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Psychonot2329
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Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss
#11407680 - 11/07/09 08:32 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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"If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the bottom of everything there were only a wild ferment, a power that twisting in dark passions produced everything great or inconsequential; if an unfathomable, insatiable emptiness lay hid beneath everything, what would life be but despair?" Soren Kierkegaard
The psychedelic experience turned me on to a mental universe I never could have conceived of. It catapulted me into a realm of consciousness I had only a superficial comprehension of. On my last psilocybin trip, I found myself dissolved of all prejudices, all archetypes, all subjectivity. As Alan Watts put it, my ego was exposed as nothing more than a symbol of who I am. My facades--the one projected to the outer world and the one within--were shattered. Stripped of my thoughts, my conditioning, and my ways--I was naked. I was a raw consciousness taking in more information than I could process. It was within this setting that God became demystified.
The God I write of is not the God of the Christians, the Muslims, the Jews; those are archetypal gods; created by Man in Man's own image. They are projections of Man's Will to Power; they are mirrors of the all-to-human power structures from which they were created. Their gods are a simplification and ultimately nonsensical conception of God. God cannot be confined to our ability to conceive of it; God transcends our linguistic limitations; and God cannot be the commanding, authoritarian of human mythologies.
God is, as put by a Kabbalistic poem, the, "boundless void containing all, Where all is light: No start, no end, But tending to a point, Of mirrored unity, Which is itself." God is the omnipresent foundation of all things. God is not that which creates; nor is it that which commands; it is that which is, and that which is not. God is not itself an entity on its own; God does not exist in the sense that Man or matter does. What we mean when we say "God" is that absolute force which is within all concepts, all aspects of existence.
To free up the linguistic difficulties involved, from the Tao Te Ching:
"Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things."
It is the essence of all that exists. It is that underlying, fundamental force that flows through all existence. "God" is a word for this force; as is "Tao"; in a sense, even "Nirvana" and "nothingness" are this same force and aim. All are cross-cultural, transnational attempts to explain a similar conception--with none being able to fully articulate the force they have in mind. After all, that is the best we can do--to conceive of nothingness/god/tao/nirvana is to simplify the force into the confines of linguistic structure and human comprehension. As Robert Anton Wilson taught, "Any model we make does not describe the universe, it explains what our brains are capable of saying at this time."
Those who reject God are not fools, nor are they brilliant. They reject the fairy tale Man-Made-God conception; but they are limited in scope. Those who do believe in a religion are not foolish either; they are simply choosing a narrow, mythic, metaphorical conception of God and spirituality--spirituality and wisdom packaged in tradition and community.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson understood, we are all subjective expressions of this universal consciousness we call God/Tao/whatever. We can know it only through metaphor.
Musing to be continued...thoughts?
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Icelander
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11407713 - 11/07/09 08:35 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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The word god denotes a personage for almost everyone. All those things you talked about do not need a god to be true. Using the word god creates unnecessary confusion.
Lets all grow and drop this word which has been used calm our fears and control the masses.
We don't need it.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Psychonot2329
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11407753 - 11/07/09 08:40 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: The word god denotes a personage for almost everyone. All those things you talked about do not need a god to be true. Using the word god creates unnecessary confusion.
Lets all grow and drop this word which has been used calm our fears and control the masses.
We don't need it.
What things that I talked about do not need a god to be true?
And again, perhaps I wasnt too clear, when I write of "God" I mean it in the absolute, transcendent way--not the humanized conception of God as held by most of the Abrahamic books. Instead, the word "god" is meant to describe a state of consciousness and being that has been described cross-culture and over long periods of time.
Sure, religion has been used for political purposes. But, serious analysis of it shows that they are digging at the time point; though of course the simplified, humanized version of god/atman/tao/etc have been used to scare people.
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Icelander
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11407852 - 11/07/09 08:53 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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the, "boundless void containing all, Where all is light: No start, no end,
For this to be true no "god" is needed.
But you really didn't get what I was saying, WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING GOD.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Grapefruit
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11407978 - 11/07/09 09:06 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
"If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the bottom of everything there were only a wild ferment, a power that twisting in dark passions produced everything great or inconsequential; if an unfathomable, insatiable emptiness lay hid beneath everything, what would life be but despair?"
This is very ironic to me.
-------------------- Little left in the way of energy; or the way of love, yet happy to entertain myself playing mental games with the rest of you freaks until the rivers run backwards. "Chat your fraff Chat your fraff Just chat your fraff Chat your fraff"
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Noteworthy
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Grapefruit]
#11408153 - 11/07/09 09:32 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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I think you cant help but personify what OP is talking about... I think that this 'God' is indeed part of our universe, it represents that aspect of the universe that is beyond our grasp. the reason it can be personified to degrees is because it is a creative power. Whether or not it is right to assign it judgement or emotion, as the anthropomorphic gods get, is another matter. I do not think this God should be given these traits.
To be honest though I think Tao is a better word than God.. even if only to escape the many layers of assumption that we hold with the term 'god' due to our cultural positioning.
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Noteworthy]
#11408252 - 11/07/09 09:47 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11408291 - 11/07/09 09:56 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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i like your thoughts on tao, psycho not
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OrgoneConclusion
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11408584 - 11/07/09 11:05 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
But you really didn't get what I was saying, WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING GOD.
But we still need badges, right?
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OrgoneConclusion
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11408588 - 11/07/09 11:07 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Congrats pyscho, you have reached the first plateau. Wait until you reach the next one. Whoooo boy!
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deranger
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here's your badge
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Psychonot2329
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11408695 - 11/07/09 11:42 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: the, "boundless void containing all, Where all is light: No start, no end,
For this to be true no "god" is needed.
But you really didn't get what I was saying, WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING GOD.
I dont think you read or comprehended anything I wrote. When I wrote of "God" I mean it in the sense of Tao. Its not in the sense of the Christian fundamentalists; its transcendent. Its not something we can pray to, its not something that thinks and acts in the sense we know of.
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11408712 - 11/07/09 11:47 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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the tao speaks:
Let me take you down, 'Cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real And nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever.
Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone. But it all works out, It doesn't matter much to me.
Let me take you down, 'Cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real And nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever.
No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low. That is you can't you know tune in. But it's all right. That is I think it's not too bad.
Let me take you down, 'Cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real And nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever.
Always, no sometimes, I think it's me, But you know I know when it's a dream. I think 'er, no' I mean 'er, yes'. But it's all wrong. That is I think I disagree.
Let me take you down, 'Cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real And nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever. Strawberry Fields forever.
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Icelander
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Psychonot2329]
#11409528 - 11/08/09 05:11 AM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Psychonot2329 said:
Quote:
Icelander said: the, "boundless void containing all, Where all is light: No start, no end,
For this to be true no "god" is needed.
But you really didn't get what I was saying, WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING GOD.
I dont think you read or comprehended anything I wrote. When I wrote of "God" I mean it in the sense of Tao. Its not in the sense of the Christian fundamentalists; its transcendent. Its not something we can pray to, its not something that thinks and acts in the sense we know of.
I completely understood what you wrote. I suggested we get rid of that abused word god. If you like Tao then use that. Anything but god. If you don't know that the word god is abused all over the place then you just haven't been paying attention.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11409565 - 11/08/09 05:35 AM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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he's not saying we should use the word god tho is he? and i think he knows that the word god is overly abused he's just giving his thoughts on how god is connected with tao and what not he's not saying we should use the word god in our every day lives he's just discussing the similarities in how all religions at their roots point to the same flow of tao
am i missing something>
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Noteworthy
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11409566 - 11/08/09 05:36 AM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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lol... I have not heard of the phrase, but God Abuse has been one of the most significant and destructive forms of abuse to occur amongst human socieites
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Icelander
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: deranger]
#11409703 - 11/08/09 06:34 AM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yes IMO, You're missing my suggestion or at least the reason behind it. It doesn't matter if he knows the difference and you know the difference and I know the difference. Most of humanity does not. Most of humanity is invested in a certain concept of god, one that mostly resembles their individual religion. And the battle over who's god is the "true" one has caused untold misery in the word. My suggestion to him is to drop that word to avoid feeding that shit. I don't disagree with most of his points and think they are good ones.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: Icelander]
#11410713 - 11/08/09 11:31 AM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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andrewss
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: deranger]
#11412073 - 11/08/09 03:52 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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good post
-------------------- Jesus loves you.
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deranger
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Re: Thoughts on God from the Psychedelic Abyss [Re: andrewss]
#11412483 - 11/08/09 04:59 PM (14 years, 4 months ago) |
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you must be referring to another poster
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