Have you ever thought about this........

[MacFly]

Have you ever thought about the possibility, that maybe no higher power exists?
I mean, no God, no intelligent universe. What if the most advanced conscious intelligence in this world/universe/existence is us? Have you ever thought about this possibility?

I'm not trying to doubt your beliefs, not at all.

Every scientist admits that the way biology/physics/atoms/etc.. works is still beyond what humans know and understand.

But what if these laws just are as they are, and the whole thing has no goal, no meaning. What if we're completely alone?

What if love/joy/happiness/sadness/beauty/pain etc.. has absolutely no meaning except to us. What if every religion, spiritual beliefs (and new age stuff) are completely and totally wrong, and all that exist is dry phisics like atoms, neutrons, electrons, etc.. what if NOTHING happens after death? no afterlife, now reincarnation. what if "consciousness" don't exist without body? what if being dead is nothing more that being asleep without dreams? which means no self-awareness, no perceptions, nothing. nothing.


?

[Zas]

Sure, I believed that from about age fifteen up until the beginning of this year.

Beyond thinking it, I lived it. I was happy there- Happier there than I was as a Mormon up until around age fourteen. I'm even happier here now though . . . With some wisdom from having fully believed two opposite conclusions during my life. Neither of which I believe now, heh. Looking forward to learning more and more in the future.

[MacFly]

Originally Posted by Zas

Sure, I believed that from about age fifteen up until the beginning of this year.

Beyond thinking it, I lived it. I was happy there- Happier there than I was as a Mormon up until around age fourteen. I'm even happier here now though . . . With some wisdom from having fully believed two opposite conclusions during my life. Neither of which I believe now, heh. Looking forward to learning more and more in the future.

what you believe now?

[themaster]

What if the most advanced conscious intelligence in this world/universe/existence is us?

But it's not.. have a look out there.. there are beings or entity's that seem to claim a little more understanding then ourselves..

Have you ever thought about this possibility?

Of course I examined the possibilities..

But what if these laws just are as they are, and the whole thing has no goal, no meaning. What if we're completely alone?

So What?

So what if it has no meaning?

So what if were alone.. though we never our.. we have the illusion of being alone.. and you can be supported in that illusion to the extreme

Your statements sound like fear.. what are you afraid of?

Originally Posted by MacFly

What if love/joy/happiness/sadness/beauty/pain etc.. has absolutely no meaning except to us. What if every religion, spiritual beliefs (and new age stuff) are completely and totally wrong, and all that exist is dry phisics like atoms, neutrons, electrons, etc.. what if NOTHING happens after death? no afterlife, now reincarnation. what if "consciousness" don't exist without body? what if being dead is nothing more that being asleep without dreams? which means no self-awareness, no perceptions, nothing. nothing.


?

I feel your questions are really about fear.. what are you afraid of..?? it's only you out there.. in the form of Jason, Freddy, Barney, cosmic gases, toasters

[marinik]

I was raised as an atheist. And it was a nice world. All there, science explaining it all...

Then I leaned towards agnostic. And nothing was missing...

Then I became "a bit spiritual" and then I believe there is more to it. What, I can't define, but lean to - this "me" being a part of a greater consciousness.

I am still not at the point to believe in the "higher force" God or what ever, and am almost sure I wont be in this lifetime... I call it the Universe, but Soul, entity is just as good a name.

I call these "operational truths" I live by in these phases of my life. You may call them beliefs but hey are more a way to navigate through life... I redefine them from time to time when I can't find the answer in my existing one.

[Cantando]

Originally Posted by MacFly

Have you ever thought about the possibility, that maybe no higher power exists?
I mean, no God, no intelligent universe. What if the most advanced conscious intelligence in this world/universe/existence is us? Have you ever thought about this possibility?

I'm not trying to doubt your beliefs, not at all.

Every scientist admits that the way biology/physics/atoms/etc.. works is still beyond what humans know and understand.

But what if these laws just are as they are, and the whole thing has no goal, no meaning. What if we're completely alone?

What if love/joy/happiness/sadness/beauty/pain etc.. has absolutely no meaning except to us. What if every religion, spiritual beliefs (and new age stuff) are completely and totally wrong, and all that exist is dry phisics like atoms, neutrons, electrons, etc.. what if NOTHING happens after death? no afterlife, now reincarnation. what if "consciousness" don't exist without body? what if being dead is nothing more that being asleep without dreams? which means no self-awareness, no perceptions, nothing. nothing.?

I used to ponder along very similar lines myself.

It may take a quantum leap in understanding to realize that there cannot 'not be consciousness'. It may suddenly hit you one day like a moment of satori or awakening; or you may slowly come to realize it after much study and meditation.

If you were completely obliterated, someone else would still be conscious. If all life on earth died out, there would still be consciousness.

If all that was left were dead rocks floating in space, there would still be consciousness to be aware of their existence.

If all was empty space, there would still be consciousness to be aware of empty space.

There can only be existence if there is consciousness to be aware of existence.

If there was total non-existence, then we would not be here right now, in space and time.

Non-existence cannot exist.

Ed: Anagogy described this well in another post - there can't be 'nothing'.
Nothing or non-existence are just words or concepts that don't, in fact, point to anything. If they did, then there would be 'something'.

So, if you take everything away, what is left - consciousness.

Perhaps, consciousness and existence are synonymous.

[FazK]

The you'd be an atheist and probably would be glad that there is no god

[garentee]

There is not a man in the sky watching down on you... The only one really watching you is you, and within you is a higher self. The self that really knows you, that steers you to where you really need to be. Consciousness is just listening to your higher self... and not listening to all the illusionary messages that the ego etc put forth....

[Zas]

Originally Posted by MacFly

what you believe now?

I believe there's power to holding beliefs, heh. And that any path anyone chooses is real to them, regardless of my view. I don't feel like I believe any specific thing about the nature of the universe very strongly. So I'm feeling overall pretty open to any surprises.

[brendannz]

I believe it's possible that there is no higher power guiding us along our path in life. BUT I do not believe it's possible that we could all be separate detached egos from one another.

I don't believe in an afterlife, because I believe that death is the prime motivator for life. If you were to die in 7 days, write a list of all the things you wish to achieve in those 7 days, and you have your meaning of life.

So an afterlife could occur, but living life on earth in this moment is the best thing we can do, IMO

"You can be god, or an ego pretending to be god, the choice is yours" - Ken Wilbur