Free will is only for the rich

We may have free will, but we can seldom use it. Throughout history, people have been forced to do things they hate. They have been slaves, serfs, or cannon fodder. Today, most people have to work doing things they don't want to do just to make a living. Some people are trapped in a marriage because they don't have the funds to leave. Some are trapped in a belief system; they are stuck in a labyrinth where they can't find the exit. Some are addicted to alcohol and drugs. They want to stop drinking and drugging, but they can't. A child may want an ice cream cone, but her mother says no. 

Brain scientists and philosophers can debate free will until they get blue in the face, but what is the point? Free will is meaningless to most of us.

God isn't All-Powerful

 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

He created man in his own image; male and female, and he blessed them, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

But he lost control over his creation, like today's scientists, who are losing control over their AI robots.

Spirituality

I believe there is a spiritual dimension. But you can't get in contact with it through mediums, spiritual sessions, dancing tables, or Ouija boards.

I also doubt that you can get in contact with angels and gods through prayers. Prayers are primarily directed to a fantasy God of a particular kind: a God with an elephant's head, a right-wing evangelical God, or a New Age misconception of a God. If you get in contact with the spiritual dimension, it's because someone there has contacted you. 

You may notice it in a synchronicity or some other form of ESP, and you realize that something happened to you. You are an idiot, and someone in the spirit world was trying to help you—or maybe punish you because you are an idiot who refuses to listen. A spirit directed the steps of someone in the material world, which caused you to bump into each other.

Some people believe that there is no spirit world. Well, that may be so. There are many different kinds of beliefs in the world.

Beliefs

Some people believe that there is a God with an elephant's head and four arms. He can remove obstacles and bring good luck.

Others believe the universe was created from nothing fourteen billion years ago.

Some still believe that they belong to a superior race and that they must kill or exploit inferior races because this is the law of life.

Some believe that human history is now coming to an end, while others believe that a fantastic future awaits us.

There are tons of beliefs floating around in the mind dimension; some are harmless and innocent, while others are destructive and dangerous.

My beliefs

I believe that God created the world about 13.8 billion years ago, but after some time, he was overthrown in a palace coup, and since then, he and his associates have been fighting a guerrilla war trying to regain power.

I don't think humanity has a future. We will die out, and the planet will become uninhabitable due to climate change or nuclear war. Some other species will take over after us, perhaps cockroaches or flies.

I believe it's all in the mind. There is practically nothing outside the mind. This is not solipsism. I'm not talking about my mind only. I believe all minds are connected into one mind, like raindrops forming an ocean. Nothing important is left when all lifeforms with a mind have died out. Well, elementary particles are there, perhaps. Or, maybe it's just waves. Who cares? Gods, angels, and demons, love and hate, confusion and clarity, exist in the mind only. The battle between good and evil is taking place in the human mind.

I believe it's essential to get off the train you happen to find yourself on, whether it's a religious train, a particular philosophy, a political ideology, or an idea about what you should strive for in life. Many people have succeeded in leaving their religious cult or their drinking buddies. It's hard, but it's possible. It's possible just to be a human being. You need food and shelter, but you don't need dogmas or teachings.

You can leave the train at the next station, but you can't spend the rest of your life at a train station; you have to go somewhere. If you jump on another train, you will be in the same situation you just left. So, what shall you do? I don't know. You have to find out for yourself. Maybe it will unfold naturally; maybe it won't.

Reality doesn't care about philosophy

Birds don't care about ornithology, and the stars don't care about astronomy. Plants don't care about botany, and the Gods don't care about theology.

Thinking meditation

In most forms of meditation, you have to learn to let thoughts come and go. They are like cars passing by in the street outside. They are nothing to pay attention to. You notice them and then continue with your practice.

Another way of dealing with thoughts is to listen to them carefully. What is going on here? How can my brain produce so much crap, nonsense, and nasty stuff? How can I be so grumpy, small-minded, petty, and stupid? I want to be a good person.

So, because you don't want to listen to all this BS, you turn on the internet on your mobile phone or your TV set. If you are driving a car, you will probably turn on the radio. I have used this strategy all my life, and it works quite well. I don't want to hear all the stupid shit my mind produces.

However, if you continue listening to your mind a little longer, you can learn more about yourself. You can also challenge yourself, your ideas, beliefs about the world, lies, pretexts, justifications, rationalizations, and spinning. You can discover that you also have genuinely warm and not stupid thoughts. You can find that you don't have just two voices inside your head, one good and one bad. Moreover, you can also discover that one part of you is observing the internal debates.

This is thinking meditation.