seeds wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:49 am
“Unearthing” something implies digging.
There are humans who have wasted their entire life on this planet digging for treasure in the wrong place, only to unearth fool’s gold.
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:59 am
Do you really want me to answer that?
It wasn’t a question. But you are certainly free to respond to, or ignore, anything you wish.
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:59 am
You should look at both sides of the coin - not only at the one you dislike.
What in the world do you think I’ve been doing here if not looking at both sides of a coin – a coin where one side represents dualism and the other nondualism?
You are of course correct to point out that I don’t like your brand of hardcore nondualism. However, to suggest that I haven’t been looking at both sides of the coin is nonsense.
seeds wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:49 am
That's a pretty good example of God imparting information to us through Jesus, but I'm afraid it might not support your argument in the way you think it does.
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:59 am
Everyone sees a different meaning in words - that's the nature of language - if our ideas don't match... thats fine.
That’s very true. But when we cherry-pick a tiny fragment of someone else’s words (Jesus, for example) to support our argument, and then it is pointed out to us that the vast majority of their other words stand in stark contrast to the meaning we have derived from the tiny fragment, then we need to reevaluate our interpretation of the fragment. We need to be honest and admit that it may not mean what we think it means (at least not from the perspective of the one who originally stated the words).
seeds wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:49 am
Btw, Jesus also said: “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Somehow, that just doesn’t sound like a person who would endorse your hardcore form of nondualism/nihilism/oblivion. In which case, I am at a loss as to why you would use him as a supportive source for your theory.
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:59 am
...I am not here to endorse anything
Well, first of all, I wasn’t referring to you, I was referring to Jesus.
And secondly...
Really? You’re not endorsing...
(promoting, pushing, peddling, sanctioning, trying to sell)
...the concept of nondualism?
I think your words suggest otherwise.
seeds wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:50 am
Btw, I’m still waiting to hear about what your moments of “direct experience” revealed to you about this issue:
...how about the gargantuan (carpet soiling) elephant that stands in the middle of nondualism’s living room concerning who or what created the unfathomable order of the billions of galaxies of the universe?
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:12 am
I haven't had a direct experience of any such gargantuan (carpet soiling) elephant...
My point exactly.
In order to preserve your belief system, you have completely ignored one of the biggest problems in all of reality.
As a hardcore nondualist (with your blinkers firmly in place), you have failed to offer any explanation whatsoever as to who or what it was that grasped the fabric of reality and shaped it into the nuts and bolts workings of the universe.
You are guilty of something similar to what Rupert Sheldrake was complaining about when commenting on the implicit assumption of science:
Rupert Sheldrake in his book: The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry, wrote:
“It's almost as if science said, “Give me one free miracle, and from there the entire thing will proceed with a seamless, causal explanation.”
'17 The one free miracle was the sudden appearance of all the matter and energy in the universe, with all the laws that govern it.”
The point is that the proponents of nondualism seem to rely on the existence of that same
“one free miracle” that the materialists rely on.
AlexW wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:12 am
- but I have tasted an orange.
Who is this “I” who has tasted an orange?
For someone who refuses to accept the existence of the “you,” you certainly do use the “I” word a lot.
Yeah, yeah, I know, there is no “I,” there is only “awareness.”
Awareness tasted the orange. Awareness is formulating and then typing the words that are appearing on the computer screen. Awareness is going to make itself a sandwich. Awareness is scratching its butt. Awareness loves its mate and children. Awareness is wondering what to watch on television tonight. Awareness has to go to work in the morning. Etc., etc., etc.
Again, other than it being a contentious topic in these inane philosophical debates between misfits like you and me, I don’t think you have any idea of how utterly useless the concept (“model”) of nondualism is to humanity.
Now I’m not meaning to be dismissive of something that is important to you, AlexW, because I myself have had an experience of something that others would no doubt think was either a hallucination or a psychotic episode, but help me out here.
Help me to understand how if all 7.7 billion humans on earth had a “direct experience” of nonduality (non-separation), how would that be beneficial to us? How would that change anything as far as our everyday lives and interactions are concerned?
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