Talking To God

[mwight]

[JewelsNorth]

I remember that it made me ask a lot of philosophical questions about our existence.

Edited March 2, 2013 by JewelsNorth

[mwight]

I am glad you liked it, I did also

[Birch]

So, Dirk, you finally met him! I'm not very suprised that you met him on a train somewhere, he was always a bit of a pilgrim. Anyway, that's some news you've brought.

 

I loved this story. Are you concerned whether I think it's fiction or not? Of course not;-) Go read my story about the horse;-)

[seadog]

That wasn't God.

I met God in a pub one night.

And she wasn't anything like that.

[Yoda]

Fun to think that if I play my cards right, in 50 billion years I could have my very own universe! Or at least have worked my way up the ladder a bit in someone else's universe.

 

If I had had that conversation I would have asked about that "the deity" comment which by his own account is clearly not the case. I wonder who his creator is like, etc, etc and whether there was a starting point or not and what his understanding of the uber-god/Tao is like.

[Fitz P. Faustus]

Fun to think that if I play my cards right, in 50 billion years I could have my very own universe! Or at least have worked my way up the ladder a bit in someone else's universe.

 

If I had had that conversation I would have asked about that "the deity" comment which by his own account is clearly not the case. I wonder who his creator is like, etc, etc and whether there was a starting point or not and what his understanding of the uber-god/Tao is like.

 

 

It kinda sounds like this version of god is saying that this universe isn't his first time, that hes done this MANY times before. Which i guess would mean that every race that achieves this state just melds with him until their conscious no longer exists or rather, become part of it's conscious to the point where its a hivemind. I can't even begin to have a clue as to it origin of course but it was probably 1 race achieved this first enjoyed it for awhile until it became bored, so it began creating other races to achieve these orgasmic meldings. The fact it created more than one might suggest its looking for "cosmic quickies" but of course thats just my anti-god side coming out so don't pay it any attention

Of course there would have to be something to create the first race but that might mean that this creator of ours is not "The deity" but more likely one of the many possibilities that a race as a whole can hope to achieve. But for me the prospect of hivemind or floating through the void, creating universes for a good time isn't exactly appealing.

Edit: i forgot to add that hivemind is generally considered evil from what i've read about it, has something to do with the fact that you no longer do anything for yourself i think. Haven't read enough on it to honestly say if it is really that evil though because i don't think that anyone can give a truly bias opinion on the matter.

Edited November 10, 2008 by Fitz P. Faustus

[.broken.]

I have to say, this is perhaps the best thing I've read recently.

 

Its genius is truly awesome.

 

It acknowledges the existence of God, yet is written by an atheist. It permeates the enlightened teaching of 'simply be' whilst informing us that the entirety of existence is for the purpose of love.

 

Ecstacy is the reward for procreating as well as reaching higher stages - sound familiar? The purpose of life is to reach godhood - sound familiar?

 

Whether it is true or not is an interesting intellectual exercise. I read some of the comments in the 'discuss this post' link at the bottom of the page and many there seem to be missing the whole of what this article attempts. Those that say it isn't true say so because they made up their minds on the existence of a god before they read the article. You see, you have the usual two factions of 'no there is no god' and 'yes there is, but it doesn't follow the teachings I have based my faith upon.'

 

Here we come across the usual stumbling block of supposed rationality and blind faith. A futile argument and dead end points of view.

 

There is so much I enjoy about this article, my thoughts are too scattered to pin point it. It encapsulates all of the following:

 

- compassion for other beings

- responsibility of our surroundings as well as of each other and ourselves

- evolution/perpetual change

- the thrills of cultivation and what some know as 'spiritual evolution'

- the beauty of being able to keep an open mind which does not choose between opposing views but uses them as models of further intellectual development

- the idea that dna is what life is all about

- the advaitic perspective that it is one grand play for 'the one' so it can find itself again

- the idea that the godhead itself was born of dna and that we ourselves can reach that status

- the idea of a cyclical universe as well as multiple universes

- the idiocy of closed minded belief

- the fact that creativity and imagination are of great importance in the development of ourselves as a species (all other races for that matter too)

- that we pale in significance to the greater works, yet equally favoured

 

... and so much more.

 

I have no reason to disbelieve it, nor do I have a reason to believe it. If one wants to judge its truth or not, I would suggest awaiting to see if the prediction(s) it gives comes true Time, as always, will tell.

 

Yours in reverence,

James

 

p.s. apologies for the awfully constructed post - as I said, my thoughts are scattered when it comes to analysing this article... so tempted to write an essay on the matter.

[gendao]

[Mantra68]

That was great.

 

I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

 

My teachers have told me a similar story when I asked what the big-picture point of evolution is. They said it was to become gods ourselves and to create our own unique universes and that this is how life expands.

 

Awesome.

[Anabhogya-Carya]

I have to say, this is perhaps the best thing I've read recently.

 

 

 

It acknowledges the existence of God, yet is written by an atheist. It permeates the enlightened teaching of 'simply be' whilst informing us that the entirety of existence is for the purpose of love.

 

 

 

-

 

I do not think an atheist was acknowledging the existence of god in this article. I thought it was more a satire than a profession of faith...

[freesun]

I do not think an atheist was acknowledging the existence of god in this article. I thought it was more a satire than a profession of faith...

 

Not sure if i should comment since only skimmed the article, but by what parts i read and by reading the discussions I get the impression that it is just a story. Sort of an atheist view on god, if god existed in an atheist world view. A personal thought experiment by the author. Reminded me of Sci-Fi book concepts, I do not think it is a coincidence that he is referencing Asimov.

[ryansmith]

This was an amazing read. Thank you for posting.

[三江源]

[Mal]

Unsure

 

imagine discovering a secret thought or program, accessible to any intelligent individual, which, if abused, will eliminate your species instantly

 

but what is it and how does it work?

[三江源]

yes, that's the line I was looking for to quote, Mal.

 

intriguing.

[Seth Ananda]

What do you think this means?

Dan Tien Death Star!

[.broken.]

I do not think an atheist was acknowledging the existence of god in this article. I thought it was more a satire than a profession of faith...

 

Afraid you twisted my words slightly. I saw no profession of faith either. I was merely pointing at the universal aspect that this article has... it has the potential to appeal to believers and non-believers.

 

What do you think this means?

 

If we need to have figured out nuclear fusion, created a true artificial intelligence and abolished poverty before we can even reach the stage where we become a Level 2 civilisation then ultimately we would need to be capable of a very strong level of compassion uniformly. God, as portrayed in this article, is merely stating that they want compassionate beings to leave their solar systems - those capable of understanding other cultures, far removed from their own. To ensure such compassion he, or the laws of physics, have devised a self destruct for anyone who reaches the technological advancements but fails on the 'humanitarian' front.

 

What it could be is anyone's guess... science fiction wouldn't be too far to look in such instances. Anyway, if we did have fusion technology we'd be able to power the greatest mind humans could arguably be in possession of... it would be capable of far more than our own. My guess would be that the artificial intelligence would operate on a quantum computer and it would be the one to discover this knowledge, as well as what is needed to leave the solar system.

 

Yours,

James

[三江源]

Okay James, thankyou. I saw it differently having read your post. I see already the point about how we need the compassion and wisdom not to kill.

 

But it was the logistics of each individual having the ability to wipe out the species that I wondered about.

 

The fact is each of us could throw bombs or destroy our neighbourhoods, already. but we dont.

 

Most people dont act out their hatreds with the violent means that they already have available to them. Oh, hold on.. lots do...

 

Most of us have already passed this test. hmmmm.... okay.... I get the point. Too many of us havent.

 

Thinking about it..

Edited November 11, 2008 by cat

[Anabhogya-Carya]

Afraid you twisted my words slightly. I saw no profession of faith either. I was merely pointing at the universal aspect that this article has... it has the potential to appeal to believers and non-believers.

 

 

Sorry, I misunderstood.

[Lozen]

Very interesting!!

 

Reminds me of the Son of Man movie.

[ddilulo_06]

'In many ways the transition to an information species is the most traumatic stage in evolution. Biological intelligences have a deeply rooted sense of consciousness only being conceivable from within an organic brain. Coming to terms with the realisation that you have created your successor, not just in the sense of mother and child, but in the collective sense of the species recognising it has become redundant, this paradigm shift is, for many species, a shift too far. They baulk at the challenge and run from this new knowledge. They fail and become extinct. Yet there is nothing fundamentally wrong with them - it is a failure of the imagination.

 

Wait... is he saying that it is possible that we will engineer artificial intelligence that has the capacity to be self aware... like US!?

 

Is he saying that we are going to give birth to a consciousness more capable than our collective consciousness?

 

If you guys enjoyed this article, you might want to have a gander at this:

 

http://www.thiaoouba.com/

 

...fiction or nonfiction, who knows? Maybe he's just trying to sell shirts.

 

Either way, the book is entertaining at the very least. What struck me the most was the similarity between the levels of species.

Edited November 14, 2008 by ddilulo_06

[DalTheJigsaw123]

One of a better reads in a long, long time!

[Vajrahridaya]

The mystic experience of God is basically just a reification of connecting to the infinite connectivity of all phenomena, thereby self transcending and experiencing a kind of vast order to the seeming chaos which is really just interdependent relativity within an infinite spectrum. When we have strong held identities, that experience can conjure up all sorts of way's to reify that identity, especially when touching such an endless resource of information, as each point leads to all other points simultaneously thus the mind can create an identity that encapsulates even that experience as a kind of cosmic identity. But this too is a delusion... just a really big, big one, that most religions are based on.

[Mal]