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Icelander
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The many faces of God.
#7944312 - 01/28/08 08:57 AM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. Each has a vision of God or Creation and it's meaning. Like the cultures they come from they are all differing more or less from each other and yet at core are the same and share common goals.
This gives me pause to consider that maybe it's the fact that as humans our psychological core or natures are the same but expression of the trappings or how we act out is variable and it is our human psychology we are dealing with rather than a God per se.
My guess is that the original source of the search for God comes from the experience of being in the womb and once outside/born myth is created around the yearning to be once again not separate from the whole. These myths reflect also the culture we are born into.
-------------------- "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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Icelander
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946074 - 01/28/08 04:30 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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I'm glad everyone agrees.
-------------------- "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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deimya
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946109 - 01/28/08 04:37 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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yes, yes, I do.
I also like to look for the few first word in a holy book, what are they, what are the basic building blocks for the ensuing myths.
For example in the bible it starts with "In the beginning God created...". I mean, then, what is this god they're speaking of right from the start ? Could be whatever, me, you, us, all, nothing, meh. And in the beginning of what anyway ? Again, could be the beginning of anything.
So yeah, I wonder how things are brought about in other cultures and religions.
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backfromthedead
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: deimya]
#7946140 - 01/28/08 04:43 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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God is one reality among many. A picture to be put together with the mind. A physical puzzle as much outside your head as in. A force. Alive in you. Like bumping into a being of pure information.
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straasha
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I sometimes think there are esoteric philosophical meanings in religious texts... It often seems to me like they are written in a sort of code.
Have you ever found time to read the original material? (translated of course)
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OrgoneConclusion
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: deimya]
#7946170 - 01/28/08 04:48 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Two common human traits are bullshitting and the need for adulation, so in every culture some charismatic figure makes up a story about Creation to get attention as either entertainer/storyteller or as all-knowing wiseman. I doubt the original story had the full impact then that it does later. As the story gets carried along the river of time, it gets embellished and grows with power until such time as it becomes unquestioned 'truth'.
And that is the story of how the original story became religion. 
Amen.
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deimya
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Quote:
backfromthedead said: Like bumping into a being of pure information.
More like a total absence of information. Remember, information is in the eye of the beholder. Nature has its own ways of mindfucking you. So yes, I guess it is a puzzle. But my questions were purely rethorical, I am more interested in knowing about other cultures' approaches to divinities and myths.
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MushroomTrip
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946188 - 01/28/08 04:52 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Interesting idea, but I think that the womb itself is a symbol, such as god. A very important one because it brings one closer to it's meaning: the feeling of safety. I think that we instinctively judge our lives based on that. We look for protection and the primordial mind saw tis in a higher force with human attributes, because it was easier to grasp, the nearest and most in hand comparison. We're still looking for protection and I think that we always will, since it comes down to survival. The mere fact that we're looking for better homes, better heating systems and so on shows that the essence remains the same, only the form changes. I am positive that if a caveman, or even a medieval man would have encountered the air conditioner, they would have thought it to be... god. Or a demon... depending on the feelings inflicted by the machine. Anything that surpasses our power on one or more aspects is a "higher power", and in some cases it becomes personified and even worshiped. Worship itself comes from the need to feel secure in my opinion.
But the womb remains our first stable information about this world and how we came to be, and also our first (indirect) memory, so in this sense I would say that this whole idea is womb-generated.
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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deimya
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Fair enough
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Icelander
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Womb=Garden of Eden.
Cast out = Birth trauma.
Maybe?
-------------------- "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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backfromthedead
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: deimya]
#7946200 - 01/28/08 04:56 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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I'm kind of interested in the experiences that they seem to describe.
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straasha
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946211 - 01/28/08 04:56 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Sure, maybe not too though.
Can i ask, if i may be so bold... who here has read the bible? or even just the new testament? or any religious text or myth...
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prankster
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: straasha]
#7946220 - 01/28/08 04:58 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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moi. and i think icelander is wrong on this one. cant explain why, just a suspicion i guess. getting into gurdjieff now and it resonates.
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MushroomTrip
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946223 - 01/28/08 04:58 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: Womb=Garden of Eden.
Cast out = Birth trauma.
Maybe?
Makes sense to me
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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Icelander
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Being in the womb would most likely be an awesome experience could we consciously remember it. All needs met, undifferentiated oneness with the Tao, weightless bliss.
-------------------- "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
Edited by Icelander (01/28/08 05:01 PM)
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straasha
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946243 - 01/28/08 05:03 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Undifferentiated oneness with the Tao?
Icelander are you calling my mother names?
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Veritas

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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946251 - 01/28/08 05:05 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Not necessarily. There is quite a bit of evidence that the developing human experiences the intense emotional states of his/her mother. With no context for this emotional bombardment, this could create a really bad "trip." 
Gestation could be blissful for the baby growing inside a blissed-out mother, or hellish for the baby whose mother is an emotional wreck.
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OrgoneConclusion
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946257 - 01/28/08 05:06 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: Being in the womb would most likely be an awesome experience could we consciously remember it. All needs met, undifferentiated oneness with the Tao, weightless bliss.
And the mind-bending terror of claustrophobia.
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Icelander
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: straasha]
#7946260 - 01/28/08 05:06 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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If the womb fits...
-------------------- "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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MushroomTrip
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946271 - 01/28/08 05:08 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Yes, I think this would be quite the experience. What I am really curious about is how would test-tube babies would feel about this... in case science ever solves the matter in such a way that throughout the entire nine months the fetus is bred there. What feeling of safety would they develop? Does the mother's womb actually make any difference?  My suspicion is that it does. Although I am not entirely sure if it is only chemical, or there's something more (what ) to it. But yeah, I'm way off topic now.
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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Veritas

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If you are interested, you might look into the research about "pre-birth" experiences. It's fascinating!
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straasha
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946302 - 01/28/08 05:13 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Ah ha! Have at thee! I will not stand idly by while my mother is called Tao [ tow, dow ]
noun Definition: 1. ultimate reality: in Taoist philosophy, the ultimate reality in which all things are located or happen
2. universal energy: in Taoist philosophy, the universal energy that makes and maintains everything that exists
3. relationship between individual and universe: in Taoist philosophy, the order and wisdom of individual life, and the way that this harmonizes with the universe as a whole
How can you even state with certainty that the tao exists let alone that it its my mother or that i could have been one with it during her pregnancy.
Also, had you seen my mother you would make no such statement, she looks more like a little and very old lady, more to the point she is clearly a human being and nothing more.
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Icelander
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Veritas]
#7946304 - 01/28/08 05:14 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Still...
-------------------- "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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Veritas

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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946306 - 01/28/08 05:14 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Still what?
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MushroomTrip
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Veritas]
#7946307 - 01/28/08 05:15 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
Veritas said: If you are interested, you might look into the research about "pre-birth" experiences. It's fascinating!
Yes I am, I shall research into that ... once my exams are over, dash it!
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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Icelander
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Veritas]
#7946309 - 01/28/08 05:15 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Be still my beating heart.
The womb still could be the origin of the Garden myth.
Edited by Icelander (01/28/08 05:16 PM)
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Veritas

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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946313 - 01/28/08 05:16 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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...you'll be taken for a fool?
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Veritas

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Quote:
MushroomTrip said:
Quote:
Veritas said: If you are interested, you might look into the research about "pre-birth" experiences. It's fascinating!
Yes I am, I shall research into that ... once my exams are over, dash it!
It's frustrating how education can interfere with your learning process, isn't it?
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demiu5
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Icelander]
#7946324 - 01/28/08 05:18 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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this may or may not apply to your thread, but...imo, one of the greatest travesties of christianity (or similar religions) is this:
Quote:
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
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MushroomTrip
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Veritas]
#7946330 - 01/28/08 05:19 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Ohhhh yes, I've been noticing this phenomenon once I started the long and apatic path of schooling.
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   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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prankster
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Re: The many faces of God. [Re: Veritas]
#7948055 - 01/28/08 09:56 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
Veritas said: Not necessarily. There is quite a bit of evidence that the developing human experiences the intense emotional states of his/her mother. With no context for this emotional bombardment, this could create a really bad "trip." 
Gestation could be blissful for the baby growing inside a blissed-out mother, or hellish for the baby whose mother is an emotional wreck.
is this necessarily so? i have a brother two years older than me with a very rare decease. something about chromosomes and only forty people have it in the world. he was born yellow and had to be rushed to another hospital and it was very uncertain what was wrong with him. my mother was 18 or 19 at the time. then one year after this she found out she was pregnant again and she cried and cried with me in the womb. but when i was born she was very relieved. the first two years of my life i seldom cried and was extremely happy. actually my whole childhood was happy, artistic and everything came easy for me. my problems started later on (puberty). im asking, not claiming, here.
eta; or maybe they started when i dug up the dirt and did too much dope.
Edited by prankster (01/29/08 01:01 AM)
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