Sceptics' life - reflection

[alamode]

Originally Posted by RedEmbers

When will people stop trying to convert each other to the 'truth'
Truth is an illusion.
We all need to travel our own path of 'truth' what is 'true' for you may not be true for any other single soul on the planet.
People should concentrate less on converting people to the 'truth' and focus more on accepting each other.

I disagree because its helping others when one seeks and shares truths for the highest and greatest good in life in order to help others. If someone is suffering and hurt because they think that their loved one is gone for eternity because they think that there is no life after death, then that person can be helped... their pain and suffering can be eased, if someone helps them see the truth about soul immortality. I disagree that truth is an illusion. The spiritual world either exists or it doesn't. Its either truth or its false.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Alienka

Spirituality is a huge part of my life. I got to the point where I don't just 'believe' in spirit world, I actually 'know' that it exists.
But like any of you I meet people who are skeptics. They don't believe in life after death or anything paranormal.

I try not to let myself to be affected by them, when they preach about their 'beliefs'. But I kinda think to myself, "I feel sorry for you guys, because your life must be so narrow, so void of deep sense of love, belief and spirituality'.
Is anyone else thinks like that when you interact with 'skeptics'?

Spirituality is subjective, so what you believe is true for you, but that doesn't mean it applies to everyone else. 'Knowing' your beliefs are true is comforting and gives a sense of control, but it's a double-edged sword. That 'knowing' traditionally can end up causing a lot of hate and destruction, which can be seen in ourselves... how we relate to others, like feeling sorry for people who don't believe like we do, or accusing them of being void of love.

Spirituality is not black and white. It's not either true or false.. reminds me of "If you don't agree with us, you're a part of the axis of evil'. lol There are people who believe something completely different than you do, yet it's is just as real and important them as your beliefs are.

[RedEmbers]

Everything serves a purpose, it serves a Christian like my father to believe in god and Jesus and the ressurection into heaven, it serves my mother to be agnostic but still sense spirits (because it bringes her comfort) it serves me to be skeptical. when my grandmother, grandfather and pets passed I was sad but still at peace, they live on in my memory. The moment so each moment with lived ones is valuable to me and I will always have those memories.
Life is constantly in motion. . . Birth, death, birth.
A big part of our learning as human beings is a accepting that nothing is permenant.
I don't grasp on to spiritual 'truths' because the truth is (in my opinion) that any reality is possible, I'd prefer to keep an open mind.
Maybe after I die I will get melted down and recycled into a clam or a pool of oil in the ground. . . Maybe I die and cease to exist, maybe I go to some sort of heaven (as long as its not run by westbro baptist church in which case I would choose hell) lol.
My point is that we all need to experiance our own version of truth, to serve our own spiritual journey. . . For some that may mean grasping the possibility that everything is temporary in order to learn the value of the present moment

[Tabby94]

Originally Posted by Alienka

Spirituality is a huge part of my life. I got to the point where I don't just 'believe' in spirit world, I actually 'know' that it exists.
But like any of you I meet people who are skeptics. They don't believe in life after death or anything paranormal.

I try not to let myself to be affected by them, when they preach about their 'beliefs'. But I kinda think to myself, "I feel sorry for you guys, because your life must be so narrow, so void of deep sense of love, belief and spirituality'.
Is anyone else thinks like that when you interact with 'skeptics'?

TBH I've known Atheist Skeptics who say the opposite, basically they think believers of anything Supernatural are desperate even gullible people.

I used to think an Afterlife or concept of one, was too good to be true, then I exhausted myself actually looking into it. The More I've looked, the more I've come to ''Know'' rather than ''believe'' in all things Supernatural. Both anecdotal and personal experience brought me to that conclusion.

[alamode]

Originally Posted by Seawolf

Spirituality is subjective, so what you believe is true for you, but that doesn't mean it applies to everyone else. 'Knowing' your beliefs are true is comforting and gives a sense of control, but it's a double-edged sword. That 'knowing' traditionally can end up causing a lot of hate and destruction, which can be seen in ourselves... how we relate to others, like feeling sorry for people who don't believe like we do, or accusing them of being void of love.

Spirituality is not black and white. It's not either true or false.. reminds me of "If you don't agree with us, you're a part of the axis of evil'. lol There are people who believe something completely different than you do, yet it's is just as real and important them as your beliefs are.

I get what you're saying but both sides can't be right. There is either a spiritual world/life after death or there is not. That means that someone is absolutely right and the other is absolutely wrong. So its a black and white, true or false issue. Both sides can't be right.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by alamode

I get what you're saying but both sides can't be right. There is either a spiritual world/life after death or there is not. That means that someone is absolutely right and the other is absolutely wrong. So its a black and white, true or false issue. Both sides can't be right.

Spirituality is not about being right, it's about faith in things we don't see or know for sure. If it was about things we can see and know, it wouldn't be called beliefs or faith. I don't look at spirituality from the perspective of 'right and wrong', any more than I look at someone's taste in movies to be right or wrong. To understand something subjective, you wouldn't look at it from a black and white, true or false perspective.

[alamode]

Originally Posted by Seawolf

Spirituality is not about being right, it's about faith in things we don't see or know for sure. If it was about things we can see and know, it wouldn't be called beliefs or faith. I don't look at spirituality from the perspective of 'right and wrong', any more than I look at someone's taste in movies to be right or wrong. To understand somethbelief ve, you wouldn't look at it from a black and white, true or false perspective.

I wasn't talking about spirituality in general, nor is the issue of discussion subjective in nature. I said there is either life after death a.k.a. the spiritual world OR there is no life after death, no spiritual world. You can call it faith, call it subjective and call it "not being about right or wrong" but it doesnt change the fact that there are only two belief choices about the spiritual world. When someone dies: either yes the spiritual world exists OR no the spiritual world does not exist. Someone either has the right belief about it or someone has the wrong belief about it. Someone either knows the truth or someone has the wrong belief.

The same applies to reincarnation. Either it exists or it doesn't. Someone has the right belief about it or someone has the wrong belief about it.

any more than I look at someone's taste in movies to be right or wrong

Using your movies example to compare to this topic, "taste" in movies wouldn't be applicable to this issue. The applicable way to compare movies would be: Do movies exist? Or do movies not exist? Someone is right and someone is wrong regarding whether or not they believe movies exists. Belief in life after death/spiritual world existence has nothing to do with taste. Either someone is right or someone is wrong because either the spiritual world exists or it does not. Its only two choices....one choice is absolutely, objectively right and the other choice is absolutely, objectively wrong.

[Seawolf]

That's an interesting way to look at spiritual beliefs. I guess you would have to apply that logic to all the millions of different beliefs out there to be consistent. Either someone is right or wrong about whatever they believe. It seems like a left brain way of understanding right brain concepts, but hey more power to you. It's a very Western idea with our focus on there being a 'reality' out there and strict 'true/false' only / materialism, etc. but as you probably already know there are other ways of seeing the world than our Western perspective.

Personally I don't concern myself with that, I understand that faith is about not knowing and believing anyway because it's beneficial to us. I don't know if there is an after life or not, but I believe there is, so I live my life with that in mind. If I had to 'know' if it was true or false, I wouldn't bother trying to have the belief because there's really no way to know. It seems to help lots of people though, fundamentalists seem to really enjoy knowing their beliefs are true, among others, I just like to be more flexible I guess.

[Tabby94]

Some people have ''Faith'' or ''Belief''. But some have a ''Knowing''. Most if not all of those who have had NDE's come away with a ''Knowing'' of the reality of God and Spirit World/Heaven.

I've heard and experienced too much, that I ''Know'' God/Creator is 100 per cent real. However though I do, I still don't know the nature of God, even those who have been in God's presence, can't describe/comprehend the nature of God. That is a testament to how Great God/Creator is.

[Seawolf]

One of the most helpful things to me was letting go of what I thought I know in spirituality, because thinking I know so much was counterproductive to my spiritual growth. Realizing that experience is subjective, particularly spiritual experiences, really helped me. One problem with 'knowing' is that you're kind of stuck on one belief without room for change. But if it helps someone to decide they know 100%, more power to them. There are all kinds of ways to think!