[John Freestone]

Originally Posted by torilink

Unfortunately, or not as the case may be, you messed up the quotes there and didn't answer no.1. Not that you have to answer me of course. Just an observation.

no you do not have to do anything. believe as you desire to believe, but why do you come here to argue your case?

You seem to be suggesting that all I have done is change my mind, when I have told you that I learned. There is a difference. Why do I come here to argue my case? Because it's like I've struggled to finally get free of the forest of dreams, and as I emerge there's another bunch on their way in. It's not my fault if they take my arm-waving as indicating my indecision, lack of understanding of the principles of 'perspective' or just my arbitrary point of view.

a snarky smart-ass or offhanded remark which isn't something you truly believe won't be real for you in any way. We can say or think a million things, all of which are meaningless, thoughts & words create nothing. They are merely a reaction to our perceptions.

It wasn't snarky, smart-ass or offhand, and the fact that it wasn't real for me in any way was exactly my point. It was an alternative reality, presented to illustrate how "thoughts & words create nothing". You seem to have partly got the point, but have also said "we can say or think a million things, all of which are meaningless", and that, unfortunately, is misleading. There are some things we can say that are meaningful, and that match with reality. At least, certain things match better than others. I concede that words don't encapsulate reality perfectly, but that is quite a different matter from whether thought creates reality, which is the philosophy of LoA, and which you appear to have refuted. Good for you, by the way. Thoughts and words create nothing, you should put that as your sig.

likewise this is a judgment & perception of a personal reality.

This was your response to my hypothetical life-story of the starving refugee. See, this is where the LoA really pisses me off. "It's all perception!" --- "What about the war-torn, starving, diseased, crippled, raped, oppressed, the holocaust victims?" --- "Yeah, they just imagine all of that!" Sorry if my response is snarky, but it makes me wish you'd fall down a man-hole and break your legs. Ah, but you'd still think you intended to. If someone came into your life and...oh forget it. I've been through all this before, and you are right to ask why I'm bothering. It clearly doesn't make a scrap of difference. There was one guy once got in touch and thanked me for helping him get free of all the newage claptrap, but in a month he'd found the one true religion instead, which was RC, (remote controlled?). All shades of BS wait round every corner.

there are plenty of experiences & situations I've perceived incorrectly. To the extent I allow those experiences & beliefs to create and define a personal identity for myself right now in this moment, is the extent they are truth or illusion.

If you are capable of logical thought, I don't think you can hold both of those opinions concurrently. The latter may be one of the things you perceive incorrectly. The definition of truth is not the extent to which you invest in an opinion. You keep saying it, and then refuting it: "there are plenty of experiences I've perceived incorrectly". So how do you know whether you are perceiving the definition of reality correctly when you say it is whatever you allow your beliefs to create? It seems to me just like a long, convoluted way of saying "Whatever I believe is true". Do you believe that? If so, what of perceiving things incorrectly? What does that even mean? If you know that you perceived something incorrectly, it implies that you have compared it with a correct perception, and found it wanting.