Commonality among all Spirituality

[Marblehead]

Believing in a belief system is all you get.

Well, hey!, at least you have something, even if it is just an illusion.

[Brian]

Belieiving that you don't have a belief system is a belief system, too...

[ralis]

Belieiving that you don't have a belief system is a belief system, too...

 

That way of thinking can be an exercise in futility. Belief systems (BS) are inaccurate maps of reality and impede direct experience. Religion and spirituality are only concerned with belief systems, arbitrary rules and other forms of crowd control. Moreover, belief systems are based on provisional faith and the wish to quantify an absolute isness of identity.

 

I would highly recommend reading Robert Anton Wilsons; http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Psychology-Brain-Software-Programs/dp/1561840718

 

The entire book was written without the verb 'is'.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Sanity-Introduction-Non-Aristotelian-Semantics/dp/0937298018/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339598904&sr=1-5&keywords=korzybski

 

General semantics teaches that language can be expanded from a rigid yes/no worldview to out of the box expansive visual thinking.

Edited June 13, 2012 by ralis

[Stosh]

Religion and spirituality are only concerned with belief systems, arbitrary rules and other forms of crowd control.

 

No they are not arbitrary, which is why folks see similarity between the belief systems existant.

There are spiritual questions folk want answered, what is meaning in their life and world.

what are the origins and parameters of the world , how are they to address the realities they face,etc

The human condition is eternal, and we always will need operational paradigms to function,

and so the search for the answers is and always will be much like you see it now.

The heroes and villains names change, and over long time

even the paradigms of many gods versus one, or none, changes.

But regardless of that,there is a strong social tendency which religions satisfy.

though , yes ,it does help to get everyone on the same page (crowd control)

And while such paradigms are unreal in that they are subjective, the direct experience of that which is objectively "real" is forever beyond our grasp (as operational humans)... (so belief systems are not the impediment)

the impediment is that the human mind is subjective

and only 'real' in its own subjective reality.

 

Stosh

Edited June 13, 2012 by Stosh

[ralis]

 

But regardless of that,there is a strong social tendency which religions satisfy.

though , yes ,it does help to get everyone on the same page (crowd control)

 

I see you missed my point.

 

Let's take for e.g., the most powerful fascist institution in the last 2000 yrs. The Catholic Church which is ruled by so called divine mandate from the pope, creates so called divine laws for the sheeple to follow. These so called laws which are said to be divinely inspired, are not absolute, and are arbitrary so as the power structure of the church remains intact. Arbitrary in that the so called laws are at the whim of a dictator (pope) and have no relationship to the natural world. Breaking divinely inspired laws are coupled with severe forms of punishment such as hell and purgatory.

 

I can think of myriad examples but all forms of spiritually based belief system crowd control are lies!

Edited June 13, 2012 by ralis

[Informer]

It's tough IMO to take a 'present day' (whatever that is) stance from our current (conditioned) perspective on something in the past or elsewhere and 'retro-understand it' or 'here-understand it' relative to current expressions and understandings and practices. Are the contexts really the same? I mean in some texts they are explicitly described in ways we reckon we recognize (and I have personally enjoyed and found damn useful doing so myself) or just interpreted as such?

 

The devil is (thankfully) in the details. Obviously I congratulate you on your NOWness :-) I'm just up for examining it.

 

 

I understand what you are saying K. There are different circumstances and people put even more emphasis and pride in trivial matters today then before. Life was pretty clear-cut and simple in the past, from our current perspective, however I think the struggles within were similar. The phenomena underlying the illusions hasn't seemed to change much at all.

 

1000 years ago we would probably be burned at the stake for even considering anything other than which was indoctrinated in our society, so that is one of prominent adversities a seeker would have had to deal with.(Depending on where you were born) It seems pretty much every region indoctrinates and indoctrinated as well has even enforce culture, tradition, beliefs into those who live there.

 

We are privy to much more info, yet it is much more info to consider and work through as well. I think there is a sort of balance between past present and future in regards to NOW. That is seemingly the commonality of it, they were all occurring now for those who were perceiving at the time, as it is still occurring for us right now. I don't think Now has actually changed, only the perceptions and illusions seem to change.(That is what they do)

Edited June 13, 2012 by Informer

[Informer]

Have any of our needs really changed over all of these years, or has it only been the wants that have changed?

[Stosh]

Ok yes, there are arbitrary points.

I just overlooked stuff like the shape of folks hats

what they eat and what days of the week they consider holy.

You are correct and I withdraw my objection.

I missed your point.

Stosh

[Birch]

I would like to add that folk days relative to people's environments aren't that arbitrary.

 

I think the hat thing is really interesting. But then I like the minutae, like diet and dancing and crap like that. The Catholic church would have me fixated in study if I didn't hate the institution quite as much. In fact, look at the absence of environmental or ecological concerns in the Catholic canon. I know there are some folks in the US trying to fix that, but the religion itself doesn't have ecology as practice. As far as I know, anyway.