Are we missing the big picture?

[Mafoo]

when i say we i mean humans, no one in particular. and there are tons of holes in my thinking, i realize this as i try and get this into text. i hope this doesnt come off as shallow lol

Was thinking walking out of work about 40 minutes ago. are we missing the big picture? we search for god as if its an object or an energy. what if its much more simple?

i was thinking about reincarnation and the balance of karma(im not well versed on these subjects so i thought yahooka would be perfect to learn and get my idea out to some heads ) The accepted idea of reincarnation is that the soul is retained after death and deposited into a new phyisical body(right?). The idea being that one goes through this process until they have become enlightened. What if the concept of reincarnation is much more literal and physical/ chemical? my idea is that we ARE reincarnates, but that our reincarnation is much less about the deposition of a timeless spirit into a new body, but moreso about becoming the next step toward enlightenment for all people.

I was thinking about how we learn from our parents. They teach us how to behave and what is right. We see what troubles them and how they react, and then we either act the same way, or we feel like we dont want to "end up like my mom and dad". In essence we learn how to be better people by the chain of our parents learning from their parents who learned from their parents so on and so on. Perhaps each successive generation brings people as a whole closer or further from enlightenment. As one people we're starting to become more aware, on a global scale, of the damage that humans have done to the ecosystem. Were seeing progress in the areas of civil rights and ethics. Ideas that are relatively new on the timescale of the human race. are these signs that we are progressing to a higher conciousness? dare i say enlightenment?

what if god is not something, not one thing, but all things. everything. infinity, as mydriasis has stated elswhere. I know that one definition of god is "that which is greater than can be concieved[my addendum: or imagined or visualized or quantified]", and i feel that though many people may misinterprate that phrase, it describes EVERYTHING. GOD is everything. Many of us are tied up with trying to decipher ancient texts that are hardly practical/ understandable in the context todays society.

I think if people studied the world around them even half as much as they studied their stacks of erudition, theyd have no choice but to see that god is in every atom of every molecule of everything, and in the energy that brings it all together. I think the concept of a seperation between ourselves and god is stifling our spiritual growth. we need to realize that the connections of ourselves to all-that-is are so numerous, even limitless, that we are all one. What if we are god? what if thats how its always been? and now are getting closer to realizing this?

im running out of steam. what do you all think?

[Mydriasis]

Same wave-length . Anything I could add would be that which you have already stated or a subset of that.

&

Edit - We are all god, in unity(not just people). Understand that Love(or as I call it cosmic love) is the embracing of change(if the universe/god is infinite then it must be constantly changing/infinite from our perspective). Love is the power that allows infinity to progress. So to love god, in my belief you must love everything.

Ever wonder why people who hate everything around them don't also love themselves?

I editted it and added more, even though I only said what you said. That's how I figured this kind of conversation would go down hahaha.

[Mafoo]

i agree, your wording is much more concise

i remember the first time i shroomed, i was looking at the soil and all the leaves and twigs and stones laying there at my feet. I realized then that there is no isolation. everything is connected, i could actually see a lacey web connecting everything and myself, and i could feel it. I struggled for so long to put that feeling into words, but i feel like now i know that the feeling as god. i called it the inbetween for a long time.

shameless poetry plug:
"it isnt hard to feel the warmth
when the sun shines on your heart

you can taste the sweetness of the sky
and feel the freedom of flight

inhale the fresh feeling of life
exhale worry and pain
not a thing to lose
and a great deal to gain.

and if you listen closely,
you may hear a perfect melody
sung unto you, about you
for everyone to enjoy.

its everything but not
call it the inbetween.
the place where we all connect
its the light filtering through;
the shadows cast.

beautifully balanced on the non-existent edge,
ill wait until I am you,
where nothing ends and it all begins.

words dilute my hearts intention"

[SpankyMcLankey]

i was thinking about reincarnation and the balance of karma(im not well versed on these subjects so i thought yahooka would be perfect to learn and get my idea out to some heads ) The accepted idea of reincarnation is that the soul is retained after death and deposited into a new phyisical body(right?). The idea being that one goes through this process until they have become enlightened. What if the concept of reincarnation is much more literal and physical/ chemical? my idea is that we ARE reincarnates, but that our reincarnation is much less about the deposition of a timeless spirit into a new body, but moreso about becoming the next step toward enlightenment for all people.

I skimmed this paragraph and got the idea.. what if you will be your grand kid? HAHAHA whoa... my head hurts.

[Mydriasis]

Mafoo I refer to that as the energy matrix(the web)

Awesome poetry .

Spanky: I am you, I am you, I am you.

[SpankyMcLankey]

Well no, I mean like I can tell my brother and I think very similarly. We just share so many of the same genes we think in such a similar way we pretty much are the same person. What if you are your kids? Like does that make any sense? Your genes being passed on are your memories and everything. How else would butterflies return to the exact same bush their parents had them and weird shit like that? Aligators, sea turtles etc.. It's like the DNA(double helix) has more properties than we can fully understand.

[Mr.E]

I think that you're definitely on to something. A few days ago I was thinking along similar lines... I was thinking that people who are atheists do not really hate religion or reject the idea of "god" as much as they let on. They just have no where they can place these feelings as they feel that religion's definition of what god is cannot satisfy their qualifications of what god should be or is.

Many of us are tied up with trying to decipher ancient texts that are hardly practical/ understandable in the context todays society.

I think this is what is at the heart of what you're saying. 1/3 of the people are worshiping through these ancient texts, 1/3 of the people believe nothing, and the last 1/3 are the people on the fringe of belief, living towards what you refer to as enlightenment by a new means. To actually achieve or at least make the right steps towards enlightenment, every third of the population will need to work together and help teach each other. As you said, we are all shaped by our parents, and the seemingly infinite series of parents before them, but we our also greatly influenced by teachers, media, our peers, ect. I think that the role the community will be the greatest influence in leading us to our future, be it good or bad. Right now it feels like there are three forces all pulling in different directions. Once each side is motivated to pull in the same direction, well finally get somewhere. Maybe that's just beginning now, or maybe not. But I'm optimistic.

[Mafoo]

terrence mackenna actually hypothesized something about the structure of helical dna(there are many forms). He theorized that the center of the helix, formed by the 3' strand (iirc), was an energy channel. im not sure what further ideas came from that theory, but it is exciting to think that maybe our dna is a gateway or something. lol i dunno!

edit: owK, good post. im hopefully optimistic as well. I think the major religious texts all basically say the same thing, its the different groups who interpret them in different ways that, i believe, have lead us away from the actual "moral" or main idea and lead us into alot of conflict and undue suffering. i think that the feeling of exclusivity and "our way is the way" is whats poisoning the smartest species on the planet. were all the same.

[Mr.E]

edit: owK, good post. im hopefully optimistic as well. I think the major religious texts all basically say the same thing, its the different groups who interpret them in different ways that, i believe, have lead us away from the actual "moral" or main idea and lead us into alot of conflict and undue suffering. i think that the feeling of exclusivity and "our way is the way" is whats poisoning the smartest species on the planet. were all the same.

I couldnt have said this better myself.

This makes me think of kids in kindergarten; one little boy challenging the other, "My dad could beat up your dad." And somewhere along the line the 2 boys forgot that they were brothers. Silly example, but it sums up that mentality.

Teams have captains, and coaches. Schools have teachers, and principals. Towns have mayors. Our nation has a president. Even this forum has Mods and admin. The point is, after a while it becomes very easy to step back into the shadows, and just get lead across the desert. I feel like a lot of people are now stepping back out of the shadows and are basically lost. We crave absolutes and truth. In a world of uncertainty, this is both our greatest strength and weakness. One way or another, well eventually figure it out.(Kind of rambling, but i think this belongs here)

[hijabihippie]

Read Robert Heinlein's book "Stranger In A Strange Land".
A classic.

[The Rev]

Yes.



The Rev

[SageTree]

Buddhist concepts of interpenetration hold that all phenomena are intimately connected; for the Huayan school, Indra's net symbolizes a universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all members of the universe. This idea is communicated in the image of the interconnectedness of the universe as seen in the net of the Vedic god Indra, whose net hangs over his palace on Mount Meru, the axis mundi of Vedic cosmology and Vedic mythology. Indra's net has a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, and each jewel is reflected in all of the other jewels[

I understand and agree with you man. There is a reincarnation topic in here for sure, Spiritual Smoke. I think concepts always look different to people, and you are entitled to that no differently.

Personally for me, I feel nothing compounded is the thing itself. A tree is a million things all happening at the same time to be the form of a tree. So be it, that our elements transform, reoccur or be it literal transmigration of our Self. The metaphore,belief, concept has much in store for us in the caring and the compassion we can extend to each other right now.

[verklingen]

god is everything, everywhere. i'm so glad for the term all-that-is because it perfectly captures what i'm speaking about when i bring up god. god is like a cosmic hologram: every portion within all-that-is contains the information of the whole, just as every cell within our bodies carries the genetic signature of our bodies within its dna.

i don't like the term reincarnation, though. i understand all-that-is to be a constant concurrence of infinity "confined" to one eternal moment. i put confined in quotes because it only appears limiting due to the illusion of successive moments we perceive as linear time. i consider our understanding of time as a methodology designed to pick apart the big picture and get into its guts. whatever the cause, this has brought about our fierce identification with individuality, ego. and thus we have the cascade of karmic suffering as these guts were explored through many consecutive lifetimes by various facets of the same "higher-self," which is itself one of the innumerable facets of our own collective oversoul, on and on toward the totality of all-that-is.

so yes, we've definitely missed the big picture but in the process we found ourselves. next comes the realization that enlightenment is something to be claimed rather than sought. it is the birthright of every being to which all-that-is owes its perfectly infinite existence. so how can this be done? live in the moment, fill it with passion and appreciation. i personally believe doing this resolves the karma of all our concurrent experiencing, opening our eyes to the "big picture" and enticing us to find an even bigger one!

[Cerpin Taxt]

Refer to sig

[SageTree]

I also read a writer who used re-constituted instead of reincarnation. His thought was that energy doesn't die, it just changes form. That falls in line with what I've read about atoms appearing and re-appearing in quantum physics, as I understand it, this sounds similar to me as a re-constitution.

[The Rev]

I thought Indra's net symbolized that everything is just a reflection of a reflection, and that all is essentially empty.



The Rev

[SageTree]

I thought Indra's net symbolized that everything is just a reflection of a reflection, and that all is essentially empty.



The Rev

In the sense that the Net shows interdependence/dependent origination, which in turn connects to emptiness of concept and form, that is pretty much what I was getting at by saying the tree isn't just a tree.

Click the link, as that is one of the first things they mentioned in to be used as a metaphor for.

This is a pretty good read and really helped shed light into words and concepts for me. Which in turn become thought and action, with Compassion.

Nagarjuna's Precious Garland.

99. Because the phenomena of forms
Are only names, space too is only a name.
Without the elements how could forms exist?
Therefore even name-only does not exist

[hijabihippie]

I also read a writer who used re-constituted instead of reincarnation. His thought was that energy doesn't die, it just changes form. That falls in line with what I've read about atoms appearing and re-appearing in quantum physics, as I understand it, this sounds similar to me as a re-constitution.

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It only changes form."
--Sir Isaac Newton

[mookie]

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It only changes form."

yet.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.

Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.

There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions, but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator, as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe. For decades, the Standard Model of particle physics has served physicists well as a means of understanding the fundamental laws of Nature, but it does not tell the whole story. Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.

[kamikazi89]

all signs point to water, everything else is filler