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Old 02-18-2007, 04:19 PM   #2 (permalink)
Adam
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Logan, UT
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[proselytizing mode]You would make a very fine Universalist[/proselytizing mode]

Seriously, though, you have hit on some of the same thoughts that I've been working out recently, especially the subjectivity of God. (How could a creator be subjective, though? Isn't that a paradox? Not at all... but I don't want to give out spoilers. It just has to do with a few infinities multiplied together... Roughly an infinite number of infinities... )

I would like to add one more conclusion, for your approval: Evil is a perception of the ego, based on how it observes suffering. When you do evil, you perceive that you are causing others to suffer. When others do evil to you, you perceive them increasing your suffering. If you quit observing the suffering, then evil goes away... but it is awfully hard to stop observing something that is right in your face.

Perfect Peace (level of consciousness just below Enlightenment) is unconditional love for your entire environment... When the ego experiences evil, it becomes harder to love the source of that suffering, whether it be yourself or someone/thing else. Anger is a reaction made only while unconscious... While being angry forms a habit of anger, it is very easy to defeat anger by being conscious. Fear is a logical process caused by lack of understanding... Anger causes suffering directly, but usually in small amounts. Fear rarely causes suffering directly, except that it brings suffering directly to your consciousness, causing you to observe much more evil than you normally would.

Ergo, fear, more than anger, is the enemy to peace. I would argue that fear is the greatest enemy to peace. It is certainly the greatest enemy of liberty, which is a prerequisite to peace.
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People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.
--Salma Hayek

My blog: Adam's Peace
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