BrainFood said:

What are your views on this religious supposition?

I believe that we do, in fact, have eternal life; that is, we live forever. I do not believe in an afterlife, however; I believe that death is the "realization" of Eternity.


Enter the eternal recurrence:


"The concept of the eternal recurrence is as follows: The Universe is an eternal process, of which we are part and parcel, and by default of this relation, we live our same lives "over and over again," just to forget everything when we die. To elaborate upon the namesake of this site: We die to remember what, while living as a separate entity, we have forgotten. And what we have forgotten is our eternal connection to the Supreme Ground of All Being (God), which is Eternity (the Eternal Universe), or what the Buddhists call Nirvana, the state of being that we enter upon death which is the sum total of the All.

When we depart from this plane of existence, we are made aware of our most fundamental nature as God, and after we come to this consummation, we choose to forget everything in order to do it all over again, because we come to the realization that we are One with the Universe, which is an eternal, unchanging process of which everything is interconnected and cyclical. Thus, we are merely living our lives anew when we are born, because being born is just having died; we effectively cause ourselves (the Ouroboros*; we are the First Cause/Big Bang). Life is a dream that death wakes us from; the Universe is a broken record. Ultimately, this kind of thinking leads to the inevitable conclusion that we are all God (the Universe), pretending to not be itself for a purpose beyond our ability to fathom while alive (this is essential Alan Watts). We are all the collective persona of God."



"Behold, we know what you teach: that all things recur eternally, and we ourselves too; and that we have already existed an eternal number of times, and all things with us. You teach that there is a great year of becoming, a monster of a great year; which must, like an hourglass, turn over again and again so that it may run down and run out again; and all these years are alike in what is greatest as in what is smallest; and we ourselves are alike in every great year, in what is greatest as in what is smallest."  Nietzsche, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'

"We want to experience a work of art again and again! One is to form one's life in such a way that one has the same wish with respect to its individual parts! This is the main idea! Only at the end will the teaching of the repetition of all that has been be presented, after the tendency has been implanted to create something that can flourish a hundred times more powerfully in the sunshine of this teaching"  Nietzsche



What say you?

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blujay said:

BrainFood said:

What are your views on this religious supposition?

I believe that we do, in fact, have eternal life; that is, we live forever. I do not believe in an afterlife, however; I believe that death is the "realization" of Eternity.


Enter the eternal recurrence:


"The concept of the eternal recurrence is as follows: The Universe is an eternal process, of which we are part and parcel, and by default of this relation, we live our same lives "over and over again," just to forget everything when we die. To elaborate upon the namesake of this site: We die to remember what, while living as a separate entity, we have forgotten. And what we have forgotten is our eternal connection to the Supreme Ground of All Being (God), which is Eternity (the Eternal Universe), or what the Buddhists call Nirvana, the state of being that we enter upon death which is the sum total of the All.

When we depart from this plane of existence, we are made aware of our most fundamental nature as God, and after we come to this consummation, we choose to forget everything in order to do it all over again, because we come to the realization that we are One with the Universe, which is an eternal, unchanging process of which everything is interconnected and cyclical. Thus, we are merely living our lives anew when we are born, because being born is just having died; we effectively cause ourselves (the Ouroboros*; we are the First Cause/Big Bang). Life is a dream that death wakes us from; the Universe is a broken record. Ultimately, this kind of thinking leads to the inevitable conclusion that we are all God (the Universe), pretending to not be itself for a purpose beyond our ability to fathom while alive (this is essential Alan Watts). We are all the collective persona of God."



"Behold, we know what you teach: that all things recur eternally, and we ourselves too; and that we have already existed an eternal number of times, and all things with us. You teach that there is a great year of becoming, a monster of a great year; which must, like an hourglass, turn over again and again so that it may run down and run out again; and all these years are alike in what is greatest as in what is smallest; and we ourselves are alike in every great year, in what is greatest as in what is smallest."  Nietzsche, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'

"We want to experience a work of art again and again! One is to form one's life in such a way that one has the same wish with respect to its individual parts! This is the main idea! Only at the end will the teaching of the repetition of all that has been be presented, after the tendency has been implanted to create something that can flourish a hundred times more powerfully in the sunshine of this teaching"  Nietzsche



What say you?

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We don't care because it can't possibly be validated.

*turns back to bio-science study corner*

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How condescendingly arrogant and bull-headed...

I love how people think science is the final arbiter of truth.

Envix said:

how can something that is dead "realize" anything?

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Well, it can realize the fertilization of the soil in which it's buried. 

Envix said:

how can something that is dead "realize" anything?

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pfxtc said:

I'd say all life and all being anywhere is just a matter of chance. The fundamental behind existence is what you would call "one". I don't think there is such a thing as life or death, and I certainly don't believe in reincarnation because it seems pretty needy to me. "Oh my oh my, what will happen when I die?" I think you die when you die. There is no connection with any kind of spirit, because you were already connected the entire time. I had a friend tell me the other day, "Wow, it would be so cool to be in space, looking down on the Earth!" and I explained to him that we're already in space, and it just stopped him dead in his tracks. I believe that everything is infinite - everything you see and think is merely cause and effect, and once people realize this, they will start living in the now and work to make the world a better place - because that's all that is important, rather then preparing for death only to lead a useless life. McKenna would probably disagree with this philosophy, but from what I've learned, it seems the most viable.

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"Well, one possibility is that its a wrap-around. We're not just Whistling Dixie when we talk about the Archaic Revival. We're actually, what history is, is a finger reaching for the reset button. And when you finally touch it, you find yourself at the moment of the Big Bang, you know, you've actually sent it screaming back to the first moment." Terence Mckenna



I just found that recently, btw.

Envix said:

how can something that is dead "realize" anything?

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During the process of dying, it is my belief that we effectively realize our eternal connection to the Universe and in coming to this realization, we realize/experience our eternal life/repetition.

collie man said:

I can't comprehend anything you guys are sayin.

Why worry? just chill out and enjoy the ride 

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"The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud. And it's fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: 'Is this real? Or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and they say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid - ever - because... this is just a ride.' And we kill those people.

'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry; look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.'

It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that - ever notice that? - and we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because... it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings and money. Just a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy bigger guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, into a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would do many times over - not one human being excluded - and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever. In peace. "

Bill Hicks

BrainFood said:

pfxtc said:

I'd say all life and all being anywhere is just a matter of chance. The fundamental behind existence is what you would call "one". I don't think there is such a thing as life or death, and I certainly don't believe in reincarnation because it seems pretty needy to me. "Oh my oh my, what will happen when I die?" I think you die when you die. There is no connection with any kind of spirit, because you were already connected the entire time. I had a friend tell me the other day, "Wow, it would be so cool to be in space, looking down on the Earth!" and I explained to him that we're already in space, and it just stopped him dead in his tracks. I believe that everything is infinite - everything you see and think is merely cause and effect, and once people realize this, they will start living in the now and work to make the world a better place - because that's all that is important, rather then preparing for death only to lead a useless life. McKenna would probably disagree with this philosophy, but from what I've learned, it seems the most viable.

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"Well, one possibility is that its a wrap-around. We're not just Whistling Dixie when we talk about the Archaic Revival. We're actually, what history is, is a finger reaching for the reset button. And when you finally touch it, you find yourself at the moment of the Big Bang, you know, you've actually sent it screaming back to the first moment." Terence Mckenna



I just found that recently, btw.

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The notion of living just to hit some "reset" button seems totally absurd to me.

I'd say the Big Bang is just as much a coincidence as human beings are, totally random and unexpected. I also believe it's happened an infinite of times. In an infinite universe, which I believe in, everything is always happening, everywhere

collie man said:

I can't comprehend anything you guys are sayin.

Why worry? just chill out and enjoy the ride 

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It's not for everyone, but philosophy is one of the few things that interests me, and is one of the only things that really seems real to me in this world. Thinking for yourself can really open the world up to somebody as well, as it did for me, and trust me, I'm chiller then I've ever been.

And kudos on the Bill Hicks quote, another of my favorite people.