I have a real problem!

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
paco
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I have a real problem!

Post by paco »

I cannot decide who's my spiritual father anymore. It's as if I'm withdrawen and cannot find that spiritual guidance anymore. What should I do? Who do I pray to and if that Lord is jesus how difficult it is to be a christian nowadays...
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uncledote
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by uncledote »

Do you have a mirror?
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Talking Ass
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Talking Ass »

I cannot decide who's my spiritual father anymore.
Paternity. Sometime's it's a tough one. You say you can't decide, what are the choices? The way you've set up the question, a good place to start might be to interrogate the mother.
fiat mihi
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Pray with your broken heart. "Father... Father..."
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

First of all, if you pray to Jesus or gods from another dimension, you'll never get an answer, you're basically just talking to yourself. The only spiritual guides you'll find that will talk back to you are the living ones on planet earth. Here are some different ways to find truth in life:

1. Examine your own thoughts, actions, and behavior, and try to figure out the underlying causes.
2. Examine the behavior of others to try to figure out the underlying causes.
3. Read the philosophical work of other thinkers, and think deeply about what they have said.

Here are poor ways to find truth in your life:

1. Pray to a sky daddy to solve your own problems.
2. Attempt to communicate with other dead people or mythical figures or creatures.
3. Read poor attempts at philosophy such as new age, postmodernism, and so on,

To expand: One should only use a spiritual mentor, teacher or guide until they have the strength to be their own light to themselves. If the student/teacher relationship lasts too long, there can be a few reasons -

1. The teacher and student have grown addicted to the emotions, self-images, and comfort of the relationship, which have actually made both weaker.

2. The student has very little potential for truth, and the teacher simply keeps the relationship going out of a false hope.

3. Or perhaps both have very little potential for truth, and the relationship is just an entertainment, something they both indulge in for egotistical reasons, rather than serious ones.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

First of all, if you pray to Jesus or gods from another dimension, you'll never get an answer, you're basically just talking to yourself. The only spiritual guides you'll find that will talk back to you are the living ones on planet earth.
You seem certain about this. Why?
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Dan Rowden
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Dan Rowden »

paco wrote:I cannot decide who's my spiritual father anymore. It's as if I'm withdrawen and cannot find that spiritual guidance anymore. What should I do? Who do I pray to and if that Lord is jesus how difficult it is to be a christian nowadays...
By what method and criteria do you decide who is and who is not an authentic spiritual father? Without personal wisdom there is no basis - other than the largely arbitrary - for any such judgement. With personal wisdom such a judgement is redundant.

Time to grow up and be your own guide.
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

Atum,
You seem certain about this. Why?
because humans are the ones that cause actions in the world, not god. There is no sense in praying to god because god as the religions define it is totally absent from the universe.

for instance:

35,000 children died of malnutrition or preventable disease today, many because of easily solvable issues such as dirty drinking water, eating food that has gone bad, or contaminated with bacteria, poor sewage drainage, and so on.

The only ones that can these children are humans, not god. The same is with medicine, technology, or anything else in the world. We are the only ones here, the only ones acting. People need to stop talking to imaginary beings that only exist in their own minds.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

The fall from Eden entails all this chaos and destruction. Sexual immorality is the cause of it all.

God isn't a maid; he isn't there to clean up our mess. God only cares about the individual.
Mohamed
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Mohamed »

Atum wrote:The fall from Eden entails all this chaos and destruction. Sexual immorality is the cause of it all.

God isn't a maid; he isn't there to clean up our mess. God only cares about the individual.
Since he created everything, it's actually his mess not ours.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Mohamed wrote:
Atum wrote:The fall from Eden entails all this chaos and destruction. Sexual immorality is the cause of it all.

God isn't a maid; he isn't there to clean up our mess. God only cares about the individual.
Since he created everything, it's actually his mess not ours.
The philosophy of a brat.
Mohamed
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Mohamed »

Atum wrote: The philosophy of a brat.
Hehe countering my argument by calling me a brat. ^^

And YOU call me a brat...
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Mohamed wrote:
Atum wrote: The philosophy of a brat.
Hehe countering my argument by calling me a brat. ^^

And YOU call me a brat...
A brat won't take responsibility. A brat blames his parents when things go wrong in his life. "I didn't ask you to have me!"
Mohamed
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Mohamed »

Atum wrote: A brat won't take responsibility. A brat blames his parents when things go wrong in his life. "I didn't ask you to have me!"
God isn't a parent.
He is a creator, that can influence everything he likes.

Also I'm not actually blaming him.
I don't even believe in god.

This might sound a bit naive.

But since you seem to believe in him.
Why not make humans in way, that they can't sin?
It's the free will thing isn't it?
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Mohamed wrote:
Atum wrote: A brat won't take responsibility. A brat blames his parents when things go wrong in his life. "I didn't ask you to have me!"
God isn't a parent.
He is a creator, that can influence everything he likes.

Also I'm not actually blaming him.
I don't even believe in god.

This might sound a bit naive.

But since you seem to believe in him.
Why not make humans in way, that they can't sin?
It's the free will thing isn't it?
God is father; it is a strange father who isn't a parent.

And yeah.
brokenhead
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by brokenhead »

Nobody seems to be taking Paco seriously. Paco, you said it is hard to be a Christian these days. What did you mean by that?
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

Atum,
The fall from Eden entails all this chaos and destruction. Sexual immorality is the cause of it all.

God isn't a maid; he isn't there to clean up our mess. God only cares about the individual.
you don't actually believe all that nonsense and gibberish spewed by the bible do you? The bible is a collection of fairy tales written by people who had no understanding of science, logic or morals, passed off as the wisdom of a divine creator. The world will be better off when we are collectively intelligent enough to burn those wretched texts... evil to the core.

Its funny, I took a research methods course, which attempted to teach people how to think for themselves, weigh out evidence, and not accept illogical claims without evidence, and 90% of the class didn't believe in evolution by natural selection. They preferred the fairy tale version written by the uneducated authors of the bible. Its amazing how people's egos will reject sound claims in the face of overwhelming evidence because they don't want to admit that we have evolved from animals. They would rather invoke imaginary explanations such as the devil to explain evil, rather than to admit our dark animal ancestors.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Your world-view is just the spirit of the times. Anyone who has any pretentions to intelligence believes as you do.

What you are saying is totally evil. Burning Bibles? Commie. "Collective" intelligence? Contradiction in terms. Coming from apes? I gather you would rather have an ape for your ancestor than God.

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;"
Isa 5:20
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

Atum,

You can't ignore fossil evidence derived from carbon dating and radioactive isotope dating that we have evolved from apes, and our species is hundreds of thousands of years old. It is common knowledge in the scientific community. Rather than the alternative vomit that organized religions spew - that the planet is 6000 years old, and Adam and Eve were created at the end of the pointy finger through some sort of cosmic lightning bolt by god when he was in a creative mood! good grief... Such an assault on rational thinking, such an assault on common sense!

I just don't believe it is intelligent to blindly believe in a book where you have no idea where its origins come from. First of all, the bible has been manipulated by so many people throughout the centuries to serve the interests of whatever corrupt priests were in power at the time. Not to mention, that's is obviously bullshit, you only have to read through a few pages to discover how much bullshit the bible has - Not a historical document, a collection of lies, fairy tales, and contradictions.

The christian god died when we became capable of reason. We stopped believing that the earth is flat, and that we are the center of our universe, we just need to take it one step further, and stop believing in god itself. What an assault on personal freedom the entire notion of god is... meaning that some people actually believe there is a being watching every move I make, and every action I take, and if I do something wrong, I'm punished for eternity through suffering and toil...sounds like North Korea to me...

Btw, isn't it a contradiction of terms - why would a compassionate god punish you to an eternity of hell for something he knew you were going to do anyway? How is that compassionate? The christian god is a sadistic ass in my opinion, obviously created by the imaginations of humans.

Every religion is laced with contradictions, nonsense, and illogical bullshit. We should rely more on the great philosophical thinkers and psychologists for our spiritual clarity, rather than the toxic memes uttered by these vile religions texts. I believe humans will become much more rational, spiritual and clear-minded when they can collectively abandon all these disgusting labels such as christian, buddhist, hindu and whatever else.

Best thing for the world - Abandon holidays like Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, and so on. And we'll have a new day called burn shitty philosophy day, where we burn copies of the Quran, christian bible, jewish bible, hindu cow bible, new age text, postmodern texts, and whatever other toliet paper we can find.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Ryan,

I believe religious sects are fine. However, the essence of religion is the immortal dharma; chastity, cleanliness, non-killing, non-stealing, truth-telling, etc. Jesus, Buddha, Kirshna, mainly taught just this.
What an assault on personal freedom the entire notion of god is...
You don't have that freedom. You have to act in a dharmic manner. Not acting thus is pure suffering. You have to obey the commandments of Christ. Obedience is the narrow gate leading to freedom. God is hidden in His commandments.
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

Atum,
I believe religious sects are fine. However, the essence of religion is the immortal dharma; chastity, cleanliness, non-killing, non-stealing, truth-telling, etc. Jesus, Buddha, Kirshna, mainly taught just this.
a philosopher doesn't need a religious sect, he studies wisdom, so he doesn't need to identify with any of them. That is the true way... labels are a problem. they feed egotistical drives. My point is that the religious sects encourage blind obedience to authority, emotionally driven belief systems, and accepting the religious text as more true than others without contemplation.

Attend any church service, any buddhist monk mediation, any event organized by a religious sect, and one soon discovers that they are not encouraging rational thought and debate, quite the contrary actually.
Atum
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Atum »

Ryan,

If you are blind, blind obedience is all you have. Obedience to authority is only a bad thing if the authority is bad. It could indeed be an incredibly good thing!

A religious sect is a bottle, and wisdom is the wine. Respect both the bottle and the wine.
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

Atum,

Wisdom cannot be contained in a bottle, if it is, then it is no longer wisdom. bad metaphor. Wisdom stands totally alone, divorced from labels, organizations, sects, and anything else constructed as barriers by the ego.
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Carl G
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by Carl G »

Ryan Rudolph wrote:Atum,

Wisdom cannot be contained in a bottle, if it is, then it is no longer wisdom. bad metaphor. Wisdom stands totally alone
Nothing stands totally alone, it is all interconnected.
, divorced
Wisdom is not divorced, it is married, to everything.

from labels,
Wisdom itself is a label, and so is philosophy or religion (ostensibly the containers of wisdom) (people can also be containers or carriers of wisdom). Nothing wrong with labels. A=A is a label. Labels are descriptors, and as such they are handy. People can converse thusly.
organizations,
Genius Forum is an organization. It has members, rules, and a meeting place (wherein wisdom is discussed.
sects,
Genius is arguably a sect of philosophers who gather to discuss wisdom, a sect being a group, especially an offshoot of a larger group, in our case all philosophers (post modern, academic, what have you).
and anything else constructed as barriers by the ego.
Genius was arguably constructed by the ego, it is being used to promote wisdom, would a totally egoless person think to promote anything?
Good Citizen Carl
paco
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Re: I have a real problem!

Post by paco »

uncledote wrote:Do you have a mirror?
I have a rear view mirror LOL
I am illiterate
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