Do you believe in God and why

[Sunmaster]

55 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

I think it's rational to presume that nobody has any real and precise evidence of what the Buddha experienced in his meditation. In order to get such evidence, you would not only need to have some miraculous ability to get inside someone's mind and experience exactly what they are experiencing, but also to get inside the mind of a person who died around 2,500 years ago.

 

Are you aware that there are no written records dating to the time of the Buddha's life? Everything we know about the Buddha has been passed down by memory over several generations. After about 400 years, those memories were first recorded in the Pali script, in Sri Lanka, during the first century BCE.

 

The story about the Creator God, Brahma, persuading the Buddha to teach what he'd learned during his ascetic wanderings and meditation, seems very puzzling when one considers that a major point in the Buddha's teachings is that the existence of a Creator God is an 'unknowable', and therefore it's a waste of time speculating on its existence and characteristics.

 

That the story is propaganda, to assist the Buddha to teach and integrate into a Vedic environment where most people believed in a Creator God, is the best explanation I can think of. Perhaps you have a better explanation. ????
 

I'd like to address a couple of your points.

1. While you may not know or even imagine the exact state of mind of the Buddha at the time of his enlightenment, it is important to note that this is irrelevant at best, and counterproductive at its worst. The important message was and will always be: experience it for yourself.
One thing is for sure though. Buddha is not alone in having experienced enlightenment. There are many living today that would qualify as enlightened. 

2. You say "...when one considers that a major point in the Buddha's teachings is that the existence of a Creator God is an 'unknowable', and therefore it's a waste of time speculating on its existence and characteristics."
I think there is confusion on this point. The stress of that sentence should be on the word SPECULATING, because that's indeed a trap. Speculating is thinking, and thinking comes from the mind. So, it's a waste of time thinking about the unknowable, but that doesn't imply that one shouldn't use other ways to connect with the unknowable that don't include thinking. I'm talking about meditation. When you manage to keep your thoughts on a leash, you free and open yourself to different vibes, so to speak. And that's one of the most basic Buddhist teachings: that words are nothing compared to personal experience. Yes, the Godhead is unknowable for us, but that shouldn't stop us from trying.

One more thing. I think Buddha would have had no problems talking about a Godhead, because that is also part of Brahman. So, if the people of his time preferred believing in a Godhead instead of an impersonal ultimate reality, then this is OK too because it's a step in the same direction anyway. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Sunmaster

[mauGR1]

6 hours ago, VincentRJ said:

That the story is propaganda, to assist the Buddha to teach and integrate into a Vedic environment where most people believed in a Creator God, is the best explanation I can think of. Perhaps you have a better explanation. ????

Perhaps i do, but it would be only speculation.

Perhaps living the present moment is more important, it's so exciting nowadays to find a grain of truth in the middle of so many lies.

[save the frogs]

6 hours ago, Sunmaster said:

Buddha is not alone in having experienced enlightenment. There are many living today that would qualify as enlightened. 

like who?

that term is vague and almost meaningless.

is the dalai lama enlightened?

he may know a lot, but some of his advice seems silly ... for instance, he has advocated celibacy because relationships can lead to suffering. doesn't seem feasible for everyone to be avoiding relationships. 

so maybe 'enlightened' doesn't exist. 

[mauGR1]

18 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

like who?

that term is vague and almost meaningless.

is the dalai lama enlightened?

he may know a lot, but some of his advice seems silly ... for instance, he has advocated celibacy because relationships can lead to suffering. doesn't seem feasible for everyone to be avoiding relationships. 

so maybe 'enlightened' doesn't exist. 

Enlightenment is temporary, it happens to anyone, when the dual judgement is suspended, and the energy of the universe is free to flow.

I believe there are few, however,who can manage, through practice, to live in a state of constant enlightenment.

I've probably never met anyone who has achieved that so far, but i think it's quite possible, especially when one is fed up with the vanity and hypocrisy which pervades the human society.

[GammaGlobulin]

I could be wrong. 

 

However, I am fairly certain that Fyodor fully covered this topic over a century ago. 

 

And then, Richard Dawkins contributed his two cents. 

 

And, before Dawkins, there was Timothy Leary. 

 

And, there was Mao Zedong, too, who did his best to stamp out superstition. 

 

And then, there was Bergen-Belsen. Where was god then? 

 

50 thousand years ago, when Man was still alive, where was god? 

 

Does God exist only on our planet? 

 

Or, does God exist everywhere throughout our universe? 

 

After Suckerberg creates his Metaverse, will Suckerberg also create a Meta-God to rule his Meta verse? 

 

Or, will Suckerberg actually be risen from the dead to rule over the Metaverse? 

 

So many important pressing questions. 

 

Too few satisfying answers. 

 

On a clear night, looking up at the Milky Way galaxy, I sometimes wonder if there is another Gamma, like me, staring at me, as I gaze at my doppelgänger. 

 

Sometimes, I think that these thoughts are just too much for my pea-sized brain, and that my mind will explode and become one with the Heavens. 

 

It's like.... 

 

It's like I can almost touch the hand of God. 

 

Reminds me of a mural I once saw in some cathedral, probably on the ceiling. 

 

CO2 is rising, year by year. 

 

Very soon, if this keeps up, we shall all meet our Maker. 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

Sometimes, when I think about God, I am thankful to Him for providing us with the oceans. 

 

God gave us the oceans as a carbon sink. 

 

God did not give us kitchen sinks. Kitchen sinks were created by Man. 

 

Anyway, this God-given ocean continues to soak up the carbon spewed out by his flock. 

 

But, due to His flock's spewing of carbon, God's ocean is becoming more acidic. 

 

As we, God's flock, continue to add evermore CO2 to God's oceans, God's oceans will become like seltzer water, and God's creation will continue to die. 

 

God provided us with the perfect place to live happily with each other. 

 

In return, did we properly husband God's garden? 

 

Or, did we eat too much of the apple! 

 

Chauncey was a good gardener. 

 

Why can't we, too, be more caring of our garden, like Chauncey? 

 

God loves Chauncey. 

 

You should love Chauncey, too. 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by GammaGlobulin

[mauGR1]

20 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Sometimes, when I think about God, I am thankful to Him for providing us with the oceans. 

 

God gave us the oceans as a carbon sink. 

 

God did not give us kitchen sinks. Kitchen sinks were created by Man. 

 

Anyway, this God-given ocean continues to soak up the carbon spewed out by his flock. 

 

But, due to His flock's spewing of carbon, God's ocean is becoming more acidic. 

 

As we, God's flock, continue to add evermore CO2 to God's oceans, God's oceans will become like seltzer water, and God's creation will continue to die. 

 

God provided us with the perfect place to live happily with each other. 

 

In return, did we properly husband God's garden? 

 

Or, did we eat too much of the apple! 

 

Chauncey was a good gardener. 

 

Why can't we, too, be more caring of our garden, like Chauncey? 

 

God loves Chauncey. 

 

You should love Chauncey, too. 

 

 

If there's something sensible in those words, it must be carefully hidden ????

[Sunmaster]

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

like who?

that term is vague and almost meaningless.

is the dalai lama enlightened?

he may know a lot, but some of his advice seems silly ... for instance, he has advocated celibacy because relationships can lead to suffering. doesn't seem feasible for everyone to be avoiding relationships. 

so maybe 'enlightened' doesn't exist. 

This is a tricky subject. It would be like trying to assess the math proficiency of a Nobel laureate from the point of view of a high school math student.

Nevertheless, I think it is possible to place people on some kind of hierarchical scale of spiritual development and we can do that by looking at what they say and how they implement that in their lives.

 

The following people are, from my limited point of view, enlightened and if not fully and permanently enlightened, then at least very close to it.

 

Ananamaji Ma (+ 20th century)

Ramana Maharshi (+ 20th century)

Paramhansa Yogananda (+ 20th century)

Sri Aurobindo (+ 20th century)

Tony parsons (living)

Eckhart Tolle (living)

Mother Meera (living)

Dalai Lama (living)

 

And these are just some of the better known personalities. There ought to be many more that prefer not to be in the spotlight.

 

Enlightened or liberation is attainable by each and every one of us. It would make no sense to limit it to only a few people in a remote past. 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

24 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

If there's something sensible in those words, it must be carefully hidden ????

If there is God in Man, then He must be carefully hidden, too. 

 

I have yet to witness a true Godly man. 

 

Although, I have met many who professed to be so. 

 

Many a baptist have I met, not pure enough to baptize his neighbor. 

 

Billy Graham's son was my dorm mate. 

 

Therefore, I say unto you, if we are created in God's image, then, perhaps, He is a lesser God than we originally imagined. 

 

Still, God is God. 

[Hummin]

17 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

This is a tricky subject. It would be like trying to assess the math proficiency of a Nobel laureate from the point of view of a high school math student.

Nevertheless, I think it is possible to place people on some kind of hierarchical scale of spiritual development and we can do that by looking at what they say and how they implement that in their lives.

 

The following people are, from my limited point of view, enlightened and if not fully and permanently enlightened, then at least very close to it.

 

Ananamaji Ma (+ 20th century)

Ramana Maharshi (+ 20th century)

Paramhansa Yogananda (+ 20th century)

Sri Aurobindo (+ 20th century)

Tony parsons (living)

Eckhart Tolle (living)

Mother Meera (living)

Dalai Lama (living)

 

And these are just some of the better known personalities. There ought to be many more that prefer not to be in the spotlight.

 

Enlightened or liberation is attainable by each and every one of us. It would make no sense to limit it to only a few people in a remote past. 

 

When enlightened can enlightened communicate with each other without speaking, reading body language and also from distant places from each other? Supid questions, but have you ever received any proof of such communication your self?

 

I have briefly short moments especially warnings flashing by my eyes sometimes, be it pictures, or a voice and thats where it is unclear, since I believe it is one or another, but not sure really, or I believe it is without knowing. 

 

Something I had as a kids, but then often with no reasons, or no obvious reason, but later when I was in lethal situations, I learned to trust those warnings, especially working as a security and in extreme sports.

 

Moments where things happened fast, it was like a slow motion movie, where I managed to solve a problem, on instinct, but also think, plan, and handle in a fraction of a second, and then silence when it was over. 

 

First time I experienced it I think I was 17, was when a young man about same age me  pulled a knife and was going to stab another one, and in the next second, we where on the ground, the knife out of his hand, and I had control of him, but it is just a black moment when it happened, and until it was over. Later in same situations or dangerous situations I got the whole movie of it, as it escalated. 

 

It was like another dimension 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Hummin

[Hummin]

9 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

If there is God in Man, then He must be carefully hidden, too. 

 

I have yet to witness a true Godly man. 

 

Although, I have met many who professed to be so. 

 

Many a baptist have I met, not pure enough to baptize his neighbor. 

 

Billy Graham's son was my dorm mate. 

 

Therefore, I say unto you, if we are created in God's image, then, perhaps, He is a lesser God than we originally imagined. 

 

Still, God is God. 

We are a human of nature, and Nature is god ????

[GammaGlobulin]

25 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

This is a tricky subject. It would be like trying to assess the math proficiency of a Nobel laureate from the point of view of a high school math student.

Nevertheless, I think it is possible to place people on some kind of hierarchical scale of spiritual development and we can do that by looking at what they say and how they implement that in their lives.

 

The following people are, from my limited point of view, enlightened and if not fully and permanently enlightened, then at least very close to it.

 

Ananamaji Ma (+ 20th century)

Ramana Maharshi (+ 20th century)

Paramhansa Yogananda (+ 20th century)

Sri Aurobindo (+ 20th century)

Tony parsons (living)

Eckhart Tolle (living)

Mother Meera (living)

Dalai Lama (living)

 

And these are just some of the better known personalities. There ought to be many more that prefer not to be in the spotlight.

 

Enlightened or liberation is attainable by each and every one of us. It would make no sense to limit it to only a few people in a remote past. 

 

By your mention of a Nobel Laureate, and a high school student, in the same sentence, I have no doubt that you are referring to Bob Dylan. 

 

Bobby was OK while singing about his big brass bed. 

 

Such lyrics! 

 

Bob's lyricisms were High School, or Middle School. 

 

Lay, Lady, Lay... 

 

Sounds more like a young teen's wet dream, and not a Swedish Nobel. 

 

No poet worth his/her salt would even speak to Bob. 

 

Everybody knows he is a joke. 

 

His simple rhymes grate on the mind, and stick to the shoe like bubblegum. 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by GammaGlobulin

[Sunmaster]

13 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

By your mention of a Nobel Laureate, and a high school student, in the same sentence, I have no doubt that you are referring to Bob Dylan. 

 

Bobby was OK while singing about his big brass bed. 

 

Such lyrics! 

 

Bob's lyricisms were High School, or Middle School. 

 

Lay, Lady, Lay... 

 

Sounds more like a young teen's wet dream, and not a Swedish Nobel. 

 

No poet worth his/her salt would even speak to Bob. 

 

Everybody knows he is a joke. 

 

His simple rhymes grate on the mind, and stick to the shoe like bubblegum. 

 

 

No, I wasn't referring to him. I don't like his music and never bothered reading his lyrics.

[mauGR1]

1 minute ago, Sunmaster said:

No, I wasn't referring to him. I don't like his music and never bothered reading his lyrics.

I was a big fan. While his music can be quite often described as ordinary, some of his lyrics, from his early years, are quite inspiring and sometimes even terrifying. 

If one's not American though, one may need a slang translator.

[GammaGlobulin]

23 minutes ago, Hummin said:

We are a human of nature, and Nature is god ????

Sobeit, Man. 

 

One thing I learned long ago... 

 

Never discuss politics or religion with ANYBODY who is a true believer. 

 

Also, never discuss sex or money with your wife. 

 

Always be celibate, Man! 

 

Keep things non-confrontational and copacetic. 

 

You're bound to live longer if you do. 

 

 

[VincentRJ]

10 hours ago, Sunmaster said:

1. While you may not know or even imagine the exact state of mind of the Buddha at the time of his enlightenment, it is important to note that this is irrelevant at best, and counterproductive at its worst. The important message was and will always be: experience it for yourself.
One thing is for sure though. Buddha is not alone in having experienced enlightenment. There are many living today that would qualify as enlightened. 
 

Everything that everyone experiences is an experience within themselves, whatever the motivation, goal or circumstances. Even when a group of people are participating, cooperating, or competing, as in a football match, the individual experience of each footballer will be their own experience, and will be different, to some degree, to the experiences of the other footballers in the same game.

 

Since everyone experiences something within themselves, the important teaching of the Buddha is 'how to think for yourself', as outlined in the Kalama Sutta. Most people too easily just accept the advice of an established authority, whether the authority is a religion, a doctor's advice, a guru's advice, investment advice, or a claimed consensus of scientists promoting fear about increasing CO2 levels.

"2. You say "...when one considers that a major point in the Buddha's teachings is that the existence of a Creator God is an 'unknowable', and therefore it's a waste of time speculating on its existence and characteristics."
I think there is confusion on this point. The stress of that sentence should be on the word SPECULATING, because that's indeed a trap. Speculating is thinking, and thinking comes from the mind. So, it's a waste of time thinking about the unknowable, but that doesn't imply that one shouldn't use other ways to connect with the unknowable that don't include thinking. I'm talking about meditation. When you manage to keep your thoughts on a leash, you free and open yourself to different vibes, so to speak. And that's one of the most basic Buddhist teachings: that words are nothing compared to personal experience. Yes, the Godhead is unknowable for us, but that shouldn't stop us from trying."

 

Wow! 'Words are nothing compared to personal experience.' What are you trying to say?? ????

 

All animals have personal experiences in order to survive. To flee from danger requires an experience of danger. However, humans are unique in the sense that we not only have a capacity for experience, but also a capacity for words that describe those experiences. Without that capacity for words we would still be like Monkeys and Apes. Even the most primitive tribes that still exist in remote places, have words, although relatively few words and no writing.

 

As tribes or civilizations develop, more words are created in order to avoid confusing different entities as the same thing. For example, a primitive tribe might have just one word for all trees. Whilst they can probably see a difference between different species of trees, they haven't got around to creating new words to define those different species of trees.

 

Meditation obviously can have benefits, resulting in a peaceful and calm mind, and a release from all the hustle and bustle of normal, human activity. However, using the strict meditation guidlines employed in certain retreats and advocated by certain gurus, can have harmful effects for certain people with pre-existing psychological problems. I believe some retreats require visitors to sign a documant stating that they have had no previous psychological problems, before they are accepted to begin meditation practice.

 

Since a goal of Buddhist meditation is a cessation of all thoughts, whilst still being aware, it does make sense that no words could accurately describe such an experience. Words are thoughts. No thoughts mean no words.
 

[Sunmaster]

8 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

Everything that everyone experiences is an experience within themselves, whatever the motivation, goal or circumstances. Even when a group of people are participating, cooperating, or competing, as in a football match, the individual experience of each footballer will be their own experience, and will be different, to some degree, to the experiences of the other footballers in the same game.

 

Since everyone experiences something within themselves, the important teaching of the Buddha is 'how to think for yourself', as outlined in the Kalama Sutta. Most people too easily just accept the advice of an established authority, whether the authority is a religion, a doctor's advice, a guru's advice, investment advice, or a claimed consensus of scientists promoting fear about increasing CO2 levels.

"2. You say "...when one considers that a major point in the Buddha's teachings is that the existence of a Creator God is an 'unknowable', and therefore it's a waste of time speculating on its existence and characteristics."
I think there is confusion on this point. The stress of that sentence should be on the word SPECULATING, because that's indeed a trap. Speculating is thinking, and thinking comes from the mind. So, it's a waste of time thinking about the unknowable, but that doesn't imply that one shouldn't use other ways to connect with the unknowable that don't include thinking. I'm talking about meditation. When you manage to keep your thoughts on a leash, you free and open yourself to different vibes, so to speak. And that's one of the most basic Buddhist teachings: that words are nothing compared to personal experience. Yes, the Godhead is unknowable for us, but that shouldn't stop us from trying."

 

Wow! 'Words are nothing compared to personal experience.' What are you trying to say?? ????

 

All animals have personal experiences in order to survive. To flee from danger requires an experience of danger. However, humans are unique in the sense that we not only have a capacity for experience, but also a capacity for words that describe those experiences. Without that capacity for words we would still be like Monkeys and Apes. Even the most primitive tribes that still exist in remote places, have words, although relatively few words and no writing.

 

As tribes or civilizations develop, more words are created in order to avoid confusing different entities as the same thing. For example, a primitive tribe might have just one word for all trees. Whilst they can probably see a difference between different species of trees, they haven't got around to creating new words to define those different species of trees.

 

Meditation obviously can have benefits, resulting in a peaceful and calm mind, and a release from all the hustle and bustle of normal, human activity. However, using the strict meditation guidlines employed in certain retreats and advocated by certain gurus, can have harmful effects for certain people with pre-existing psychological problems. I believe some retreats require visitors to sign a documant stating that they have had no previous psychological problems, before they are accepted to begin meditation practice.

 

Since a goal of Buddhist meditation is a cessation of all thoughts, whilst still being aware, it does make sense that no words could accurately describe such an experience. Words are thoughts. No thoughts mean no words.
 

What am I trying to say? Pretty much what you just said.

 

That words are thoughts and are a very poor attempt at describing something that is not possible to put into words in the first place. Something that is not graspable by the rational mind.

Pointing at the moon with your finger is not the same as being on the moon. Right?

[Sunmaster]

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

When enlightened can enlightened communicate with each other without speaking, reading body language and also from distant places from each other? Supid questions, but have you ever received any proof of such communication your self?

 

I believe that when 2 enlightened people meet, there is an instant recognition that is beyond words. 

Along the same line but on a smaller scale, you can experience this yourself when meeting others. Often we get an instant "good feeling" about someone and we trust that person straight away. Other times we get "bad vibes" and instinctively avoid contact.

After that, it's a matter of how much you trust your insight.

Enlightened people are masters of insight.

 

And yes, I experienced something big in the past and still get validation of that experience in everyday life. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Sunmaster

[VincentRJ]

22 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

What am I trying to say? Pretty much what you just said.

 

That words are thoughts and are a very poor attempt at describing something that is not possible to put into words in the first place. Something that is not graspable by the rational mind.

Pointing at the moon with your finger is not the same as being on the moon. Right?

Of course, no-one can do the impossible. That's the definition of 'impossible'. However, you surely must understand from the history of the human race, that many, many things that were considered impossible in the past are now possible, and many, many concepts that could not be grasped by the rational mind in the past, can now be grasped. That's progress.

 

I don't even think any primitive tribal person would ever think that pointing at the moon with his finger is the same as being on the moon. ????

[Sunmaster]

2 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

Of course, no-one can do the impossible. That's the definition of 'impossible'. However, you surely must understand from the history of the human race, that many, many things that were considered impossible in the past are now possible, and many, many concepts that could not be grasped by the rational mind in the past, can now be grasped. That's progress.

 

I don't even think any primitive tribal person would ever think that pointing at the moon with his finger is the same as being on the moon. ????

I understand what you mean. 

You believe that the rational mind has the potential of making sense of the unknowable sometimes in the future. 

 

I don't think so. All the teachings of the great sages, visionaries and holy people point towards the fact that this is not possible. 

The rational mind is what prevents true knowing from happening in the first place. True knowing happens in the absence of the rational mind.

The rational mind can only attempt at integrating the knowledge received. It's like receiving a 10 ton birthday cake, but you can still eat it only spoon by spoon.

[GammaGlobulin]

45 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

I was a big fan. While his music can be quite often described as ordinary, some of his lyrics, from his early years, are quite inspiring and sometimes even terrifying. 

If one's not American though, one may need a slang translator.

Truly, as you say, it's TERRIFYING that Bobby Dylan received a Swedish Nobel for just being so mediocre, compared to major poets and writers of his generation, who were not recognized. 

 

Thank God, if there even is a God, that Bob's true legacy will have been to further cheapen the significance of the Nobel Prize for literature. 

 

For example, Philip Roth, who was passed over, needs no introduction. 

 

Obviously, the infallible Nobel Committee are not gods, afterall. 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, VincentRJ said:

Everything that everyone experiences is an experience within themselves, whatever the motivation, goal or circumstances. Even when a group of people are participating, cooperating, or competing, as in a football match, the individual experience of each footballer will be their own experience, and will be different, to some degree, to the experiences of the other footballers in the same game.

 

Since everyone experiences something within themselves, the important teaching of the Buddha is 'how to think for yourself', as outlined in the Kalama Sutta. Most people too easily just accept the advice of an established authority, whether the authority is a religion, a doctor's advice, a guru's advice, investment advice, or a claimed consensus of scientists promoting fear about increasing CO2 levels.

"2. You say "...when one considers that a major point in the Buddha's teachings is that the existence of a Creator God is an 'unknowable', and therefore it's a waste of time speculating on its existence and characteristics."
I think there is confusion on this point. The stress of that sentence should be on the word SPECULATING, because that's indeed a trap. Speculating is thinking, and thinking comes from the mind. So, it's a waste of time thinking about the unknowable, but that doesn't imply that one shouldn't use other ways to connect with the unknowable that don't include thinking. I'm talking about meditation. When you manage to keep your thoughts on a leash, you free and open yourself to different vibes, so to speak. And that's one of the most basic Buddhist teachings: that words are nothing compared to personal experience. Yes, the Godhead is unknowable for us, but that shouldn't stop us from trying."

 

Wow! 'Words are nothing compared to personal experience.' What are you trying to say?? ????

 

All animals have personal experiences in order to survive. To flee from danger requires an experience of danger. However, humans are unique in the sense that we not only have a capacity for experience, but also a capacity for words that describe those experiences. Without that capacity for words we would still be like Monkeys and Apes. Even the most primitive tribes that still exist in remote places, have words, although relatively few words and no writing.

 

As tribes or civilizations develop, more words are created in order to avoid confusing different entities as the same thing. For example, a primitive tribe might have just one word for all trees. Whilst they can probably see a difference between different species of trees, they haven't got around to creating new words to define those different species of trees.

 

Meditation obviously can have benefits, resulting in a peaceful and calm mind, and a release from all the hustle and bustle of normal, human activity. However, using the strict meditation guidlines employed in certain retreats and advocated by certain gurus, can have harmful effects for certain people with pre-existing psychological problems. I believe some retreats require visitors to sign a documant stating that they have had no previous psychological problems, before they are accepted to begin meditation practice.

 

Since a goal of Buddhist meditation is a cessation of all thoughts, whilst still being aware, it does make sense that no words could accurately describe such an experience. Words are thoughts. No thoughts mean no words.
 

There is almost nothing that disgusts me more than the mention of football. 

 

Still, there is one thing worse. 

 

Anytime anyone mentions the name, Knute Rockne, it makes me upchuck. 

[VincentRJ]

33 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

The rational mind is what prevents true knowing from happening in the first place. True knowing happens in the absence of the rational mind.

 

The Buddha seems to have been a very rational person to me. It's why I've been interested in Buddhism. If one separates the mystical mumbo jumbo from his basic teachings, he's encouraging a rational approach to achieving a distress-free life. Have you read the Kalama Sutta?

 

However, I suspect the Buddha understood that for most people, the desires for pleasures, sex, tasty food, fame, vanity, wealth and power to enhance one's ego, and strong attachment to these things, and so on, were too embedded in the population, and that his enlightened teachings, appealing to the rational mind, would only penetrate a few people, which is the reason why he initially considered continuing his life, after enlightenment, in a state of meditative calm in the forest, to avoid the hassles of teaching to irrational people.

[Hummin]

49 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Truly, as you say, it's TERRIFYING that Bobby Dylan received a Swedish Nobel for just being so mediocre, compared to major poets and writers of his generation, who were not recognized. 

 

Thank God, if there even is a God, that Bob's true legacy will have been to further cheapen the significance of the Nobel Prize for literature. 

 

For example, Philip Roth, who was passed over, needs no introduction. 

 

Obviously, the infallible Nobel Committee are not gods, afterall. 

 

 

Bob Dylan have is in later days been recognized for his often misunderstood lyrics by the Elite. Bob Dylan was not so interested really to be bothered to show up himself, and it took him awhile to accept the prize.

 

Bob Dylan is one of the big names I have enjoyed to listen to in my earlier days. Not so much now

 

One of my favorites

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Hummin

[GammaGlobulin]

Have you prayed today? 

 

I did. 

 

God spoke to me, immediately. 

God always answers my prayers, immediately. 

 

God said to me, "I am not God"

 

. 

 

 

[Sunmaster]

9 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

The Buddha seems to have been a very rational person to me. It's why I've been interested in Buddhism. If one separates the mystical mumbo jumbo from his basic teachings, he's encouraging a rational approach to achieving a distress-free life. Have you read the Kalama Sutta?

 

However, I suspect the Buddha understood that for most people, the desires for pleasures, sex, tasty food, fame, vanity, wealth and power to enhance one's ego, and strong attachment to these things, and so on, were too embedded in the population, and that his enlightened teachings, appealing to the rational mind, would only penetrate a few people, which is the reason why he initially considered continuing his life, after enlightenment, in a state of meditative calm in the forest, to avoid the hassles of teaching to irrational people.

Great post. 

The thing that made me think though, is in the very last sentence. 

"Avoid the hussles of teaching irrational people."

 

From this I deduct that for you, rational is good and irrational is bad. Correct?

What does it mean "being irrational"? A state of non-rationality. But here is the problem...both a baby and a great yogi experience a state of non-rationality. The states are not the same however, because the first comes before rationality and the latter comes after rationality. It transcends it and includes it into something bigger.

 

In this context, being irrational becomes a good thing, and rationality ceases to be the only option.

[GammaGlobulin]

How can my God say He is not God? 

 

This makes no sense. 

[Hummin]

8 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Have you prayed today? 

 

I did. 

 

God spoke to me, immediately. 

God always answers my prayers, immediately. 

 

God said to me, "I am not God"

 

. 

 

 

I often speak to myself, yes, and Im no god either

[Hummin]

7 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

Great post. 

The thing that made me think though, is in the very last sentence. 

"Avoid the hussles of teaching irrational people."

 

From this I deduct that for you, rational is good and irrational is bad. Correct?

What does it mean "being irrational"? A state of non-rationality. But here is the problem...both a baby and a great yogi experience a state of non-rationality. The states are not the same however, because the first comes before rationality and the latter comes after rationality. It transcends it and includes it into something bigger.

 

In this context, being irrational becomes a good thing, and rationality ceases to be the only option.

Yin Yang, there is always where bad can be good, and good can be bad. Simply or simplistic said if that is allowed to say

Edited February 25, 2023 by Hummin

[GammaGlobulin]

And so, I prayed again