getting down to basics
Submitted by Babel-17 on February 15 2002 22:41:03
In reply to I posted this a few weeks ago submitted by Forgiven on February 15 2002 19:49:04
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I feel uncertain how to start this post.. On the one hand, I don't want to give the impression that I'm a) dismissing your belief system or b) declaring my model to be the only correct one yet at the same time, I can't really comment on your system without giving you a breakdown of mine, which in many respects may contradict yours as regards both first principles and beyond them.. Having said that, I can proceed a bit less impeded... In the "understanding of things" (I lack a better term for this experience) which I was given/shown/absorbed by (hold on to your hat!) God is the only thing that actually exists Read that sentence a few times until it sinks in to a deeper-than-surface level... You may take the statement quite literally.. Any being, any form, which experiences itself as being "other than God" is a phantasm...a dream or imagining within God's mind... God is the totality and the only real mind in existence In the quite literal, physical and philosophic sense of the term, there is nothing else The temporary and mutable personality-construct which we identify as "self" is a fiction... The reality, the totality..which both precedes "life" and follows "death"...is God Life and death are not real...they are temporary, finite, mutable and imperfect The only thing real is the totality...the mind of God Now, proceeding from that premise: Two possible models emerge 1) God/the totality/the Universe is indifferent to human ethical constructs...the "God asleep and dreaming" model In this model, "sin" does not exist anywhere but on the plane of incarnate awareness...the plane we call "reality" You might think of awareness as a spectrum...not unlike the spectrum of light We can see the visible portion of the spectrum...the colors of the rainbow We know that there is also infrared, ultraviolet, microwaves and X-rays...but we can't see them because they lie beyond the spectrum of visible light So, too, is awareness While we are in bodies, encased in finite form within the perceptual construct we refer to as "space/time", we are, under most circumstances, only able to perceive awareness within a range limited by the boundaries of the brains' functioning There is awareness beyond that boundary...awareness beyond the line we refer to as "death"...but we cannot, ordinarily, perceive it To either side of this boundary...before life/after death...lies awareness which is not individuated To put it another way, the thought-construct "I" is a phenomenon entirely inherent to this plane...to this portion of the awareness spectrum To either side of that line, "I" no longer exist But awareness continues an awareness which is no longer "I" not individuated, infinite, eternal, without beginning or end "I" melt into "God" Hence, the contention that "I" am the fiction and God the only mind in existence "Sin" exists only where the mind of God has become lost within it's temporal forms "Sin" exists only where there is perception of duality...perception of "otherness" Since God is the totality, there can, in truth, be no ultimate "otherness" Hence, it could be argued that "sin" does not exist except in the mind of Man This is not to suggest that Man need follow no ethical or moral code...such a code is clearly needed in order for the progress of civilization and the evolution of Mankind to continue... It may, however, suggest that continuance of our Earthly forms and our various civilizations is of no actual consequence to anyone but us... Ah! But God is within us! Btw, we're now entering the regions of model: 2) God is awake and actively involved in the Universe...consciously observing, manipulating and generating events within it... So, to play God's game...to truly surrender one's personal will to the will of the Universe...one needs a playing field, since clearly it is God intent to play or it would not have created a Universe to play in That playing field, for Mankind, is called "civilization" In this extended sense, we might think of Mankind's moral codes as being "the will of God" But these moral codes are almost always rooted in some physical, practical reality It's clear why we shouldn't kill or steal...it makes the game miserable for others and impedes the progress of civilization... To kill and steal, rape and pillage, is to play one's own private game...thereby disrupting God's, and/or our own, chosen game of civilization... But on occasion these moral codes become outdated...let's say, circumstances change... At one time it would have been necessary to the progress of the game-plan of the Tribes of Judah to ensure that as many Hebrew children were born as could possibly be born...lest the Tribes of Judah be swallowed up by the semen or sagacity of some rival tribe Hence, the Hebrew laws against homosexuality, and probably adultery as well... It is, of course, interesting to note that while adultery by a woman was punishable by death in many ancient cultures, most did not punish male adulterers similarly... It was thought to be morally impingent upon the male to spred his semen as widely as possible, impregnating as many women as he could with the seed of his gene pool.. Owing to the Hebrews having entered early into the game of memes-versus-genes, it was more important to the Hebrews to make sure that Hebrew babies were born to Hebrew mommies...thus ensuring they would be raised in the Hebrew religion It was also important that as many Hebrew mommies as possible be impregnated...once again, the threat of those nasty Hittites and Egyptians and Dagon-worshippers who lived nearby.. Hence, the Hebrew taboo against homosexuality... But again...times change What was morally required in one place or era is morally repugnant to the next In our own era, we face a global crisis of monstrous proportions... An already over-burdened Earth currently supports a population of 6 billion ravenous human beings... That number is expected to double over the next 30 years to 12 billion... If we wish to continue the game-plan of civilization...if we wish to continue God's game-plan of civilization...something must be done to slow the growth of population or we will, literally, eat and heat ourselves out of house and home.. God, master of the game, might have chosen to send a plague among us that renders women infertile or men impotent... Instead, perhaps, God has chosen to make some young men prefer other young men and some young women to prefer other young women... God is the master...he can change his mind at will... He is the totality... "We" are the creations... Therefore, I contend that true submission to the will of God is to submit to God's modifications of the game-plan as He sees fit... But that's as all this pertains to the topic of homosexuality as "sin".... I'd actually intended to keep this post more to the general topic (not to mention shorter...forgive me...there're are just some things that can't be put both simply and succinctly at the same time....) As regards the more general issue of moral codes and "God's law" or "God's will" The harm done by killing, stealing, rape and pillage is clear to all who exist in a physical form That those parts of the moral code need to be retained is self-evident However, those parts of the moral code which can be shown to have been of use to one particular culture in one particular time period but which are, today, either ethically anachronistic (such as the implied status of women as chattel inherent in all taboos against female adultery), or foolishly dangerous to continue with (such as "Holy War" or the Genesis-implied worldview of "Man over Nature")...these are in desperate need of being rethought and updated in keeping with current human realities, or, better yet perhaps, done away with entirely.. Whew! I think that's as much as I can type right now! LOL! Ball in your court, my friend (: love always John |
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