Is all outer knowledge a distraction from real truth?

[Humanb]

Originally Posted by Ravenspirit

One of things that makes me part ways with certain Eastern religions is their insistence that nothing on this earth is real, that all is illusion, that the self is nothing. I disagree strongly with that. I think the physical world is every bit as important as the spiritual. We're here, in this classroom called Earth, for a good reason, to learn things we probably can't learn anywhere else.

I accept the physical. I accept my responsibility towards the physical form I have been given and I understand that I have a physical form at this time for a reason. I will admit I don't always understand why or what I am supposed to be doing, but I don't just disrespect the gift of my body by denying it as nothing. My body is the vehicle by which I live in this life, on this planet, learning. It is a marvelously made vehicle and it deserves respect, not dismissal.

The "me" I am without my body is real too. I am an individual and if to cease to exist means not being one? Then you can forget it. Whatever face I have, whatever identities I have, whatever lives I may live the intrinsic "me" will always exist. Only the vehicle changes. I have no particular wish to be part of a giant spirit collective, or worse yet nothing. I can think of no worse way to spend eternity than that.

I like being here. I like being this "me" that I am right now. I like living physical lives and learning and loving and being human. Not all of it is fun. Some of it has been downright painful, but it's my experience and I own it. I would not trade that for being in a more ascended state for anything. Being true to my spiritual self also means being true to my physicality. Being present, in body, that's definitely my preference and a big part of who I am spiritually speaking, I think.

Most people long for what comes after, between, think it to be superior to this experience. I don't. I just think it's different. Both are valid experiences, but I like being here a lot and I don't wish to go, not permanently. I don't feel I'm bound to a wheel of suffering till I get it right. I'm here because I like it and I want to be here. I want to experience as many lives as I can and learn from them what I can. This planet being in the shape it is I wonder how many more lives I will get to live here. I suppose though that there are other planets, other places I can go. I don't view reincarnation as something that ever ends. Not if you don't want it to, and I don't.

I respect your opinion and i think it's highly important to do so.

But... Quantum physics, which you may or may not understand has proven through various and extensive experiments that the universe consists of sub atomic particles that ONLY exist when we consciously experience them.
These particles can also exist in more than one place at the same time and they can change their state in the past when measured / consciously experienced in the present.

This new science, which i might add is the most profound step science has made since the beginning is starting to explain scientifically what eastern religions have always said... That is scientific proof.. The entire universe is brought into existence by the conscious experience of itself.

Now, i also understand that you feel you have been given your body and that is true.. but you are both the giver and receiver of your body aren't you not?

If you believe in a god that is not entirely you then ok, that's fine and i understand why you may have such views. But my personal understanding is that the entire universe is god and we each the creator in an entirety, we are each having a very strong hallucination that we are separate beings with separate purposes and separate meanings.

"The source of all creation is the experience."

"What is a creation if not experienced? and what is an experience if not created?"

I'm not trying to pick apart your beliefs, i honestly just find it hard that others have different understandings because mine make so much sense to me.. What i understand ties in with all religion, experiences and even science!! I only wish everybody to know truth of life.

At the end of the day, if what you believe makes you happy then please carry on. If i'm honest, before i was Buddhist i ignored all the suffering in the world and i did feel like this place was beautiful (Apart from when i had depression.) but i realized eventually that it is in essence a place where we are constantly looking for happiness and only finding temporary pleasures. Meditation is the only real source of happiness. :)

Thank you for the reply.

[Rah nam]

Real truth would imply there is something like an unreal truth.
An other term that is thrown around in boards.
My interpretation of truth is a belief one has experienced and brought into reality.
There is no such thing as an ultimate or universal truth. A truth is individual and changes as we evolve. A being one or two densities up from where we are has to have a different truth and we should not confuse what we sometimes read and hear from such beings.
In regards to knowledge, as we leave this reality and move into the density of wisdom, sometimes referred to as the fifth density, forget all you know or what is referred to as knowledge. It will not apply any longer.

[quote=Humanb]Emptiness is really tricky because although emptiness sounds like nothingness, it's not the same. I attend teachings at a local Buddhist temple and i have had several teachings on emptiness, although at first i thought i understood it when i received many more teachings my perception of it changed vastl

Emptiness is the way reality really is, everything that seems to exist outside the mind actually depends on the mind to exist.. Self grasping ignorance is the cause of this confusion.

When we look for an object we see that we can't find it. like the self, if we look for our self we see that there is no self. All there is, is a collection of things that aren't the self. A head, an arm, a leg, a hand ect...
It even works for the seemingly mental self.. The emotions, like love, anger, sadness ect... these are not the self.

Emptiness is the void of all things.. But i think that the void is the eternal self

It's quite hard to grasp at first, I understand it simply to be that everything is empty of an inherent or independent existence.