If matter/body is bad (false/against spirit), then so is helping humanity and feeding the hungry

Humans are always trying to be good - that what makes them corrupt (bad).

a reply to: andy06shake

Social animals have a basic form of good and evil based on empathy. Some animals have a punishment of ex-communication (leaving one behind if they lack empathy and try to mess up the well-being of the pack/group).

It's not strictly human. It's what helps survival.

a reply to: arpgme

Yes but animals don't make ethical judgments based on belief systems that are inherently flawed to begin with. Or to be more specific we are the only animal that displays such delusions.

a reply to: andy06shake

Yeah, I doubt any animal believes that the physical world is evil and that they should not enjoy life. They have more freedom because of a more basic morality which guides their pack/group (empathy, common to social animals).

If only humans could keep it simple. With empathy, the knowledge of humanity can be used to make life easier and work in harmony with the environment (nature/non-pollution).

a reply to: arpgme

I think our ability to empathize is what makes us Human but to some degree empathy and logic are always going to be diametrically opposed to one another. Sometimes our notion of whats the correct thing to do is unfortunately not the right thing to do, especially so with regards to our caretakership of the planet.

originally posted by: arpgme
But if you give a gift out of Love, then that gift is something you see as beneficial to the person since you gave that gift with good intention/love. To appreciate the gift is to appreciate the effort and goodwill of the one who gave it.

The benefit of the gift (the image of the gift) is that it is a means of leading you to the conception of the spirit of the gift -- only by conceiving the spirit of the gift, do you conceive the fruit of the spirit of the gift: their love/goodwill for you.

And, "To appreciate the gift is to appreciate the effort and goodwill of the one who gave it.", is generally the exact opposite of what materialistic people do. That is, materialistic people generally do not care about your spirit - they only care about theirs, and whether or not the image leads them to their carnally minded spirit's fruit: lust, self-love, or love of the image.

To recap: The image of the gift (the Son) is only meant to lead you to the conception (Father) of the spirit of the gift (the Holy Spirit) so that you can bear the fruit of the spirit / the fruit of their will (Love/Good), as they see it (Father / their conception). (That last part is very very important: as they see their love or spirit, not as you see it.)

a reply to: Bleeeeep

To me, "materialism" (or at least the vices associated with materialism) is more about aggressive greed rather than a simple focus on the material world.

Feeding the hungry is technically focusing on the material world (food/stomach/body), motivated by The Spirit of Love/Charity, and I believe that God is Love and Love conquers all things (sin/error/death/suffering).

Focusing on stealing or being rich without caring to help the poor, or causing others to suffer is also focus on the material world, but the difference is that it's motivated by a spirit of greed and lukewarmness (apathy towards others), and that's what makes the difference.

To me, the difference is The Spirit (Love or lack of Love) behind it and that is what's important to seeing an action as a "virtue" or "vice".

a reply to: arpgme

If you're doing it for the "(food/stomach/body)", it would be materialistic, because the point is to do it for the (heart/spirit/well-being), so that it's spiritual or godly...

Think about it like your child has drawn you a picture of your family, and he or she has poured their little hearts out into drawing it, because they love you and they want to express that to you. And then compare that to someone else who has drawn you an exact copy of your child's picture for $200 because they love your money and they want to trade you the image of your desire for the image of their desire.

Your focus should go towards the spirit, will, or motive of drawing the picture, and not towards the picture itself, because it's not about the picture - the picture is only meant to lead you to the awareness of their spirit: their love; the child has drawn you an image so that you can be aware of their spirit - so that you can see.

The love of the child's is your (heart/spirit/well-being) while the love of the artist's is his (heart/spirit/well-being/food/stomach/body/your images).

It's like how the ten commandments was not meant to be copied image for image but spirit for spirit, and why the pharisees were so confused as to think that Jesus was trying to change laws.



Furthermore, you need to get away from that idea that reality is physical, or material. What you are calling energy is more like determined, or structured, will or spirit. E.g. You take in the determined will of God as your breath, your will / spirit, and based on how it is structured, and how you conceive of that structure, you see, you have awareness, and then breathe out your own will/spirit as structured forces or as your own conceptions/determined will/forces/energy. (images(Son) of conceptualized(Father) will(Holy Spirit). Do you see the difference? It isn't condensed energy, it is structured will, and the structure is the image of how the will is conceptualized - how it is translated, like Father does.