Friday, September 23, 2011

Does Buddhism support the idea that life should be exciting?

If you agree with the idea that God is consciousness, and physical reality was created from one consciousness, wouldnt you assume there was a reason for it? Either because God was bored or lonely or whatever. But Buddhism and other new agers say that the only road to true happiness is already contained within consciousness. Are you seeing a paradox here? If consciousness or just plain "being" is enough for happiness, why would we all be here, why would God decide to create this and divide himself to experience human existence. Since God was just consciousness in the beginning, why would "he" want something more?|||What makes you think that the physical reality is, or has ever been separate from the God consciousness? Maybe "She" didn't need anything more.











This is more easily understandable if one considers the actual structure of an atom and the scale and placement of its components. If one takes into account the fact that the neutrons and protons form a dense cluster at the center of the atom and that the electrons orbit in such a way that huge spaces exist between them and the nucleus it becomes clear that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are made up of 99+ percent empty space at any given moment.





This alone does not seem too important until you add the idea that the atoms that make up many seemingly solid objects are more of a loose conglomeration that share a similar attraction but never really touch each other.





At first glance this does not really seem relevant, but closer analysis reveals that this adds a tremendous amount of empty space to solid objects that are already made up of atoms that could be thought of as 99 percent space. When so-called solid objects are seen in this light it becomes apparent that may not be the seemingly solid objects they appear to us to be.





We ourselves are not exceptions to this phenomenon.





These seemingly solid objects are more like ghostly images that we interpret as solid objects based on our perceptual conclusions.





From this one could conclude that Perception is some sort of a trick that helps us to take these ghostly images and turns them into a world we can associate and interact with. This clever device seems to be a creation of our intellect that enables us to interact with each other in what appears to be a three dimensional reality.





I want to add that this is based on my own personal way of looking at the situation and was never intended to be a physics lesson.








Love and blessings Don|||Buddhism doesn't support the idea that life should be anything in particular. It is merely a set of precepts and practices which lead to liberation from suffering. Sometimes excitement is incompatible with the release from suffering (broadly, when it leads to clinging to the sensation) but at other times it is not.|||Buddhism is "New Age"?|||Perhaps...but it does not support our ideas of" excitement" itself|||Um, God created the universe out of inevitability. If you never paint you are not a painter. God is God BECAUSE of the creation. The artist paints out of dissatisfaction with what is. God created out of dissatisfaction with what "wasn't" He didn't go "Nothing exists and this is Good. Let there be light, this is okay too." Existence is the fulfillment of God.





That being said, Buddhists mostly don't believe in gods, but those that do put them squarely on the side of "maya" or the temptress, reality. Reality in Buddhism is a trap to get out of. The very trap God created to get out of non-existence (aka Nirvana.)





God's purpose and the Buddhists are exact opposites. So it makes sense that they feel gods are working for maya. GOD IS.





Consciousness is part of the CREATION, not God's native state. You are personifying him/her/it. (I know I was too above, but it is metaphor.)|||Yes, it does support the idea that life can be exciting, but this does not mean that life MUST be exciting. Excitement is simply a part of it, and so is every other manifestation of emotion.





While just plain being is indeed sufficient for happiness, we are not born with an innate understanding of this. While man has the ability to attain a liberated state of mind whereby the true nature of reality can be appreciated, for most of us it is much easier said than done. Our earthly existance provides an opportunity to do this.





There is no paradox if you believe that reality is defined by opposites. You cannot conceive the meaning of darkness without also knowing of light. Or right without wrong, or happiness without sadness, or life without death. In physics it is matter vs. energy. And ultimately there could be no physical existence without an opposite form of existence (whatever you may choose to call it) and vice-versa.





These pairs of opposites are not justifications or reasons as you call them, they are simply two sides of the same coin. When we are here, we're in the realm of "God", and when we're not here, we're also still in the the realm of "God". Two aspects of the same condition. Physical reality + meta-physical reality = the "universal consciousness".





Why it is this way is beyond knowing because there is no beginning and no end of the story.|||Remember that Buddhism, along with other religions we humans like to practice, are belief systems that are supposed to elevate our consciousness and attitude. But asking if we are to try to understand God/our Creator's motivations? That's a bit much, don' cha think?





We can gather (as best as we feebly are able) that our life should be more lively; exciting as opposed to static, yes. I would rather know that this more lively, exciting expectation is a "given;" it just is. It's easier to just go with the flow of life than it is to struggle against it with always stopping to guess what God's ulterior motives might be.





Some may argue that because God is supposed to be "all knowing" that our Creator should already know all about experiencing life and the many avenues our lives may take. Knowing the opportunity exists is enough of a reason for me. Giving the power for each of us to help form our own destiny (even we know what the physical outcome will be) is still enough of a push, drive, oomph (what have you) to "being" the best we can be and having fun while we're at it. Being fully conscious in the present moment is the way to be at one with all of creation. Can't ask for more than that.





Blessings!

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