Facing up to a Godless, finite existence

I write this with a heavy heart and a furrowed brow but in the desperate hope that some of you may be able to offer some advice or personal anecdotes to quash my despair.

For years now I've been feverishly interested in all fringe topics; conspiracies, aliens, metaphysics, the paranormal, extra-sensory perception, the afterlife, God etc etc and I've cultivated a strong belief in spirituality and believed firmly that I had a soul and an infinite existence laid out in front of me. For a long time I couldn't see how there could be any other possibility.

Recently though, I'm not so sure. It's slowly started to dawn on me that I am harnessing an all-encompassing belief in things that have never been proven, and that I have absolutely no concrete personal experience of to draw upon. I've spent months trying to astrally project my consciousness with no success; years hoping to see a UFO to no avail and a lifetime waiting for a sure sign of God to convince me that I'm not wasting my time. And yet at the end of it all I'm no more certain of anything than I've ever been, and I'm seriously beginning to wonder whether we might just be organic accidents floundering through a Godless material spectrum until ultimate death of both body and mind.

Frankly this scares the crap out of me.

The point is, is it foolish to waste a pointless & finite existence with one's head in the clouds believing it to be something more than it is? Is there any way to strike a balance between the two philosophies without simply creating an unfulfillable mental void full of unanswered questions? Is the lack of evidence of anything outside of third-dimensional materialism a test of faith or is it absolute? How do you all deal with these issues? Repression? Ignorance? Unquestioning faith?

And are this crisis' of confidence an integral part of augmenting any belief? Or are they simply my intuition screaming at me to grow up?

All answers and experiences welcome.

Yes, I could write volumes on this issue (not that anyone would read it). I know exactly what you mean. And your answer will be your answer, as I'm sure you know.

Here's mine- don't worry about it. The purpose of life is to live it. Yes, study whatever interests you, but in the end things are as they are whether we know them or not. You'll NEVER have all the answers or even know all the questions.

Don't miss out on this life by worrying about the next one (or lack thereof). Get married. Raise some kids. Go fishing. Commune with nature. Make some friends. And don't sweat what you can't control.

I cant say i really believed in anything spiritually or religiously for the most part of my life, so im not sure if i can relate fully to you and your situation. But if you feel so depressed, why not channel that depression and anger into something positive. You seem well spoken and intellegent, why got get motivated and become socially or politically active. Fight for something and see the change you can make.

As i said before, ive never really been spiritual, but ive hit many roadblocks of depression in my life. And i can honestly say the thing that cured me was attempting to become and active agent of my own destiny. Turning my anger away from myself and pointing it against this i saw were wrong with life and society.

i guess thats the best as i can do.

Originally posted by Seen the Future
Frankly this scares the crap out of me.

Why? You may not have any more awareness of, or experience with, the after death state any more than you can recall some existence from before your birth. You don't recall being terrified or uncomfortable then do you?

Not many people 'get' that concept. Its difficult to express.

Thank you for all your replies... I think in many ways the attitude conveyed within my original post is my mind resisting the descent into the spiral of increasingly resonant information and understanding I seem to be acclumulating as time goes on. I don't want to become crazed or isolated by 'The Truth', I want to be liberated by it.... which is why I feel the need to question it all at times in order to retain some degree of materal perspective so that this world still holds relevance for me.

Mr Penny: "Why? You may not have any more awareness of, or experience with, the after death state any more than you can recall some existence from before your birth. You don't recall being terrified or uncomfortable then do you?

Not many people 'get' that concept. Its difficult to express."

Actually that makes an extraordinary amount of sense. Thank you.

Thanks for your replies and I agree that we are the masters of our own destiny. And now, I'm off outside to play.

Hello "Seen the Future"! Many of us have an inner call to search for truth and find answers to the myths of the world. All i want to say is that we all belong to a creator, the Light. We are divine beings that have a source, a home, but it is not this universe. You are right about one thing, and that is that at the present time, this universe is very much godless, because it is in controll by Evil. The Divine you seek exist outside of this universe, and it is working on putting apart this evil universe to liberate all beings of the Light. There are also another type of being in this world that are beings of Darkness, they are not divine and only exist as long as this universe exist. True beings who know where they belong are indestructable. The only thing you need to do is to think, and wish sincerly that you want to connect to your true creator, and the rest will fall in place. The fear you have of not existing after life is only programming by Evil, it is poison to your mind to make you unaware and helpless. This fear is overcome when you realise that there is more to life then death. We have infact lived and died so many times that you can't possibly count it while we have been in this evil creation, the Evil system have set up filtering mechanism, illusions etc to make us forget our past lives etc. But Evil cannot harm you as long you have your will to the Light, knowing that you belong in a better place.

It is also important to know that we have many layers of consiousnesses. We have the physical mind, which most humans uses 99% of the time. And we have the emotional body, the spiritual body, etc and in the end the Higher Mind, or your true self. The Higher Mind knows everything, and it has the blueprint of the divine in it. It knows your powers, your needs and what you must do at any time to develop spiritualy. But Evil have stopped this divine circle. Only now are people becoming aware, because of the presence of the Divine (Light) in this universe removing the Evil programming and exposing Evil.

It's important to know that emotions like fear, hate, and all the other negative emotions are illusions created by Evil. It doesn't exist in the true universe of the Divine. The Divine is; Love, Harmony, Purity, Peace, etc.

The changes upon us cannot be undone. Have faith in the Light and it will help you and protect you, even in the darkest places of this universe.

[edit on 12-4-2007 by InSaneTK]

I so know how you feel.

Personally I haven't decided to believe in anything of anything completely.
I have my doubts about some stuff, idea's and theories about other stuff.

I don't 'believe' in the grey bearded god, or any concious thinking divine being or sorts. But I believe that there's a force in the universe.. intent, pure imagination, conciousness which is the driving force and 'designer' of the universe. And we, our conciousness, are a part of that. Our conciousness sprang from that and will return to it when we die.

Not so very long ago I got a major buff from What the bleep do we know.
I dont know if you've seen it, it's about quantum physics and the meaning of it all. Some idea's are heavily contested now though but in general lines it's still very good.
Quantum physics is leaning in some departements to more or less the same idea, at least a force, intent.
What the bleep confirmed, in a way, my trail of thought. even outside of that dvd quantum theories seem to lean towards that too.

I still have this voice in the back of my head sometimes saying what you just wrote. For the rest I basicly just accepted the fact I won't know these things untill the day I die. See my reply on:
What happens when we die? what [...]

Regarding belief in general.. I feel compelled to put in an excerpt from a book.
It's a small conversation between Death and his granddaughter.
Bold is Death's voice, as deep and heavy as the slamming of leaden doors far underground, of course

From The Hogfather, A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett

I WILL GIVE YOU A LIFT BACK, said Death, after a while.

"Thank you. Now… tell me…"

WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HADN'T SAVED HIM?

"Yes! The sun would have risen just the same, yes?"

NO.

"Oh, come on. You can't expect me to believe that. It's an astronomical fact."

THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN.

She turned on him.
"It's been a long night, Grandfather! I'm tired and I need a bath! I don't need silliness!"

THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN.

"Really? Then what would have happened, pray?"

A MERE BALL OF FLAMING GAS WOULD HAVE ILLUMINATED THE WORLD.

…

HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Toothfairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—
Death waved a hand.
AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME… SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

[edit on 13/4/2007 by David2012]

[edit on 13/4/2007 by David2012]

Originally posted by Seen the Future

Thanks for your replies and I agree that we are the masters of our own destiny. And now, I'm off outside to play.

See thats the spirit! Just worry about things that you can do something about and things that you can't control you just have to hope for the best.

But forget about me on trying to explain physics. hehe

Feeling confused? You are not the only one. Some people believe that their religion explains everything, while others believe that there is more to the universe than what religion states.

I believe that there is a link between them all religions, spirits, gods, UFOs, alien beings, psyhics, etc. etc. on planet Earth.

Our past holds lots of interesting legends, myths, histories, civilzations, and religions form every culture, perhaps looking into everyone of them may give you a unique perspective or link to events that may have happened in our past.

This link:
www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

War in Heaven is an interesting read, which might provide some answers.

It is however, a very long and complex read at times.
To put it simply and in my opinion, I think it is trying to tell people that they have been decieved and are continuing to be decieved for their souls in the afterlife.