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There are dogmatic forms of religion and non-dogmatic forms. The mystics of various religious affiliation sought a direct experience of the transcendent realit

There are dogmatic forms of religion and non-dogmatic forms. The mystics of various religious affiliation sought a direct experience of the transcendent reality, which as an experience itself is beyond dogma (though dogma could play a role in the experience's interpretation).

hypertele-Xii 5y ago
Oh I've seen a lot of loops and asked a lot of questions about them. In one particular instance I had logically concluded myself into an extratemporal nihilism, where I forgot that time exists, therefore everything was meaningless. It ended when my friends reminded me that time indeed exists and everything will pass, including this momentary infinity. Your mind is, literally at the biological level, a bunch of loops for electricity to flow through. It's not like your mind channels energy to get rid of it? It's more efficient to hold onto energy, and you need a loop for that to maintain continuous function. Don't mistake the spiral for a loop. It only appears to go around in circles because you're a lesser-dimensional being looking at it from a flat plane. Stars don't have stable orbits, they follow a straight line through warped spacetime. We also travel forwards in time. Everywhere is a point of no return because no place is exactly the same when returned to. Time is change. Evolution is an inevitable phenomena of some law of physics we might as well call God. Nature, like God, is mysterious. The more we learn, the less we know we know. Knowing anything, even a load of nothing, calms the mind. Asking questions is the surest way to engage a brain. Asking difficult questions is like discovering labyrinths. Yes, they're confusing to navigate. Yes, there be monsters. But also, loot and enlightenment. It turns out there's a bit of truth in everything and a byte of lies to chew through to get to the good stuff. Nature protects its bounty. You have teeth for a reason. Brush them and smile. You're God. love expands life life expands consciousness consciousness is vital to space travel travel, without moving.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Helloyello 5y ago
alexashka 5y ago
If you remove the dogma - what do you have left of religion, exactly? The two are inseparable.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "If you remove the dogma - what do you have left of religion, exactly?" If you'd ever had a mystical experience, you wouldn't need to ask that question. Many have argued that mystical experiences were at the core of every major religion, and it was when people stopped having these experiences that dogma accreted.
  - sweuder 5y ago
    What is a mystical experience then? I would suppose that it went something like: 1. Person sees/experiences something interesting/abnormal/rare 2. Can't figure out how to explain what happened 3. Attributes experience to god/religion Once we started filling in that middle bit there was less around that could only be attributed to religion so it lost a lot of its draw. Now that we are closer to a state where we can attribute most things to nature/science/etc religion does seem to be left with mostly dogma.
  - alexashka 5y ago
    > If you'd ever had a mystical experience, you wouldn't need to ask that question. Please speak for yourself. > Many have argued... Many have argued that slaves are totally fine and that we ought to continue having them. Or that burning witches works. So what? That's not an argument for or against anything - it is at best entertaining trivia to bring up at cocktail hour.
- namlem 5y ago
  That's a very limited view of religion. Think of religions as frameworks for interpreting the world. You don't need dogma to be an effective framework. Plus, not all religions are dogmatic, in fact most aren't. The Abrahamic faiths are the exceptions, not the rule.

hypertele-Xii 5y ago

Oh I've seen a lot of loops and asked a lot of questions about them. In one particular instance I had logically concluded myself into an extratemporal nihilism, where I forgot that time exists, therefore everything was meaningless. It ended when my friends reminded me that time indeed exists and everything will pass, including this momentary infinity. Your mind is, literally at the biological level, a bunch of loops for electricity to flow through. It's not like your mind channels energy to get rid of it? It's more efficient to hold onto energy, and you need a loop for that to maintain continuous function. Don't mistake the spiral for a loop. It only appears to go around in circles because you're a lesser-dimensional being looking at it from a flat plane. Stars don't have stable orbits, they follow a straight line through warped spacetime. We also travel forwards in time. Everywhere is a point of no return because no place is exactly the same when returned to. Time is change. Evolution is an inevitable phenomena of some law of physics we might as well call God. Nature, like God, is mysterious. The more we learn, the less we know we know. Knowing anything, even a load of nothing, calms the mind. Asking questions is the surest way to engage a brain. Asking difficult questions is like discovering labyrinths. Yes, they're confusing to navigate. Yes, there be monsters. But also, loot and enlightenment. It turns out there's a bit of truth in everything and a byte of lies to chew through to get to the good stuff. Nature protects its bounty. You have teeth for a reason. Brush them and smile. You're God. love expands life life expands consciousness consciousness is vital to space travel travel, without moving.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Helloyello 5y ago

alexashka 5y ago

If you remove the dogma - what do you have left of religion, exactly? The two are inseparable.

pmoriarty 5y ago
"If you remove the dogma - what do you have left of religion, exactly?" If you'd ever had a mystical experience, you wouldn't need to ask that question. Many have argued that mystical experiences were at the core of every major religion, and it was when people stopped having these experiences that dogma accreted.
- sweuder 5y ago
  What is a mystical experience then? I would suppose that it went something like: 1. Person sees/experiences something interesting/abnormal/rare 2. Can't figure out how to explain what happened 3. Attributes experience to god/religion Once we started filling in that middle bit there was less around that could only be attributed to religion so it lost a lot of its draw. Now that we are closer to a state where we can attribute most things to nature/science/etc religion does seem to be left with mostly dogma.
- alexashka 5y ago
  > If you'd ever had a mystical experience, you wouldn't need to ask that question. Please speak for yourself. > Many have argued... Many have argued that slaves are totally fine and that we ought to continue having them. Or that burning witches works. So what? That's not an argument for or against anything - it is at best entertaining trivia to bring up at cocktail hour.
namlem 5y ago
That's a very limited view of religion. Think of religions as frameworks for interpreting the world. You don't need dogma to be an effective framework. Plus, not all religions are dogmatic, in fact most aren't. The Abrahamic faiths are the exceptions, not the rule.