20ish posts in, I guess I should introduce myself

Hola friends and frenemies.

Here is a snapshot of what I'm about.

1. I studied moral philosophy and english literature, I can be a stickler for spelling, grammar, reasonable discussion and logic; though I try not to be too hard, everyone makes typos, and even the most reasonable person uses flawed logic from time to time and ultimately, I'm not a hardcore rationalist

2. I was raised agnostic, have never attended church except for the occasional wedding and at christmas to appease my grandparents. I do not subscribe to Christian teachings.

3. I studied moral philosophy in university but could not find a holistic avenue within western philosophy that I felt created an ethic worthy of my full attention. Consequently, I began to study buddhism and in particular the teachings of the Dalai Lama. Of late, my spiritual side is coming the the fore as I have extended my spiritual path beyond buddhism into the venue of "universal consciousness'. Prior to 2009 I dismissed the idea of reincarnation, more recently I believe that it may be a metaphysical truth.

4. When I was in highschool, I had 2 dreams that I remember very well, that scared the hell out of me. They were both very lucid and had to do with the world becoming polarized and the negative world consuming the positive world. It was 20 years ago that I had those dreams and to this day I do not remember my dreams often but when I do a strange coincidence often occurs. I have no explanation for this.

5. Although I have always believed in the existence of Extraterrestrial life, I had never really considered that said life might be visiting our earth. In early 2009 I had a few days off of work and felt a compelling urge to do some research on the matter. I am now convinced that there is and has been an extraterrestrial presence on earth though to what extent I do not know.

6. I feel free to speculate wildly with the understanding that my speculations may be easily refuted, found to be ridiculous and proved false. I'm ok with this. If you set out to prove that the earth is round, you'd better be prepared to fall off the edge if you find out that you are wrong.

7. Compassion means understanding that everyone has the same lessons to learn in life and that some of us are better able to learn these lessons than others--thus patience is essential.

8. I am grateful to all of the nasty and evil people in the world for showing me what it means to be good and how to tell the difference between the two--even though it is often very difficult.

cheers folks.

edit. I said that I don't subscribe to Christian teachings, this isn't entirely true, I definitely don't subscribe to Christian Dogma.





[edit on 16-6-2009 by Tamale_214]

Hi there, welcome. I am new here also.

Hope to see you around the boards. woof woof

Scooby Dooby Doo

Well my friend, we are like minded.

Welcome to ATS, I am glad you decided to joing. There are a lot of folks like you and me on this board, and the ones with differing opinions are always a pleasure to debate with.

I hope you find what you are looking for and I look forward to your contributions on the board.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions .

~Keeper

welcome here.

I joined exactly a year ago.

I hope you have as much fun as I do.

Don't get too addicted though

Hey 214.

You lay it out.

I find myself attracted to some of the same ideas you have layed out.

What would attract you to universal consciousness?

Why the Dali Lama?

Why not some other, older Buddhists cultures?