Chocoholic wrote:But wouldn't reincarnation be cool just for a few times around? I mean you could do things differently, living as a woman, then a guy and animal - whatever, that is if you would actually be able to remember what you did in your previous life.
But I think you would get bored being around forever, you'd run out of things to do. I'd like to come back in say 500 years time and see what's changed.
Hi Chocoholic,
Rest assured, I'm not trying to single you out in anyway by quoting you, but for me, it's the human condition, displayed in comments like this which support my doubts about the authenticity of the origin of organized religion.
When listening to other people's believes about such things as the afterlife or re-incarnation, it's all to often they express their views in terms such as:
"...hmm...yeah...I like that idea..." or
"...that would be 'cool' if this is what happens...". They immerse themselves in what may be an interesting or intriguing concept, which isn't based on deductive logic or reasoning, or even what thier life experiences has presented them with. The underlying message I get from this, is that people are choosing their beliefs. For me, believing in a creator is like falling in love... you don't have a choice.
[A provoking thought on re-incarnation: My mother recently revealed to me, that for my first two years as a child (the third in our family), as opposed to just spurting out standard baby-babble, she was convinced I was attempting to articulate and vocalize a foreign language!... For me this may simply reveal that my speech-centers (left frontal lobe) developed faster at an early age... but for others, it's
"strong evidence" for the concept of re-incarnation.]
Chocoholic wrote:But the thing that frustrates me is you see so many people just wasting their lives. You're here for a flash in terms of space and time, and people just seem to throw their lives away. You should live every day as though it were your last and try to make every second count.
I couldn't agree more. Your last sentence in this statement would hold true, especially if this one time on earth really is all we all have... singularly, and with each other...
Abs,
This story of your friend's hardship, is very inspiring, like those which are written in many holy texts. But by allowing ourselves to assume devine intervention is constantly taking place in our lives, it negates the achievments and the
power of belief in the human mind.
Mohammed Ali (the boxer, Time Magazine's athlete of the century) for example, was deeply spiritual, and renounced his christian faith for a muslim doctrine. Apart from being naturally formidable in a physical sense, Ali was (and is) incredibly intelligent, creative and among other things, he
believed he was the best... The
power of belief is what allows us to succeed and achieve against impossible odds... It's this view, which drives the model by which I live my life...
When I train to fight, I train to defeat and
believe I can beat Ali, Bruce Lee, the Gracie family, and so on... While I play and learn aspects of guitar, I visualize and
believe I'm going to be better than Jimmy Hendrix, Satrini, Vai, Joe Pass, Petrucci... When I'm drawing or or laying things out artisically, I try to surpass DaVince, Michaelangelo, Van Gough and Picasso etc., because I
believe I can... Now, I
know this isn't true in all three cases, and these
beliefs probably won't come to fruition, but in trying to
believe such things are possible and setting it as a goal, it has allowed me to excell in ways I never originally imagined possible, and I admittedly would never have acheived otherwise.
Belief inside the human mind, and the human mind itself, may almost be as powerful as we think any GOD is... I find this an inspiring thought.
Abs, if you and others in this forum really believe that GOD is going to return to earth in some form or another, consider this... I think most reasonable people might agree, that although GOD's words were recorded in the best and most reliable and reproducable method of the time, today, in the age of reason (supposedly),
GOD Himself should probably reiterate his plan for us, perhaps, for example, through the use of the latest video and audio recording technology. By doin this, he would cut out the human middleman, which I'm sorry, inevitably taints his words. If He
proves His
existence to me, I will have complete faith in every other facet of His teachings. Doing less is asking to much from a race aspiring to be reasonable. However this is just my opinion.
Truthfully, I almost always keep these thoughts to myself, so I'd like to thank you all of you again for listening to them.
