Some fantastic comments on yesterday’s post, my good friend MichaelStMark's detailed response in particular. I love having some back and forth with people, it's what the net's all about, it's what people are all about and best of all it saves me having to think of something new to write about. 
So let's go point by point shall we:
"I think you might be mixing up two things SL. Religion as we know it Jim, sure is a circus of psychosis, as you say. But there is the kernel of all religions - or their mystic core-truth, the way it was before it was hijacked by materialism."
Language is an interesting thing, for example I think we're actually on the same page here, with any apparent differences being purely semantic. I said yesterday that I thought spiritual development was essential for our race and I think this is your kernel. The circus?
Well each of us is unique and so, it seems to me, must our processes of development be. My problem with religion is that it tries to be a one-size-fits-all spiritual solution, don't bother to find your own way, to think creatively for yourself, just copy our patented ideas. This inevitably leads to a power structure and to the abuse of that power.
OK, things are going to get a little complex now as I quote MichaelStMark quoting me, just mind your heads on all the inverted commas soon to be flying about:
" "..we have only one source of energy: Sol, our sun."
- yes SL, but your analysis is incomplete. You don't offer us an explanation about where the hydrogen in the sun that is getting spent in fusion to create heat and light originates from? Also, we see that energy doesn't ever just exist on its own in some random swirl. It is driven, focused and directed from somewhere. In a lab, two chemicals may get mixed together in a test tube, but there is always a person directing the mixing."
Here we go, some actual disagreement, much more fun. While I do think that personal spiritual development is vitally important to us all, I also believe that all we're exploring is the inside of our own head.
To some people the idea of the universe as an empty system, no omnipotent intelligence, no magic, no plan, appears cold, sterile and horrifically bleak. Personally I find it incredibly beautiful and, as it happens, I think that energy that makes up our universe is a random swirl, there is no hand doing the mixing. Energy is driven, but only by what came before, cause and effect ad infinitum.
The universe is just one vast unconscious system going through it's motions, obeying it's own rules and simply being. Despite the fact that the consciousness we are so very proud of feels like some magical and mystical force we, and everything we’re about, are just another part of that vast dead system.
“if you are saying life just accidently comes about by a random mix of chemicals then why can't biologists bring a dead person back to life by injecting him/her with the missing chemical?”
I was waiting for a bus earlier to day, (had to wait 30 mins, they're supposed to every 10 or better!) and there was a piece of rotting orange peel stuck tot he pavement just by the kerb. I stared at it blankly for a while until it suddenly revealed something deep and significant.
I thought about how slowly that skin had formed, cell by cell it had grown to encase the fruit, and now cell by cell it was decaying. Then I thought about what the peel had been before, and what it would be after. I had to forcibly pry my mind away from the concept of the orange peel being an isolated object, it was in fact just one of an infinite number of forms taken by some random combination of energy.
Trippy huh?
How minbendingly complex was that one little piece of orange peel? Well the nature of the whole universe and how it’s bits fit, ‘life’ included, is quite clearly currently beyond us and possibly always will be. I guess what I’m trying to say is that just because we can’t do something doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.
To be fair to my friend the practical realities of scientific practice and politics do leave a lot to be desired and there is a lot of bullshit about.
“Your assertion about mantras only being effective through CO2 depletion is interesting, but is that a theory of yours or is it based on your own personal research or quest for truth?”
It’s actually from Aldous Huxley’s “Heaven & Hell”, the sequel to “The Doors Of Perception”. I’d say both were required reading for anyone seeking to venture into this type of mental minefield.
“If the CO2 depletion theory is correct, then it wont matter which word you choose as a mantra, you will still get the same CO2 deletion "high" -right? In actuality, in research in the field, you will discover there IS a difference in effect between repeating, say, "Coca Cola" all day and the name "Gouranga".”
I would expect there to be a difference and in fact your example supports the theory I espouse. It doesn’t matter what sound you’re making as long as it’s one that pumps you up. Getting your breathing going in the right way is far easier to achieve unconsciously by getting carried away than by consciously trying to regulate it.
I’d put money on the effect being achieved by saying “Coca Cola” as long as you could find someone who loves the “Real Thing” enough.
“Everyone has their own particular way through themselves to unravel the knots that are blocking and then make complete sense of the world,”
I agree, though I’m not sure about the complete bit.
I’m shortsighted and when I look at objects over a certain distance away without glasses or lenses they appear blurry with soft fuzzy edges and an uncertain shifting texture. I know that the I’m not seeing the objects as they actually are but that imperfections in my eye are affecting my perception.
This is how I see religion and magic and mysticism. I really believe that there’s nothing out there but that that’s ok because we’ve so much inside. In the grand scheme of things we’re still practically single celled organisms so it not surprising we haven’t quite grasped our consciousness yet, we have more evolving to do.
At the stage we’re at so far we’re simply not capable of seeing ourselves or the universe as they really are, both appear fuzzy and tantalisingly enigmatic. These echoes of supernatural realms are actually just the results of our primitive brains trying to deal with things currently beyond them, they are not as they appear. It’s not our fault we can’t see far enough yet though and the only we’ll improve our vision is keep looking.
“We are in full accord with regards Noel Edmunds. I was probably a little harsh on him when he first reappeared on Deal, but I've actually grown to quite enjoy the show,”
Now you see everything was going well and then MichaelStMark threw this in at the end. I like to think I’m a pretty tolerant and reasonable guy, that I can find a mutually satisfying way through any debate or situation, but I have to take a stand right here, right now because my good friend is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
No-one could ever be too harsh to Noel Edmunds.
