Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The truth shall set you free?

I lie a lot. Well, sometimes I tell the truth but often I don’t. Therefore you can never trust me.

Most people are lying, not only politicians, businessmen and criminals. Both men and women cheat on each other. Some people are mostly trustworthy, some people are pathological liars, and the majority is something in between.
I am, I suppose, an average liar.

Thousands of Catholic priests in the US proved to be child molesters. Also, many priests in Ireland and Germany have been caught with their pants down. Were these guys average liars or were they real fucking liars? What did they teach in their sermons? What do you think?

How often do you catch yourself lying?
Do you feel strange when you catch yourself lying?
If all people are liars, more or less, does this not mean that lies should be fully accepted?

There are of course many different kinds of lies, white lies, noble lies, big lies, lying by omission and many more. There are good lies and bad lies.

To lie is also culturally conditioned. I saw a documentary a few years ago from Kamchatka. People up there don’t lie at all. They can’t understand how people can lie to each other. “How can you trust each other”, one of them asked, “if you lie to each other.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Spiritual materialism

I can understand what you mean when you talk about dreams or thoughts, because I experience them also. However, when you talk about God or spirituality I have no idea of what you mean. Actually, I don’t even I know what I mean when I use those words. They can mean different things different days. Is spirit something different from matter? Is God an old man with a beard on a cloud? Discussing spirituality is indeed very difficult.

The word materialism, (the belief that reality is essentially matter) is also pretty useless nowadays. Not even the cutting edge scientists know what matter is. What is matter really? Is matter a form of energy? What is energy? What does matter look like if no one is there and look at it? Is it just waves in empty space? If no one knows what matter is how can one be a materialist?

So, the words spirituality and materialism have had their day. Nevertheless, I think of myself as a spiritual materialist. Matter is something mysterious, something spiritual. Are you able to understand what I mean with spiritual materialism? If you are, how could that be? Isn’t language wonderful?

(Chögiam Trungpa meant something else with spiritual materialism. To him a spiritual materialist was someone who is strengthening his or her ego with spiritual ideas and experiences, someone who thinks of himself or herself as spiritual and more evolved than others because he or she has met so many great gurus and has such impressive credentials.)

Monday, December 27, 2010

Defense mechanisms and awakening

Defense mechanisms are, as you know, mental strategies we use in order to protect ourselves from an unpleasant insights and awakening. There are many different defense mechanisms, intellectualization, rationalization, projection, repression and many more. Well, here are a few other examples:

1. Denial.

a. I’m not an alcoholic. I don’t have a problem with alcohol, you have. Stop that damn complaining. Yack-yack-yack. Relax for fucks sake. Eat drink and be merry.

b. There is no global warming due to CO2 emissions. This is bullshit. Look at the cold weather we have. Fuck all that hippie environmentalist wacky communist shit.



2. Regression.

a. Regression is a reversion to an earlier stage of development. Religion, royalties and nationalism, for example, are becoming popular again here in Europe.

b. Adults play with their iPhones like kids plays with toys and they talk with childish voices. They have regressed.



3. Reaction Formation

I’m not cynical. I hate losers but I’m always kind to them. I’m, in fact, too kind. I try to be positive and loving. What’s wrong being kind, positive and loving?


4. Escapism

a. I have created a wonderful castle in the air. I can live my life here, all set, safe and warm, until the bitter end.

b. I work like a slave to find a room at the top. Success is everything.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

What happens after death?

Some believe that we will go to heaven when we die, or to hell.
Some believe that we will simply disintegrate and disappear.
Some believe that a part of us will reincarnate or transmigrate.

The Catholic Church teaches that the soul will go straight to heaven, straight to hell or to purgatory for cleansing before it will be sent to heaven.

Many Protestants believe that when a person dies, he or she enter into complete oblivion. However, at the second coming of Jesus, the dead will be called from their graves and those who have been saved will be given special bodies and go to heaven.

Hindus and Buddhists believe in reincarnation. They believe that some mystical part of us will be reborn in another body. Those who have been good will get a fortunate reincarnation and those who have been bad will get an unfortunate one.

In reality, it is even more complicated because there are many different Protestant beliefs regarding death and many different Hindu beliefs. There are many different Jewish beliefs and many different Islamic beliefs.

There are about 10 000 different religions in the world today and many more beliefs about death. Are the spiritualists right? Are the atheists right? Are the monistic materialistic scientists right? Maybe the agnostics are right that we will never get to know about these things. Or, what if the agnostics are simply afraid to see the truth and hesitate to look deep enough.

Someone has to be right, don’t you think?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Donald Duck - Donald's Better Self (1938)!!!!



There is a devil and a saint in us all.
There is also a goof, a pain in the neck, a hero,
a wimp and a smart ass
in each of us.
A person is not just a person;
he or she is a busload of characters.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

God and money.

”Sell everything you have and give to the poor.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

”I'll say it again-it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" ”No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Those who are fond of literal interpretations of the Bible rarely interpret these sentences literally.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Comfort blankets

Many people with a difficult life situation find consolation in a religion, spiritual fantasies or in the bottle. This is not a problem. Religion, spirituality, or a bottle of wine does not necessarily mean something bad. If a religion, a spiritual belief or a bottle of wine make you feel better, enjoy life and other people, why not. However, there is a flip side of the coin.

All the religions have crated and are still creating endless horrors, religious wars and terrorists. All the religions oppress women and children. All the religions work against equal rights. All the religions side with the rich. All the religions claim that without religion there would be no ethics and morals. This is a lie. All the religions are based on lies. (Christians, for example, have never bothered about ethics and morals. The slave trade, the witch-hunts and the blessing of the atom bomb are proof enough. How dare they talk about ethics and morals?)

Non-religious people who are interested in spiritual matters are usually not that aggressive. They are mostly harmless. I don’t mind if people believe in astrology or the healing powers of crystals. I don’t mind if people believe in reincarnation or ascended masters. However, to me they are like small children who still believe in Santa Claus and fairies.

At some point in life, we all stop to believe in Santa Claus and fairies. We all grow up whether we like it or not. This is not the end of the world. It comes naturally. In the same way, at some point in life most people stop to believe that Jesus walked on water or that he returned from death after three days. (Those who hold on to such beliefs in their fifties have probably psychological issues.)

Similarly, at some point in life, we may find ourselves not believing in anything anymore. Religion, spirituality, political ideology, philosophy, everything seem like kids stuff. This is not depression, negativity or misanthropy. This is the end of the tunnel. This is waking up. This is leaving beliefs and ideas behind. This is leaving the nest. This is a new chapter, a new spirituality, a new world.

Saturday, December 4, 2010