My Spiritual Life on a Green and Blue Planet

Greetings creatures of Earth.

I am just a simple man, trying to make the most out of the only life I know. These are some of the things I have learned:


On Pain and Suffering:

Suffering is inevitable in this life. Not only is there death, old age and disease, there is the pain of shunned love, the pain of violence, the pain of accidents, the pain of humiliation, the pain of hunger. The pain of the world can not be summed up in a neat little phrase.

When you suffer, you cannot just ignore it and expect it to go away, or expect some god to take care of it.

If I fell and broke my leg, by attempting to ignore the pain I will only make it worse, but if I confront the pain it can be dealt with; in one sense by taking the practical steps to mend my leg or getting another to help me, the pain will eventually dissapear entirely; in another sense I can relieve my pain by staring it straight in the face and confronting it, when you look at pain straight in the eyes you realize that it is simply a series of nerve impulses, the leg must be mended so you can walk, but the pain itself can be relieved by simply understanding it for what it is, an illusion created by our nervous system for the purpose of protecting the body.

By realizing what pain really is and by taking practical steps to remedy the situation that resulted in pain you cure pain. By attempting to ignore the pain the true cause of the pain will only become worse and cause more pain.


On Deriving Pleasure From Material Things:

I derive great pleasure from many material things; good food and drink, movies, music, video games, sex, drugs, observing nature, warm sunshine, climbing a mountain, swimming in the ocean, sleeping when I am very tired. I derive material pleasure from all of these things and yet I do not serve them. When I watch a good movie the movie gains nothing from me, it is just a film reel or a videocassette or a DVD, if anything my use of it wears it out a little and brings it closer to uselessness, and when I watch a movie I lose nothing. The same goes for everything else I take pleasure in.

It is true that some pleasurable things can degrade the body and mind, many of the pleasures I partake do, yet it is a concious choice for me to partake of these things. An excess in anything can cause suffering, be it material, emotional, mental or spiritual. The key is moderation.

If I were to drink a six-pack of beer, smoke three joints, and eat a cheese pizza every night my body and mind would quickly fall to ruin, but If I did that every week the damage would be negligible and the pleasure would be great. If every day I prayed the same prayers at the same time then went out to convert people to my religion using whatever means neccisary, and in my mind my religion is the only truth, my spirit and mind would quickly fall to ruin. Every moment I think I know the whole truth my ignorance increases, every time I repeat a prayer my creative mind dries up, every time I try to convert someone the community views me as insane. But if I pray from my heart and not a book, accept people and their choices for what they are, and constantly question and try to perfect my knowledge and view of the world, I will be more creative, more respected and wiser than I was the day before.

If there is a god or gods who created us with benevolent intent, it also created the things which give us pleasure as well as our ability to experience pleasure. Only an evil man would build a car and put in a radio that will explode when you try to switch it on. Only an evil god would create a world with pleasures that would result in spiritual death for anyone partaking.

I am completely ignorant as to the nature of the creator or creators if they exist, but I can say with certainty that I would rather spend an eternity in pain than serve an evil god for one day. Therefore I assume that god is good and just and I serve how I would wish people to serve if I were god.


On God, Gods, and Other Spiritual Creatures:

In my life I have only met four spiritual beings, two of which were completely benevolent, one approached me when I was sleeping in the Arizona desert, the other I created as an experiment in my home. I consider both of these creatures my friends, they have assisted me in life immensely and in return I have done things to assist them. They are both kind beings, although a little odd in personality by human standards.

I also encountered two angry spirits in Mexico. I was visiting friends on an archaeology dig at an old mayan temple, one of them was excavating when he uncovered a small clay statue in excellent condition, the very moment that he wiped the dirt off and realized he had found an artefact a large branch fell from a healthy tree right over him. The tree is called the 'Sol' or Sun tree by the natives, and they believe that spirits live in the trees. Fortunately someone managed to shove him out of the way, he could have been killed.

That night I couldn't sleep and was sitting outside smoking cigarettes and listening to the jungle when I saw movement by the hut the artefacts were stored in. My first thought was it was an animal then I saw that they had humanoid forms. Thinking they were theives I was about to yell and wake up the camp when somehow through the intense darkness of the jungle at night I was able to see them clearly, they were very strange greatures. One was whitish grey, very fat in an almost cartoony way and appeared to be made of smoke, the other was very shinny and tall and seemed to be made of sticks and vines twisted together, I could not see either of their faces, it was as if they were blurred out like a breast on tv. They were moving around the hut with the artefacts as if they were trying to get in, but it was as if there was a barrier of some sort keeping them out. I moved to approach them but before I could take two steps they simply disapeared like dissapating smoke.

Those are the only spiritual beings I have ever experienced and are the only ones I can believe in, although there are certainly more. As for a 'creator' being I know nothing except from books written by man so for me that creature lives entirely in the realm of speculation.


On Living With Your Fellow Humans:

Nothing could be simpler. Simply do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Nothing less is acceptable if you believe that other humans are as sentient as you.

And that is all for now kids

Have a nice day

Wow great stuff

Not sure about the Gods et all part, but the rest is almost exactly what I've concludeed too. Great minds think alike eh?

TTFN
Sage

Originally Posted by jesuswasamonkey

If I were to drink a six-pack of beer, smoke three joints, and eat a cheese pizza every night my body and mind would quickly fall to ruin, but If I did that every week the damage would be negligible and the pleasure would be great. If every day I prayed the same prayers at the same time then went out to convert people to my religion using whatever means neccisary, and in my mind my religion is the only truth, my spirit and mind would quickly fall to ruin. Every moment I think I know the whole truth my ignorance increases, every time I repeat a prayer my creative mind dries up, every time I try to convert someone the community views me as insane. But if I pray from my heart and not a book, accept people and their choices for what they are, and constantly question and try to perfect my knowledge and view of the world, I will be more creative, more respected and wiser than I was the day before.

Well put. and some hugs too.

That was good. Thanks.

I liked the bit about taking pleasure from things, it's made me look at things differently.

Blessings

Sebbi