Do you believe in God and why

[thaibeachlovers]

29 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

Those are all good and well, common sense really. They are designed to make life better within the dream, but they are not useful if your goal is to awaken from the dream. 

I dare say that most of the 8 billion people on the planet will never even know that there is a goal. I know a lot of people in my life and not a one desires to "awaken". Even I am not bothered about it.

 

Most of us humans will be happy just to sleep in a warm bed with a full tummy. Putting in the effort to reach Nirvana is not for most. I'm happy these days if I wake up and don't hurt anywhere, and the wifi actually works.

[Sunmaster]

28 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I dare say that most of the 8 billion people on the planet will never even know that there is a goal. I know a lot of people in my life and not a one desires to "awaken". Even I am not bothered about it.

 

Most of us humans will be happy just to sleep in a warm bed with a full tummy. Putting in the effort to reach Nirvana is not for most. I'm happy these days if I wake up and don't hurt anywhere, and the wifi actually works.

That's very true.
Awakening is not for the faint-hearted. The dream (or Maya as the Hindus call it) has an extremely strong grip on us. Most don't realize it's a dream. Very few do, but still wander around in the dream. Many of these, me included, dream that they are on some sort of spiritual journey, they read books, gather knowledge, attend yoga workshops, follow a teacher or guru. All kinds of stuff designed to keep us distracted from the fact that half-sleep is still sleep.

[VincentRJ]

2 hours ago, Sunmaster said:

Thank you for the link. The study sounds familiar to me. Maybe it was already shared here once.

The placebo effect is a great example for the power of beliefs. If the whole point of religion were to strengthen this ability (that we can change things thanks to our belief...for example that prayers are answered), then this alone should give it a reason to be. Awakening is much more than that, though....I think.

There are two basic, but related, meanings of 'awakening.
1. An act of waking from sleep.
2. The act of starting to understand something, feel something, or become aware of something.

 

There are obviously thousands of different types and degrees of 'awakenings', but I assume you are referring to a sudden, life-changing awakening, perhaps resulting from long periods of deep meditation, or perhaps being hit by a lightning strike which fails to kill you but alters your neuronal activities in a way that makes you see and view everything differently.

 

The placebo effect might not appear to have any role in the lightning strike, but what if the person who is struck by lightning thinks that his survival is due to the intervention by God, and his religious faith is strengthened as a result. Do you think a 'placebo effect' is involved in this outcome?
 

[Hummin]

5 hours ago, susanlea said:

Murderer and child abuse.

Time being, culture, and the tora, bible and Quran is full of the same. Brothers in blood, same family, same history fighting for the same.

 

Maria was most likey under age when giving birth to Jesus as well. 

[Sunmaster]

2 hours ago, VincentRJ said:

There are two basic, but related, meanings of 'awakening.
1. An act of waking from sleep.
2. The act of starting to understand something, feel something, or become aware of something.

 

There are obviously thousands of different types and degrees of 'awakenings', but I assume you are referring to a sudden, life-changing awakening, perhaps resulting from long periods of deep meditation, or perhaps being hit by a lightning strike which fails to kill you but alters your neuronal activities in a way that makes you see and view everything differently.

 

The placebo effect might not appear to have any role in the lightning strike, but what if the person who is struck by lightning thinks that his survival is due to the intervention by God, and his religious faith is strengthened as a result. Do you think a 'placebo effect' is involved in this outcome?
 

 

I think both those points apply to the socalled spiritual awakening and enlightenment. 

 

If someone is ever in doubt whether he is awakened or not, you can be 100% sure he isn't. This is to say that there is a difference between thinking/believing and knowing. Knowing is not based on intellectual understanding or belief. There is no doubt when there is Knowing. 

Say you wake up from an ordinary dream. In the dream you may or may not be conscious that you were dreaming, but once you wake up to our ordinary reality, you know you're awake. Nobody will be able to convince you otherwise. You just know the difference between the dream state you were in and the reality of being awake. 

The same happens when people talk about the big awakening, with enlightenment being the permanent state of being awake. There can be no doubt to what state you've awakened to, because it will feel more real than anything you've experienced before. And if people tell you that it's just a hallucination, that you're imagining it, you will know better and just answer with a smile.

 

The placebo effect works when there is thinking/believing involved, because it works within those mental parameters.

Awakening is separate from thinking/ believing and therefore, there can't be a placebo effect.

 

To be clear...one can have several awakenings, but most of the time they are temporary. You can still fall back into the dream state (what we call ordinary reality) while retaining some memories of the experience. Enlightenment,  on the other hand, means that you have established the awakened state as a permanent reality, and there is no going back....even if you tried.

[Red Phoenix]

3 hours ago, Sunmaster said:

That's very true.
Awakening is not for the faint-hearted. The dream (or Maya as the Hindus call it) has an extremely strong grip on us. Most don't realize it's a dream. Very few do, but still wander around in the dream. Many of these, me included, dream that they are on some sort of spiritual journey, they read books, gather knowledge, attend yoga workshops, follow a teacher or guru. All kinds of stuff designed to keep us distracted from the fact that half-sleep is still sleep.

It's not even half-sleep, it is mostly self-delusion.

[VincentRJ]

56 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

 

I think both those points apply to the socalled spiritual awakening and enlightenment. 

 

If someone is ever in doubt whether he is awakened or not, you can be 100% sure he isn't. This is to say that there is a difference between thinking/believing and knowing. Knowing is not based on intellectual understanding or belief. There is no doubt when there is Knowing. 

Say you wake up from an ordinary dream. In the dream you may or may not be conscious that you were dreaming, but once you wake up to our ordinary reality, you know you're awake. Nobody will be able to convince you otherwise. You just know the difference between the dream state you were in and the reality of being awake. 

The same happens when people talk about the big awakening, with enlightenment being the permanent state of being awake. There can be no doubt to what state you've awakened to, because it will feel more real than anything you've experienced before. And if people tell you that it's just a hallucination, that you're imagining it, you will know better and just answer with a smile.

 

The placebo effect works when there is thinking/believing involved, because it works within those mental parameters.

Awakening is separate from thinking/ believing and therefore, there can't be a placebo effect.

 

To be clear...one can have several awakenings, but most of the time they are temporary. You can still fall back into the dream state (what we call ordinary reality) while retaining some memories of the experience. Enlightenment,  on the other hand, means that you have established the awakened state as a permanent reality, and there is no going back....even if you tried.

"Say you wake up from an ordinary dream. In the dream you may or may not be conscious that you were dreaming, but once you wake up to our ordinary reality, you know you're awake. Nobody will be able to convince you otherwise. You just know the difference between the dream state you were in and the reality of being awake." 

 

The above part of your post reminds me of that ancient Chinese story about the philosopher Zhuang Zhou who once dreamed he was a butterfly, flitting and fluttering around, and so happy, and doing as he pleased. When he woke up, he wasn't sure if he was still a butterfly, now dreaming that he was a human called Zhuang Zhou. 🤣

[Sunmaster]

5 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

It's not even half-sleep, it is mostly self-delusion.

Exactly. There are degrees of self-delusion, but compared to permanent self-realisation, they are all child's play. 

 

The only consolation is that the half-sleep state gives you a little more freedom compared to the fully asleep state. Like having a lucid dream, being aware that you're still dreaming gives you the ability to manipulate the dream to some degree. And you don't fall for all the ups and downs that happen during the dream.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/29/2024 at 6:29 PM, Hummin said:

Time being, culture, and the tora, bible and Quran is full of the same. Brothers in blood, same family, same history fighting for the same.

 

Maria was most likey under age when giving birth to Jesus as well. 

If women hadn't been young when first pregnant ( under age is a western societal idea that is not relevant to pre 18th century )the human race likely would have died out 50,000 years ago. Living beyond 40 was probably rare in the peasant class.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/29/2024 at 7:12 PM, Sunmaster said:

Say you wake up from an ordinary dream. In the dream you may or may not be conscious that you were dreaming, but once you wake up to our ordinary reality, you know you're awake.

Errrr. I've become aware that I now confuse being awake with dreams. Sometimes I have to ask myself if I actually did something or if I dreamed it.

 

Sadly i never dream of having wild sex with a beautiful woman, and for sure that never happened in reality.

[save the frogs]

 

[save the frogs]

Gotu Kola is an herb used in Chinese medicine .

Just read this about Gotu Kola

 

[ravip]

3 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Gotu Kola is an herb used in Chinese medicine .

Just read this about Gotu Kola

 

Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica):

This herb/leaf has been used in Asia since a very long time. Can be eaten raw, chopped finely, with a mixture of onion, garlic, lime , pepper, salt.

 

 

https://www.healthline.com/health/gotu-kola-benefits

 

 

[save the frogs]

This is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

This cop blows the head off of an innocent old black lady.

Was it just because he was a racist psyhopath?

Or was he triggered by what she said ??

She said "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" and this seemed to seriously trigger him to act psychotic. 

Was the cop afraid of going to hell or sth and the mention of Jesus scared the crap out of him? 

His reaction was over the top with an innocent old harmless lady. 

 

Shooting at 9:05. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2rMB2fYjuY&rco=1

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/19/2024 at 1:31 PM, save the frogs said:

This is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

This cop blows the head off of an innocent old black lady.

Was it just because he was a racist psyhopath?

Or was he triggered by what she said ??

She said "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" and this seemed to seriously trigger him to act psychotic. 

Was the cop afraid of going to hell or sth and the mention of Jesus scared the crap out of him? 

His reaction was over the top with an innocent old harmless lady. 

 

Shooting at 9:05. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2rMB2fYjuY&rco=1

 

He was just another bad man in a world chock a block with bad people.

[save the frogs]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

He was just another bad man in a world chock a block with bad people.

I really think the Jesus comment triggered him somehow, but we'll never know for sure.

 

Take care, beachlover

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, save the frogs said:

I really think the Jesus comment triggered him somehow, but we'll never know for sure.

 

Take care, beachlover

I watched the video. IMO he was just a very bad man. Apparently he turned his body cam off till after he shot her, and that was before she said anything. The VDO we saw was from his partner.

 

Thanks, take care yourself.

[Loyl]

No can't think of a reason 

[saintdomingo]

On 7/25/2024 at 10:38 PM, Chris Daley said:

Religion is mental suicide.  It tells you not to think.

Far from it, no good reading the Bible it needs studying. 

[Thingamabob]

A creative force has made all that we know and understand, and in multiverse beyond. Not sure if that force should be called God, but his, her or it's power is evident all around us, for better and for worse. 

[malt25]

On 4/14/2019 at 10:10 PM, CharlieH said:

Can we not appear to "mock" others religion please. 

 

 

Oh yes we can !

[newbee2022]

On 4/14/2019 at 9:25 PM, ivor bigun said:

 

It has fasinated me for years that people can believe in god and that Jesus was born to his virgin mother .

When you realize that there are so many billions of planets across hundreds of billions of light years.

It must be great to believe in a God and that one day you will be reunited with your loved ones a lady once said to me that she knows she will meet Jesus when she dies,i thought gosh he must be busy sitting down with the billions of people who die.

Do you really believe in him or any of the other Gods ?

 

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

Do you believe in fried egg? Same same😇

[ujayujay]

Nope!

[soalbundy]

On 4/14/2019 at 9:25 PM, ivor bigun said:

 

It has fasinated me for years that people can believe in god and that Jesus was born to his virgin mother .

When you realize that there are so many billions of planets across hundreds of billions of light years.

It must be great to believe in a God and that one day you will be reunited with your loved ones a lady once said to me that she knows she will meet Jesus when she dies,i thought gosh he must be busy sitting down with the billions of people who die.

Do you really believe in him or any of the other Gods ?

 

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

Belief is an admittance that you don't know, I know today is Friday, I don't need to believe it. All religions and spiritual practices depend on belief. The spiritual practice of self inquirey (who am I) by Ramana Maharshi for instance is neti,neti, not this, not that, a long series of negation where you arrive at zero, it doesn't give you an answer but dissolves the questioner, any following conclusions from then on are based on assumptions ie beliefs.

 

The oldest still practiced religion, Hinduism and it's close relation Buddhism are based on logical philosophical steps of reasoning through deep meditation but are still a product of mind. To say consciousness is fundamental is probably true but conscious awareness still needs a mind which is inevitably interwoven with ego resulting from indoctrination, memory of past experience and genetic make up so really nobody is free enough or capable of seeing truth. Even Christianity has had its deep thinking mystics, Meister Eckhard, the 14th century German monk was highly respected and rose to a high position but when he suggested that god was a product of the godhead, a dark silent place of potentiality (quantum physics anyone?) he narrowly avoided execution by the Catholic church who strangely enough revere him today.

Belief brings comfort to billions but belief isn't truth.....it doesn't need to be.

[speckio]

I am definitely an atheist

 

Religion is something man-made and it has been used to control people throughout history.. 

 

Church do as I say or face damnation.... 

Church give me money so i can be rich and powerful

Church Give me money so I can raise a holy army and crush those who oppose me or burn or crucify people as an example of what happens if you don't convert.

 

how is the following logical?

A person can be a murderous psychopath who murders 100's of people and if they accept god all is forgiven and they will be welcomed to heaven with open arms.

 

A person can live the life as a saint doing exactly everything god is supposed to be about his entire life but is destined to go to hell and damnation because he doesn't accept god into his heart.

 

Either this is exactly what God wanted or he doesn't exist... and if the above is in fact what he wanted i refuse to follow him.

 

God is not needed for you to a good person.. to be a good person all you need is. empathy and compassion

 

It dumb founds me when there is a survivor of a natural disaster where hundreds or thousands of other people die and this is considered a miracle or divine intervention ... a real miracle is if a plane crashes and everyone should of died but no one dies..

when has that ever happened? and why doesn't god do this more often?

 

If God exists he isn't a good deity and i would rather not spend eternity with someone like him after i am dead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jesimps]

I'm a non-believer in a God type person, but believe that the physics of the universe is God. It's puzzled me on the rare occasions that I've looked at a corpse that looks perfect in every way. but lacks that spark to make it get up and start moving about and interacting. Everything else is in place, where has that spark gone? What that spark is I'd love to know.

[sikishrory]

man in the sky that needs a lot of money?

no. its a load of bs. 

people are stupid.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, speckio said:

If God exists he isn't a good deity and i would rather not spend eternity with someone like him after i am dead.

Why do you think God has any similarity to humans? Do you think God looks like an old man on a throne in the sky?

Do you think humans are the only intelligent life in the universe?

 

Seriously, where did you get that silly idea from? God created the universe- can a human do that?

 

The universe is not only life, but death. Black holes destroy entire solar systems and more, with all the life in them. Eventually all the stars you can see will die- the end.

[thaibeachlovers]

45 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I'm a non-believer in a God type person, but believe that the physics of the universe is God. It's puzzled me on the rare occasions that I've looked at a corpse that looks perfect in every way. but lacks that spark to make it get up and start moving about and interacting. Everything else is in place, where has that spark gone? What that spark is I'd love to know.

The spark is God.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, speckio said:

I am definitely an atheist

 

Religion is something man-made and it has been used to control people throughout history.. 

 

Church do as I say or face damnation.... 

Church give me money so i can be rich and powerful

Church Give me money so I can raise a holy army and crush those who oppose me or burn or crucify people as an example of what happens if you don't convert.

 

how is the following logical?

A person can be a murderous psychopath who murders 100's of people and if they accept god all is forgiven and they will be welcomed to heaven with open arms.

 

A person can live the life as a saint doing exactly everything god is supposed to be about his entire life but is destined to go to hell and damnation because he doesn't accept god into his heart.

 

Either this is exactly what God wanted or he doesn't exist... and if the above is in fact what he wanted i refuse to follow him.

 

God is not needed for you to a good person.. to be a good person all you need is. empathy and compassion

 

It dumb founds me when there is a survivor of a natural disaster where hundreds or thousands of other people die and this is considered a miracle or divine intervention ... a real miracle is if a plane crashes and everyone should of died but no one dies..

when has that ever happened? and why doesn't god do this more often?

 

If God exists he isn't a good deity and i would rather not spend eternity with someone like him after i am dead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another that confuses religion and God. Religion is about God, but God is not about religion. Religion is a man made invention.