God, Allah, Religion, Riff Raff, enlightenment

[Shamrox]

This could quiet possibly end up being the most controversial post in the history of DV's. It could also turn out to be a complete dud. I know this probably should have been posted in Beyond Dreaming, however you all know that if i expect any replies to this post it would never happen in that section. If an administrator feels the need to move this topic, feel free to do so and my apologies... Now to the so called "good stuff". All i ask is that everyone posting on this topic keep an open mind and an open heart. Please be courteous and respectful above all as this is a touchy subject. Now i ask you to please express your opinions on anything and everything to do with religion in an adult and mature manner. Any connections it could have with lucid dreaming. Or any enlightenment you wish to share. Thank you and enjoy

[Shamrox]

I will start by saying this. I posted this in a response to a different topic earlier which gave me the idea for this one. Here is one of my personal beliefs about God, Allah, Zeus, The sacred feminen, or whatever else you wish to call it. It is said that when God created man he put a part of himself into all of us. We are the likeness of God. And if that is so, then inside all of us is a part of the most powerful force, (being,light,etc.) that has ever been in existence. And that does exist, and that ever will exist. With that being said, i believe recognition of that blessing and learning to harness that power can cause us to do great things. And maybe, just maybe, awareness of it can protect us from all harm inevitably. I have yet to master my own thoughts on it though. A question of my own: Has anyone ever attempted to speak to god in an LD?

[quakalus]

its interesting that u mentioned the word recognise. when broken down it says Re(to do something again) cognize (to learn) so it actually means to learn once again. this implies that we already know, we are just re learning. to be honest, I personally dont follow religion because there are too many ifs and buts and overall inconsistencies. I cant believe everything people tell me, but it makes sense to me that some form of intelligence created the universe, and it also makes sense to me that we have always been linked to this source, even before birth. The best advice I can give to you is to always question yourself and others. socraties said it leads to our excellence.

[Shamrox]

Neat how you interpreted that. I think what your saying is very right. I too believe there is a connection and we have a great power that we are unaware of.

[StephenT]

Nicely put into simple terms quakalus. I have pretty much the same beliefs about religion. Except I might think that it's a bit more of a fraud and controlling system. But pretty much the same. And I was reading Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, and I read something interesting about how some aliens in the book can see in the 4th dimension of time. And that they view everything as always happening instead of a series of continuous moments. You saying that we're connected before birth just made me think about that. And I kind of used it and a couple other things to make a "Time is an Illusion" theory. As for your question, a couple of my goals are: Ask God what the meaning of life is. Chat with God about random topics. And, for fun, get all the different Gods and prophets into a room and see them argue about who is right , or if they think somewhat like I do, they'll probably all be good friends and think that us humans are insulting to them by our creation of religion.

[b12]

its interesting that u mentioned the word recognise. when broken down it says Re(to do something again) cognize (to learn) so it actually means to learn once again. You've been reading up on your Plato, eh?

[StephenT]

How's that have to do with Plato? It's just Latin.

[Shamrox]

Lol the idea with all the gods in the same room is hilarious. Yes, i do believe that we are all connected to that upper being even before birth. I agree with you in that i dont think the name you give it, nor the name of the method you choose to worship it in (RELIGION), really matters. I believe there is something out there, i choose to call him god for habits purpose, seeing as house i was always raised around christians. But i do not constrict myself to any certain teachings. It is more about being enlightened and in touch with that force that guides me.

[camera_man1231]

I am always open to other peoples religion, but personally i am Shinto. I believe that everything contains a kami (spirit that is found in every indiviual object in the world). As for what is the "higher power that guides us", that would be our ancestors. After one of your family members die, they watch over you throughout your entire life until you die, then you become one yourself.

[StephenT]

Exactly man! That's the jist of it right there! I think I'm going to stop calling him God and call him Alfred or Al. He just seems more like a buddy that way. camera man1231, I like how your religion seems so loose and not so constricting with a thumb on your head and blinders on your eyes. I don't constrict myself to teachings, like you say, but I respect and constructively question many teachings from an eclectic assortment of religions. Not question as in, "yeah right, that's crazy," but more like a, "that's interesting, I like it, and even though I might not believe it or the things associated with it, it's considerable." If that makes any sense.

[Shamrox]

I am always open to other peoples religion, but personally i am Shinto. I believe that everything contains a kami (spirit that is found in every indiviual object in the world). As for what is the "higher power that guides us", that would be our ancestors. After one of your family members die, they watch over you throughout your entire life until you die, then you become one yourself. Thats really neat. I have never heard of that before but i like it. Have you ever seen any evidence of who your ancestor may be? Another thing that strikes me as odd is the number of deaths over religion. Whatever the supreme being or beings is I think we can all agree it doesnt want us killing eachother. Especially not over our opinions it.

[StephenT]

Yup yup. Too bad terrorist organizations and the such are brainwashing people into thinking that they need to crash planes and blow themselves up for their religion. While Islam has nothing to do with that and is, when practised, a super passive religion. My Mom lived in Iran for a year because my grandpa was one of the main guys for Bell Helicopter, and my Mom remembers when she first got there she saw an Islamic man getting the shit beat out of him and he wasn't fighting back at all. And my Mom was like why doesn't he try to fight back? And my grandma was like they're really passive and that's just their religion. Don't freak out, it's just how they are. It's really sad. Especially now since every ignorant person now thinks that Islams and Muslims are all terrorists and that their religion tells them to be and that they're so horrible when they are being brainwashed. Just as Christians are. The only difference is that there aren't groups that are controlling the brainwashed that want to kill and terrorize. Or at least they aren't acting on it yet. Ever since the Sha of Iran was killed.

[camera_man1231]

Exactly man! That's the jist of it right there! I think I'm going to stop calling him God and call him Alfred or Al. He just seems more like a buddy that way. camera man1231, I like how your religion seems so loose and not so constricting with a thumb on your head and blinders on your eyes. I don't constrict myself to teachings, like you say, but I respect and constructively question many teachings from an eclectic assortment of religions. Not question as in, "yeah right, that's crazy," but more like a, "that's interesting, I like it, and even though I might not believe it or the things associated with it, it's considerable." If that makes any sense. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. This is also good because if you have an attitude like this, you should never make any enemies. Thats really neat. I have never heard of that before but i like it. Have you ever seen any evidence of who your ancestor may be? Another thing that strikes me as odd is the number of deaths over religion. Whatever the supreme being or beings is I think we can all agree it doesnt want us killing eachother. Especially not over our opinions it. The thing is, my family does not follow Shinto, and this goes on for a very long time, so I am merely reviving it. So imagine that your ancestors are like "guardian angels", most of the time, they don't reveal themselves, but they guide you to do the right thing. But i have felt a force guiding me occasionally (this is not a physical force, but more of a strong feeling about something.).

[Shamrox]

My brother past away a few years ago and i have never really been able to cope with it. I seem fine on the outside and even feel ok on the inside. I am able to talk about it without tearing up. However, i just feel like there is something unfinished with him. I always feel like he is around, perhaps this is the reason... I found a picture recently that put me on my knees. I have been going through a rough time. For years i have looked for a pictures of him in all of our family albums. My mother had just gone through all my sports pictures a few nights before and she has no recollection of ever taking this picture or putting it in there. He is standing behind me and clapping his hands. I am in the center of the picture but i am blurry. He is behind me and is the clearest thing in the picture. His appearance looks... I dont want to say ghostly, but definately there is some kind of glow to him. His facial expression obviously is saying "Come on! Dont quit!" Its hard to explain in any justice. This picture literally knocked the life out of me for a second.

[Tmer]

Well, I think religion is by far one of the most important part of our lives, becouse it constructs what we are, out ideas, what are we here for, why are we here for. But on the other side, many wars have been caused by it, so what im trying to tell you here, is that people (atheists, muslisms, christians, jews), should be more tolerants, thats the key.. we can live in here and arge forever that ones religion is better, but the only reasonable way to prevent it is to be tolerant, listen paciently to what other people has to say, and not putting out a face like shit when you hear othr's peoples ideas, just becouse they dont match you..

[camera_man1231]

My brother past away a few years ago and i have never really been able to cope with it. I seem fine on the outside and even feel ok on the inside. I am able to talk about it without tearing up. However, i just feel like there is something unfinished with him. I always feel like he is around, perhaps this is the reason... I found a picture recently that put me on my knees. I have been going through a rough time. For years i have looked for a pictures of him in all of our family albums. My mother had just gone through all my sports pictures a few nights before and she has no recollection of ever taking this picture or putting it in there. He is standing behind me and clapping his hands. I am in the center of the picture but i am blurry. He is behind me and is the clearest thing in the picture. His appearance looks... I dont want to say ghostly, but definately there is some kind of glow to him. His facial expression obviously is saying "Come on! Dont quit!" Its hard to explain in any justice. This picture literally knocked the life out of me for a second. Thats very interesting. Maybe, and this is just an idea, but did he have any sort of interest in physic powers? Or maybe he was very interested in ghosts and contact with them?

[Shamrox]

Thought you guys might find this interesting. This is no reflection of my personal beliefs or views. At the same time it could be. So everyone be respectful about this and take it for what it is, an educational video. Very Very interesting. About 25 minutes in total. part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjGkRFFBd0A part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_E0vfP79yE part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyXIeB1qI6w

[Shamrox]

Thats very interesting. Maybe, and this is just an idea, but did he have any sort of interest in physic powers? Or maybe he was very interested in ghosts and contact with them? Not at all. He was a very honest hard working down to earth person. He had a full ride on football scholarship. He dropped out of college for his ex fiance. I swear there were more people at that funeral than any other ive ever seen in my life. People of all different classes, races, and categories. He was just an inspiration to everyone around him and probably my biggest role model in life. I remember a time before he past away he, his wife, and newborn baby were struggling financially. He had finally after many months of needing them, afforded to go out and buy a brand new pair of shoes. The very next day he saw a man with no shoes on. When my brother asked the man told him he could not afford any. My brother took the shoes off of his feet and gave them to that man. He wore his very old, very out of shape shoes again until he could manage new ones. That was the way of his life.

[camera_man1231]

I remember a time before he past away he, his wife, and newborn baby were struggling financially. He had finally after many months of needing them, afforded to go out and buy a brand new pair of shoes. The very next day he saw a man with no shoes on. When my brother asked the man told him he could not afford any. My brother took the shoes off of his feet and gave them to that man. He wore his very old, very out of shape shoes again until he could manage new ones. That was the way of his life. He sounds like he was a very nice person, and it is a shame that he had to go in such a awkward stage of his life. Back to this picture though, maybe you have had dreams that involve him lately? Dreams are often interpreted as a portal for super natural beings to enter ones mind and vice versa.

[Shamrox]

I havent had dreams about him lately. I can remember dreaming about him only 2 or 3 times in the years since he died. All those times i woke up feeling very moved. The feeling remained for days after. After he past, their was a time when his widow and family were sitting at dinner talking about his life. They are all convinced a white light shot through the room and almost knocked their plates off the table. I once remember talking about him or thinking about him very hard. I then noticed the ground below me. Through the window an enourmous cross was projected on the ground by the frame. Other than that there was nothing surreal, ever. Just the fact that in this picture it seems like an obvious sign to me that he is watching over me.

[camera_man1231]

Wow, to me that sounds like he is definitely looking after you. Infact, he's probably watching right now!

[Shamrox]

LOL i hope so Anyone else had anything like that in the past?

[Carôusoul]

>>> Religion and Spirituality?

[Idolfan]

As a matter of fact, completely coincidentally of this post I was going to attempt to talk to Jesus tonight, even though I don't actually beleive in him (yet?)! Thanks for just being there to remind me. Anyway, last night I was reading about how Jesus apparantly showed up in the New World 3 days after he had been crucified (my grandparents are mormons... okay make that an entire side of my family). I was interested because during the Olmec period of Aztec history a "white bearded man" referred to as Quetzalcoatl (not to be confused with the emperor of 987 who just took on the name) appeared, gave teachings blah blah blah and said he would return one day from the east to reclaim his kindom. Looking into it, the stories are so similar that even I, an athiest was intreuged. This in turn must have provoked my first Jesus related dream in history last night. I can't remember anything other than some reference to Jesus, unfortionetaly. I am going to try to ask "Jesus" myself anyway, because it would be a cool thing to do for a dream!

[StephenT]

>>> Religion and Spirituality? Exactly. Religion is the name tagged with a group of people that "believe" in something or have "faith". Spirituality is what you are. And THATS the thing that defines you. I saw a shirt the other day that said: "Religion is for people afraid to go to hell ______________________________________ Spirituality is for people who have already been there." It seems pretty cliche or conceded, but it has a hint of truth I do believe. Idolfan, not to say what's best for you, but don't get too caught up in something like that so fast. Not saying that Jesus wasn't a good guy, but think your way through reading things about it instead of just mindlessly accepting the words. Tmer, as long as there's religion there will be ignorant ass holes that won't be able to see what their beliefs are causing. And people will fight and people will hate and people will disregard others. Even while their own religion is preaching against it. Listen to the song Imagine by John Lennon.