Origin of existence/life?

[Feyd]

What do you think is the origin of existence? Not just humanity, but the existence of the known Universe? How much do religion or spirituality influence your idea?
Also, how do you think life on Earth came to be?

I was watching a video debate on YouTube from a man criticizing another man's idea because it was "godless", thus making his points invalid. I think that religion has corrupted a lot of people's free thinking, but has inspired others...
I do not follow any organized religion, but I do agree with some of the ideas, such as: the existence of a creator or creative force, and that humans are in a way, special.
However I do not think that the creative force responsible for existence is entirely benevolent, because I think that it lacks emotion, because it is not a living being (having a life suggests the alternative possibility, being able to die). I think that it was responsible for the existence of matter, which inadvertently created the canvas allowing life to develop.
God is usually depicted as being a man, or at least in the image of man, explaining actual men (we were supposedly created in his image). Potential evidence supporting the theory of evolution does nothing to shake a lot of firm believers faith, and some people completely reject the notion of creationism due to its "absurdity" and far fetched back story. I reject the creationist belief due to the fact that religion is a man made ideal, and thus it must be flawed in some way because man is not perfect.
Continuing along with the point, it is possible that we are not "God's children" but we may be their neighbors. They may have a direct link to their God and the mysteries of life are explained to them in full detail, leaving the rest of us to wonder at the possibilities. It is possible that we are a culture growing from a petri dish called Earth. We have very short life spans, we have a short history, and in the grand scale of things we have not accomplished much but inventive ways to kill each other. Life on Earth could be a scientific experiment for the real developed sentient beings. In truth we know so very little but think we know so much.

In any case, I think that being a human is fantastic. Sex, cannabis, music, film ... I think everyone else is missing out. It is hard to wrap your mind around the fact that we maybe extremely primitive compared to another life form after you take a step back and look at all mankind has achieved. It seems so grand and magnificent (which it is ... to us) but may actually be nothing at all. It makes you wish you could experience the future of humanity, see everything that happens.

I think I've started to babble so I'm cutting it here. What do you guys think? And you don't necessarily have to dissect and probe at my idea, you could just share your own.

[The Rev]

I have a theory that life is an extension of the evolution of consciousness. As the Universe became more self-aware, it took forms that were more natural vehicles for that awareness.



The Rev

[PokeSmot42]

We have come very far on this planet. Humanity has only just began it's awakening. I think i can speak for all of us stating that evolution never stops, it continues. We shall continue/evolve/grow until we know...


I sense a great man behind the words of the OP. Nice thread

[ziplock]

Imho, there is no origin to existence, there is only existence. An origin implies that there was at some point no existence... I have not really found compelling reason to believe that.

We could in a way I guess think of existence as a sphere suspended in a vacuum. A metallic sphere in a completely black room. Our perception is limited to the confines of the surface of this sphere. Depending on where we choose to place ourselves on this surface, the characteristics it has change dramatically. If you make yourself gigantic the surface is incredibly different from when you are atomic.

Every imaginable part of this sphere's surface has it's own "perspective" or frame of experience that interacts with the influential forces that it's "exposed" to at that scale. These scales pile layer on layer on top of each other. Our particular perspective can be then equated to the density of these layers within this network of energy.

I dunno, there's so many ways to look at things. Esp when stoned...

[Mescalito]

I like to look at things this way...

ONE separated to become separate.. just for the experience of 'itself' in a variety of different forms. Maybe this progression stems from the fact that we want to experience more and more variation of the whole. Also I could extend this theory to say that upon death we become ONE again. And also throughout our life we may be able to catch glimpses of this wholeness using various methods.

Hmmm.. I should find a more elegant way to express this.

Essentially.. its wholeness and duality.

Wholeness is the same as nothing and the same at everything all at the same time or all at no time.

Duality is the experience of this wholeness being separated into many different parts.

I'm glad that clears things up

M

[matthewmunari]

Originally Posted by Feyd

What do you think is the origin of existence? Not just humanity, but the existence of the known Universe? How much do religion or spirituality influence your idea?
Also, how do you think life on Earth came to be?

I was watching a video debate on YouTube from a man criticizing another man's idea because it was "godless", thus making his points invalid. I think that religion has corrupted a lot of people's free thinking, but has inspired others...
I do not follow any organized religion, but I do agree with some of the ideas, such as: the existence of a creator or creative force, and that humans are in a way, special.
However I do not think that the creative force responsible for existence is entirely benevolent, because I think that it lacks emotion, because it is not a living being (having a life suggests the alternative possibility, being able to die). I think that it was responsible for the existence of matter, which inadvertently created the canvas allowing life to develop.
God is usually depicted as being a man, or at least in the image of man, explaining actual men (we were supposedly created in his image). Potential evidence supporting the theory of evolution does nothing to shake a lot of firm believers faith, and some people completely reject the notion of creationism due to its "absurdity" and far fetched back story. I reject the creationist belief due to the fact that religion is a man made ideal, and thus it must be flawed in some way because man is not perfect.
Continuing along with the point, it is possible that we are not "God's children" but we may be their neighbors. They may have a direct link to their God and the mysteries of life are explained to them in full detail, leaving the rest of us to wonder at the possibilities. It is possible that we are a culture growing from a petri dish called Earth. We have very short life spans, we have a short history, and in the grand scale of things we have not accomplished much but inventive ways to kill each other. Life on Earth could be a scientific experiment for the real developed sentient beings. In truth we know so very little but think we know so much.

In any case, I think that being a human is fantastic. Sex, cannabis, music, film ... I think everyone else is missing out. It is hard to wrap your mind around the fact that we maybe extremely primitive compared to another life form after you take a step back and look at all mankind has achieved. It seems so grand and magnificent (which it is ... to us) but may actually be nothing at all. It makes you wish you could experience the future of humanity, see everything that happens

I think I've started to babble so I'm cutting it here. What do you guys think? And you don't necessarily have to dissect and probe at my idea, you could just share your own.

THERE HAS TO BE A CREATOR......I had a N.D.E. and I know we get escorted out of this life by "Angels"...I have 1st hand eyewitness ... my ears are still ringing from thegunshot wound to my head...but I know THERE IS MORE

[ziplock]

Originally Posted by Mescalito

Essentially.. its wholeness and duality.

Wholeness is the same as nothing and the same at everything all at the same time or all at no time.

Duality is the experience of this wholeness being separated into many different parts.

I serenade this concept each night in a way. Thus far the scenery I see around us as we dance leads me to think of things this way:

We have throughout human history indulged ourselves in a sort of celebration of this universal serenade. We celebrate our activities, our thoughts surrounding this subject, by representing it in many amazing forms that really stand as a monument to the beautiful creativity seen in the human mind. I am in love with the various conceptions of reality, God, whatever you want. Religions, schools of thought, everything. It's great.

I find this however leads to a tragic sort of differentiation. We start to, too eagerly, identify with various concepts and give them reality, form. We say this one is different from this on these grounds. We say that they are incompatible and there must be a choice between one or the other. Each group has their own set of consequences they convince you will happen if you do not side with them. We begin to delude ourselves, we get drunk off of these thoughts of difference.

I argue that these deterministic ways of thinking are a thing of the past. I believe there is a relativity at play that we must accommodate for. Why? There are different perspectives that can be taken, different scales from which to view this subject at. If we assume one scale, then we achieve one set of logical conclusions. If we assume another scale, then we achieve an apparently different set of logical conclusions. Each is legitimate.

To demonstrate this, let us continue the example of religion. If we look at it from one scale, from one perspective, we can identify numerous differences throughout the religions and categorize them accordingly. Thus the establishment of various denominations, interpretive schools, so on and so forth surrounding core religious ideologies. Islam, Christianity, good examples.

Looking at a different scale, we can see that all of these religions, denominations, etc, are attempting to as accurately as possible describe and reflect reality. There are ties, commonalities, that exist throughout all religious as they all deal with the same subject matter, the same phenomenon. We can then think of this subject matter as an object on a table.

We can see these religions as people standing in a circle around this object. Each person has their own interpretation, drawn on their own observations, from their own position or angle relative to the object. They all have their differences according to the particular part of the object exposed to them. They falsely assume that the part of the object they are observing is true for the WHOLE of the object. That there is a homogeneity.

There is nothing to support this assumption. Nothing. It has been historically shown to us again and again how naive we are to assume such a thing. The development of our sciences is a testament to this lesson. Our evolution as an organism is a testament to this lesson. No conclusion is truly closed, they are all open to being falsified by further observation from other angles. It is an incredible fault of modern thinking to believe that we can firmly conclude anything based on experience, evidence, or whatever else we may call to support our point of view. We can however, strive to create an accurate representation of our unique perspective and SHARE it in order to show others what the object looks like to us. That, imo, is one of the noblest of pursuits any human being can undertake. It is also, perhaps, one of most easily accessible pursuits in life.

Now, moving on from the relativity of it all, we come back to what was first mentioned in this post: wholeness and duality. I believe, in reference to what I believe you are describing in your post M, that Wholeness cannot separate. How then do we account for our experience of life? I imagine a single, unified, totality of existence. Everything, every moment, in a singular, unified, undifferentiated, state. This includes then every possible variation of this "singularity" at every possible moment. Every possible progression, combination, configuration, so on and so forth. This REQUIRES relative observation, individual experience. In order for there to be movement, for there to be progression, for there to be life, there needs to be this relative observation. It's from this necessity that "we" are "born."