I don't believe in God but believe there is some kinda greater power (whether it's a being or a force I'm not sure).
But if God does exist as a lot of people think, why did he "make" us and give us the ability to feel sadness? You'd think we'd have only good/happy feelings.
:confused:
Hello Jackie,
We touched on this in another thread.
[url]See post #107 here[/url]
Only a little while you live as an individualized image in God's dream-world. You are dreaming your mortal existence; it is part of God's cosmic dream.
You'd think we'd have only good/happy feelings.
:confused:
Sounds great... but how then would you know what "happy" is...
...or even feels like?
.
I don't believe in God but believe there is some kinda greater power (whether it's a being or a force I'm not sure).
I think lots of people/paths/religions/spiritualities have different names to express the same (or similar) thing. God/Goddess/Bhagavan/Brahman/Divine Spirit/Universal Power/Creator/:hug:... you can go on and on... I think fundamentally, we look to find the answer to why we are here? what is it all about? etc., and people have tried to find answers to the questions that drive us, whether through science/physics, religion/spirituality or a combination of the two.
I'm sure people will disagree with me. 🙂 I'm not a learned scholar so can only go on my limited studying, experience and belief, but I am always willing to hear other views and learn (except when it comes to veganism because I know I'm right, lmfao! ;))
Lisa x
It doesn't really matter what you call this power.......God/Goddess/Divine....
The problems only arise when you try to give this power/energy a name. I personally believe that we are blessed with life....so try my best to enjoy every moment, including the bad moments......The bad moments, to me, are lessons and as long as I learn something from each lesson....I am trying my best.
I don't understand the meaning of life.....and personally don't want to...
I have tried to be religious....but personally, Spiritual seems to suit me better.I believe in my own personal power.....and for me, that's enough.
I understand you on problems arising when we give 'it' a name. Such as different names leading to different concepts in different religions? Yet the thing is, we as human beings must communicate. We use language and that consists of words. If there is an 'it' or 'It' (and IMHO there is), then 'it' isn't a very great way of expressing the phenomenon or Consciousness or Reality is it? And so we do our best. On HP and elsewhere people try to be inclusive, and I often do too, so I may refer to something like .... The One / Source / Consciousness ... or to Him/Her. But at the end of the day it can get too involved. Perhaps because I move in circles where people know we aren't referring to a man in a white sheet and a long beard sitting on a cloud, and people who aren't offended by terms, we do sometimes just save ourselves all the trouble and use the word -- God! :p
V
Sounds great... but how then would you know what "happy" is...
...or even feels like?
Spot on Roger.
The "need" (a human trait) to quantify something means that we have to have a comparitive quality to quantify it against.
What is happy to one person may not be happy to another; what is sad to one person may not be sad to another. Happiness and Sadness are purely subjective qualities and therefore they are not the truth as the truth cannot be both things.
Love and Reiki Hugs
The Problem of Evil
I don't believe in God but believe there is some kinda greater power (whether it's a being or a force I'm not sure).
But if God does exist as a lot of people think, why did he "make" us and give us the ability to feel sadness? You'd think we'd have only good/happy feelings.
:confused:
Well here's an answer to this question:
Without the Fall, Adam would not have left the Garden of Eden and without leaving the Garden of Eden Adam would never have been the progenitor of Christ and cause of salvation.
Or we could say that the child must leave the comfort of the parental home and face the trials of living an independant life in order to become an adult.
To paraphrase what I believe is a Gnostic perspective: The child of God must create him/herself from within to be able to fully recognise the divine identity. In order to do this the child of God must be banished from the Garden of Eden. This is because God (I) only "self" creates in order to be recognised by its reflection and there is no point in being recognised if the reflection is infantile; and growing up, is by necessity a painful business because it is leaving the comfort of the parental nest for the challenges of independent life and self realisation...
Just imagine the pain of realising YOU are the cause of all suffering merely because you seek your own recognition! There is only one way to pay for this crime and that is by the redemption of love through self sacrifice... crucifiction...
I don't know of a Buddhist equivalent to this Gnostic allegorical view of the Bible but the cornerstone of Buddhist teaching is that the emergence of self existence is by its very nature subject to suffering. It is through learning to understand the causes of suffering (which are the outcomes of self definition) and training in ethical behavior, wisdom and unconditional compassion that liberation is attained. I'd say that this is saying a very similar thing as the Gnostics but just avoids the pitfalls* that arise from naming God as the creator.
*One of these pitfalls is the question you raise in your post. It is sometimes called the Problem of Evil.
Norbu