Warm greetings everyone,
Here are some questions and answers raised in my mailing list about Spirituality and the concept of “we are One”.
It’s a long one, so grab a drink and a comfortable chair and enjoy!
Identifying markers of the respondent have been removed for privacy, and also removed are those parts of the post not directly relevent for the topic here. The respondent hasn’t replied to many of the new questions yet, but I feel the unanswered questions raised are good food for thought for everyone.
We commence with my question:
>> Does that mean, if we weren’t somehow all connected ’spiritually’, we wouldn’t be connected at all?
> Depends I suppose on what you mean by spiritually. If you say that our connection is determined by some kind of vast communication network based in quantum mechanics or whatever, but that it goes no further I suppose you could make an argument for that. I wouldn’t subscribe to that argument but I could certainly see how someone could arrive at that assumption.> 1. Why can’t the bio-electrical/chemical and the ’spiritual’ assumption both be correct (as far as anything speculated upon in thatdirection could be ‘correct’)
> Bio-chemical would assume that when this body is done, that we are done. The plug is pulled out and that is that. Once the bio-chemical process has come to an end, then who you are comes to an end. Since we certainly are not ‘done’ when the bio-chemical process runs out then it would be short sighted to believe that all that we are is rooted in this material body. That would make us little more than a computer hooked to a network at best. Perhaps what we knew would be ‘downloaded’ somewhere, but then if we are to assume there is no ‘mainframe’ or source, what you would have at best would be bits and pieces. As our entire personality does continue on.. it has to continue on from somewhere outside a bio-electrical construct.> Why does “we are One” need to apply in order for the spiritual aspect to be valid?
> See above. Basically what I’m saying is that if you believe that we are all connected perhaps by some quantum communication system but that it is based on ‘life’ in this body alone, then I don’t see how you can explain how it is that our complete personality, the essence of who we are, continues after the life in this body is done. Where is it ’stored’. Unless it is that you do not believe that we continue on.. and all I can say to that is that I respect that opinion if you have not had the experience to know with a certainty otherwise. I have and therefore talking theoretically about something that I know not to be true is difficult. If you are asking could we each be individual ‘gods’ expressing together.. well I could go with that in a sense. I don’t think our bio-chemical meatsuits are limiting to anything more that we are outside of them. Are we collaborating in a “spiritual” sense outside this life, sure.. and we are doing the same within material life. If the meatsuits didn’t serve a purpose, we would never put them on. I don’t think being spiritual beings means our bio-electrical ‘life’ is not real any more than having life in a physical body means that a spiritual consciousness is not real. The difference being that we don’t need expression in the material body to know that we are alive and who we are. But we certainly can maintain a physical existance without being consciously spiritually connected. As far as is it necessary to believe that we, as spiritual beings, are part of a greater whole, first I would say our spiritual selves don’t struggle with that. But when you are talking of an existence outside of the material world, how would you carve out a ‘glob’ of ether and say this is me, and that glob over there is you. When one thought touches another thought directly, can you really say that you are not, in essence, One?>Smiles.. I think, if Life (not the source of Life, but Life – because
>> Life is the source of Life) is infinite, that any expansion can occur
>> within it without disturbing its overall essence – and I feel it’s
>> more our perception of it that ‘expands’.
> And this is the only point I would have to really ‘disagree’ with you on. Whether you say life is the source of life, I guess that is circular logic that can be symantics. No problem with that. Other than that consciousness most certainly does exist outside of ‘life’ in a material sense… far beyond something that is in ‘bodies’ made of matter. I guess it depends on how you define life. But the part that I disagree about is that you assume it is our individual perception that expands. What ‘Is’, and I dont necessarily think viewing it as a ‘god’ in terms of being greater than any of us is needed, most certainly is always consciously actively seeking to become more than what it is. To find more ways to expand.To make something that wasn’t before and more directly to ‘be’ in a way that wasn’t before. I guess if you asked me do I believe in an ‘all one’ scenario where god, the source, “life”, etc. is a thinking rational being with a mind and a personality, yes.Do I believe we are separate from that entity, no. We are both who we have come to be, and part of the original. BUT do I believe our source of life is the one and only source of life anywhere.. certainly not. For the purposes of our understanding, the universe that we reside in might as well be infinite, as we can never reach the boundary of it, intellectually or physically or perceptually. Simply ‘reaching the edge’ necessitates expansion. It is impossible for us to ever reach the end, define the container, or qualify and quantify. So infinite. So what Is, Is for us. Is there more than what Is? Oh yes. When I was a small child growing up in a fundy church, I got threatened with a beating once to suggest that I wondered who God prayed to and whether God had a grandpa. I was asked where I ever got such nonsense and I told my mom that I heard him praying and I wanted to know who was God’s god. But, I think as a child I probably had more insight than I do now as an adult. Perhaps it isn’t so far off to say that ‘the universe/source/god/insert whatever inadequate word here’ is seeking just as much as we as individuals are seekers.<
What would a hypothetical omniscient, omnipotent being be seeking, I wonder?
With love
Leonora
Magic: http://www.witchywisdom.com
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May the thrill of living
Permeate your world
(((Feel))) the Rhythm
