IS there a spiritual realm, what are its properties, have you experienced it?

[cthulufhtagn]

i haven't seen the spiritual realm but i have touched the FACE OF MADNESS

speaking of drug mistakes

 

[lizard]

prolly me a few as well...

 

[MFJ]

yeah i've had drug mistakes. my near-death hydrocodone experience put my in some weird places... ever felt like your limbs had no boundaries?

 

[Demilich]

On mushrooms I felt very much in touch with every aspect of the world (life, death, surroundings & all) but that was just a couple of lame experiments and they don't really constitute much of a spiritual understanding of the world. Just like I think of any kind of understanding, my spirituality will at best remain fluid for quite a while, 'cause I'm nowhere near a point in my life where I can make any definitive decisions about it, and don't really feel the need to at this point anyhow!

 

[Thanatopsis123]

Last night I had a dream I cut my hair and started wearing shiny shirts. I forced myself awake, it sucked. My right arm was asleep still, I should've done the Stranger but all I could think about was how bad I had to whiz.

The only worthwhile thing in this thread.

 

[Demilich]

It's NAD, what do you expect?

 

[Dick Sirloin]

I love it how when I say "spiritual", people automatically either think hippie new-age cults or ghosts. Some of the world's greatest thinkers have professed a belief in a deeper understanding of the consciousness beyond time and space, such as Carl Jung, William Blake, Ken Wilber, Spinoza and a great number of famous physicists (even Werner von Braun). To say these questions are not worthwhile is to be either a nihilist (even Kafka was something of a pantheist) or just entirely brain-dead, someone who exists merely to live out their "daily, normal life" and never think/question anything about "reality."

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

I admit that a lot of this deserves some thought. That said, trying to get my education completed so I can have a job takes priority, theres time enough for deep thought later.

 

[KILL TULLY]

Pretty much this is all I enjoy spending my time learning about. To lazy to contribute at the moment, haha.

 

[Nico]

Over the past several months I've explored a fair few concepts of spirituality, mainly reading material that was strongly based in scientific fact, so as to avoid completely detatching myself from reality. The Quantum Biocommunication site (which seems to have self destructed during the week) was a fascinating site full of articles about this kind of thing. Shame it's gone.

I seem to have lost my interest in it all lately though. I go through phases like that.

 

[KILL TULLY]

I've spent the last few months re-evaluating my take on Christianity, all of which was spurred by randomly reading some works by Thomas Merton. Anyone read his stuff?

 

[Nico]

Re-evaluating in what sense?

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Re-evaluating in what sense?

.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

I went through a "Christianity ain't so bad" phase after I first discovered Dostoevsky. People usually either accept something completely or deny it completely.

 

[KILL TULLY]

Re-evaluating in what sense?

My intense hatred for it, haha. My eyes have opened to so much stuff I had no idea about through my reading so far. (And no not stuff like "OMG JESUS IS TEH PWN!"). Reading about Carthusian monks and other contemplative orders, and realizing that Christianity is just as spiritual and meditative as any other world religious practice.

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

yeah, i have no problem with the religious beliefs, its the followers that suck the cock (for the most part)

 

[lizard]

I would tender that it's not the flock that sucks, but the shepherds of said flock, who all too frequently manipulate their sheep for selfish gain and power. Christianity at its core is not a hateful, spiteful religion, but one which reaches out to the poor and the afflicted, not one which castigates and pillories(sp)
Christ himself reached out to lepers, whores, and tax collectors, the most reviled figures of his day. Hard to reconcile that approach with the Falwells and Dobsons of today.

One can make a huge case that Saul/Paul of Tarsus coopted the teachings of Christ for his own, and if you look at the timelines, it didn't take him long. Paul was NOT one of the apostles.

 

[KILL TULLY]

I would tender that it's not the flock that sucks, but the shepherds of said flock, who all too frequently manipulate their sheep for selfish gain and power. Christianity at its core is not a hateful, spiteful religion, but one which reaches out to the poor and the afflicted, not one which castigates and pillories(sp)
Christ himself reached out to lepers, whores, and tax collectors, the most reviled figures of his day. Hard to reconcile that approach with the Falwells and Dobsons of today.

One can make a huge case that Saul/Paul of Tarsus coopted the teachings of Christ for his own, and if you look at the timelines, it didn't take him long. Paul was NOT one of the apostles.

Yea, that is all true, but a lot of people understand that, yet still don't respect Christianity. What I'm getting at is that many people don't reallize just how deep the spiritual aspects of Christianity really go, and they disregard it completely. The same people that hold Buddhism or Hinduism in high regard will completely condemn Christianity because they have no idea how deep it really is, on a spiritual level. Its been watered down in born-again churches to "Accept Jesus, GO TO HEAVEN! YAYYYYYY!!!!" and thats what people mostly know about it. Even things like the Rosary, which everyone knows about, no one really understands. People treat the Rosary as punishment, going through it as fast as possible etc. etc. without realizing that it really is really just one of the many forms of Christian meditation.

Simply put, to me, the problem with the pop-culture Christianity of today is that it only presents people with a Spiritual End-point ie: Accept Jesus, go to heaven. There is no cultivation of a spiritual journy at all, which is the most important part of religion. If a Church is only presenting an end-point, it really defeats the whole point of spirituality and religion, and turns it into a selfish insurance policy.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_meditation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_divina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthusian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fathers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_of_Nursia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

 

[Dick Sirloin]

Simply put, to me, the problem with the pop-culture Christianity of today is that it only presents people with a Spiritual End-point ie: Accept Jesus, go to heaven. There is no cultivation of a spiritual journy at all, which is the most important part of religion.

Exactly! And, on the other hand, most atheists dismiss anything remotely spiritual based on the stigma modern Christianity has created.

 

[KILL TULLY]

Exactly! And, on the other hand, most atheists dismiss anything remotely spiritual based on the stigma modern Christianity has created.

Yup, and also, a lot of Atheists have this strange idea that religion is all about blind faith (because that is what it seems like on the surface) and don't realize that spirituality is discovered through practice, practice, practice. It isn't like Buddha, Jesus, etc. where the first people to come along and say the sort of things that they said. They still have followers to this day because what they said, simply, works in practice. People don't realize that. Thats another reason the journey is so important.