Thread: So many paths, so little time.

Originally Posted by beautifulwoodenlegs

So my question is this: How can you ever follow a philosophy or table of values, believing in something you know will inevitably be transcended and eclipsed by future generations of humans, even if you create that meaning yourself?

what are you babbling about? there is no contradiction. the contradiction is entirely in your head.

You asked, how can one follow a set of beliefs/philosophy knowing in the future it will be transcended? ....Well why not? What's the problem?

The problem is in the 'ego', or that part of yourself that sees in dualistic terms. You're ego is making you feel that these philosophies MUST be ABSOLUTE. And if they aren't absolute, then they must be obsolete. And if it turns out they are obsolete...........why bother learning them at all?

So you're ego puts you in a tight spot. That you either have full faith in these beliefs and philosophies. Or they are a waste of your time.

Well the ego is always wrong. Always. It's very easy to spot the ego's lies when you understand it's always dualistic.

The truth is, everything that is created will come to pass. Galaxies will die. Stars will die. Planets will die, and everything living on those planets will die. Hell, even Universe might even die. In the end the only thing that ever was, was the pure energy that gave all of these things form. Whether you take the spiritual meaning of these words, or the scientific meaning, it doesn't matter. It's exactly the same.

Why is this important to understand that everything given form by energy will come to pass? Sure it's easy to understand this in terms of physical forms. Because it's easy to see how all physical things 'die'. But what about MENTAL FORMS. Mental forms still require energy to give it form, the energy of consciousness.

All of our thoughts. All of our belief systems. All of our religions. All of our philosophies, they will all come to pass. No form, not even mental forms, last forever.

So no. No philosophy, no religion, no belief system, not even science is absolute.

So what is the absolute truth if all forms will come to pass? We can say the absolute truth transcends all other things. Including, transcends all other truths. That's the easiest and simplest terms you can have when dealing with the absolute truth. That which transcends.

The moment you box it up into a clearly defined thing............ it's no longer the absolute truth, is it? By boxing it up all you did was create a thought form.

When searching for the absolute truth a pattern begins to show up. The pattern is transcendence. Anything that helps you transcend helps bring you closer to the absolute truth. Spirituality helps us transcend because it challenges us to be more than we are. To even be more than just human. Science helps us transcend because it challenges long held beliefs. Even the long held beliefs it created.

The most dangerous thing anyone can ever do is believe that a belief system has the absolute truth.

But if you understand how you can use all of these various truths to help you, then these things are neither absolute....... or obsolete.

What a bunch of slogans from the books... It felt like reading a post from a robot-collector without its own thoughts.

And you don't even make sense in the long run.

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.

-Hub, Second Hand Lions (2003)

Some things can be worth believing in, whether they are true or not, 'suppose.

[QUOTE=Xaqaria;1139930]You seem to ignore the gradual nature of truth. QUOTE]

I must do, because I wasn't aware there was any absolute truth discovered, let alone for it to evolve.

Originally Posted by Dreams4free

I got very discouraged with my search of deeper meaning, using calculus and other sophisticated tools to explain to me my ultimate end. But I have learned to cope with my fundamentally meaningless survival. I.e... the positives in life. Make a decision so you can stop feeling so distraught. Begin enjoying existence and making the best out of it in any means. Good luck.

Ha, I liked that about catholocism, it seems you've found the loop hole in the system. So did you just adopt a nihilistic outlook eventually?

Originally Posted by Arutad

I've been thinking about this for a long time, too. It seems that the problem we have is our desire to be sure, to know the truth. Even saying that there's "no objective truth" is helpless in destroying that desire. Maybe it's helpless because we still believe that at some level, in future, absolute truths can be discovered, that not everything in this world is relative. Do you have this nagging feeling that it's possible in the long run?

It's probably our brains that are wired in a way that we feel frustrated when we're wrong or might be wrong. There's no good objective reason for a feeling of being certain about things you think to matter as much as it does. It's merely a feeling!

Dude, I completely identify with that. Yea, no matter how nonsensical it may seem, it feels like everything I have learned and continue to learn will someday be some tiny pieces in some "master equation" of absolute truth I eventually figure out. It's like I have all the pieces to the puzzle, but I am just waiting for some sublime truth to present itself to unify everything I've ever known about this life. It's such a futile gesture, but more appealing than any other illusion that's ever been granted to me... maybe that's why humans can't help but chase it.

Originally Posted by juroara

When searching for the absolute truth a pattern begins to show up. The pattern is transcendence. Anything that helps you transcend helps bring you closer to the absolute truth. Spirituality helps us transcend because it challenges us to be more than we are. To even be more than just human. Science helps us transcend because it challenges long held beliefs. Even the long held beliefs it created.

The most dangerous thing anyone can ever do is believe that a belief system has the absolute truth.

But if you understand how you can use all of these various truths to help you, then these things are neither absolute....... or obsolete.

Yea, a lot of what you said keeps popping up in what I read- such as- "truth" is: "a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms", and that adherence to any belief is instantly a handicap to the mind.. but I am just completely clueless as where to go from there.