Science Verses Religion

[Jhanananda]

Science Verses Religion
Unpacking Christianity and its problems with scientific discoveries. Should we really be willing to throw out our hard earned and expensive education for religion, or can we make them fit together?
http://youtu.be/bRV6BF7h-eg

[xebiche]

The design of religion is to answer the tough questions regarding the mysteries of the Universe:
Is there a Creator?
What characteristics does he/she embody?
What happens when we die?
Is there and afterlife?
What does it mean to be human?
Are we alone in the Universe?
Does God love us?

We are in a collective state of ignorance, which we will collectively ascend through with time.
I believe that our bodies act as a cloak, that works to Veil us from our own higher conscious states.
We maintain a certain level of natural ignorance - just as intended.  This natural ignorance keeps us in the dark about our own condition. 

But as we Evolve consciously we will uncloak our own clouded understandings and clarity will reveal itself from within.   

I believe that within the next 100 years that every human on this planet will be able to answer the 7 example questions above and all in the SAME chord.

I am already beginning to see religion and science merge, and to my surprise the two are coming together in union quite peacefully.

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you, xebiche, for posting your interesting comments to this forum.  I happen to agree with much of what you say.  The contemplative life seems to be in part about answering the questions that you posed. And, awakening from the unconscious state that having a physical body seems to "cloak" us within.

However, I am not as hopeful as you.  While I do see science and religion merging, it is in fact that they are both self-protective priesthoods with impermeable membranes; and a pursuit of fantastic explanations. 

Science cannot go the direction of the spirit, because spirit is non-physical, so it cannot be measured.  Thus, every effort to construct a hypothesis of parallel universes fails, because scientists are not mystics, so they do not travel out of body to see the spiritual dimension.

So to answer your questions one by one:

1) No, there is no creator, nor is there a "big bang," which is just creation "science" masquerading as science.
2) There is a God, but god, is not a he, or she, or it, or entity.  God is the sum total of the spiritual dimension, which pervades the physical universe, but does not direct, control or create, or modify or destroy it.
3) When we die we travel out of body into the spiritual dimension, which is as infinite as the physical universe is infinite.
4) Yes, there is an "after life".  It is the spiritual dimension.
5) Humans are an animal with certain characteristics, not unlike other animals.  We are spirit beings housed in a human body.
6) No, we are not alone in the universe.  Life pervades the physical universe and will arise wherever the conditions for life arise long enough for life to arise there.  And, life will evolve to fill every ecological niche as long as the conditions for life persist long enough, and are diverse enough to form niches.
7) God is not a being, so asking whether a being loves us is not relevant; however, the beings in the spiritual dimension are love itself, and communicate constantly with each other on a "carrier wave" of love.  We are essentially love itself, but most of us do not know it, or act like it.

Thank-you for posting your most interesting thoughts, and welcome to the Fruit of the Contemplative Life,

Jhananda

[xebiche]

"While I do see science and religion merging, it is in fact that they are both self-protective priesthoods with impermeable membranes; and a pursuit of fantastic explanations."

J, the membranes are not impermeable.




Here is why religion is a lame duck.

The molecule DMT yields the fantastic explanations that both science and religion are in pursuit of.  The molecule permits us to both peer into and engage the conscious dimension.  Whilst on DMT journeys we gain the ability to observe pieces of the universe previously unavailable to us.  Interpritation of these pieces leads to the development of a larger understanding of the entire universe, based almost entirely on empirical studies - that which we are able to see visually.

Shocking really.

[Jhanananda]

The molecule DMT yields the fantastic explanations that both science and religion are in pursuit of. 

Well, I have taken a great deal of psychedelics, and was disappointed each time to find that, while the experience was an excellent peek  into the spiritual universe, it was, nonetheless, just a peek, and nothing more.  Whereas, leading a rigorous, self-aware contemplative life, was more than just a peek into the spiritual dimension, it was transformative to the point that I could experience the bliss, joy and ecstasy of the spiritual dimension in every moment.  So, I have no use for psychedelic now, but I can understand why they are of interest to others.  My life now is in interesting others in going far, far beyond the psychedelic experience to becoming a mystic.