[MD] Journey to the Stars

[John Carl]

Platt,
There are some terrific ideas out there.  To my mind, the great utility of
the MoQ is that it gives me an intellectual tool for analyzing them,
thinking about them, deciding what is good about them.

Before the MoQ, I was floundering in a sea of worldviews with no way to
understand how to choose.  I needed a metaphysical platform from which to
judge and think. To me, the MoQ is my intellectual tool to figure out
reality.

Now, religion is different.  The MoQ can help you think about religion, but
it cannot become religion because that would be a static situation that
kills dyanicism.   But men need religion.  All men at all times have had
religion in some form or other, as  part of their cultural makeup.  Which
religion is best is something the MoQ can help any individual or society
figure out, but there will be a wide range of answers because there are a
wide range of individuals and societys.

Now IMO,  a lot of conflict that we find on this forum, stems from religious
argumentation.  That same sort of blind man defending his view of the
elephant thing that men fall into as easily as they follow into religion -
whether their religion is theistic or humanistic, it's like the dylan song
sings, you gotta serve somebody.  And then, if you're male, you have this
territorial instinct that gets transmuted to ideas, and a lot of barking
ensues.

but religion is solely a social - level phenomena.  The root word means, "to
bind".  It binds humans together into conflict-free agreement which serves
Good on many levels.

And finally, I can't resist...

MORE Needleman,,,, MORE!


"In order to warn us about this tendency in ourselves, the traditional
teachings --as expressed in the Bhagavad-Gita, for example -- make a
fundamental distinction between consciousness on one hand and the contents
of consciousness such as our perceptions of things, our sense of personal
identity, our emotions and our thoughts in all their color and gradation on
the other hand....

This distinction communicates that the search for consciousness is a
constant necessity for man.  It is telling us that anything in ourselves, no
matter how fine,subtle or intelligent, no matter how virtuous or close to
reality, no matter how still or violent--any action, any thought, any
intuition or experience--immediately absorbs all our attention and
automatically becomes transformed into contents around which gather all the
opinions, feelings and distorted sensations that are the supports of our
secondhand sense of identity.

Thus in order to understand the nature of consciousness, I must here and now
in this present moment be searching for a better state of consciousness.
 All definitions, no matter how profound, are secondary.  Even the
formulations of ancient masters on this subject can be a diversion if I take
them in a way that does not support the immediate personal effort to be
aware of what is taking place in myself in the present moment."





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-- 
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There are differing interpretations of Reality, some are just better than
others, that's all.
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