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Originally Posted by Illustro Cado  How do you know that? While I'm not able to speak from the highest level of existence I know I can experience one thing in a multitude of ways. I wouldn't know that if I wasn't constantly exploring and if I didn't use certain things as benchmarks of my progress. If the infinite were to ask, "is there anything I don't know about myself?" I doubt it would linger on the question, it would create a mechanism by which it could experiment. |
You can experience one thing in many ways because you are finite. With an infinite being, if there were any experience that it had not yet taken into itself, that would mean that there existed something not of itself, which would be impossible. For instance, if the being has infinite knowledge, which it must, but then it learned something new, well it would not actually then have infinite knowledge, because something was added to it.
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Originally Posted by Illustro Cado How do you figure? We don't really have a context in which we can say definitively what a god would or would not do, what it could or could not do, or how it would or would not function. We end up making a lot of assumptions. Indeed I gave into conjecture in my last paragraph-it's unavoidable when talking about something of which we cannot be certain. Applying human logic to ultimate truth clarifies nothing.
I think there are some things even the most spiritually advanced among us have to be content not to know. That doesn't mean their insight and their beliefs are irrelevant; it does mean that I think nobody has a clear view of the whole picture and that even if oneness feels like the best answer to some it may well be a distortion of something beyond human understanding. (Plus if there really are non-corporeal entities of some kind I see no reason to believe they wouldn't push their own agenda even if they have the best of intentions.)
Intuitively I can see how it would work. Indeed it sometimes feels like the line between self and other is extremely thin. What does that mean? I don't know; I get nowhere pondering the question. Right now I benefit for developing myself individually so that's where my focus is. My perspective will change as I grow. Seeing as I am mortal, I doubt the truth or falsity of this idea has any impact on the meaning of my life. Indeed life is what I make of it so once I've made something I consider worthwhile I'll sit down and do some more thinking. |
No, we may nto be able to know much of God as God. But if you admit that God is an infinite being, which again God must be to be worthy of being called God at all, there are certain attributes associated with that.
Let's take a house. A house has parts. Because the house has parts, we know that it must have been created by someone, because some external power had to bring those parts together. The house doesn't have the power to bring together its own parts into a house.
Similarly, if God had parts, it would be impossible for it to have the power to bring those parts together. If something has parts, it requires an external power to create and bring together those parts.
This isn't to say that we are completely individual with no connectedness at all. God is very being itself. God is being, and from that being comes all else, with its own finite being.
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Originally Posted by Illustro Cado Some of that's cultural. Say Buddhism was the dominant belief in the west-would individuality be as highly regarded as it is today? You have whole cultures, whole belief systems, wherein the individual is only spoken of in relation to the whole. And as for the struggle to maintain individuality, you can chalk some of that up to survival instincts as opposed to some higher function. It's like imposing greater depth upon the emotions of animals than there really is-we are animals on a certain level and many of our drives go no deeper than the "dumb" creatures we tower over. Strip that away, or at least put us in control, and would we cherish individuality the way we do now? It's apparent that some people don't. While I don't support the notion that the ego is something to put aside entirely it's impossible to see clearly while trapped within its bounds.
I choose to celebrate my individuality because, having stepped outside my programming, it's still something that I hold in high regard. I realize not everyone will feel the same way or make the same choice. I also realize that just because someone devotes themselves to the whole they're not necessarily putting their individuality aside. There are various complexities at work here I'm convinced that definitive answers are the domain of the insecure and the lazy. We don't know where this is going to end though I've a feeling the destination isn't all that different regardless of how you get there.
What is the answer, God? Wait, don't tell me 'til I'm done dreaming. |
You may be right there; I am not sure. I still think most people wouldn't want to completely lose their individuality altogether.