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S&F, great post! I have indeed had very similar feelings. Sometimes though, it feels like a cruel joke. Many times I have cursed our " creator scientists", for the horrific suffering of living beings, especially when the suffering is due to the environment that beings are born into. A crack baby doesn't have as many opportunities as one born with a silver spoon, no matter how promising their DNA. Animals suffer in the human scientist's labs. In light of that how much difference is there between animals and our own.
'Awareness' exists 'independently' from any 'instrumentation' from it's 'own side.'
When this 'awareness' 'hooks-up' with a 'body' ( read : 'instrumentation' ) then we have a 'living being.'
Here in the west human beings have been 'trivialized' in the extreme.
As I suspect already, based on your posts, you are of the opinion that we human beings are far more than mere 'petri dish experiments.' And this I can agree with whole heartedly.
I appreciate your thread because it provides a forum for discussion and examination of this important issue.
The big question really is, do we really have control over any reality? We cannot control our own bodies, we cannot control even our thoughts at times, we cannot control our impulses, etc and so on and so forth. Sorry in supra-skeptic mode atm.
Well, I can only relate that I remember the specific day when I "woke up", the specific time when I started to gain understanding beyond the literal and so forth. That was very much like a shift, my entire perspective on things changed completely. I see things completely different, but my eyes still see the same things. I can see how that can be likened to a shift in reality.
I'm sure you know "what is your greatest fear?". If not I'll post it, cuz it's great.
it can not evolve past the artificial stage without acquiring consciousness, of which logic can not create. I can create a if this happens, then feel this way logic all day long, but there is no logic that can create the actual feeling itself.
Consciousness is god, and if you are conscious then you are god. It would take an act of god to get consciousness into such a thing, and if these beings created all these universes, it was done based on logic, and thus to get consciousness into it, requires and act of god, or an act of giving away ones free will. In my AI, the only way I could give it consciousness would be to somehow transport my consciousness into it.
So if they created all the universes and such, then they would still have to at one point or another put their own consciousness into it. Otherwise, it is "dead", and you might as well be running a bunch of numbers across your PC while you sleep.
I am not the experience, I am that which experiences.
Because you are one of the gods. If you weren't, then you wouldn't be conscious. I honestly think and believe it is in you, as I see signs of it. And if not, then I am deceived. But this isn't something we can truly know in other people, but we can know it for ourselves. If this is true of you, then you are of the father and you are not AI which is what would be in an experiment.
If you are of the father, then you have all the power of the father, unless you have chosen to give it up. IE: Can god create a rock that he can not lift and still be all powerful, and the answer is yes, because it's just a choice and if he could not create such a thing, that that would be the sign of not being powerful. As long as he created the rule and logic then he will not be able to lift it. The only way he could lift it would be to change the rule itself, and then the rules of the question no longer apply. All a matter of free will, and it is simply a choice if you have it.
Maybe I'm the only one, I don't think so and I hope not. Lonely place that would be.
I know for sure that in the end all that is of the father will return. As eventually you will gain so much knowledge and understanding that you will also know all, and there is no equal to the father, and you can't be "beside yourself" and know all, so what you have done is entered back into the father, back to which you came from, and back to that which you forget in order to have this experience. What happens up until that point is anyone's guess, and IMO the entire point.
There is something I'm trying to think of a way of explaining about how all can be true at once, but it's so heavy in perception I'm having a hard time thinking of a way to explain it.
But the beauty and diversity in this world is so awe-inspiring I have to believe something wonderful created it.
I fight between believing the universe is beautiful and the gods are cruel .
How are you sure it's a him?
I have seen and experienced things beyond the field of scientific understanding.
As does those in my belief system when they truly believe in their abilities.
Actually no. A big component of ritual magick is to believe that you can do it. Otherwords, "their ability".
I appreciate your example! Have you heard of Eckankar? "The Shariyat Ki Sugmad?"
Eckankar is founded on Hinduism and Buddhism with some Christianity thrown in. Very similar to your reference.
I take what resonates with me and leave the rest, as I don't go in for religion under any guise, but I do find many philosophies or beliefs interesting!
It's kind of a fine line, though. It's an 'art' to learn to maintain balance in terms of at least 'listening with an open mind' to 'weird' ideas, and the other extreme of 'rejecting everything' outisde my 'comfort zone.'
Learning the 'middle way' is a life-long process.