| Jan 18 @ 9:47 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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To me this term is wide open to include World Religions, Paganism and Living Philosophies such as Eastern Mysticism.
What defines the spirit in Spirituality, what form is it in and just how does one use it in daily living.
Is it made of such things as life force ones Chi, Hara or Ki, or does it manifest itself in the Holy Trinity concept or other?
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| Jan 18 @ 10:06 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 15,360
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Good question...I guess that to me it means everything. I've always liked the concept of 'the Force', or 'the Infinite'. If energy and matter are interchangeable, what difference is there between the corporeal and the non-corporeal? I guess I don't even really believe in death, only change. I don't think anything is ever actually destroyed, only changed to another form - why should we be different? Whether that form is 'conscious' as we currently see it or not is kind of immaterial, since the consciousness of a rock or of heat may exist - how would you know that unless or until you become heat or a rock?
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| Jan 18 @ 10:48 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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hammertime
Posts: 14,071
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Heaven
I believe similar as you do. I did have a few pet rocks but they never spoke to me and just sat there like a rock. They were very cooperative as paperweights and were good for throwing at people when I got upset.
I see my own personal spirituality in line with scientific discoveries. The Universe is awesome. No bible could ever match its reality. Quantum physics is absolutely fascinating. Reality is so far beyond our everyday experience but is accessible to all who want to know. In the quantum fluctuations of the universe, matter can appear spontaneously from nothing and then disappear. There are black holes, white holes and worm holes. Awesome stuff.
Brain science is very fascinating too and does fit right in with quantum physics where there is a time displacement of consciousness that takes place in the mind. Our minds are how the universe gets to know itself. As for eternity, existence itself is eternal and infinite but these are human concepts of a universe that is just beginning to get discovered. I enjoy being a part of the process.
While we're here, a sense of humor is an absolute must. I consider it a gift and a holy sacrament. Laughter is the resonance of knowledge and of "getting it" and perhaps even of enlightenment. Its a very human experience and that is what we are.
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| Jan 18 @ 10:53 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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A little Alan Watts take on that just to mention one sage. All is composed of complimentary opposites, matter - anti matter, life and death, self and other, etc. Complimentary opposites do not present a either OR option, because they are 100% dependent on one another for there very existence.
So if we look at the options say [life and/or death] there are not 2 choices but 3. Life, the Void [a confluence of the two] and/or death. So from this we can see life and death are but continuations of one another in the Void, which is not empty because it consist of both life and death.
Matter IS Energy and Energy IS but Matter in a form we cannot see. That is what the Tao symbol from the I Ching tries to show. There is some Ying in Yang and some Yang in Ying and where the Positive meets the Negative {black or white] there is a confluence of the two [the Void] which is simply a continuation of one to the other. 
The Tao [all that there is] cannot be seen, Why? It is always in a state of flux the moment you think you can see it or imagine it, it has already changed. I like to think of this as a Bar Magnet one half being positive, the other half being Negative, but in the exact middle of the Bar the magnetic force becomes neutral forming something other. Some will say the Positive and Negative cancel one another but is that not saying the same thing?
People of Religion will say thats Rubbish but then talk about a Spirit or Soul that leaves the body at death. So I will ask them isn't that some form of formless energy also?
There are differing forms of Consciousness talked about. The Mortal minds concept of Conscious that was programmed by social exposure from birth or the Consciousness of ones realization of our True Nature. Our true nature is nothing more then the realization We Are One With All That There Is Now.
The duality of man is the mortal body and brain and the acceptance that we have some form of energy [spirit or soul] within us that is not of the body.
Eastern Mysticism tries to reconcile this by various means. What it boils down too [Enlightenment] is simply trying to go through the mortal mind [or rise above it to see ones True Nature.]
We truly do not have a Ego or and I, in reality, those are man made concepts so we just think we do. Alan Watts has a great saying. When I walk, I walk, when I eat, I eat all in the Present moment for in reality that is All That There Is while residing in our Mortal Bodies. Any he says whenever I look into another's eyes, what I see there is simply the universe, since we are all one and connected now with all that there is.
A different way of thinking, yes, but better than the option of living to await death based upon a future promise.
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| Jan 18 @ 10:55 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Hammer the reason I always have been a Fritof Capra fan is that he tried to introduce the concept of viewing things as a Holistic whole rather than just viewing things as components in the Western way.
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| Jan 18 @ 11:12 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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hammertime
Posts: 14,071
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He seems to merge physics and metaphysics as searching for the same knowledge. This might be a good compliment to the work Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose are doing. 
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| Jan 18 @ 12:25 PM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Yes simply put Fritof - when you enter the realm of the micro [that which cannot be seen] or the Macro [that which is to large to see especially from within it] you are forced to look at a Holistic model then apply a mathematical model of probability to it, because that is the only choice available.
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| Jan 18 @ 12:29 PM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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hammertime
Posts: 14,071
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That concept sort of upset Einstein. He kind of diverged from exploring that aspect of physics but it does turn out probabilities is the only choice because its all choices and doesn't that support "All that there is"?
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| Jan 18 @ 12:43 PM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Einsteins concept of God was the Taoist and Pantheist concept of God one with all that there is, now. Freud also embraced this concept in his later years as to both of them it was intuitive by nature and followed reason.
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| Jan 18 @ 1:22 PM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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hammertime
Posts: 14,071
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Take a look at Spinoza God. Its the one Einstein is associated with but they're similar. Spinoza's god is "all that there is" and is revealed as we comprehend the universe. Its all of nature and exists within "all" because it is "all".
http://www.waterwind.com/spinoza.html
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| Jan 25 @ 4:04 PM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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sweetsongs17
Posts: 368
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Spiritually is the Essense of God that moves through all things, time and space. It is a personal relationship with God with in His time, His Love, His Mercy, His Grace. He is all, I am nothing.
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| Jan 26 @ 7:50 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Is God a man or a woman or simply All that there is? Did he or she make man in his own image and why? If he or she has been one and connected with us always why do we need to kowtow by getting on our knees to pray?
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| Jan 26 @ 8:38 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you?
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sweetsongs17
Posts: 368
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Is God a man or a woman or simply All that there is? Did he or she make man in his own image and why? If he or she has been one and connected with us always why do we need to kowtow by getting on our knees to pray?
God is neither man or woman. He is both masculine and feminine. Yes, he is all that there is. He created us in His own image to love and serve Him. We are connected to God, Why we need to get down on our knees and pray. Kneeing is a sign of humility, reverence and submission to a God. It could be seen as a way to take the physical body and move it spirituality inside to be obedient to Him. I think you can pray in all sorts of ways,sitting, driving, lying down in bed.
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| Jan 29 @ 9:26 AM |
What is Spirituality? What does it mean to you? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Yes we are all one and connected now and have no need to kowtow to that which is us we are apart of now. Have you ever noticed how Catholic churches have a similar design and Protestant churches have their own design, as do temples, synagogues. The Protestant churches are all laid out like a court of law, the others designed with a high alter which you can kowtow too that goes back to ancient times.
[Edited on 1/29/2008 9:32 AM]
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