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BS: Religious Question: Life After Death
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Subject: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,Jason Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:01 PM This is a serious question. I'm not religious, although I have been in the past, and I'm fairly widely read on religious topics. Depending on which religious belief you hold, the fate of your soul after death differs. Almost all religions suggest some future, many of which last for eternity. Personally, I don't want eternity. When I die I (obviously) don't want to burn in hell, but I'm not too keen on 'heaven' or 'nivarna' either. When death comes, I just want to die and go to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die just yet, or for many years to come. The thought of rebirth or eternal struggle or indeed eternal Christian happiness just don't appeal. If God loves me, I should at least be given a choice of being just dead. Any thoughts? jason
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Murray MacLeod Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:06 PM My thought on this is "Che sera, sera". Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:13 PM I've run into a number of Christians who have found themselves staring slackjawed at clear and real memories from other life cycles. I am sure there are cases in the other direction, for that matter. None I've met though. I submit that it is a lot more important to have your act in good order and be ready for anything than it is which bunch of symbols or speculations you borrow; why not just find out for yourself? Pay your bills, clean up your unforgiven and unforgiving past connections, put your house in order and document your wishes and your belongings such that another could step in and take care of your business for you. Once you have done that, and told those you love that you so do, well, let them chips fall where they may. Your desire to "just go to sleep forever" indicates to me you're already retreating and you seem afraid you might have to wake up and take a tad of responsibility in some area where you had hoped to avoid dealing with it. Frankly I think you're outta luck as far as ducking out easily is concerned -- you can face things now or face 'em later, and I don't think the Universe as a whole minds one way or the other. But facing them later includes a lot of pain involved with coming out of self-imposed anaesthesia, which you're better off avoiding! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,cretinous yahoo Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:18 PM Only the body dies. The essence goes on forever. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Bill D Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:31 PM good choice of name, Mr. yahoo! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:37 PM If there is reincarnation, I would like to be a fish, or maybe a bird,I am not too sure which yet.john |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Little Hawk Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:45 PM I essentially agree with Amos and GUEST-cy as stated above. The many spiritual materials I've studied suggest a lot of possible afterlife and between-life experiences. In other words, I don't think there is just one...or just two...alternate possible destinations for the Self (eternal spirit) when it has departed the body. There are probably an infinite number of possible after-life conditions, just as there are an infinite number of embodied conditions here. As above, so below. The "tamasic" personality, as described in the great spiritual writings of India, is primarily motivated by inertia...and just wants to go to sleep. This is very typical of me when I'm experiencing depression. I want to avoid the rigors and demands of reality and go to sleep. Many people feel this way about death...looking forward to a long, unbroken rest. Whether they have such and option in spirit for a while, I don't know. Maybe. But I suspect they will soon find themselves back in the challenges of a new physical existence. Until you've mastered the physical existence, you cannot transcend it at will. As long as you still find it burdensome, you haven't mastered it. You talk about what you "want". We all have our wants, but what we invariably get is what we NEED, not necessarily what we want. I hear that what distinguishes the enlightened soul is that it has reached the point of having equanimity toward its existence...it is no longer driven by "wants", but by a calm and joyful acceptance of what is...at all times. That's the same as to say "Not my will, but Thine". When the soul realizes that it truly IS God, individualized, then it no longer needs anything, because it already has everything...regardless of outer conditions. Now, I realize all that hasn't helped one bit to give you the answer you obviously desire. Feel free to believe not one word of it. No problem for me. I don't demand conformity in such things, because everyone is on his own unique path toward understanding existence, in his own unique way. May you find fulfillment and happiness in the way that suits you. - LH |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,Jason Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:01 PM I'm not depressed at all, I'm fairly young and very happy with life. I just hope that death will mirror how I felt before I was born, i.e. I won't know about it Jason |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,khandu Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:11 PM Enjoy today. LIVE today. However it may be in the hearafter, you cannot change it. God grant serenity to accept that which I cannot change. khandu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,Celtic Soul Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:15 PM Hey, Jason. I don't know if this will help, but the way I think about it is this; I don't know what *exactly* is in store for me in the afterlife. I am a very spiritual person, and believe in my path, however, I don't think there is any way to describe the afterlife adequately in the here and now in a way that we material and stuck in linear time beings will understand. Whatever it is you can imagine eternity to be? That aint it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: bbc Date: 01 Jul 01 - 11:25 PM I agree w/ Celtic Soul. I happen to be coming from a Christian belief system, but I'm rational enoough to admit that I really won't know what comes after this life until it ends (if then). As others have said, what you believe or what you would like to be isn't nearly as important as how you live the here & now. I try to live each day in such a way that I will be content if it is my last. best, bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 01 Jul 01 - 11:49 PM Or maybe been cat would be nice, What would other people like to be? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: catspaw49 Date: 02 Jul 01 - 12:11 AM Well penned Beebs! And it is that humanity that is so widely shared here at the 'Cat that allows us to be friends (often unmet). Living today in a way that leaves you content is by far the most important thing we can do......treating each other as humane human beings. Living this life to get to the next always seemed such a ludicrous concept. Leave no shame now and you'll have none tomorrow. Jason, when I was younger, as is generally true of younger days, I thought little of my own mortality and questions of afterlife and the like were well removed from my mind. One particular passage from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu prayer, struck me as most important and spoke of the way life could be............
In battle, in forest, Spaw
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: DougR Date: 02 Jul 01 - 01:01 AM Good thinking , Barb! Jason, it's possible that you might be able to bargain with God, but just telling him/her you just want to be dead doesn't show a lot of imagination, or ambition, I think. DougR |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: DougR Date: 02 Jul 01 - 01:04 AM With my luck, I'll probably be shut up in a room filled with liberals led by Kendall, Fionn, Greg F., kat, Spaw, Rick, Mousethief, and others who will chant in unison, "Had you been more liberal, you never would have ended up here!" :>) DougR |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Justa Picker Date: 02 Jul 01 - 01:15 AM Either there's something else - and you'll know about it....or, there's nothing else, in which case you won't. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Ebbie Date: 02 Jul 01 - 02:05 AM In a slick sweep to the side: I love the headline I once saw on a National Enquirer/Globe/World type of tabloid. (I would't put money in the pockets of those rags but I get a tremendous kick out of some of their covers.) The headline proclaimed: "Life After Death! GUARANTEED!" My thought was that if there is life after death, there is no need to collect. If there is not life after death, just who is going to come back to collect? S/He is DEAD... The guarantee sounds pretty un-assailable to me. :) Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: catspaw49 Date: 02 Jul 01 - 02:24 AM JP, that about sums it up as far as it goes for me too. Anesthesia during surgery is always amazing to me because I have never had any recollection of dreams or anything that I usually do during normal sleep. I mean, you're just completely zapped and when you wake up there is absolutely no sense of time. You might have been out 3 minutes or 3 hours. I've had the experience more times than I want to remember, but it still amazes me....the complete "blankness" of it all. On three of these occasions, my body has been chilled and my heart stopped which, without the outside equipment, classifies as death. Still, the entire thing is blank to me afterwards so evidently whomever it might be (or not) who runs the "Afterlife Express" has taken modern medical technology into account. I guess you don't get a ticket unless it's the "real thing"............Like Arlo sings, "When you got a ticket on that last train to Glory, you'll know you're reasonably there." What bothers me though is exactly what JP said in a way.......Since its such a blank, how do I know? This last thing, the "valve job" 10 days ago, had the strong possibility that I might not make it through surgery and thanks to the many good thoughts, prayers, and whatever of the great folks here at the 'Cat and the skill of the surgical team I had no trouble at all. Going into it however, I couldn't help but consider that 6/20/01 might also be the date on my death certificate. This one too was a complete and total blank but in this case my first and what seemed to be my immediate thought upon coming to was, "HEY!!! I'm alive!" I know it was the first and most immediate thought because my next was, "Geeze, does this ever hurt or what????" The point is that how would I have known if it went the other way? Seems to me that if you're hanging about the train station and you don't get a ticket, you should at least get to bring the schedule or a travel brochure or something back here with you.............. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: catspaw49 Date: 02 Jul 01 - 02:25 AM I think we just made the same point Ebbie!!!! Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: kendall Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:05 PM Hey! what am I doing in this basket? where am I going? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Kim C Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:21 PM I'm with the cretinous yahoo on this one. And I try to keep an open mind about what happens to that essence. When I find out, I won't be able to tell nobody. ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Linda Kelly Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:34 PM Guys perhaps this is the afterlife -that's a knee-jerking ,fill your underpants kinda feeling ain't it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Kim C Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:35 PM hmmmmmmmm.............................. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Rick Fielding Date: 02 Jul 01 - 05:49 PM HEY DOUG! Not to worry, sounds like pretty good company to me. I'll be your "buffer", 'cause I'm the "cynical" Liberal. I'll bring my books on Anarchy, cause the older I get I think my real leaning is to the "Anti-Most Party". If I didn't think the human condition was so funny, I'd be well on the way to Curmudgeon status! Rick |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: MarkS Date: 02 Jul 01 - 08:50 PM We can't return, we can only look Behind at yesterday, And go round and round In the Circle Game -- Joni Mitchell So make sure your circles spin true. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Peter T. Date: 02 Jul 01 - 09:18 PM It seems to me that things are much, much stranger than we can think. Since we have nothing to work with except our experience of this life (as far as I can tell) we cannot know what life is. In that sense, we know no more about what life is than what death is, since we have nothing to compare it with. We feel that our experiences matter, that they cohere, but there is no independent touchstone against which to judge them. Perhaps we will look back on this existence as a hard prelude to something so far above wonderful that we cannot imagine it. We will think how pathetically unaware we were. Or perhaps we will be angels who long -- as in Wings of Desire -- for the lack of knowing what will happen next, the drunken desire for sunrises. Perhaps we are musical instruments being blown by strange gods, and our joys and sufferings are merely moments in their orchestrations. Perhaps time is a vast being, and we are its changing moods, and death is a mood that will pass like sadness. We have no idea, only gossip. yours, Peter T.
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 02 Jul 01 - 09:45 PM Well, there's ways to explore at least a little ways into some of these questions, and one of the wildcards you find at play is this peculiar thing called consciousness and it's inverse. Catspaw's tale, above, demonstrates clearly that there is a complete division at work, to put it one way, which makes it very plain from one side that there's little or nothing of note on the other. The same thing often happens during sleep -- people live through scores of wild dream adventureds and wake up the next monring with no immediate recollection of it, as though it happened to someone else, or at least to a different identity which they aren't in touch with. Other people report both lucid dreams with no gap in the tranition to awakeness, and lucid "unconsciousness" during states of anaesthesia -- so I guess maybe such walls work differently from person to person, and there is no reason to judge one sort better than another. As for Peter T's observation that all we have to go on is gossip, I am sorry to have to disagree. I think I know the difference between gossip and first-hand experience whether it is described by another or remembered personally! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Matt_R Date: 02 Jul 01 - 09:51 PM Was it Aristotle who theorized that after death, the body explodes into a billion atoms that are scattered throughout the universe? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Peter T. Date: 02 Jul 01 - 10:04 PM "Since I am forgotten by you, My only thought is: If the only reason I can believe in my existence is the pain of your forgetting I am worse than if I were dead". (Ono no Kamachi) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: JenEllen Date: 02 Jul 01 - 10:17 PM Jason; Death comes too soon to us all. If you must dwell on this, and we all do at times, do it whole-heartedly. When you are finished consider this: What I wish someone would have told me sooner I ought to have: 1. One good philosopher to read, make you think about language, and argue with. If you have a real one nearby, try to talk to and write for him or her. Don't settle for anyone who seems lifeless or is without a sense of humor (good advice for all relationships!) or is without passion. At the same time, you should have to struggle (sometimes a lot) to "get" what his or her point is and why it's important; that kind of work will teach you subtlety and patience. 2. At least five writers whose next book you physically ache to read. It doesn't really matter the genre. They also do not have to still be alive. Practice figuring out how their words work so well. 3. At least five writers whose work confounds you in some way and that you just don't "get" right now. Keep them on your shelf until you do. Practice not dismissing someone or something just because you don't "get" it immediately. 4. A huge hardcover dictionary. Train yourself to read it. Look for a new word every day, or read one definition of a word you find at random every day. 5. A good poetry anthology. Make sure there are at least ten names in it you never heard of, as well as the important names to have heard of. Make sure it covers a lot more than simply twentieth century poets. 6. A sense of who the important poets are to have heard of. Learn why someone thinks these people are so important. Don't be concerned only with the twentieth century, either. 7. Fall in love with at least one poet who wrote more than one hundred years ago. Memorize one poem of his or hers a year. 8. Learn to love at least one poet who wrote more than two hundred years ago. Memorize at least one poem of his or hers a year. 9. Practice some kind of spiritual discipline. Try to make your inner life clearer and less anxiety-ridden. This will involve far more risk and work than you might think, but if you can practice giving up your immediate feelings for more truthful observations, you'll have done a lot. Practice taking time to think about things. Try to find a way to, if not forgive, at least make a quiet space around both yourself and any people, things or ideas that disturb you, so that you're not so frightened you can't see them as complex beings. If you can, volunteer somewhere, walk dogs at Animal Friends, read to children at the library, teach people to read, help serve at a soup kitchen. 10. Practice writing everyday for at least an hour. Try to find a time everyday when you're not likely to be interrupted by work or pleasure and sit down somewhere and write. Even if you think you have nothing to write about, describe the sky or the people walking by or what is so disturbing about boredom. ~Jen
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,Joe Date: 02 Jul 01 - 10:34 PM Hello hmm well I remember my Dad telling me of a sci-fi story. Where this guy is in a room with other people and their all sitting and listening contently to classical musical. He hates classical music and starts screaming but everyone there seems not to notice him.Later on you find out he has died and this is his form of hell.Jason I guess if you go to heaven you'll be able to just sleep but if you go to hell you'll always feel tired. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,khandu Date: 02 Jul 01 - 10:55 PM "Take your rusted sword and pound upon your breast The story will be told that you have done your very best" (from "Faces of Grey"by David A. Copyright 1999) Live life, help others on their journey. Know that even now, you are a blessed man. Therefore...bless. khandu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:02 PM Jen and Khandu, Wise words, well written!!! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Murray MacLeod Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:14 PM Matt, that kind of makes me wonder what the ancient Greeks used for fuel in their crematoria .............. Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: JenEllen Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:42 PM Well, Moose, I generally stay away from this kind of discussion, only because there are as many ideas of faith/religion as there are people that open their mouths about it. Jason is going to have to figure out for himself what his idea is, and it's always harder to guide than to dictate. *bg* You only have so many options, and whether or not there is 'something after this' it in no way changes the fact that you should do good in the here and now.
From a favorite, VERY non-PC, t-shirt of mine-(all truly great, inspiring thought can fit on a t-shirt...): ~Jen |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:50 PM LOL!!! Well, lass, alternate realities are a favorite amateur study of mine, y'see. Right thought, right action, annd the Middle Way will get you through more horse manure than almost any other philosophy out there!!! Only thing I would add to your Profound T-Shirt is "If you Deny it Hard Enough, You Won't Smell the Shit" and "Shit is Still Shit Even When You Ignore It". So here's the question: If a bear steps in shit in the woods and he can't smell -- does it still stink? My vote is "most likely it does". I really like your attitude, duck! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: CarolC Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:56 PM One being's shit is another being's fertilizer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 03 Jul 01 - 12:16 AM And I'll add that two of the writers whose next book I really ache to read are Jen Ellen and Peter T!! And LEJ is another! That leaves me two from outside the 'Cat -- a reasonable ratio, unless I have to give one up to Robert Heinlein!! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: JenEllen Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:08 AM Well, I also have a t-shirt from the 24hr Church of Elvis. I suppose that means that even the best shit, when a fried on a peanutbutter and banana sandwich, will still get you in the end. So, maybe not MY book, eh Amos? ~Jen |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: JamesJim Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:19 AM My life is like a circle; There is no end in sight; I can't see around the bend; So I just keep turning right! (assuming my circle is going clockwise) JJ ps; philosophy from an old track coach. He'd say, "now boys, just keep on runnin' hard and don't forget to turn left when you reach the corners." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: catspaw49 Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:25 AM JJ's track coach makes me think of another piece of philosophy along the same lines. One of those things meant to relate to a sport or event that hit me as a hell of a piece of good "LIFE" advice. An old driver at Indy once said, when asked what the secret was in getting through Turn One quickly, "Never get scared too late." Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: texastoolman Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:04 AM it seems to me in my corperal state that i am one with god and the universe when i die i go back to god as part of his conscienceness or being whereupon i become part of the "cosmic soup" to become part of another corpoeral body again or maybe, just remain in the "cosmic soup" for all eternity i have nothing to base this theory on no particular beleif system to base this on it's just the way etrnity happens to strike me i firmly believe, life should be lived to it's fullest as well as them best and most decent but hey our idea of fun and a good time are all we are going to know in this life so, please enjoy see ya later,maybe .................................tex
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: catspaw49 Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:08 AM Ya' know tt, I like your thought there, but I'd find another word to use besides "corporeal" since you misspelled it twice in two different ways...(:<)) Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: texastoolman Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:29 AM ya know i thought i was doing that but i haven't located"spell check on this proram oddly enough the way you spelled it was what struck me first but it just didn"t seem right i'll mastern this system sooner or later ...............................tex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: okthen Date: 03 Jul 01 - 04:05 AM 1) Death after life, seems to be the way it usually happens. 2)Go to heaven before you die, ( or hell) what kind of dotage do you want to spend? Remembering all the happy / good times or worried about payback for all the mean things you did. 3) Read between the lines spoken to you by "afterlife insurance salesmen" cheers bill |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST Date: 03 Jul 01 - 09:46 AM I think we are once , at death we are like a drop of water returned to the sea the same drop will never be extracted quite the same again, but nothing of us dissappears it is just redistributed. But what do I know, I have yet to figure out the place where I am standing much less what lies beyond the veil. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: MMario Date: 03 Jul 01 - 09:51 AM My grandmother once said to me that it is not important whether or not there is life after death - what is far more improtant is whether you live before you die. One of the many, many reasons I miss her. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 03 Jul 01 - 10:27 AM Your grandma was spot on the money. The thing to deal with is not life after death but making sure there is plenty of life in life!! Half the folks with theories about afterlifes should be worrying about their afterburners, more better, walking around like half-mud skeletons fretting about Forever when they can't get their durn tailbones into the Present! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Stiofáin Date: 03 Jul 01 - 12:10 PM I expect anything after life to be incredibly absurd. Plain simply absurd. No sleep, no heaven, no nirvana, no nothing, just absurd. That's at least what I think. (Maniacal laughter in the distance) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,skarpi from work. Date: 03 Jul 01 - 12:50 PM hello all, I think there are to many questions to ask before we can answear this question. more tonight. all the best skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Bill D Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:12 PM what I want to know is where there is life after debt. (and tex, when I want to check spelling in this box, all i do is hit alt/ctrl/f12, because I have installed Spell Checker for Edit Boxes totally free. It really works...ask Clinton Hammond! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Little Hawk Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:07 PM Nice quote from the Bhagavad Gita, Spaw. I've been reading it this week. And, as some of you have suggested, the real question is: is there life before death? And if so, how much life? And of what quality? - LH |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Rollo Date: 03 Jul 01 - 04:41 PM I recall a teacher of mine telling following story, wich contains for me everything to consider about death... for we are not even able to understand life... Now there were those two monks, and they were very worried about the question how they would have to spend eternity. So they made solemn vows, whoever died first, would visit his fellow and tell him. - Now one of them happens to drop dead, and the other one anxiously awaits midnight - the hour when the barriers between this world and the other side are thinned, so they say. Lo and behold! Indeed his deceased fellow emerges from the shadows at midnight... Although terribly frightened, our monk asks him: "And how is it over there???" Before disappearing again (and forever), his dead mate only says two words: "Totaliter aliter"... "Totally different..."
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Little Hawk Date: 03 Jul 01 - 07:39 PM What beats me is: why do people use this phrase about "how are you going to spend eternity"? Given the fact that this life is constantly changing...why the heck do people imagine that the afterlife is some sort of static, fixed condition that goes on and on without changing for "eternity"????? Isn't it a bit more likely that, like this life, life in spirit changes, moves through stages of transformation, and changes again? I would not want to go there if I thought it was just going to be exactly the same forever and ever! Yuck! We learn and evolve here. We continue to learn and evolve there. We most likely come back here at some point (in most cases). Why? Because this place presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for further learning and change and spiritual progess. The only thing you can depend on is change. As below, so above. The one thing that is asserted in the Eastern teachings as "unchanging" is the Divine Unmanifest that lies behind all manifestation. Being formless, indescribable, unlimited, and timeless, it simply is. However, as long as one is individualized...manifesting as a perceivably separate entity...then, be assured, change will occur...whether on Earth or in Spirit. You don't just get a harp and sit on your laurels for the rest of eternity, folks. No God would be cruel enough to subject people to that sort of pointless boredom, let alone to cast them into everlasting damnation. Imagine either possibility, and you may see how utterly unlikely they are. The world is full of variety. Why should Spirit not be varied as well? IMO... (of course...) - LH
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 03 Jul 01 - 09:38 PM I suggest, dear LH, that this "static picture" version of the infinite is presented because it is a LOT more palatable to those whose burdens are already too great, compared to the horrible truth. Viz, that dropping the dampening, filtering, and blocking provided by the body-mind-industrial complex (;>)) opens up rivers of raw perception and volatility and cross-flows of intentions and imagery that would make the average nightmare look like a Kodak moment! Since this is much more than the average mind engaged in human nature can handle, a much more slow-moving version gets a lot more ciurculation, being a lot more digestible! IMNSHO.... A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: GUEST,khandu Date: 03 Jul 01 - 10:14 PM "Death is just a one-horse town, through which Life passes and keeps on going!" khandu 1995 khandu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Little Hawk Date: 03 Jul 01 - 11:59 PM You know what, Amos, I believe you are dead right (no pun intended). - LH |
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Subject: RE: BS: Religious Question: Life After Death From: Amos Date: 04 Jul 01 - 12:50 AM Well,....well..geee!!! I dunno what to say!!! LH, ya done left me speechlessd!! LOL! Thanks! A |