"These new tribes that have come to this land ...
they have no understanding of the desert,
the mountains,
the wild places and the spirits living in it.
They have their politics, but we have the rituals.
They have religion, but we live with the spirits.
They live in a world without harmony,
without mystery."
from Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint p. 152
The film Zeitgeist asks the viewer to consider if religion (all of them) has been a false trail that only serves earthly masters, not heavenly ones. It suggests there might be a broader pattern to life, one which religions may mimic but which misses the real point of what life is all about. It doesn't say there is no spiritual plan. It instead leaves you wondering how to find it if religion isn't the way.
Some people become so disillusioned with religion that they also give up on Spirit which would be sad if this world is made up of physical and Spirit. There are so many rituals, so many answers that it can become confusing and you can see how some say forget it, but...
If there is Spirit power, then could there be a spiritual pattern for each of us which we fit with or fight against? Is finding connection with Spirit part of finding connection with ourselves? I believe the desire to find such a secure way is what leads to religion; but does religion help or hinder in a spiritual search?
Whether our lives are preordained is a question philosophers have argued for as long as man has had the time to consider such. Fear of the unknown has led even the most primitive cultures to search for a way to feel in control. Is the real secret to life finding the pattern we were born to follow and then following it or is it something simpler than that? Are dreams planted to help us find our own path? What if we miss that path? Does there come a time when it's too late to find it? Or is life purely biology and there is no meaning to any of it?
In terms of a spiritual power determining purpose, some see everything that happens was god's doing. When good, it was a reward or blessing. Bad and it was intended to strengthen them, give them a testimony, or a punishment. For them it's god who provides their life purpose and their only job is to find His purpose for them. Often a spiritual leader is all too willing to give suggestions/orders.
I bring this up purely because it's part of seeking dreams, not because I have answers. I am comfortable with what I believe right now which is that there is spiritual power beyond my understanding. For me, this is again one of those times where I am exploring what that might be, but I cannot say I have the definitive answer-- maybe I never will. For me, it's mystery-- a word I actually find comforting. I don't have to know to live, which is fortunate as I have met many people who say they know-- too bad they don't agree.
To go along with this question of a life plan, there is another one to ask: Suppose Spirit does have a plan for my life but I don't like it? Would my not liking it mean it wasn't really the right plan or is my desire not a factor in whether it is? Or suppose I have been content with it for many years and somehow now it is not working. Does that mean the plan should change?
What do you think? Do we find our own way or is someone/something beyond us guiding us to it-- forcefully if need be?
12 comments:
Rain read "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" by James Hogg !
Actually I have never heard of that book or the author. Tell me more about it. Is it a novel or non-fiction? Would it help someone looking for answers or only give more questions? *s*
Mine comes purely out of something I do now and then which is trying to decide what life is really all about.
The books I am reading now are a series by S.M. Stirling-- Dies the Fire, Protector's War, and A Meeting in Corvallis. They are something to think about but about society and how it works (some of maybe natural science and how it works). I do plan to write about them when I have finished the three.
Rain . . .Your question is so very basic it may not have a precise answer. Philosophers have thought about it since time began. I found a clue when I read a small book about Descartes with two sub-titles: "Discourse on Method on the First Philosophy" and "The Principles of Philosophy". Sounds terribly dull but isn't.
Dixon
Thanks Dixon. I will keep that title in mind as well as what Paul said for the next time I hit a used book store. :) I have read a lot of books on this subject (the Bible through 6 or 7 times) and got to a place that it seemed it had to be experiential for me, not through someone else's writings-- even if they are claimed to be divine. Still I do read opinions now and again and might have some time for that after I finish this series. Well I might give these old eyes a bit of a rest between them. Reading too much gives me floaters with my extreme near-sightedness.
I did a search on the Descartes one and did read it during my college philosophy classes. Probably a subtle influence still, one of those subconscious ones. I could definitely do with a refresher. One of my favorite philosophy books used to be by Ayn Rand, but I wonder how it would strike me now. I have a lot of them still in the bookcase gathering dust.
Rain your spiritual questions are interesting to me. Although I have no answers, I can think of one different way to look at these questions. The way most people view the spiritual is conditioned by our scientific view of the cosmos. So we question, measure and label developing science. We accept all science as being absolute. Some science is absolute and some not. Scientific fact has become comforting to us when we reproduce its laws. We like beliving it is true fact always and forever. Some of us seperate how we view scientific knowledge from belief knowledge. But to some degree we have become spoiled to expect religious scripture to be like the laws of nature that we suppose we can depend upon.
The different way to think of the spiritual questions means realizing that even science does not completely explain the nature of the cosmos. There are mysterious mechanisms at work that we can become aware of and use to direct us. There might be a pool of ideas we might connect to through dreams. I don't know if it is a pool but I need to lable it because of my scientific mind set. Whether it is a concentrated pool that lives in space I don't know. There are many ideas and we can connect to the pool of ideas. I have felt it at times when I paint. The picture comes to me effortlessly and like I was caused to paint it.
That is being in the flow, parapluie and I have felt it in many things. The thing about science is the laws that we consider immutable might be temporary also. Science finds something, measures it, finds it can be repeated, but can it ever be changed? That's the question the series of books i have been reading explores-- what do you do when the scientific basis for your whole civilization changes and no longer works as it did? We know in the past science has been wrong, as when it decided the world was flat. There is so much we learn but even then, what if what we have learned can shift from an event we don't understand nor can we control? We certainly don't control the weather with all of our thinking we are so powerful scientifically. We don't control earthquakes or volcanoes either. Is there more that we think we know but do not? Makes for fascinating thinking if it's not something we can prove.
Believe me youwill like the book...Google James Hogg...:-)
My point is not the falibility of science but that some ( maybe most ) of us go about spiritual questions expecting a final perfect formula like we currently rely on as science. And possibly there are many ideas that would work for a person if they quit having to put forth the scientific process of questioning, measuring and labeling. The spiritual is unknowable in language - not nameable. Only experienced through the flow of dreams for me and sometimes when I paint.
Maybe terrible conflicts occur between people because people are used to being scientific. Their whole trust in being able to function depends upon them knowing they know the spiritual truth held in the same respect in their mind as scientific truth. In other words, if others believe in a different truth, it is reason for war.
I will check him out, Paul.
and parapluie, i don't know that most of the religious fanatics have a scientific approach to religion. I suspect (but have no statistics) that it's just the opposite, and people who actually look at it scientifically are more likely to live and let live. They wouldn't be able to prove it and therefore might assume others could have ideas also. Remember many religions put down science as from the devil. When people operate from a religious fervor, I don't think they go looking to figure out truth. Of course, I could be wrong. I kind of think that if people used more science in their spiritual lives, they would believe they had to prove what they claim... and when they cannot, would be more tolerant of others. I don't see scientific thinking as the bad guy when religion goes amok.
Or were you saying that our ability to use logic and scientific reasoning is why we might doubt supernatural powers? I don't know about that either but then it makes a good debate to consider it.
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