualia of suffering.

I agree with most of that, well said by the way.

When I say "creation" / "gift" / "divine spark" that is my feeble attempt using the English language to try and put words onto what is not expressible with the human language. If I used Sanskrit terms it'd make more sense but I'm not trying to prove a point I'm simply stating what is.

No one denies death but they definitely fear it because they don't understand it. Have you read the Egyptian Book of the Dead? Really hits it on the head!

Yes most of them are fantastical stories to try and get you to see an underlying truth.

That truth being you are here now and have all the mental/physical faculties that your "master" had. Buddha said it. Jesus said it. Krishna said it. We are all one and the same. We've all been given life so be humble. Be even more humble if you were born into a position like most of us posting here where we can literally download every religious text on our phone and read it(even if just to read).

&&& yet most people don't do it because that is their tendency. I want to understand. I want to know. But lay it out for me please. I'm an idiot. I'm a sinner. I'm powerless. I'm nothing. So it's all YOU the whole time and until you admit it's not about YOU it's very hard to see.

That's what Jesus and Buddha were saying. Stop this "I" non sense. Just because you were given a name at birth doesn't make you separate from existence itself.

The whole reason the planet and society is fucked and crumbling has a lot more to do with the selfishness of ego. As we discussed in the post about "greedy billionaires" and what not. Delusions of grandeur. Some little village kid in India can say "I'm God" and it hurts no one and maybe gives him some peace. Now when an immensely rich person says, I'm God" and acts upon it. Shit really happens.

That's why I put most the blame for the state of our planet on the Abrahamic faiths(it's not personal). I am a Catholic. We just destroyed "nature" which is "god" and now we just make excuses sort of like people saying in the Bible, "God said you have dominion over all the living things". Did that "God" mean rape and pillage the planet for material gain(what happened) or as Native Americans put it, "Respect nature because without it we are all dead".

Why is Revelation being fullfilled? Because we still don't know who we are. If we all did. Who could do such terrible things?

This post was edited by SwamiVivekananda on Apr 5 2024 01:46pm

People do deny death though, in that they engage in fantasy to suggest there is some afterlife, continuation, rebirth, Oneness, etc. There is not even "nothing" in death, as "nothing" is experiential. It is completely ineffible, not because it is beyond comprehension but because there is no quality to it.

That's why I said there are no words in the English language to even express what we are both talking about.

What you are saying is basic Advaita/non-dualism where every question has a logical response.

That's why some will say when you realize that you should fall silent in total bliss because you actually "get it". Your ego is gone and you don't need convincing and you don't need to convince anyone.

Buddha actually said something along the lines of, "If I tried to explain it I would be doing it the most terrible injustice" because it's not meant to be anything but experienced.

&&& that's why westerners or just ignorant people think "enlightenment" is gaining "magic powers" when in reality all it is is quieting your mind and getting to a thoughtless state.

That's why 99% of people are not meant to walk that path. They want to get something out of it. That's their ego working in the mind. In reality you are suppose to lose it all lol.

This post was edited by SwamiVivekananda on Apr 5 2024 01:58pm

I think we view the ineffibility differently. There's nothing 'to get'. Enlightment via the relinquishing of the illusion of self can generate a subjective value to those who walk that path, but it is still a way of coping. I think Albert Camus was right when he said the primary philosophical question is that of suicide. Everything beyond that is absurdity.

This post was edited by Handcuffs on Apr 5 2024 02:09pm

Did you ever see that toast with Jesus on it though

Perhaps the closest I've ever come to doubting my atheism. Toast is very, very good.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Mainly, Jesus toast.