Ferdi wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:45 am
VVilliam wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:58 am
"God" [it must be remembered] is a label for 'creator' which assumes we exist within a creation [rather than a random accident]
Christianity appropriated the label and used it for the name of their god. Thus "God" became an attempt to usurp any other ideas of god.
I do not think that IF there is a Creator [therefore we are within a creation] THEN we have uncovered the nature of said creator, whatever we call it [the being]
The word 'God' probably comes from the caveman days, along with the likes of "og" and "crog" etc... and simply meant "I don't know" in cave-language.
"Infinity" doesn't mean "I don't know" does it?
"God"
I know about Gods. For 70 of my 93 years I followed my indoctrinated Catholic beliefs while concentrating on earning a good living for my wife and 4 children. If I could start again, with the benefit of this hindsight, I would not have put any children in this world ruled by school-bullies. Even our best Democracy, the almighty USA is nothing to be proud of.
Infinity does not mean anything else than “you cannot reach the end of the Universe”. There is nothing to know about Infinity, it just IS and we are in it.
There are always questions of why is it so?
The nature of this universe [specifically Earth] allows for bullies to take the reigns and it might be argued that if this wasn't the case then humanity would not have survived.
I am reminded of a doco I watched on the telly yesterday;
A full grown male lion dad killed a cub/kitten and the child wasn't even one of his own offspring and the mother was distressed for a time - even 'angry' in my opinion - because she is always more attached with the children.
But I also understood why the Male Lion had done this...it was to help protect the Pride. The overall family group. This child of a lioness had wandered well away from his mother and 5 other siblings, finding itself disorientated in the tall grass and they [cub/kitten and Lion] happened upon one another.
The Lion Slayed the Child. [it did not also eat the child]
The Pride cannot afford wanderers as these threaten everyone's survival and while the Lion was being a bully, he was performing this act for the greater good of the community. In that it was "duty".
I can certainly empathize with your sadness re bringing children onto such a reality experience, but hope that you do not settle for regret. While hindsight is a wonderful thing, when we are young we are led by our emotions and the demands of our bodies and breeding and the newness and excitement of it all - is part of that natural occurrence. Judging is best left to "the gods" because we do not know and are not in the best position to know.
I add to this the idea that if it were not for the Catholic Church you may not have been the husband and dad and may have just remained a happy bachelor feet up on some island resort, having no regrets.
But even to be that, you would have had to deal with bullies anyway.
So perhaps your feelings of regret are the result of leaving the Catholic Church and somehow in that act, also losing that support structure which allowed you to not regret your past decisions.
I don't know.
But what I do know is that you need to regain that sense of achievement and focus on the intent which has driven you through your life's experience. Don't let regret rob you of your contribution to life and die feeling that way if for no other reason than IF there is more to experience in an 'afterlife', how you feel about yourself [judge yourself] may have an affect on what your next experience will be like...
But don't let that scare you.
Be motivated just to embrace [own] the life you lived and find all those things within it which brought - not only you - but people you are connected with - Wife - Children- Grandies - etc and may your last sigh in life be one of contentment for that contribution regardless of whether there might be an afterlife or not.
Be remembered for that...and remember it for yourself while you still breathe.
