How did you change paradigm?

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Lacewing
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Re: How did you change paradigm?

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Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am
Lacewing wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:01 pm You might be right.
And I'm not trying to convince you.
I did not think you were. :)
Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am
Lacewing wrote:There was so much that didn't make sense in the way it was interpreted and believed.
I think this is a key phenomenon and separates out people by how they respond. .../... there are people who can take seriously their own reactions to messages/policies handed down from the authority and there are those who can't. .../... For some it leads to a break from the whole belief system. For some, they remain a half-outsider.
For some, they will do and say and believe anything to protect what they've believed in the past... and what they've invested themselves so fully in... even when absurdity is staring them in the face. The will of belief is impressive and tragic. Worst of all, it's not just a matter of what some believe for themselves, it's that they are supporting and spreading absurdity MORE than they are demonstrating the love and consciousness of Christ.

For example: The absurd level to which many conservative Christians are taking their beliefs and using it against others is beyond what I could have ever imagined would evolve. It seems like that kind of Christianity is being turned into a weapon of hate and condemnation based on egos and archaic views. There is no clear discernment for truth, and there is no loyalty to the Christian values I was taught. Naturally, such will attract and blindly align itself with any convincing leader who claims to be a savior... to then follow that savior in carrying out whatever madness might be seen as proof for its own hellish obsession.
Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am Did you actually conceive of it this way, the being another part of nature? Or is that how the adult sees what the young you was like?
I didn't think about it then, it just felt like the way things naturally are. Christianity is what threw me into a world that didn't make sense. Yes, I'm trying to describe it using words I have now, as an adult. At the same time, I can still feel that natural sense of being/belonging when I quiet all the noise.

I think it was that inborn sense I had as a child that saw me through so much chaos and abuse. I did not have a champion during my early years. I was in a jungle of dangers and I did not expect anyone to save me. When I learned about God and Jesus, they weren't stepping in either. The first Christians in my life were terrorizing and abusing me. They were essentially the evil I was being warned about. Funny how it's still that way even now in the world.
Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am
Lacewing wrote:Why wouldn't we be born into this world 'spiritually' complete?
Children anthropomorphize. It is a kind of assumption out there, amongst non-spiritual, non-religious people that belief in God or spirts or something beyond or what gets classed as the supernatural or...(the list goes on) only arises from indoctrination. But that's just not true. There was a large study of this, which I can't find (just tried), that showed that children have this tendency.
Not like Christians do! I never imagined a separate god of some sort until I was told to. I might have believed in the magic energies or spirits in nature, sure. I sensed there was communication between forms of nature, so I might have imagined beings I could communicate with. I saw an angel (clear as day, when I was about 6) kneeling beside me when I was laying on the side of the highway covered in blood after a car accident. I was the only one who saw her. I asked her if I was going to die. She was radiantly beautiful and glowing, and she smiled and said 'No. You're going to be just fine.' Something like that wasn't incomprehensible to me... whereas an invisible and terrifying god who sacrificed his 'only' son made no sense.
Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am
Lacewing wrote:What do you sense and use for yourself?
I generally don't like to go into this in a philosophy forum. Once I start going into it, I am more or less making assertions about reality and then it's fair game to expect me to back this up. The problem being that words on a screen is certainly not my justification and it shouldn't be for others.
I understand. I share what I do because -- for me (and I'm not saying you aren't!) -- being authentic and brave about sharing what I think and what I've been through, may be helpful for someone else who is seeking to see and understand the truths in many perspectives, rather than being obsessed with having 'the one and only right/true perspective'.

I've appreciated hearing yours... thanks for sharing them.
Iwannaplato wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:24 am I think the physicalist explanation of reality is very effective for some things, but is extremely limited. There's a kind of assumption in philosophy forums that if you can't convince others to believe something via rational (and even online) discussion, then you are irrational for believing it. That's just silly.
Yes, it's difficult to discuss the things that only some of us might see or experience. The problem (I think) is when people try to insist that such things must be true and respected and believed by other/all people. It's a personal experience! It may be delusional... it may not. It doesn't really matter as long as it is meaningful for the person who it involves -- but it does not qualify as some kind of ultimate truth. What we can consider, I think, is how much potential there is in this Universe on so many levels. All sorts of things are going on... some perceived, some not. There is constant communication and energy-exchange in many forms. There are flows and rhythms. There are dimensions. There are shifts. There is much, much, much more than the Christian framework perceives or presents. So, for me, that points to 'immense potential' in all kinds of directions... and the implications of that are ever-inspiring. My impression is that anything that denies all of that is being blind and deceptive for some self-serving purpose, and that's worth noticing and questioning.
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