I think this topic on reality and the spirit is very important. However,
I feel somewhat intimidated in commenting since many of you are so
articulate and insightful in your remarks within this learning lab. I
usually fail to fully remember the quotes, the titles or even the
interesting little stories that so many members in this community seem to
freely site. My reality I suppose is to remember the essence of those
messages as I understood them at that time.
Nevertheless, I will plod forward.
Rick writes:
>If there is an objective reality that transcends our fallible perception
>and experience, it doesn't matter to us: we have no way to have contact
>with it. ......I am not a particularly religious person.>
Objective as defined by Webster = having to do with a known or perceived
object that is not merely in the mind...
I wonder what the perceived word means? Objective as used in science, I
believe, means that someone else can do it or reproduce the results,
following similar methods. I tend to look at Objective Reality as a
timing thing. When Columbus sailed the ocean blue...(somebody wrote
that); people perceived reality as the world is flat and they had a
variety of accepted proofs that this was true..... It didn't make it so.
Paramahansa Yogananda founded an organization called the Self Realization
Institute early this century. In the 1930s and 40's he was writing about
the space between atoms and smaller than atom sized particles. He also
cited, but I can't find/remember the quote, that science and spirituality
are moving closer together. One of his goals in moving from India to the
US was to further that merging. As an aside: He also cautioned at the
time that the greatest danger to the world was intense nationalism, which
we seem to be experiencing more of today. Yogananda died in 1948.
Yogananda felt that spiritual realization was very scientific following
the "modern discoveries of physiological science," (written in the 1930s)
He saw much similarity between these laws the practices of ancient Hindu
yogis. As our experience base broadens paradigms do change. It is easy
to dispense with things we do not see with our eyes or feel with our
skin....that does not mean they don't exist.
I am not certain about thinking and objectivity, but people have certainly
demonstrated tremendous thinking power (e.g., curing cancer within ones
body [must be partially objective since the cancer is gone....but what was
the cause?]).
I am not particularly a religious person either. But, I am a spiritual
person. Things we cannot see and cannot account for following Newton's
Laws still may exist. I am not certain if this short story is relevant,
but it was spiritual to me. My youngest son is now 19. When he was 5
years old our Cocker Spaniel "Max" died. The night Max died, at the
Veterinarians office, I heard a loud, wailing sob from my son's room
around 2:30 a.m. in the morning. The only time he has ever done that. He
did not remember doing when we talked about it the next day. According to
the Vet, the dog died early that morning...no time log...objective...not a
chance......spiritual reality...it was one small confirmation for me.
To wrap this rambling monolog;
Perhaps our scientific methods are not quite in alignment yet to bring
about our spiritual realization. I know I still have a lot of work to do
and it is so easy to loose focus. Reality...the Yogi Berra quote, "It
ain't everything it's cracked up to be!" is probably on target. We know
the easy part. The rest of reality....we are waiting to learn. That is
why networks like this learning organization exist.
My thanks to you also Rick for doing all of this work, especially over
such a long period of time. If you only have time to respond every 48
hours (your current reality), you will get no complaints from me.
Best wishes to all,
Michael Bremer
Flow-Works, Inc.
--Michael Bremer <cgcmike@aol.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>