email468
Well-Known Member
brought back fond memories! the usual gang of idiots....Well the Prohias drawing was temporary until I could find the Norman Mingo portrait of Alfred that I wanted.
Evolution, Divine Creation, Starseed, or Other
- Thread starter shnkrmn
- Start date
shnkrmn
Well-Known Member
So this isn't really a creation story, but I've been trying to toss in various approaches and explanations of human existence:
The Buddha has said regarding the origin of life that such things are unconjecturable and would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectures about it. When asked why he did not explain the origin of the world, the Buddha replied that it did not contribute to the goal of enlightenment and was not fundamental to the holy life. They do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding.
The Buddha also dismissed such questions in the parable of the poison arrow: a man is shot with a poison arrow, but before the doctor pulls it out, he wants to know who shot it (arguing the existence of God), where the arrow came from (where the universe and/or God came from) why that person shot it (why God created the universe), etc. If the man keeps asking these questions before the arrow is pulled out, the Buddha reasoned, he will die before he gets the answers.
The Buddha has said regarding the origin of life that such things are unconjecturable and would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectures about it. When asked why he did not explain the origin of the world, the Buddha replied that it did not contribute to the goal of enlightenment and was not fundamental to the holy life. They do not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding.
The Buddha also dismissed such questions in the parable of the poison arrow: a man is shot with a poison arrow, but before the doctor pulls it out, he wants to know who shot it (arguing the existence of God), where the arrow came from (where the universe and/or God came from) why that person shot it (why God created the universe), etc. If the man keeps asking these questions before the arrow is pulled out, the Buddha reasoned, he will die before he gets the answers.
undertheice
Well-Known Member
this is the essence of mankind's insanity. while the questions may make for a pleasant pastime, the demand for an answer is sheer foolishness and a sure path to anguish.
the joy of such questions is in the road down which they lead you, each new discovery posing more riddles than answers. while science revels in the journey, religion presupposes a destination and ignores the excursion entirely. it seems such a waste of man's faculties.
shnkrmn
Well-Known Member
Thanks for posting, Ice. I'm not clear which path you believe to be a waste of man's faculties; science or religion? For many, the search for ultimate answers is what gives their lives meaning. For others, the acceptance of received or revealed truth fulfills the same need.
The Buddha taught that all existence is an illusion and so, I suppose, he felt concentrating on understanding the material world was a waste of time outside of what he called the Four Noble Truths; that mankind's existence is marked by suffering; that suffering is caused by desire; that the end of desire will end suffering; and that the way to end desire is to follow the Eight-Fold Path. He believes all beings, humans, gods, animals, were subject to these laws and were equally trapped in the illusory world of existence.
The Buddha taught that all existence is an illusion and so, I suppose, he felt concentrating on understanding the material world was a waste of time outside of what he called the Four Noble Truths; that mankind's existence is marked by suffering; that suffering is caused by desire; that the end of desire will end suffering; and that the way to end desire is to follow the Eight-Fold Path. He believes all beings, humans, gods, animals, were subject to these laws and were equally trapped in the illusory world of existence.
undertheice
Well-Known Member
it's the search that really matters, to my mind, and not necessarily the answer, especially one as unreachable as our reason for existence. while science's search has a meaning all its own, the answers handed out by religion seem to be meaningless for the lack of effort in attaining them.
where religion teaches blind belief, science demands a constant testing of the bounds of reality. existence may or may not be illusory, but it is what we are experiencing now. it would seem a better use of that experience to question, as we are prone to do, than to merely accept.