Indeed - belief in God (or personal deity of choice) has lead peoples of all nations to commit unspeakable crimes... but the same could be said for the belief in just about anything (wealth, power, greed, etc) Nobody has a "clean" history... perhaps the closest to peace would be the Buddhism, but even there violence has happened https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_violence To me, personally, the idea is to try and be a better person - there is no real expectation of perfection, as that is nigh-impossible due to the human condition. It's why my wife and I, while identifying as Christian, incorporate parts of the Wiccan beliefs... including the Wiccan Rede, which is perhaps best summed up by this eight word line: An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will. There are many variations of the 'full' rede, but one of the most commonly accepted interpretations I know of:
I agree. Which, IMO, is due to our "decision making (moving) in the direction of greater satisfaction", a natural survival trait in every living thing (and perhaps even inanimate matter). But when combined with our seemingly unlimited ability to imagine "greater satisfaction", this drive has produced grotesque excesses in just about every human activity one can think of. Yes, when our desires become obsessive and greater than our needs, bad things tend to happen. A natural balance must be maintained. Most people will interpret that as a version of the Golden Rule, but the use of the phrase "Harm None" goes much deeper than interpersonal relationships among humans. It includes our environment as well. I find many secular values in Scripture (of all kinds). The "Seven Deadly Sins" and "As You Sow, so Shall You Reap" accurately identify the limitations to which we must hold ourselves, lest we become our own victim of "desire in the direction of greater satisfaction". The mathematical explanation can be found in the "Exponential Function".
Indeed - I think the Dali Lama said it well: "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."
My philosophy of life and model of behavior . . . I've always been kind of a pacifist. When I was a kid, my father told me, "Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it." - Russell Ziskey
Then there's no misunderstanding, I'm suggesting that space always exists, and time doesn't need to exist in an empty vacuum because as yet, there is no movement of energy Maybe space isn't created. Maybe it's just a field of random material energy, which can only be manifested by God. Thanks for the tip, but I'm not concerned with winning or scoring points. I'll leave that to you guys. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Let's try another thought exercise. Imagine a world completely without sentience. What would it look like? jan.
Honor places us at a crossroads of peace and dogma. Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the dreamscape via bio-electricity. Who are we? Where on the great circuit will we be aligned?
OK, we seem to agree that time is a concurrent result of "change". Time is a Universal "experience". Would you call that sentient? That sounds contradictory to me and is in conflict with hard data. If space is not created then how could energy pre-exist in any form, except as a Potential? Let me try to visualixe it. I call an infinite void a "timeless permittive condition with infinite potential", you call it God. We use different WORDS to define "That which came before reality", that's the difference. The BIG difference is that your definition of this timeless condition invokes an intelligent awareness. Bohm's Insight Intelligence. I agree with that also. But then you assert that this timeless pseudo-intelligence is Sentient and Motivated. That's where we part ways on this. My definition merely invokes a Mathematical Function. No need for ad hominem. It depends on the definition of "sentience". Mine is: Now look at the length of the web addy and see the written mathematical language of a purely logical intelligence, such as the Internet. It gets YOU there doesn't it? But where would a motivated God want go? In the direction of "greater satisfaction" or, knowledge ?
As Intelligent Hominids, just one form of the mathematical Expression of Infinite Potential. The Implicate and the Explicate.
In other words, we are in the midst of a self-aware blossoming of non-locality that will remove the barriers to the infinite itself. We are at a crossroads of synchronicity and desire.
Humans are, not the Universe. And we can already see the results of human desires on this little ball. The mathematical function will sort it all out, it has infinite wisdom. p.s. how about; one plus one equals two, but desires time to complete the function..
The complexity of the present time seems to demand a redefining of our lives if we are going to survive.
potential - 1. latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness. 2. the quantity determining the energy of mass in a gravitational field or of charge in an electric field. If there happens to be a paint brush, paints, and a canvas lying around, the potential is there to create a painting. But this is achieved when an intelligence is present. The instruments on their own cannot achieve that, no matter how long they are there. I call that the sum total of material energy, not God. I comprehend God to be pure consciousness, whose nature is pure spirit. It's not the condition that possesses intelligent awareness, but the cause that gives rise to the manifestation. IOW the manifestation is activated by the presence of God, just as the body is can be said to be alive while the spirit is present. I don't get how it does. For His pleasure, and for our benefit. jan.
It is indeed possible that God is a fictional concept - that's what makes it such a problem to prove either way - we are, after all, talking about an entity that could present him/her/itself as anything... or as nothing. What is to say that presentation is not based on belief? That's the great mystery in the end