Yada Yada / The Off Topic Arena

What people need to understand is that most religious texts used very dumbed down language to describe difficult theological and ontological concepts so the average uneducated peasant Joe Sixpack and Ma Kettle { those that lived 700 years ago } could get their heads around it. There has also been a lot of polluted garbled interpretations swaying more towards human control systems. { reincarnation edited out of the new Testament by way of example }

I have no issue with people who think there is "God" who gives a crap about them. Perhaps there is.

I knew a guy once who lost his faith in God when he got lost in the Alaskan wilderness and prayed and prayed for God to save his life. His prayers went unanswered. Instead 2 eskimos saved his life.

The Vedic system has a more interesting and thought provoking insight into "God". { Buddhism actually developed from Vedantic thought }. The Vedas refer to our God as ParaBrahman roughly translated as Supreme Consciousness. Follow the logic. They believe that each component in the creation [ seemingly separate and individualized } is actually conscious and in connected hierachy. For example they believe rocks are "conscious" - conscious enough to at least hold their form as a rock. Above a rock a higher form - a flowering plant which displays a type of simple consciousness that responds to light, water, pollinating bees etc Above a flowering plant.. a mouse..If you place a mouse on a railway track it may attempt to move away as the train approaches , the flower and the rock not so.. Above the mouse - a dog which can be taught tricks.. Above a dog a human.. And so on and on.

Now here is the clincher. The Vedic analysis recognizes that in fact the whole universe of separate conscious elements are all integrated as one thing - the analogy here is a human body - made up of many separate components such as cells etc but all acting in unison to be one whole thing. That the universe is in fact a conscious universe { John Wheeler the Quantum physicist wrote some interesting books on this very subject - in fact consciousness itself is a critical part of the Quantum universe] and no coincidence that Werner Heisenberg and Nils Bohr and David Bohm were avid students of the Vedas..

Paul Tillichs God defined as "the ground of being" I feel is not so far off the vedic thought. Here we have God as not a material object or thing that can be measured but a sort of essence and in fact a conscious essence.. the final source and ground of consciousness and being itself.

Its these theological concepts that had the Kabbalists refusing to mention God as a blasphemy as it is in a sense beyond our limited rational understanding.. If you say God it cannot in fact be God. Tillich wrote alot about this. This in no way denies what is perhaps the only absolute that conscious undertsanding can fathom or why in fact Buddha neither affirmed nor denied God - when asked if God existed

However approaching God conceptually and ontologically in this type of way is not in fact sloppy thinking or merely talking about a sort of giant father xmas in the sky

 

Your after life is the same as a deep sleep with no dreams, no color, no taste and no nothing! You can't even feel the worms eating the flesh off your body! And if you are not a Catholic of Muslim you have less chance of seeing anything lol. I think I am doomed!

 

"No nothing " is a double negative = a positive value or something

 

Maybe he means Not Anything

 

Not quite off topic , But Merry Xmas fella's . hope everyone is well and happy , Wrye , PatO, JP, Alex, and everyone else., cheers to all ......Tony

 

Nice to see you Pop in Tony, Hope things are going well there, When are next here?

 

Don't know for sure JP , we were there in April for a couple of weeks , maybe june or july next year , we will have to catch up for a beer ,
Shawn is back in Jan some time but don't think we can get there then. His house is looking really good .
How is Pat ?

 

Happy holidays Tony, nice to see you are back on the forum. Hope to catch up with you guys when you make it back. Our best to your family.