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originally posted by: crayzeed
All religions.. including Buddhism, are based on faith. ..But it's still a faith, like all other religions.
“Babylon 5: Meditations
on the Abyss (#5.14)” (1998)
If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on
the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often, we
assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the
search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the
search, the brighter the light on the wall. The
brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing
it. Similarly, someone who does not search – who does not bring a
lantern – sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search
for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light… pure and
unblemished… not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in
front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe – God
looks astonishingly like we do – or we turn to look at our shadow and assume
that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the
purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all
its beauty and in all its flaws; and in so doing, better understand the world
around us.
But, observation and reason can only get you so far.
Observation and reason gets you nowhere. If it were so, truth would be a simple matter of reading a book.
Matters in what context you mean "truth".
How so?
A book cannot dictate to you what will percieve.
It can suggest, and with certain highly suggestable types strongly suggest even, but it cannot dictate.
The one I'm referring to, is the ever present one, the one that doesn't need to be found and the one that ISN'T anything that has been found or lost. And the one that is before the perception of everything even the passing of time, that which is never separate from you. In other words, the REAL you.
Which one are you talking about? And is it more important than this one?
If today, a person is trying to figure out who they are or searching for enlightenment or whatever you call a quest for ultimate understanding, and every morning they wake up still at square one, then obviously, everything they've learned, reasoned and observed up until that point is proven absolutely useless. And despite ALL the answers that have been gathered thus far, the same questions remain, disguised in different clothes. And instead of casting it aside, we try to patch up old ideas and philosophies lodged in the dim light of memory to keep up with the ever changing nature of reality.
In terms of finding the ultimate answer or understanding, I said 'observation and reason gets you nowhere'. Every honest seeker of truth can attest to this at some point in their journey and If they don't know this already, then they haven't searched intensely enough.
So the truth is not found by imagination and thinking - it is found by observation and reason. It can be confirmed by experience.
originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: nOraKat
So the truth is not found by imagination and thinking - it is found by observation and reason. It can be confirmed by experience.
Though I agree with you, "truth" is an honorific term. Someone will say the exact opposite and call it truth, even in the light of observation and reason. In the end, truth is honesty.