Life is so hard. There is so much suffering and pain here on earth. Is this fact not proof enough that there is no God, or at least not a good God? What kind of God would let small children die from torturous cancer? Is this fact not proof enough that there are no angels or other spiritual beings out there with the power to help us?
Life can’t be a school. Which school would torment their students in this way? Life can’t be a prison. Life is certainly not a party. However, how could the earth’s rocky crust turn into living matter? Isn‘t this strange?
Is it correct to say that the earth is nowadays thinking, dreaming, and wondering? Is it correct to say that the earth has created consciousness, or does this just sound contrived? How do you explain this? Which explanation is the best? What do you think?
Do you believe that God created the plants on the third day and all the animals on the fifth day? Do you believe that extraterrestrial beings came here and sowed life seeds some three billion years ago? Do you believe that cosmic consciousness existed long before the earth was formed and that this cosmic consciousness has somehow created the world? Do you believe that the world is but an illusion, a mirage created in our overheated minds?
Do you believe that life began with a very improbable coincidence? Do you believe that a cell was accidentally formed in the primordial soup, that this happened once, and that this magic has never happened again? Do you believe that all life forms stems from this cell?
Which is the correct explanation? What do you think? Which proof are you able to produce to support your theories? Aren't all explanations unproven theories created in the thinking mind? Aren’t all explanations fantasies or mental speculations? What can we do but inventing explanations to help us through the day?
Isn’t it better to say to a child with terminal cancer: “See you in heaven soon. Have fun with all the angels?” What can we do but create optimistic explanations?
No one would say: “Goodbye my child. We will never meet again. Your life here on earth was nothing but suffering and pain. And soon you’ll be gone forever. Soon they’ll burn you in an incinerator. There are no angels and there is no other side. These are just fantasies. These are just explanations, things we say to make life bearable” No one would say this even if it was true.
However, things change when you are able to understand that you don’t know anything at all about life and death. The world doesn’t work the way you think it works. The truth is that you have absolutely no idea what life is all about. All your explanations are nothing but explanations, words, misunderstandings, misapprehensions or ungrounded theories.
We simply can’t stop speculating. To speculate and come up with explanations is obviously in our nature. This urge to find explanations came when the evolution gave us a language.
It is so liberating to realize that our explanations and speculations have absolutely nothing to do with the true nature of things. Those who claim to know what life is all about are either lying or seriously deceived.
You can’t prove that God exist and you can’t prove that he doesn’t. You don’t know if life is a school or if it is a prison. You don’t know how life begun here on earth and you don’t know what will happen to you when you die.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
The now
Chimpanzees have no thinking mind. They don’t create religions or ideologies and they don’t worry about tomorrow. They live in the now.
Human beings have a thinking mind. We have a language. We talk and we think. We create theories. We invent religions and ideologies and we worry about the future. We are rarely in the here and now. We are almost always somewhere else.
Buddhist mindfullness meditation practice is about practicing being in the now. When the mind drifts off into the future or in to other dream worlds it is gently pulled back.
Eckhart Tolle claims that no meditation practice is necessary. The thinking mind simply calms down and falls silent after the awakening and there is nothing we can do in order to wake up. Awakening is spontaneous when the time is right. It’s like when we are waking up in the morning from a nightmare.
So the question is, is spiritual awakening about to silence the gibbering mind or is it that the mind becomes silent by itself? Is spiritual awakening to return to an animal way of looking at things, to be conscious without thoughts?
Human beings have a thinking mind. We have a language. We talk and we think. We create theories. We invent religions and ideologies and we worry about the future. We are rarely in the here and now. We are almost always somewhere else.
Buddhist mindfullness meditation practice is about practicing being in the now. When the mind drifts off into the future or in to other dream worlds it is gently pulled back.
Eckhart Tolle claims that no meditation practice is necessary. The thinking mind simply calms down and falls silent after the awakening and there is nothing we can do in order to wake up. Awakening is spontaneous when the time is right. It’s like when we are waking up in the morning from a nightmare.
So the question is, is spiritual awakening about to silence the gibbering mind or is it that the mind becomes silent by itself? Is spiritual awakening to return to an animal way of looking at things, to be conscious without thoughts?
Saturday, April 9, 2011
“If God does not exist everything is permitted.”
Inquisition trials and torture cambers.
Witch hunts.
Dreadful religious war.
Slave trade and colonialism.
Repression of women and children.
Child abuse.
Child spanking.
Oppression.
Support of oppressors, dictators and greedy capitalists.
Hypocrisy.
Lies.
Witch hunts.
Dreadful religious war.
Slave trade and colonialism.
Repression of women and children.
Child abuse.
Child spanking.
Oppression.
Support of oppressors, dictators and greedy capitalists.
Hypocrisy.
Lies.
Monday, April 4, 2011
God
Who or what is God, do you think? Is he like a father or is she like a mother? And what kind of father is he like, if he’s like a father? Is he like a drunkard or is he like a psychopathic CEO?
What kind of person is he? Is he like a mad and hard-to-please dictator? Is he made out of imagination? Is he made out of flesh and blood or is he made out of spirit?
What is spirit? What does spirit consist of? What do you think? Is spirit made out of the same substance as imagination or fantasy?
When you look at all the suffering in the world, do you think of it as created by a good God for some kind of weird reason?
And what kind of mother is she like, if she's like a mother, is she like the goddess Kali or is she more like Margaret Thatcher? What do you think?
And if you don’t believe in God, what kind of God is it that you don’t believe in, a God made out of spirit or a God made out of flesh and blood?
There are so many different ideas about who or what God is. What do you think? Remember that only your thoughts are real.
What kind of person is he? Is he like a mad and hard-to-please dictator? Is he made out of imagination? Is he made out of flesh and blood or is he made out of spirit?
What is spirit? What does spirit consist of? What do you think? Is spirit made out of the same substance as imagination or fantasy?
When you look at all the suffering in the world, do you think of it as created by a good God for some kind of weird reason?
And what kind of mother is she like, if she's like a mother, is she like the goddess Kali or is she more like Margaret Thatcher? What do you think?
And if you don’t believe in God, what kind of God is it that you don’t believe in, a God made out of spirit or a God made out of flesh and blood?
There are so many different ideas about who or what God is. What do you think? Remember that only your thoughts are real.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
You are not the one you think you are.
You are not crazy, but your ideas are crazy.
You, and your ideas about yourself and the world,
are not the same thing.
You, and your ideas about yourself and the world,
are not the same thing.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Abusive and controlling relationships
It happens sometimes that a woman finds herself trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship and for various reasons, she is not able to leave her tormentor.
Some people are, in a similar way, captured by a mean ego, which they're not able to drop. They're holding on to an outdated and dysfunctional philosophy of life. They're trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with their own thinking mind.
For example, to some people it's very important to be good looking, smart and successful and to have good looking and successful children. They disdain losers. If they stubbornly hold on to such ideas when they no longer are good looking and successful, they will of course have problems with themselves, especially if also their children fail.
Some people are, in a similar way, captured by a mean ego, which they're not able to drop. They're holding on to an outdated and dysfunctional philosophy of life. They're trapped in an abusive and controlling relationship with their own thinking mind.
For example, to some people it's very important to be good looking, smart and successful and to have good looking and successful children. They disdain losers. If they stubbornly hold on to such ideas when they no longer are good looking and successful, they will of course have problems with themselves, especially if also their children fail.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Bullshit
I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe that any part of me will live on after my death. I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I don’t believe in reincarnation.
I believe that the soul and the spiritual realm are fantasies. I believe that all priests, gurus, mullahs, preachers and spiritual teachers are deluded. Some of them are also liars who don’t even believe in their own teachings.
I don’t believe that we will ever wake up from our dream worlds and begin to take care of each other and this planet. I believe that we’re mad and that there is no cure for this madness.
In fact, I believe that madness, bullshit, lies and delusions are what characterizes us, all of us, not just priests and politicians.
I believe that if we got rid of all the bullshit, all the fantasies, lies and delusions, we would simply be an animal species among all the other animal species.
I believe that there is no meaning with life, if we don’t invent one.
I don’t mind if you believe in God. I don’t mind if you believe in Santa Claus or fairies. I don’t mind if you believe in a free market capitalism and the invisible hand. I don’t mind if you believe that we can change. We are all swimming in one delusion or another, one mud pool or another. I have my beliefs and you have yours. I accept your religion, beliefs and opinions, as long as you don’t create too much problems for other people, as long as you don’t start fussing and fighting.
We all have to find something that makes life worth living. It doesn’t matter if what we find is a delusion. Without delusions and bullshit, many people can't find any reason at all to live.
I believe that the soul and the spiritual realm are fantasies. I believe that all priests, gurus, mullahs, preachers and spiritual teachers are deluded. Some of them are also liars who don’t even believe in their own teachings.
I don’t believe that we will ever wake up from our dream worlds and begin to take care of each other and this planet. I believe that we’re mad and that there is no cure for this madness.
In fact, I believe that madness, bullshit, lies and delusions are what characterizes us, all of us, not just priests and politicians.
I believe that if we got rid of all the bullshit, all the fantasies, lies and delusions, we would simply be an animal species among all the other animal species.
I believe that there is no meaning with life, if we don’t invent one.
I don’t mind if you believe in God. I don’t mind if you believe in Santa Claus or fairies. I don’t mind if you believe in a free market capitalism and the invisible hand. I don’t mind if you believe that we can change. We are all swimming in one delusion or another, one mud pool or another. I have my beliefs and you have yours. I accept your religion, beliefs and opinions, as long as you don’t create too much problems for other people, as long as you don’t start fussing and fighting.
We all have to find something that makes life worth living. It doesn’t matter if what we find is a delusion. Without delusions and bullshit, many people can't find any reason at all to live.
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