To continue the dialogue with my young friend from yesterday’s post (As I mentioned in the previous post our young explorer is LDS so some of his questions (and my answers) have a connotation oriented to that faith. The answers are general, however:
Young Explorer:
The first point I would like to bring up, if I understand your statements correctly, you said, on your website, that each individual was capable of doing anything conceivable just as any god that they personally could imagine. Also I gather that you believe that each person is technically free from any and all burdens and limits, and can with proper exercise of their “spiritual” side release these capabilities. Going on these assumptions (and correct me if I’m wrong about those assumptions) how can such an idea be reconciled with the irrevocable position that humans find themselves in now, even those such as yourself who embrace the possibility of higher capabilities?
You seem to imply that one can be the master of their own reality down to the last detail. Yet to imply this however seems faulty considering the fact that a human by taking thought cannot “change one hair of the head” or add an inch to their stature. In short I mean to say that seeing that one cannot change many things about their own reality or that they are subject to such conditions in the first place implies that each being is subject to higher powers, and therefore cannot be god of their own reality beyond their control over their own will. Certainly the mind that lies at the heart of our beings can somewhat detach itself from physical realities and ponder on things “supernatural” but this does not imply that there is complete control over the condition a being finds itself in or that it finds part of the matter it can control in (the body itself.)
Even by your own actions you presume that my analysis of the matter is incorrect or faulty in that it goes against some system or pattern that must be followed…that my thoughts are following inbred tendencies and biases and that I must avoid them because of a suspicion or fear of contamination, by doing so you inadvertently have subjected yourself to what you deem to be a higher law. Your pursuits of things mystical have been, no doubt governed by certain practices which you have habitually repeated, and you therefore are a servant and not the master as a god would seem to be.
Science is hardly different in that it also trusts in certain natural processes and follows them through to obtain results from evidences that can be measured physically. In both cases you have people subjecting themselves to the order of things outside their own will and desire in order to bring about some realization or result. Even if one claims that seeking out this inner god requires listening to a higher instinct this still implies that there is a higher order of things being obeyed thus making null and void the idea of godlike power over ones reality.
That was the first point.
Second, you appeal to scripture, and even your own patriarchal blessing (the thing you were told when you were 14 which you spoke of in your bio on amazon.com) to confirm your conclusions yet deny the remainder of said sources almost entirely. You sited Jesus as telling the people that they were “gods” and indeed He did say so, but did He not also command love, obedience, and sacrifice? This is not consistent with your assertion that Jesus and prophets taught and followed some different belief system similar to what you have discovered.
Third, simply denying the present physical existence as an illusion is to deny oneself insights into the realms of eternity that this physical reality must function in harmony with. Just as a simulation or game may temporarily and in minor ways rearrange the order of our perception of overall reality that doesn’t mean that such fabrications are complete illusions that have no connection to what we see before us. At fundamental levels they all rely upon basic realities, yet to claim ownership of all-powerful knowledge yet still be subjected to an alleged illusion further illustrates that regardless of godlike potential one is still subject to powers greater than his/her own to which they are held captive.
To follow a route of believing that we are sucked into some illusion is to surmise that we are subjected to any number of layers of fabricated realities and discredits ones own existence and will entirely, thereby plunging everything and everyone out of existence, agency and consequence.
This concept is not new, and was thoroughly explored by others as indicated by this reference. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/2 (this is a Mormon passage found in the Book of Mormon).
So it can be ascertained by simple observation that there are governing laws which humans have sought to understand so that we might be in harmony with them to our advantage. Also, seeing that life and existence allow the presence of goodness, joy, happiness, serenity, peace or any good thing simply shows that the overruling power of all things is “good” or freedom and agency promoting, for self-serving “evil” would not allow joy or anything contrary to its own nature or which didn’t consolidate all power life and existence to itself, and only that which is truly good and inspires freedom would allow the agency we enjoy whether to seek out greater freedom and capabilities or captivity and death.
So I ask, which is greater and more likely true to our eternal nature, the assumption that we are victims of meaningless illusion thereby robbing us of agency and free will and any form of godliness (agency), or the realization that those powers which truly enable and free and magnify the existence of any being are those which embrace and harmonize with all levels of existence? Life and our existence itself show a pattern (even in the fact that we must be able to look beyond and comprehend things outside the physical realm) that laws do exist and only by obedience to those laws can we hope to attain to any level of additional choice, knowledge or freedom even as your assertion about the nature of reality admits.
These are the areas where I see a key fault. Your conjectures about the nature of reality contradict themselves, for on the one hand they embrace a nature and a law and individual choice, but on the other hand claim that the realm we readily experience has no part of such nature and law and individual choice, or that we are subjected to the same until we assert our own power over it by obeying some law which should give us power although we supposedly already retain it for ourselves yet find ourselves subject to an outside force without any choice on our part. It is confusing to try to explain the nature of such a belief or to ultimately come to the sure foundation since the pattern set by accepting such assumptions will inexorably lead one to question any other “reality” they claim to have found on the same basis as they questioned the first.
However we should have hope despite our lack of being in complete control for our ability to comprehend and be aware of natural law sets forth a pattern which simply states that we are capable of acquiring understanding and ascending the scale of ability and choice and freedom for we are not inhibited to see and to choose to do so, and therefore we are invited to “climb.”
The empowerment of knowing we have a choice and our own agency is the crux of any philosophy or religion or scientific pursuit. The fact of the “present” asserts the fact that we are by nature free beings over our own wills, and can use such to influence those things placed within our grasp, and the fact that we exist gives us liberating knowledge and purpose that witnesses that we are part of the fabric of the universe without beginning or end and that we have a far more fundamental involvement and place in it than is sometimes conceived.
My response:
“The illusion is great in you young grasshopper,” but, so too, is the force;-). You remind me of me. You search but your search is of 3-dimensional things which mine once was also. I see the natural duality of space-time reality at work in your life just as it was in the time of Jacob and other leaders of the Book of Mormon and with varying philosophers throughout time. The idea that there is “opposition in all things” is a 3-dimensional dilemma and it is at the heart of “judgment” which no one would argue Jesus told us “not” to do. Most think his admonition not to judge was because it would be taken care of by a God out there in yonder heavens and so was not necessary for us to get involved in but that would be wrong. Jesus told us not to judge because he like so many others knew that there is no duality when it comes to “spiritual” life. In other words, everything that happens is profoundly wonderful and no experience in life can be “judged” as anything but incredible regardless of how it is viewed or judged.