Identity
Society and Deity
Consider the neurons of a brain. They possess some very limited intelligence, and the ability to communicate with each other via synapses. In every creature there are billions of them. Each of them, by themselves, are not considered to be self-aware and yet together they constitute an intelligent, often self-aware individual. Note that they are not considered to be aware that they are part of a larger individual.
Consider then, that we each possess sentience, and the ability to communicate with each other via a multitude of means. In society there are billions of us. We are self-aware. Is it not even more likely that we would form a greater individual? An awareness that is beyond our understanding? Is it is not possible that we cannot perceive that individual because of the fact that we are each a part of it? We would have to understand all of us, and to do that our understanding would go beyond everything we know, a paradox.
Consider that perhaps that greater individual is exactly the purpose/identity/divinity that spiritualists have been seeking throughout time - perhaps it is Deity. It would be an entity that possessed karma / destiny the same as the rest of us, and perhaps that is why Society does not destroy itself. Perhaps that Deity is what stops us from killing ourselves. Perhaps, then, that the great thing that Deity has bestowed upon us is actually just the continuation of our existence.
Perhaps the more spiritual & empathic minority of the population get a feeling of that Deity but that the feeling is always instinctive and never specific enough to really put a finger on it and understand what it actually is. Is it just a coincidence that people who are more empathic also tend to be more idealistic and spiritual?
If there is Deity within society, perhaps there is Deity within the whole of the universe. Perhaps it is simply that we all share a common identity between all of us, our humanity, and as such the Deity within us has formed itself into an isolated, discrete entity. That entity would possess all that our identities represent - i.e. we define Society just equally as Society defines us.
Karma / Destiny - the path through which life takes us along Good karma is not just that people respond to you better, it is that traffic lights respond better too.
Something in the universe exists that is nigh imperceivable, and yet has a very real affect upon us all - the interconnectivity between all things. It makes improbabilities frequent, and certainities disappear into nothingness. It draws soul-mates to each other, and yet it's affect is much more substantial than that. From it we can draw wisdom, inspiration, guidance, insight. We can listen to its lessons, and use them to better ourselves, but in order to listen to those lessons we have to realise they are there. It can mean the difference between having a £2 coin to pay for a 84p bacon roll, or else randomly picking out five coins coming to precisely 84p.
To even begin to percieve karma, you have to understand the affect upon you, seeing the imperceivable by the shadow that it draws. In order to benefit from it, not only do you have to have faith (in something imperceivable, and in the direction that it takes you) but you also have to have self-belief (in your understanding of that direction).
Ancient Egyptian Spirituality The Ancient Egyptians believed in the ba (soul) and ka (spirit), amongst other elements of their identity including their ab (heart), shadow, akh (the combined afterlife form of the ba and ka), and others. An individual ba was present within each human-being, and could be passed onto later beings in a similar way to reincarnation. It usually took the form of a bird, often with the head of the person in question, but it could equally take other forms (lions for instance). The ka of an individual was their doppelganger (duplicate) that existed in the spirit world.
Other things also were represented in this world, such as trees or rocks, etc. The spirit world was effectively composed of ka, either of living components of the material world or else of the deceased. When someone died their ba would re-join the ka to form the akh (radiance) but after that unification, all three components could continue to co-exist independently. The Egyptians also believed strongly in symbolism and the relevance of symbols, in identity.
Unification of all ideas Perhaps the purpose we seek is right there, right in front of our faces; within us all.The more-empathic, compassionate minority of the population tend to have experiences of Extra Sensory Perception; ghostly encounters, precognition, telepathy, etc.
Perhaps there is a spirit-world, a place of spirituality and memory and destiny, within which we (everyone that is, was, or might be) are all represented in terms of our immortal identity.
The idealistic nature (immortal and identity-based) of this spirit-world would help to explain ghosts, precognition, etc. The transititon between the two worlds, the connection that holds the two together (I believe) is represented in this world by our perception of purpose, identity, meaning, divinity, spirituality, and religion.
Perhaps, that other world and Deity are the same thing. Perhaps Deity is defined by the communication between all of us, yet it transcends time because it is made of all of our memories and dreams.
When the connection to the spirit-world is particularly strong it can be sometimes felt by some people, particularly those empathic and spiritually-minded. Two people in this world could have spent their entire lives apart but in the spirit-world both of their spirits could have been stood hand-in-hand in the same place. Then they could meet in the material world, and would feel like they had spent their entire lives together.
Consider then, that we each possess sentience, and the ability to communicate with each other via a multitude of means. In society there are billions of us. We are self-aware. Is it not even more likely that we would form a greater individual? An awareness that is beyond our understanding? Is it is not possible that we cannot perceive that individual because of the fact that we are each a part of it? We would have to understand all of us, and to do that our understanding would go beyond everything we know, a paradox.
Consider that perhaps that greater individual is exactly the purpose/identity/divinity that spiritualists have been seeking throughout time - perhaps it is Deity. It would be an entity that possessed karma / destiny the same as the rest of us, and perhaps that is why Society does not destroy itself. Perhaps that Deity is what stops us from killing ourselves. Perhaps, then, that the great thing that Deity has bestowed upon us is actually just the continuation of our existence.
Perhaps the more spiritual & empathic minority of the population get a feeling of that Deity but that the feeling is always instinctive and never specific enough to really put a finger on it and understand what it actually is. Is it just a coincidence that people who are more empathic also tend to be more idealistic and spiritual?
If there is Deity within society, perhaps there is Deity within the whole of the universe. Perhaps it is simply that we all share a common identity between all of us, our humanity, and as such the Deity within us has formed itself into an isolated, discrete entity. That entity would possess all that our identities represent - i.e. we define Society just equally as Society defines us.
Karma / Destiny - the path through which life takes us along Good karma is not just that people respond to you better, it is that traffic lights respond better too.
Something in the universe exists that is nigh imperceivable, and yet has a very real affect upon us all - the interconnectivity between all things. It makes improbabilities frequent, and certainities disappear into nothingness. It draws soul-mates to each other, and yet it's affect is much more substantial than that. From it we can draw wisdom, inspiration, guidance, insight. We can listen to its lessons, and use them to better ourselves, but in order to listen to those lessons we have to realise they are there. It can mean the difference between having a £2 coin to pay for a 84p bacon roll, or else randomly picking out five coins coming to precisely 84p.
To even begin to percieve karma, you have to understand the affect upon you, seeing the imperceivable by the shadow that it draws. In order to benefit from it, not only do you have to have faith (in something imperceivable, and in the direction that it takes you) but you also have to have self-belief (in your understanding of that direction).
Ancient Egyptian Spirituality The Ancient Egyptians believed in the ba (soul) and ka (spirit), amongst other elements of their identity including their ab (heart), shadow, akh (the combined afterlife form of the ba and ka), and others. An individual ba was present within each human-being, and could be passed onto later beings in a similar way to reincarnation. It usually took the form of a bird, often with the head of the person in question, but it could equally take other forms (lions for instance). The ka of an individual was their doppelganger (duplicate) that existed in the spirit world.
Other things also were represented in this world, such as trees or rocks, etc. The spirit world was effectively composed of ka, either of living components of the material world or else of the deceased. When someone died their ba would re-join the ka to form the akh (radiance) but after that unification, all three components could continue to co-exist independently. The Egyptians also believed strongly in symbolism and the relevance of symbols, in identity.
Unification of all ideas Perhaps the purpose we seek is right there, right in front of our faces; within us all.The more-empathic, compassionate minority of the population tend to have experiences of Extra Sensory Perception; ghostly encounters, precognition, telepathy, etc.
Perhaps there is a spirit-world, a place of spirituality and memory and destiny, within which we (everyone that is, was, or might be) are all represented in terms of our immortal identity.
The idealistic nature (immortal and identity-based) of this spirit-world would help to explain ghosts, precognition, etc. The transititon between the two worlds, the connection that holds the two together (I believe) is represented in this world by our perception of purpose, identity, meaning, divinity, spirituality, and religion.
Perhaps, that other world and Deity are the same thing. Perhaps Deity is defined by the communication between all of us, yet it transcends time because it is made of all of our memories and dreams.
When the connection to the spirit-world is particularly strong it can be sometimes felt by some people, particularly those empathic and spiritually-minded. Two people in this world could have spent their entire lives apart but in the spirit-world both of their spirits could have been stood hand-in-hand in the same place. Then they could meet in the material world, and would feel like they had spent their entire lives together.