The dark side of responsibility.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

If there was a god, then he/she wouldn’t dish out punishment to anyone, because they are only filled with love.

do you really want to let wayward children do whatever they want, without any form of discipline? Because that is what you are saying here... that love turns a blind eye to sin.

[sky]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

do you really want to let wayward children do whatever they want, without any form of discipline? Because that is what you are saying here... that love turns a blind eye to sin.

Do you personally see punishment and discipline as being one and the same ?

[charly233]

Originally Posted by sky

Do you personally see punishment and discipline as being one and the same ?

Discipline does not require punishment. It requires Love.

[sky]

Originally Posted by charly233

Discipline does not require punishment. It requires Love.

Discipline imo is loving firmness and not a punishment....

[Redchic12]

Oh dear I think I’ve been misunderstood here. Sorry for that.
I wasn’t actually talking about children being punished or otherwise. I was saying that there are people in this world who choose steal, murder, fight and destroy others etc. we know that. But I don’t believe there is a god to punish or discipline them. When we go back to spirit and see our “life review” we will discipline ourselves about what we have done or not done.

From a physical point of view, we still have mean, nasty people (and good ones of course) but I don’t feel we can force them to change and be better people. It’s impossible to change most of them. All we can do is keep out of their way OR maybe change our thoughts about them.

I don’t know what’s the right answer, I can only answer how I personally feel about what’s right.

Hope this has helped clarify my comments.

[Redchic12]

Just to add. We have the legal system and prisons for people who do wrong so there is discipline in society for that. I was talking more about the general everyday things like, meanness, jealousy, hate, deceit and slander etc NOT the more serious crimes.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by sky

Discipline imo is loving firmness and not a punishment....

i think, if you think there is a specific way life must be so that you can believe you are observing the things you think you want to observe, then you are missing the big picture.

To answer your first question do i think there is a difference? Yes. Do I think people who want to be demanding about how life should be to satisfy their own desire (and by extension the desires of others) will be able to discern that difference? No.

That may have been part of what jesus meant in his last words, I dunno.

But I do think it is the reason god has so much trouble guiding us to a better place... we won't accept anything other than what we've already chosen to want.

[Redchic12]

Buddha said most of man’s suffering comes from wanting people/situations to be what THEY think it should be, instead of it/they being the way it is.

It kinda reminded me of how most marriages seem to go. We spend so much time and energy on trying to make that other person be what WE think they should be instead of accepting the person as they are, hence less suffering.

Obviously there are exceptions.

[MutedBlue]

What if we can think of the "Heavenly fall from grace" as something symbolic, a lesson told by mystics who recognize we are all on the same path as humans, and we Fall when we choose to not do the right thing or the natural thing, according to our conscience? To illustrate that in doing so will separate us and make us Fall out of the flow of life itself.

[Rocco Rosano]

RE: The dark side of responsibility.
SUBTOPIC: What we think - as opposed to - The Truth of Reality.
※→ Redchic12, et al,

I think you have made an insightful observation on Buddha's (Siddhartha Gautama's) teachings. The Abrahamic Religions and the concept of "Heaven" and the soul's redemption is unsubstantiated → yet widely believed. "Death is not the end" is an ancient idea many find hope in.

Originally Posted by Redchic12

[W]hat THEY think it should be, instead of it/they being the way it is.

Obviously there are exceptions.

(COMMENT)

This is, in part, the product of human nature. Metaphysics is (in part) the systematic field of study and inventory of "reality" (what is). It is the study of that which is beyond the known laws of physics and that which drives the universe. Whether the belief incorporates the image of a Supreme Being, The Great Creator, or the First Cause, human nature (at least for most of humanity) wants to believe that there is something more that extends beyond death.

There is a great number of people that claim to have the actual a priori knowledge (independent of experience) of something that is supernatural.

You've made a very good set of contributions here.

Most Respectfully,
R