Carl,
Me: But we do seem to be in a strange situation that could stand some real improvement. The question as to whether we can figure it out on our own, may not actually compute. We may not be on our own, and it may not work that way. But, we are definitely partially on our own, and I think it is a spiritual law that help comes only when requested, because otherwise it would be interference and coercion of any kind is evil. Which means that evil influences do come to us without our asking. To be impervious to that, takes some real effort.
You: This is bordering on gobbledygook.
Oh. Seems pretty clear. The we refers to humanity. Humanity is in a strange situation, and we seem oddly recalcitrant to solving our problems.
We may have been receiving, and continuing to receive, various sorts of assist from the outside, therefore, can we really say whether we would find the way out on our own? We know so little about what is out there.
If you want spiritual assistance from outside, it is important to ask. That is because you should invite the help of your own free will. Or non-free will as the case may be! It's sort of like the Star Trek imperative not to interfere in other civilizations.
But evil is predatory, you know that. It does things like invade without being asked. On a spiritual level, there are, I think, such predators. Most people are at least somewhat vulnerable to them, perhaps whole societies make themselves vulnerable at times. Some people are very vulnerable, and others not at all.
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David,
I am surprised you say this. What do you think is the nature of the infinite and of existence? Why do you think I fail to understand the nature of the infinite?
Because your desire to avoid the simplicty of truth infuses everything you say.
You quite often make these sweeping statements, with no content, and I wonder that you don't attempt to explain yourself. I think I understand your truth pretty well, but if I don't, I wonder what you think I don't understand. What is the nature of the infinite?
Perhaps we had better define magic.
Ignorance of causal reality.
That's a good definition and I agree with it. Like I said earlier, I don't believe in magic. Now I not only believe, but know, that minds can communicate at a distance and without words, and most people refer to this as ESP. I also know that you do not believe it, and that no evidence would ever suffice. But the point is, that I have no doubt that there is a mechanism involving cause and effect which allows this mind communication, and that it will be explained one day, and will be physical, much like a cell phone or what have you.
It's not a matter of "making one's mind up", but of seeing into the heart of matters with laser-like precision. (the lack of free will)
Are your guides there to help you in this, or is it their function to get in the way?
The sense of being guided or helped by other beings is fairly rare. At least in the way I was talking about. I am also guided directly by the divine, but that is something else.
I think that you do not know everything, and are wrong about some things. This could be one. There are people who make arguments for free will but I am not good at remembering or reproducing them. Some are about quantum mechanics, but quantum mechanics is difficult, because some of the conclusions they have come to are absurd in my opinion. It seems to me that free will is possible, and that it could be a kind of constrained free will. It may be, for example, that if return is the motion of the Tao, that all beings will eventually return to God because any other choice is ultimately insane and involves ignorance. Yet the being might be able to freely dally as long as they like, or at least for a long time, and the return may involve a series of free choices.
If you are going to equate enlightenment with death, then you'll never summon up the motivation to reach it. But perhaps that's the underlying idea ....
I do not so equate it. You are in the dangerous position of not being able to learn anything new or discard your errors because you cannot have any errors, nor have you a way to investigate them.
Enlightenment is a breakthrough in perception beyond duality. I have not attained that, although I have much insight into nonduality. But only to a point.
Now, what do you mean when you say you do not believe in matter?
The current challenge facing the human race is how to approach the magic of spirituality in a non-superstitious manner, without violating rationality. Most people are hampered in this because they can't find a way move their rationality beyond the black hole of postmodernism. As a result, the only way they can conceive of connecting to spiritual reality is by abandoning reason and retreating back into faith, which is the wrong direction.
Talk to us about the magic of spirituality. I don't know why you use words like spirituality. You do seem like a materialist to me.
Alex,
Wow, you have radically redefined the meaning and accepted use of the word 'metaphysic'! Always something new on the Genius Forums!
I always understood metaphysic, as it is used esoterically, to refer to higher gradients of matter, a spiritual or soul stuff beyond the range of 5 senses.
How is that different than what Kevin said?
The mind, by definition, cannot be metaphysical either. What occurs in the mind is precisely tied to the material substrata, absolutely and completely.
But the mind is metaphysical, I think. The brain and the mind - two different things. The brain may be an interface for the metaphysical. How can you interact with the metaphysical, if the mind is only physical?