What it's all about

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jun 18, 2015 at 09:22

Hi, Waz

I don't agree with much anything you've said here. I perceive that you're speculating WAY too much. Our known universe is bounded by the extent of our physical perceptions. Beyond that, we live by faith. Philosophically, we can reasonably speculate that there is existence beyond what we can perceive -- an eternal existence beyond our present "existence" in time-space. When we die, our spirits (aka our conscious selves) are outside of this physical universe -- which is to say, we appear dead in this world, but live on in the 'outer" world.

That's all -- I'm just re-stating the Biblical doctrine of the resurrection. We can't perceive anything beyond this present world; but in our spirits we can imagine them. When we leave this prison of time and space (namely, when we die), our "consciousness", or our "spirit" is all we have -- it becomes our reality, just as the laws of physics shape our "reality" in this life. There's nothing spacy or Zen in this: I understand it from having worked with an atomic force microscope. In doing that work, I got a real, physical understanding that "surfaces" and "contact" are not what we intuitively understand. They're just forces, making us think we are "touching" something "solid". They're governed by the laws of physics, like everything in this universe. When we go outside this known place into the great unknown -- namely, when we die -- we will probably perceive things differently; because the laws of physics we know here will not apply there. I hope I'm being plain and understandable here.

Our "consciousness" is just our spirit: It's "us". The Bible doesn't talk about "universal consciousness" or "getting rid of ego" or anything of the sort. I am "I" in this world; and I will continue to be "I" in the next. What happens in the next world, is something we can't see with our current understanding. As the Bible says, "we see things darkly; but then, we'll see things as they are".

1 Cor. 13:
[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What Paul is saying here, is that when we put off these physical bodies, we're left with a world that consists of faith, hope and love. These are the "real" things of the outer world. That much we know. We've just been talking, up to now, about faith. As the Bible says,

Hebr. 11:
[1] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

In this touchy-feely world (which we know is just an imagination of touch and feel), we look at "faith" as something unreal, something etherial. The Bible says that the opposite is true: What we can "touch and feel" in this world will soon disappear; and once we get older than about 60, we start to appreciate just how fleeting this life is. Faith, on the other hand, is eternal. It endures, even after death. It's solid and indestructible; it's the brick and mortar of the world to come.

The Bible tells us about the next world, using pictures and parables. We can't see these things with our physical eyes -- and you know what I mean here: Our eyes don't actually "see" anything. All they do, is send signals into our brains. Our brains are enclosed, dark spaces, yet inside them, we imagine things like light and color. What we "see" and "feel" is our imagination. It's an imagination that accords with a certain understanding of what the world around us should "look" like; but it's still completely, literally, "in our heads".

Why does the Bible say we see "darkly"? Remember, the eternal stuff is things like "faith". We "believe" the world is a certain way, so we navigate it accordingly. When we perceive a wall, we don't believe we can go through it; so we can't. When we see water, we don't perceive that we can walk on it; so we can't. You know, the Bible has examples of these things: After Jesus rose, he could come and go through locked doors; Peter could come and go from his jail cell; and when Jesus beckoned to him, he could walk on water. Nearly all the time, though, we are shackled in our minds, i.e. in our spirits; but when we put off this physical reality, i.e. when we die, we will be free from such things. In those days, spirits who are "carnally minded" will be completely lost and disoriented; but those who trust in the eternal word of God will be at peace. They will stand, upright, forever. The Bible says that, in pictures and parables.

That's the best that I can explain, what I'm trying to say. God bless and keep you.

Shalom shalom

PS: Paul said that faith "abides" or "continues"; but he says there is something even greater, which is God'y love or "charity". That's what it's all about, for us Alphies.

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