Showing posts with label Realization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Realization. Show all posts

Sep 11, 2010

The Unnecessary Theology or is Religion Obsolete? A Short Reflection



Ritual behavior is as old as human societies. It is intrinsic to the primal human psyche and served as a social basis of tribal communities. Early shamanism and tribal spirituality gradually evolved through the ages into religion, as every other generation expanded and built upon the spiritual beliefs of their ancestors. It is uncertain as to when religious influence was utilized as a tool for social control, but probably that has been done ever since shamanic times, since the shaman had a very special role in tribal societies and he or she was considered an important authority. And with authority comes influence and power. And with power too often comes abuse, especially later on and into the Medieval of Europe (and even more so today, though the sources are shifting from religious authorities to corporative and political, but that's another subject to discuss). 

Religion is quite a peculiar phenomenon of human mind and in particular of this domain of it, that we know as Psyche. Symbolism is one of the earliest representations of spiritual believes, along with rituals. For some unclear reasons as of yet, psychologically humans need ritualistic assertion and reconciliation of their whatever deeds. Evolution of symbolism and religious thought are vast topics, hard to cover in brief. Actually, in brief one can give only the conclusions. That is, religion in all of its forms, had, historically, a major role in social governance and pharaohs, emperors and kings alike were attributed divine rights given to them from the God entity itself, so that to ensure public acceptance and so on pragmatic reasons. On the other hand, religion has a very important psychological function in giving hope and meaning to those unfortunate masses that weren't born with kingship rights, because those downthrotten masses needed all the hope for justice they could get, even though illusionary, since priests and popes alike always have been on the side of the ruling parties with the function of public speakers to tame the peasant crowds. Leaving satire aside, religion and religious esoterism are very interesting to study all in respect to psychology and the workings of  the unconsciousness. For the serious explorer a few major points are established and these are as follows: 

  • If we consider the Universe as a representation of a God entity, then it would be inconsistent to ascribe particular religious preferences to it. That is, put archaically, God does not have a religion
  • All the evil in this world comes from the irresponsible, selfish and primitive actions of humans. Natural disasters, for instance, cannot be described as evil, because they are part of Earth's climatic and geologic life, thus they are as necessary as good weather. If humans ascribe their own evilness to outside forces, this is only their own inability to take responsibility and self-control, unless they have mental disabilities in the psychiatric sense. 
  • There is no need for special places of worship in order to attain personal insight nor does continuous, entranced pray bring deeper awareness. These are achieved by mental effort of thinking, not by memorizing and repeating old verses. 
  • Ignorance is not a bliss, it is a concept for control over the masses still very much in use today.


In short, religion has served its role and can no longer positively serve as a unifying agent, but on the contrary, religion is a major segregator in our contemporary globalized society. And humanity better realize this sooner and take the next step in our mental advancement. So, yes, religion is obsolete and theology is a thing of our more primitive past and understanding. 

Religion must be interpreted through the aspects of psychology. This is the only way to realize its meaning and understand its essense. Nevertheless the seriousness of this pressing topic, let's conclude this article with a sense of humor:





Sep 8, 2010

The Outer Journey of a Wandering Soul



In this twisted world with so much delusion, propaganda and adjusted information a person ends up wondering in confusion what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is not. Science and the philosophies are so much simpler in this regard, so much purer and easier to comprehend than politics, for instance.

Never before have I paid attention to the so called conspiracy theories, nor economics, nor politics. Those things didn’t really interested me, I saw them as trivial, banal and so much lacking of inspiration. I was interested in science, philosophy, psychology, religion and the esoteric. I remember about ten years ago reading in a book on Kabbalah by Papius about a magic head, just head without a body, that was able to speak and that gave answers to any question that its owner asked. A talking head with infinite wisdom that held the answers to everything. Wow. I remember I was so impressed by this supposedly existent magical source of knowledge, that I dreamed of owning such a head, I thought I would do nothing else but ask it questions until there are no questions left without an answer. On another occasion later on, doing a sacred incantation guided by another book, The Keys of Solomon, I made a wish to an all powerful dark angel demanding that “I want to know everything. I want wisdom and knowledge of it all.” I was 17 or so, alone in my room, sitting in a circle of salt surrounded by hand-drawn magic squares and symbols in front of the mirror. I saw nothing in it but my own image that almost shapeshifted the longer I starred at it. No eternal wisdom struck me at that time and I finished the ritual rather disappointed.

Back then I still didn’t knew that knowledge and wisdom are the result of much effort and persistence in learning and that those weren’t something that just come out of nowhere as a divine revelation neither are something that necessarily come with age. One doesn’t necessarily get wiser the older one gets if one doesn’t puts conscious effort in thinking. Even learning alone is not enough, one has to think, to contemplate and comprehend, to analyze and synthesize.

I began reading a lot, books and in the almighty Internet, watching documentaries was also something I used to do a lot, I’ve had periods doing just that all days long. Yes, you can call me a retard in a way I guess. I mean, I was 17 when I just discovered the riches of learning. But it was rather a rediscovery. I’ve been an inquisitive child ever since I learned to speak and an excellent student up until the fifth grade. But then in my early teenagehood I fell under the influence of bad company in bad social times. Between the ages of about 10 and 16 I used to drink, a few beers were all that I needed and then later the bad company I hooked up with introduced me to hard drugs, so I got addicted. Crazy huh, all this at such a tender age. A child. I was escaping family turbulences and I guess I needed some sort of everyday meaning that the drugs just provided. Anyway, the dark ages of my youth were ended for good at the age of 16, when my father finally took some parental responsibilities, beat me up seriously and locked me up at home for over a month. That was his way of dealing with family issues. We changed neighborhoods too and this was the beginning of my personal Renaissance. He left us after a few years and this was the end of the beginning of my new life without oppression and domestic tension.

And so my conscious quest for knowledge and wisdom began. I was mesmerized by the profound mysteries of the esoteric teachings and religions. Back on track in search of God after I got disillusioned about Her, never answering my prayers when I was 10 about peace and love between mother and father. By that time (after my dark ages) I already had come to the conclusion that there was something else guiding human behavior and relationships, so I got interested in psychology. I read two thick books of Pier Dako and a high school book on psychology before stumbling upon a book of Carl G. Jung’s. Not sure which of his works was the first I read, I think it was EON, in line with my esoteric interests as well. I also marveled at the amazingness of the Universe and began reading cosmology articles in astronomy websites. Then biology, the mysteries of life and evolution. Little by little, piece by piece the big picture of everything assembled in my mind. Sufi poetry filled my heart with bliss and inspiration. Zen sayings brought food for contemplation, though that was further later on. I read the entire bible and the quran too, along with some idiotic literature like the bible of the mormon. Lastly came quantum physics to the reaches of my horizons, connecting the big pieces with the little ones, the vastness within with the vastness without. Gradually I began realizing things, some of those were so profound to me that I was stunned for days. By then I realized another thing, that I didn’t needed a talking head, I had a head of my own and that no answers come to you until you are ready for them and also that wisdom takes time, apart from effort.

The big picture assembled from the beginning to the end, from the composition of atoms to the fusion of galaxies, from carbon to single celled organisms and following the logical branching and workings of evolution up to Homo Sapiens. Everything was getting clearer and clearer the more I learned and the more I contemplated. The old wisdom was finding its peculiar correlations with modern scientific ideas and observations on the cosmos. Then one day I thought, that the nature of black holes or Singularity was closest to that supreme God entity that esoteric teachings envisioned. Then I noticed the patterns in evolution and that there was no beauty in nature, but only pragmatic behavior, every element in it had a purpose and was directly related to another element with which it interacts. Every single design detail has a purpose that is directly influenced by the environment to which the organism is adapted. The different levels of evolution, some are really fast paced and other take tens of hundreds of years.

One of the most altering realizations I’ve had was about religion and that it is a product of human mind and the collective need of social order. Religion is quite a complex phenomenon of human society indeed and it is composed of many different levels. The most superficial are those related to framing society in order to create social order, which was essential in the development of civilizations and the most profound levels spring deep from the hidden layers of the human psyche. Human psychology is a very intricate and complex mental structure too with its most basic frame rooted in our mammalian instincts. That is why the God figures throughout the Evolution of Religious Thought always bear strong parental qualities. I realized that the religious concept of God is a projected construct that served a major balancing role for the human psyche and that without it humans may have as well gone mad. Not that they are not behaving quite insanely with it, fighting and killing each other off because “Your god is not my god”. So ridiculous, if only people could realize it and go through this realization without going mad, since the psyche is such a fragile structure, so easily destabilized and illusions can prove so hard to let go of. There are so many humans in this world whose sole meaning in their lives are their religious beliefs. So sad, who knows how long this will go on. Of course, the lack of a religious God-figure in this Universe does not by any means make it a cold and pointless space. Not at all. There are levels of truth and levels of reality. The Universe, it seems, is an amazing quantum structure of energy that behaves as a system, an organism even that we are all part of.

It was tough to realize that the grown ups aren’t really grown up in their minds. The realization that mostly just the bodies of people aged, but their minds remained on more or less basic levels of knowledge and understanding without ever going beyond the dogma and paradigm discouraged me greatly. Such a tough coming to awareness. The more I realized the more lonely I began to feel, seeing that this uncommon knowledge was not in the possession of many, none of my peers. I’ve always wanted to have a teacher, as described in the esoteric books, I never met one anyway. But then I realized that the Universe itself has become my teacher and this became my personal “religion” if you will. The Universe is always around and one is always in her embrace, like a womb that cares for you, even if at times somewhat indifferently. But that again, most of the times things do flow in ways that correlate, fit in my attitude, my mindset, my path, Synchronicity is something I experience a lot, not to mention the strange telepathic-providence instances that I’ve been through on many occasions that still remain rather inexplicable and beyond willful control. Though quantum physics does shed some light on these, still a lot to learn, a lot of expanses beyond the horizon to be revealed. Not long ago I understood what they meant by “Wisdom is a heavy burden”. It is. Though, I can bear it and much, way much more.

So there, the short story of my life. Not as short as I intended it I must say. Blog posts are meant to be somewhat shorter, well, it is not Twitter either, lol. But just those words, they are like a river, pouring on and on and on into an ocean. At some point you find yourself completely surrounded by its waters, lost sight of the land. The land is here, though, very close, just beyond the next sentence. I think humanity is on the verge of something, a great potential that can bring something that has never been before.

Jul 26, 2008

What the Bleep Do We Know?! Down the Rabbit Hole


"Follow the white rabbit"



Computer instructs Neo while he dreams inside the dream.
The imaginative and wild journey this dreamy girl takes in the exquisite novel of Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland" written in the late 19th century captures the imaginations of generations to follow. The descent down the rabbit hole is a symbolic journey into the depths of yourself, when you turn your sight inside and peer deep into the ever darker and hidden layers of your psyche.
"Alice in Wonderland" is a must reading for every person looking for wisdom and insight. There is much hidden wisdom and guidance between the lines, when you look into the symbols that emanate from one another in a colorful chain between the real and the unreal!

It is interesting to mention that even in the oldest mythology preserved until today that of the Aboriginal people of Australia tells about the ancient times, which they call "The dream time", the time when people were walking alongside spirits and were half-awake. We will analyze some of the world mythologies` symbolism later on in our lectures.

Now, I really want to present you the ground-braking and mind-blowing video "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" that explains the quantum world in a language comprehendable for all!
Just think about it - everything around us, every object from peanuts to planets is composed of molecules that are composed of atoms that are composed of quarks that are composed of pure energy! The world we live in may seem like a solid, material thing for us, but in a fundamental level of reality it is simply made of pure energy. Different levels of energy that together makes up our world and us! I strongly recommend this movie, that will challenge the limits of your imagination and show you the world from a perspective you never thought about before.

I couldn`t find the whole movie around the video websites of the Internet, however I found pieces of it and this one is 20 mins. from the beginning. Sit back, relax and.. think!





And another 20 mins. :





There are 8 parts of the whole 1:40 mins. movie that you can watch in Dailymotion website or any other video website like Youtube, but in the Tube the movie is broken into 10 mins. parts.

If you find yourself inspired by the movie, I strongly recommend you the book, which is more detailed and things are explained even deeper for your mind to grasp and realize. You can find the book on the Amazon widget on the sidebar to the right or you can ask for it in your local bookstore!



"If quantum mechanics hasn`t profoundly shocked
you, then you haven`t understood it yet"
Niels Bohr




Jun 25, 2008

A Storm is Coming, Storm of Inspiration! And When It Arrives, It Will Shake the Universe!


“In the eyes of Eternity, mountains are as transient as the clouds.”

Zen

Everything is transient and every thing has an end.
Considering the unseazeable movement and vibration of every particle in the Universe, every thing is born into existence, develops through the stages of its life and eventually returns to a state of nonexistence, at least not in the cosmic realm we are aware of. Whether it is a tree, a crystal, clouds in the sky, biological cells, people, planets or stars.. all is transient. Even the Universe herself has an end, that will eventually arrive. Not in the lifetime of our Sun that is, and probably not in the lifetime of many other stars that will burn around long after the Solar System has disappeared. However, we should not really care about times as distant and as unreachable as this far, not more than a mindful grasp for the imagination to stand in awe for a moment and wonder… then return to Earth and to the now, where we have much more meaningful and pressing things to do.
One thing is Eternal and this is the Creator Force and Vessel of this cosmic reality we exist in.
Later on we will take a glimpse beyond everything we know into the unimaginable reality of God Itself.

Now, let`s return our thoughts to the transient nature of the cosmos and every smallest detail of it. This transiency is so deeply imprinted in everything, that it manifests itself even in abstract things like our thoughts, feelings and emotions, fashion tendencies… Our life and whole human history are composed of transient moments, that give rise to and follow each other. Tomorrow is never the same with today, because it is one step further up the spiral of time, or further down depending on the point of view.

The lifespan of a human being so short, so brief like a spark on the background of the black vastness of space. Despite the physical insignificance of the human being, we are amazing in this that in our short-lived existence we are able to encompass the whole Universe in our minds. There are no limits set to human mind, nor there are to human imagination!

Let`s take a plunge with the powerful tool of your imagination into the vast expanses of this cosmos we live in. Let`s begin by comparing different numbers, so that we give dimensional perspective to the visual model, we gradually create in our minds. To understand the world and your place in it, it is a must that you gather and combine all of the different elements into one big picture, so that you can examine the whole. This formula is valid for the betterment and thoroughness of understanding at large, whether it be the universe, society or yourself.

Developing the capacity of your imagination is an important part in the process of mental advancement. The information we synthesize in the thought process and turn into knowledge does not come to full life as one whole picture until we assimilate and comprehend it through the eyes of imagination!

Let`s begin with a single step. An average human step that spans the length of a meter. Imagine one meter, it is this long (gestures with hands). 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) is the length of 1000 average human steps. For most people, a kilometer is a no problem distance as a morning jog or a walk to work or school. The diameter of Earth is approximately 40, 000 kilometers, so that if someone decides to walk from start point “A” full circle close to the equator and then returns to the same point, he or she will have to make 40 million steps. Which distance still isn`t that much really, because if we take 7 km/h as an average human fast walk speed and divide Earth`s diameter by seven we get 5714, which divided by 24 hours a day is 238 days of constant walking. Of course, these are ideal conditions and in a real trial those numbers would vary greatly depending on a variety of factors.
However, all those calculations are for the purpose to dimensionally guide our imaginations` perspective.
But hey, Earth is a relatively small planet! Let`s take the mighty Sun as an object of size evaluation. Its` diameter is about 3 million kilometers and if some enthusiast decides to make a round about the Sun with a shuttle that flights with 80, 000 km/h through space she or he will make a full circle around the Sun for some 37 hours. Why that`s not bad at all?! And 80, 000 kilometers per hour (50, 000 miles per hour) is quite a fast speed as per average human standards.
Anyway, let`s venture on!

Consider the ultimate limit of acceleration, that is the speed of light (also electricity and radio waves too) this is the incredible 300, 000 km/s, which is around a mere 1 billion kilometers per hour in the frictionless cosmic vacuum. Now this is an impressive speed.

Having the speed of light with us, we can now venture beyond the limits of our beautiful Solar System home. Everyone has heard about the “light year” unit that is used to calculate distances in the huge black expanse of the cosmic vastness.
The light year is the distance that a photon will travel at around 300, 000 km/s for one Earthly year or approx. 365 days (the calculations in this exercise do not need to be exact).
So, the speed of light is 1 billion km/h and 1 year has ~ 8760 hours, thus 1 light year signifies the approximate stellar distance of about 10 trillion kilometers in a given direction.
Alright, imagine now if you make yourself a nice 10 trillion-kilometer morning jog. lol !

Anyway, numbers begin to seem ever more abstract and unimaginable. Try to imagine 10 trillion kilometers (6.25 trillion miles), try to divide it in meters and comprehend the length of this distance. Make a mental effort ! Challenge the limits of your imagination.

The closest star to our parent Sun has the exotic name of Proxima Centaur and is located at about 4 light years away.
Our shiny Milky Way galaxy has a diameter of about 100, 000 light years .. And the closest other galaxy Andromeda is distanced at a mere 2 million Light Years away. That is 2 million multiplied by 10 trillion and you get the distance in kilometers.
And this is still way too small for the farther objects in the deep and faraway expanses of the Universe!

Indeed, the cosmos is a place of staggering and mind-blowing proportions.
So, if you have been able to visualize and encompass these distance, you probably feel utterly lost and insignificant. This is a kind of an emotional indicator for your well doing in this mental exercise. Just think about the fact that your thoughts are reaching beyond our galaxy, while you haven`t moved your but. There are places, where human thought travels, faraway places where human being will never set foot. Ponder that for a while!

As a conclusion, the human being is an amazing creature that lives in an amazing universe!
In the span of our short life, a human mind has the ability to penetrate deep into the hidden mechanisms of reality and expand its` reaches far beyond the physical location of the individual.
For the modest length of a human lifespan, the human mind has the capacity and potential to relive and encompass the whole of Creation and expand the limits of your mind to a level where it seems as if reality itself exists with the sole purpose to be grasped, realized and understood by the human mind.
And this is the true mystery!

There is an utter meaning in this to be homo sapiens, a living soul, self-aware consciousness that breathes and is made out of flesh. The meaning is imprinted in the fabric of reality and is gradually revealed when you explore the hidden depths of your mind, of yourself. What`s more, your mind is a gateway to other dimensions, there are no limits to the reaches of the mind riding on the wings of active imagination!



Travel the Universe, without moving!
Advance your mind, improve our world!


[Please, do read our “Manifesto .. “ opening post, if you haven`t done so yet]