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That sounds very like gnosticism in many ways. Joel Send a noteboard - 18/09/2009 12:17:51 PM
I'm not sure if there will ever be a scientific instrument that can measure this. But I think there is a hidden spiritual energy that animates all life and gives us access to greater powers than we can possibly know.

I've always believed that there were masters at various times in history who had partially or fully realized this truth. However, I also think there is a lower, opposing power that seeks to prevent us from being aware of the unity of man. That is why there are so many false spiritual prophets, negative acts by various religions, and so much gross materialism that denies the existence of a spirit.

We've probably all touched a tiny piece of the universal spirit at least once, whether it was through making love, praying, meditating, enjoying nature, seeing a birth or a death, creating something beautiful, or just having a plain Zen moment.

This is all just my personal belief, but I find great comfort in in having a viewpoint like this. I think the main thing that prevents us from realizing unity more continuously is our own stubborn egos. I have observed how insidious my own ego has can be, and it is definitely something I am trying to be more mindful of so that I live life more fully.

And Buddhism, in many ways; for all the popularity of accusing Christianity of appropriating Buddhist themes I think the charge is better made against the Gnostics (perhaps naturally, since in their purest forms both gnosticism and Buddhism are more philosophies than religions; Buddha discouraged inquiries about divinity on the same grounds as modern materialists: Even if it exists, it defies human investigation. ) And, no, no scientific measurement will ever be made of it, just as we'll never meet the soul of an atom; it's apples and oranges.

I would note, however, that one critical task of overcoming the ego is that just as we must each recognize we aren't preeminent as individuals, we must recognize humanity or even earthly life is not preeminent as a whole. If there is a true spiritual fundament to human and other life if possesses all of humanitys positive spiritual attributes as well as superior ones we lack; it must, to have both granted ours and created them and us to coexist in the first place. At that point, just as our duty to humanity is greater than that to ourselves, our duty to our Maker is greater than that to anyone else, individually or collectively. The nature of creation is such that typically takes the FORM of duty to our fellow lifeforms, but it's vital we never lose sight of our highest loyalty.
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Do you think there's some kind of spiritual substance in the universe? - 14/09/2009 02:42:22 PM 822 Views
no, it is mostly hydrogen *NM* - 14/09/2009 02:43:47 PM 247 Views
No *NM* - 14/09/2009 03:01:32 PM 225 Views
not a chance *NM* - 14/09/2009 03:23:02 PM 234 Views
yes (in as much that we could choose to define it that way) - 14/09/2009 03:31:40 PM 617 Views
No *NM* - 14/09/2009 05:14:33 PM 227 Views
Wouldn't spiritual and substance be mutually exclusive? - 14/09/2009 05:27:09 PM 552 Views
Re: Wouldn't spiritual and substance be mutually exclusive? - 14/09/2009 06:20:45 PM 529 Views
I think there is definitely a spiritual force that underlies the unity of all things - 14/09/2009 06:11:01 PM 566 Views
That sounds very like gnosticism in many ways. - 18/09/2009 12:17:51 PM 575 Views
No. *NM* - 14/09/2009 07:06:59 PM 222 Views
define "spiritual'. - 14/09/2009 07:36:18 PM 500 Views
Rum. - 14/09/2009 08:25:46 PM 558 Views
YES! *NM* - 16/09/2009 02:10:55 PM 255 Views
How are we not married? *NM* - 19/09/2009 04:10:13 AM 230 Views
Bigamy laws. *NM* - 19/09/2009 03:49:59 PM 212 Views
My Achilles heel! *NM* - 19/09/2009 07:30:06 PM 234 Views
Timing *NM* - 21/09/2009 12:51:37 PM 225 Views
My Achilles ankle! *NM* - 21/09/2009 08:14:42 PM 241 Views
Your Face. *NM* - 21/09/2009 08:21:44 PM 223 Views
My Achilles face! - 07/10/2009 09:40:36 PM 453 Views
No *NM* - 14/09/2009 09:09:16 PM 214 Views
No *NM* - 14/09/2009 09:31:14 PM 229 Views
Yes, vodka. *NM* - 14/09/2009 10:02:19 PM 213 Views
Substance? - 14/09/2009 10:08:04 PM 518 Views
Yeah, boobs. - 15/09/2009 01:51:44 AM 502 Views
Not the way I'd put it, as jh notes, but unquestionably. - 15/09/2009 03:17:22 PM 544 Views
Look, don't put words in my mouth. - 15/09/2009 04:50:13 PM 572 Views
Sorry. - 15/09/2009 05:14:10 PM 502 Views
Re: Sorry. - 17/09/2009 09:20:58 PM 475 Views
People over-complicate this, it's a sort of animal abuse - 15/09/2009 09:03:01 PM 532 Views
Nicely put. *NM* - 17/09/2009 01:57:44 AM 207 Views
Very nicely put. *NM* - 17/09/2009 06:57:57 PM 211 Views
A sublte nuance most modern materialists miss. - 18/09/2009 12:21:33 PM 753 Views
I think there may be platonic forms defining purpose - 16/09/2009 06:27:36 AM 490 Views
The material universe precludes a purely natural cause. - 18/09/2009 12:04:16 PM 624 Views
One little correction - 20/09/2009 12:34:13 AM 630 Views
Nay. - 20/09/2009 07:04:47 AM 490 Views
Re: Nay. - 07/10/2009 11:55:28 AM 545 Views

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