To All God's Children,
-->If a definition of God is that there is a superior being then there’s a simple answer to all this. The universe is a superior being and thus there is at least one and so that means there is a God. The universe just is so God just is. We all just exist. There’s no more thought needed than that. It’s funny that we argue about whether there is a superior being, but we’ve been looking at it everyday. My mother taught me in Sunday school that God was omnipresent and omniscient, but I don’t think I understood that until recently. Everything, everywhere, and every particle of your being is apart of a greater being.
-->For those against the universe is God argument: there are bodies of matter that are superior in size to us; and who are we to say that stars and planets have no consciousness or no self-awareness? Their self-awareness might not be the same as ours. We can look into the mirror and recognize ourselves and so do dolphins, and apes. There’s also a funny looking species of bird that also is self-aware, but I can’t remember its name. Perhaps the universe isn’t aware of itself but still has awareness such as plants have awareness, but cannot move and interact in the same way that animals do. Some evidence of the universe being God is it’s greater than us in size, we were created and born within it; and our minds and energy gives the universe its life.
-->And does being self-aware really mean that we’re alive? Aren’t we just a collection of organs and smaller organisms (e.g. good and bad bacteria)? Even a major corporation could be considered alive because it has a “body” comprised of a head (i.e. CEOs), a heart (i.e. office workers) and a circulatory system (i.e. the elevator system; just kidding on that last one). I guess the microorganisms living on the corporate body are all the little factory workers. Not very many people would argue with me when they say they are alive. So if the universe is comprised of many of the same smaller bits that our bodies are constructed of then why can’t the universe itself be a living superior being – a God? I’ve found a God and I believe it’s the same God that the ancient people worshipped with their fire and rain gods.
Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Someone with Dementia
To All God's Children,
-->Honestly, I feel that there’s something selfish in wanting the person to remember who you are. It doesn’t matter, as long as you love that person unconditionally for who they are, and as long as you recognize them. It’s almost as if it is embarrassing for our loved one to no longer recognize us. Once you can get pass the initial shock of that moment, you should love that person regardless and make due with what emotions you have left to share between you.
I’m positive that your loved one is much worst off than you are – at least you still have a clear memory and can take care of yourself. Be patient; it’s hard when people have short-term memory loss. It’s like waking up for the first time every five minutes. I would assume it’s a disorienting and disconcerting feeling not knowing where you are, where you’re going or who is around you.
There’s an old resident at a treatment center I used to work at who repeats himself every few minutes with the exact same fickle expression and countrified tone to his voice. “Hello.” He starts. “Good to see you,” if you happen to know his name. “You’re pretty,” if you’re a female. “What do you want me to do?” “Where are we going?” “Well, where are you going?” “What do you want?” “What are you going to do?” “Where are you from?” And if you say his hometown. “Well, that’s where I’m from.” And once he forgets everything all over again he’ll never ask “Who are you?” Instead, he offers his hand like a friendly introduction. “Hello. Good to see you.”
One day, standing in the hallway, I saw him alone with a desperate expression and scuffled hair offering his hand to every person passing by saying “Hello” repetitively hoping for one of the strangers to acknowledge him. He really was a nice old man, just lost within his own mind.
-->Honestly, I feel that there’s something selfish in wanting the person to remember who you are. It doesn’t matter, as long as you love that person unconditionally for who they are, and as long as you recognize them. It’s almost as if it is embarrassing for our loved one to no longer recognize us. Once you can get pass the initial shock of that moment, you should love that person regardless and make due with what emotions you have left to share between you.
I’m positive that your loved one is much worst off than you are – at least you still have a clear memory and can take care of yourself. Be patient; it’s hard when people have short-term memory loss. It’s like waking up for the first time every five minutes. I would assume it’s a disorienting and disconcerting feeling not knowing where you are, where you’re going or who is around you.
There’s an old resident at a treatment center I used to work at who repeats himself every few minutes with the exact same fickle expression and countrified tone to his voice. “Hello.” He starts. “Good to see you,” if you happen to know his name. “You’re pretty,” if you’re a female. “What do you want me to do?” “Where are we going?” “Well, where are you going?” “What do you want?” “What are you going to do?” “Where are you from?” And if you say his hometown. “Well, that’s where I’m from.” And once he forgets everything all over again he’ll never ask “Who are you?” Instead, he offers his hand like a friendly introduction. “Hello. Good to see you.”
One day, standing in the hallway, I saw him alone with a desperate expression and scuffled hair offering his hand to every person passing by saying “Hello” repetitively hoping for one of the strangers to acknowledge him. He really was a nice old man, just lost within his own mind.
Of Spiritual Minds and Physical Bodies
To All God's Children,
-->Then again, what about this spiritual side? Where does it go, or does it even exist? I think so. We have our minds, our bodies and a third factor that goes unseen – the soul. The mind is our consciousness and how we perceive life. Some have greater more perceptive minds then others, and some are constantly moving around in a subconscious state of perceptual blindness.
Our bodies are how we exist in the material sense of the world. We need our bodies to control our actions and have free will (or a lack thereof). The soul is an invisible (or at least to our naked eye) extension of ourselves. Perhaps it is possible to step outside the body as I’ve heard stories of blind people seeing color for the first time when they had a near death experience. Although it would appear to be impossible to escape our mind. Therefore when we die, we take our mind with us wherever we go.
The body goes back into the universe’s materials broken down into basic matter and sent to thrive in other beings like dirt, insects, plants and eventually back into animals. The mind will hopefully continue on with the soul. There’s too much evidence out there that a skeptic or atheist cannot account for that would suggest there is a life beyond our physical deaths. The human range of vision is too short to claim that things we cannot see cannot exist.
If anything, we should all stay hopeful that we do live beyond this point; a life after death may be a beautiful and wondrous existence full of knowledge and star travels – okay, so I’m putting my desires before reason. Think hard now, where were you before you were born? If you can answer that with confidence, give me a call we have a lot to talk about.
-->Then again, what about this spiritual side? Where does it go, or does it even exist? I think so. We have our minds, our bodies and a third factor that goes unseen – the soul. The mind is our consciousness and how we perceive life. Some have greater more perceptive minds then others, and some are constantly moving around in a subconscious state of perceptual blindness.
Our bodies are how we exist in the material sense of the world. We need our bodies to control our actions and have free will (or a lack thereof). The soul is an invisible (or at least to our naked eye) extension of ourselves. Perhaps it is possible to step outside the body as I’ve heard stories of blind people seeing color for the first time when they had a near death experience. Although it would appear to be impossible to escape our mind. Therefore when we die, we take our mind with us wherever we go.
The body goes back into the universe’s materials broken down into basic matter and sent to thrive in other beings like dirt, insects, plants and eventually back into animals. The mind will hopefully continue on with the soul. There’s too much evidence out there that a skeptic or atheist cannot account for that would suggest there is a life beyond our physical deaths. The human range of vision is too short to claim that things we cannot see cannot exist.
If anything, we should all stay hopeful that we do live beyond this point; a life after death may be a beautiful and wondrous existence full of knowledge and star travels – okay, so I’m putting my desires before reason. Think hard now, where were you before you were born? If you can answer that with confidence, give me a call we have a lot to talk about.
Freedom within Limit
To All God's Children,
-->Freedom within Limit: Free will – do we have it? The philosophical debate in psychology is that we have the opposite of free will called “determinism”. When people are told that they have no free will then they tend to abide by fewer morals. Isn’t it their will that allows them to act immorally? On the other hand, it may be my will to fly, but I am limited by my physical state. I believe there is freedom within limit. Individuals born with full consciousness, or the capacity to make their own decisions, possess free will. Those with partial or no consciousness (e.g. mentally handicapped or people resting in a vegetative state) have no or very little free will. Free will is relative to our consciousness.
-->Freedom within Limit: Free will – do we have it? The philosophical debate in psychology is that we have the opposite of free will called “determinism”. When people are told that they have no free will then they tend to abide by fewer morals. Isn’t it their will that allows them to act immorally? On the other hand, it may be my will to fly, but I am limited by my physical state. I believe there is freedom within limit. Individuals born with full consciousness, or the capacity to make their own decisions, possess free will. Those with partial or no consciousness (e.g. mentally handicapped or people resting in a vegetative state) have no or very little free will. Free will is relative to our consciousness.
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