Does anyone want to receive Spiritual Enlightenment?

[ParkourMarkus]

Why would "God" even have anything to do with an idea like "effect"? The idea of an effect is a human one to explain a finite phenomenon, which has nothing to do with any so called "god" I would imagine.

 

[Beefbisquit]

Besides creating the universe we exist in, I think gods have little to no effect on our existence anyways , unless you see some traditional shaman and drink some ayahuasca, or something of that other worldly nature. I'd be skeptical of the aliens because according to the crazy abductees, a lot of them are not nice lol.

Just trying to make you realize that the belief of it being impossible to know if gods exist is just that, a belief, idea, opinion, nothing more, and Im gunna bug ya about it every time you try to express that belief as absolute truth

Unless god were to show itself or provide demonstrable proof, it would be virtually impossible to know of its existence. Can you search everywhere in existence simultaneously? I sure can't, and unless you can, it's impossible to know if god exists.

Gods and non-existent things share so many properties, that without being some form of 'Laplacian demon', (arguably a god himself) you don't possess the abilities to show that invisible/immaterial things, or things in other dimensions, exist.

 

[Chief Walkin Eagle]

Unless god were to show itself or provide demonstrable proof, it would be virtually impossible to know of its existence. Can you search everywhere in existence simultaneously? I sure can't, and unless you can, it's impossible to know if god exists.

Gods and non-existent things share so many properties, that without being some form of 'Laplacian demon', (arguably a god himself) you don't possess the abilities to show that invisible/immaterial things, or things in other dimensions, exist.

Cool opinion man.

Of course I dont have the abilities to show that Gods exist, thats silly, its not my motivation to do that. Though it seems when skeptics get questioned about their core beliefs, the answers you guys provide just have to be the truth and you vigorously try to force it onto theists that you guys so obviously look down upon. "Its impossible to know if god exists... Astral projection is just a diluted form of lucid dreaming... You didnt see a ghost!". If you put "I think" in front of each of those statements then it would be cool. You accuse us of being egotistic and arrogant about our beliefs yet its you guys who strut around like you found the holy grail, the secrets to the universe, the truth that every man, woman, and child should know. Its silly.

I got a feeling a band is getting together to once again play "The song that never ends". I dunno if I feel like clapping my hands to the tune this time, its all sooo repetitive .

 

[Aceking131]

What if when you realize the meaning of life, you die

 

[Chief Walkin Eagle]

What if when you realize the meaning of life, you die

You mean after you die?

I dont think the meaning of life is a divine secret. Just learn to love life and the people in it. Always try to seek to improve yourself.

Joe has a nice way of putting things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAeQg_RomNo

 

[tyler.durden]

Cool opinion man.

Of course I dont have the abilities to show that Gods exist, thats silly, its not my motivation to do that.

Well, you used to try to prove supernatural claims to others here, but I think you've learned there's no way to do that...

Though it seems when skeptics get questioned about their core beliefs, the answers you guys provide just have to be the truth and you vigorously try to force it onto theists that you guys so obviously look down upon.

It seems to me that the skeptics are rarely asked about, or offer, their core beliefs. Instead they are often busy dissecting outrageous claims made by others to see if they hold any merit. Most often, these claims fall apart after only cursory questioning, and the skeptics are then accused of being assholes, close-minded, ignorant, or arrogant. The lines of thought from these skeptics are usually based on logic, reason and critical thinking, and the information put forth is based on the most current scientific understanding (as opposed to 'truth'). I rarely see them look down upon theists: they may look down on their unsupportable beliefs or childish behavior, but that's not about the person themselves...

"Its impossible to know if god exists... Astral projection is just a diluted form of lucid dreaming... You didnt see a ghost!". If you put "I think" in front of each of those statements then it would be cool.

"It's impossible to know if god exists" is out of context, it was in conjunction with, "Unless god were to show itself or provide demonstrable proof." Astral projection and ghosts have been seriously investigated, and each time there was no evidence that there was any merit to either phenomena. That's not to say it's impossible for these things to exist, it's just their existence has never been demonstrated. It's not that some 'think' they haven't been demonstrated to exist, they actually haven't...

You accuse us of being egotistic and arrogant about our beliefs yet its you guys who strut around like you found the holy grail, the secrets to the universe, the truth that every man, woman, and child should know. Its silly.

It seems that they are saying the opposite: that humanity hasn't found the holy grail or the secrets to the universe, and that includes the folks claiming they have (found gods, secret knowledge, special powers, reading minds, or anything supernatural). Most people with access to modern knowledge should know that we haven't yet found these things, as opposed to deluding themselves that we have. We can only make rapid progress when we admit the current limits of knowledge: how can we get where we want to go if we don't know where we are?

I got a feeling a band is getting together to once again play "The song that never ends". I dunno if I feel like clapping my hands to the tune this time, its all sooo repetitive .

The tune is a duet, they couldn't sing it without your participation...

 

[Beefbisquit]

• You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to tyler.durden again.
  
  
  
  

Saved me a response, my man.

 

[Chief Walkin Eagle]

Well, you used to try to prove supernatural claims to others here, but I think you've learned there's no way to do that...



It seems to me that the skeptics are rarely asked about, or offer, their core beliefs. Instead they are often busy dissecting outrageous claims made by others to see if they hold any merit. Most often, these claims fall apart after only cursory questioning, and the skeptics are then accused of being assholes, close-minded, ignorant, or arrogant. The lines of thought from these skeptics are usually based on logic, reason and critical thinking, and the information put forth is based on the most current scientific understanding (as opposed to 'truth'). I rarely see them look down upon theists: they may look down on their unsupportable beliefs or childish behavior, but that's not about the person themselves...



"It's impossible to know if god exists" is out of context, it was in conjunction with, "Unless god were to show itself or provide demonstrable proof." Astral projection and ghosts have been seriously investigated, and each time there was no evidence that there was any merit to either phenomena. That's not to say it's impossible for these things to exist, it's just their existence has never been demonstrated. It's not that some 'think' they haven't been demonstrated to exist, they actually haven't...



It seems that they are saying the opposite: that humanity hasn't found the holy grail or the secrets to the universe, and that includes the folks claiming they have (found gods, secret knowledge, special powers, reading minds, or anything supernatural). Most people with access to modern knowledge should know that we haven't yet found these things, as opposed to deluding themselves that we have. We can only make rapid progress when we admit the current limits of knowledge: how can we get where we want to go if we don't know where we are?



The tune is a duet, they couldn't sing it without your participation...

I know its a duet, Im the clapper, and phew! I was afraid I was gunna start clapping again to the repetitive tune of "science doesnt know, so neither do you".

This discussion started because I wanted Z to accept his idea for what it is, an idea. Can you entertain the idea that its possible to know if Gods/souls/the after life exists without using the scientific method? Things like these have been demonstrated to people through experiences, and I guess its still subjective even if a large number of people get positive, consistent results. Please save me the "fallible mind" lecture and everything that goes with it, I think thats drilled into everyones heads by now...

When I said you guys act like you know the secrets to the universe, I meant you act like you found the absolute truth that there is no truth because science has yet to reach that far. You guys say theres no such thing as certainty yet you are certain that these "supernatural" things can only be proven with science.

I think its impossible to reply to this without regurgitating the "fallible mind" talk once more lol.

 

[Beefbisquit]

God could reveal himself to you, personally - but that's not evidence, it's personal revelation. If God(s) exists in a literal, physical, tangible sense, then there should be some way to test for something. Now, whether we'll ever know how to perform that test is another matter not worth speculating on, but things that exist have some root in reality or else they are completely indistinguishable from the nonexistent, and should be treated as such.

 

[Heisenberg]

I know its a duet, Im the clapper, and phew! I was afraid I was gunna start clapping again to the repetitive tune of "science doesnt know, so neither do you".

This discussion started because I wanted Z to accept his idea for what it is, an idea. Can you entertain the idea that its possible to know if Gods/souls/the after life exists without using the scientific method? Things like these have been demonstrated to people through experiences, and I guess its still subjective even if a large number of people get positive, consistent results. Please save me the "fallible mind" lecture and everything that goes with it, I think thats drilled into everyones heads by now...

When I said you guys act like you know the secrets to the universe, I meant you act like you found the absolute truth that there is no truth because science has yet to reach that far. You guys say theres no such thing as certainty yet you are certain that these "supernatural" things can only be proven with science.

I think its impossible to reply to this without regurgitating the "fallible mind" talk once more lol.

I'm disappointed that you don't remember the next verse. The same personal demonstration that tells us ghosts and gods exist also leads us to believe in alien abduction, sea hags, mummies, demonic possession, thetans, fairies, gremlins, subliminal advertising, unicorns, mermaids, Mormonism, leprechauns, time travel, psychic surgery, evil eye, homunculi, automatic writing, feng shui, orgone energy, palmistry, phrenology, shadow people, ley lines, electro-sensitivity, auras, chakras, spirit-animal guides, GMO and vaccines causing autism, akashic record, zombies, medical intuitives, Bigfoot army, vitalism, body snatchers, angel therapy, werewolves, astrology, karma, dowsing, graphology, neuro-linguistic programming, past-life regression, biorhythms, ghost trains, ghost ships, ghost cars, voodoo, facilitated communication, law of attraction, crystal power, meridian points, dianetics and that Oprah is a good talkshow host.

What criteria do you recommend we use to distinguish among all the different beliefs that can be demonstrated by personal experience? Or are they all equally valid?

 

[New Age United]

I said very similar things earlier in this thread. Prepared to be ignored.

I chuckle when I read that he thinks general relativity is intuitive. It is IMO decidedly NOT intuitive, which is why it took someone with the genius of Einstein to break through. Even knowing all I do about relativity, it still is highly non-intuitive. Who would have thought that just by moving through space, we are also changing the speed of our personal clocks? NAU might believe it is intuitive to him NOW, but I would suspect had he not first gone through the process of LEARNING, that it would not be so intuitive. How about the fact that gravitation is really just a pseudo-force, much like centrifugal force, and not a primary force of nature? Black holes, a direct consequence of relativity, is so non-intuitive that many scientists doubted they could actually exist in nature until one was found. And now we find out that the entire universe is filled with them and virtually every galaxy has one at its center. Now if he can still say this is all intuitive, I will just say bullshit and put him on ignore.

"Mindphuck", seriously buddy I am fucking with you, I understand what you are saying, I understand your understanding, but we have two very different views on Intuition thats all, and I will always keep societies notion in mind but I will never change mine bc it does serve me quite well. It is not simple, and it takes a lot of deduction and inference to understand it, it would not have been possible to derive it from Intuition alone.

 

[New Age United]

I am not traditionally educated. I have a high school GED. I am an autodidact. To the bolded: You seem to be confusing genuine ignorance with willful ignorance. Not having a formal education is no excuse for only exposing yourself to that knowledge which is advantageous to your preconceived ideas. A few posts ago you claimed you understood relativity just fine and considered it simple, now you say here that you have only learned what you wanted, and it's natural to spend a lifetime studying it without understanding it. Something is wrong if you can contradict yourself so easily in the span of two posts. You need to work on either your thinking skills, or your communication skills, because you appear to be saying random things without consistency, aka talking out of your ass.

Ego in bold, pointless, but hey I do it too, I just try to keep it out of this stuff. It's not that I am purposely ignoring it, it's just that I've read so much material that I want to kind of take a break and collect my thoughts, I actually did take a look at string theory and quantum loop gravity and I have to say that I highly prefer QLG, that is what I am going to devote my attention to next. I know I am saying things without consistency, I do that purposely to show what I mean by Intuition. "It is your Intuition that recognizes the counter-intuitive, it is your Intuition that knows to go beyond the Paradox and seek the Truth", there is a reason I have kept capitalizing Paradox, to catch your "Attention", the Knowing faculty of your mind(Intuition)This is a counter-intuitive, this is not logical, a paradox and a counter-intuitive are not synonamous, a counter-intuitive is broken logic, there is either a flaw there that needs to be corrected or it needs to be recognized as false. A paradox is something that seems to be counter-intuitive but actually contains an element of truth, it is a counter-intuitive that is intuitive, a paradox in itself.

It is your intuition that recognizes the flaw in logic, it is your intuition that recognizes the truth in a paradox, it is your intuition that knows it has arrived at the truth in anything you are trying to grasp, it is the key to all understanding, it is the Knowing faculty of your mind, it is what Plato referred to as a devine insight, you are that divinity, you are the insightful one, the Knower, the one who understands.

But as pointed out, intuition doesn't know when it has arrived at truth. Intuition tells us the earth is flat and it stops there. Watching the sun rise and set everyday, the intuitive mind tells us that it revolves around us. Intuition is happy to never look beyond this "truth" until the addition of careful observation. Your definition of intuition fails to account for an obvious property of intuition, that it is often wrong. When previously confronted with this fact you performed cognitive acrobatics to get around it, similar to this below.

The sun revolves around the Earth, this is actually counter-intuivive, it is not logical to our understanding of the universe, at one time it was completely intuitive, so yes it most certainly can be wrong, it is only as good as the knowledge your mind contains.

Earlier you implied that intuition and insight were the same thing. Here you admit that intuition happens all the time, while insight is fleeting. You state this in a way that seems completely unaware that you just said something different a few minutes ago, which seems to be a theme with you.

I do not ever recall saying that intuition happens all the time, there is a faculty of Knowing that is Aware all of the time, but Intuition is only necessary in the process of thinking. Believe it or not it actually is possible to stop thinking, it takes a lot of Awareness. Think outside the box, did you ever think that maybe the box was logic itself, now I am not saying here that we should just throw away all of our knowledge, but somethings cannot be conveyed through logic, some things can only be conveyed through expression, Homer, Shakespeare, they were genius' of expressing that which is beyond logic, the metaphysical, if you ignore the metaphysical aspect of life, you are being willfully ignorant.

I see you use this disclaimer often. The idea that if your arguments, which you took the time to share, aren't good enough then that's fine. If you are satisfied with faulty arguments and misconception then why should anyone else listen to you? How do you expect to teach other people stuff when everything you know is tailored to you? When you decide to keep understandings because they serve you quite well, you also decide to give up any value those understandings can have to other people.

I am trying to convey this to the best of my ability, both logically through Philosophy and metaphysically through Spirituality, some people do see what I am saying quite clearly, and that is why I take the time to share my views and opinions, some people refute it, and that is fine by me I am not trying to force anything on anybody, but keep in mind that I am not the only one with a rock hard shell. I can only give you my opinions, I can only let you find Truth and understanding for your self, and I wouldn't want it any other way, I would never want people to simply accept what I am saying, that is not true Enlightenment, if you are to understand anything, you must find that understanding for your self.

So the wisdom you want to share with others is only valuable to those who are not intelligent? You seem to be suggesting that fantasy is fine for those dumb enough to find comfort in it.

Enlightenment is not an ideal to be strived for, that is not authentic at all, it is simply something to be realized, to be understood, to understand yourself and the world in which you live, if you feel you have a good enough understanding then I have no need of sharing anything with you, I can see the genius in everyone, and I can reveal that genius to some, some are already there, and I can tell by your intellect that you are already Enlightened, you have given me more wisdom than I have given you, I am always learning, if we do not evolve our certainties they will become prejudices or superstitions, trust me I took that to Heart. It is not fantasy, it is a very simple reality, to just open your eyes and live in Paradise, some people prefer the darkness.

I am, that I am, and I am in Paradise “only the sensual is unquestionably certain, as clear as the sun" Hegal

For everything else I must trust my Intuition to tell me what is Truth and what is not, and I do, absolutely, now don't get me wrong, I do not throw caution to the wind and neglect deductive reasoning and inference, it is the Knowing faculty of the mind, it is what allows me to understand the world, and I am well aware that Intuition can be wrong, it is only as good as the knowledge your mind contains, which is exactly why I never stop learning.

“By intuition I do not mean belief in the uncertain testimony of the senses or the deceptive judgment of the disordered imagination, but the conception of a clear and attentive mind so simple and distinct that we feel no doubt about what we are thinking. Or, what is the same thing, the firm conception of a clear and attentive mind, engendered only by the natural light of reason and which, thanks to its simplicity, is more reliable than deduction itself” Descartes

Think outside the box, you do not have to go by dictionaries and encyclopedias, that is what Philosophy is all about, that is what Enlightenment is all about, finding your own understanding, trusting your own intuition, your own reasoning, in order to understand the world we must be knowlegable in the worlds understanding, but that does not mean we have to conform.

 

[Beefbisquit]

Ego in bold, pointless, but hey I do it too, I just try to keep it out of this stuff. It's not that I am purposely ignoring it, it's just that I've read so much material that I want to kind of take a break and collect my thoughts, I actually did take a look at string theory and quantum loop gravity and I have to say that I highly prefer QLG, that is what I am going to devote my attention to next. I know I am saying things without consistency, I do that purposely to show what I mean by Intuition. "It is your Intuition that recognizes the counter-intuitive, it is your Intuition that knows to go beyond the Paradox and seek the Truth", there is a reason I have kept capitalizing Paradox, to catch your "Attention", the Knowing faculty of your mind(Intuition)This is a counter-intuitive, this is not logical, a paradox and a counter-intuitive are not synonamous, a counter-intuitive is broken logic, there is either a flaw there that needs to be corrected or it needs to be recognized as false. A paradox is something that seems to be counter-intuitive but actually contains an element of truth, it is a counter-intuitive that is intuitive, a paradox in itself.

I know you're not a fan of using words as they're actually defined, but counterintuitive is not a noun, it's an adjective.

It is your intuition that recognizes the flaw in logic, it is your intuition that recognizes the truth in a paradox, it is your intuition that knows it has arrived at the truth in anything you are trying to grasp, it is the key to all understanding, it is the Knowing faculty of your mind, it is what Plato referred to as a devine insight, you are that divinity, you are the insightful one, the Knower, the one who understands.

The sun revolves around the Earth, this is actually counter-intuivive, it is not logical to our understanding of the universe, at one time it was completely intuitive, so yes it most certainly can be wrong, it is only as good as the knowledge your mind contains.

"The sun revolves around the earth" is completely intuitive. Without careful observation and analysis there is no way to intuitively know that the opposite is actually true. There is literally zero intuition required.

I do not ever recall saying that intuition happens all the time, there is a faculty of Knowing that is Aware all of the time, but Intuition is only necessary in the process of thinking. Believe it or not it actually is possible to stop thinking, it takes a lot of Awareness. Think outside the box, did you ever think that maybe the box was logic itself, now I am not saying here that we should just throw away all of our knowledge, but somethings cannot be conveyed through logic, some things can only be conveyed through expression, Homer, Shakespeare, they were genius' of expressing that which is beyond logic, the metaphysical, if you ignore the metaphysical aspect of life, you are being willfully ignorant.

Metaphysics? Metaphysics is like trying to fuck a hot girl on a TV set.... you get all hot and bothered watching her, thinking about what amazing things you could do with her, but when you try to have some form of physical contact or interaction with her you end up really disappointed, with a bottle of hand moisturizer.

That's to say, metaphysics are great to discuss and can be very though provoking, but that's as far as they go because we have absolutely zero way of testing any metaphysical premise. Otherwise, they'd be physical.

You've clearly never studied metaphysics in much detail, otherwise you would already know how un-intuitive some metaphysical concepts really are.

I am trying to convey this to the best of my ability, both logically through Philosophy and metaphysically through Spirituality, some people do see what I am saying quite clearly, and that is why I take the time to share my views and opinions, some people refute it, and that is fine by me I am not trying to force anything on anybody, but keep in mind that I am not the only one with a rock hard shell. I can only give you my opinions, I can only let you find Truth and understanding for your self, and I wouldn't want it any other way, I would never want people to simply accept what I am saying, that is not true Enlightenment, if you are to understand anything, you must find that understanding for your self.


Enlightenment is not an ideal to be strived for, that is not authentic at all, it is simply something to be realized, to be understood, to understand yourself and the world in which you live, if you feel you have a good enough understanding then I have no need of sharing anything with you, I can see the genius in everyone, and I can reveal that genius to some, some are already there, and I can tell by your intellect that you are already Enlightened, you have given me more wisdom than I have given you, I am always learning, if we do not evolve our certainties they will become prejudices or superstitions, trust me I took that to Heart. It is not fantasy, it is a very simple reality, to just open your eyes and live in Paradise, some people prefer the darkness.

I am, that I am, and I am in Paradise “only the sensual is unquestionably certain, as clear as the sun" Hegal

For everything else I must trust my Intuition to tell me what is Truth and what is not, and I do, absolutely, now don't get me wrong, I do not throw caution to the wind and neglect deductive reasoning and inference, it is the Knowing faculty of the mind, it is what allows me to understand the world, and I am well aware that Intuition can be wrong, it is only as good as the knowledge your mind contains, which is exactly why I never stop learning.

“By intuition I do not mean belief in the uncertain testimony of the senses or the deceptive judgment of the disordered imagination, but the conception of a clear and attentive mind so simple and distinct that we feel no doubt about what we are thinking. Or, what is the same thing, the firm conception of a clear and attentive mind, engendered only by the natural light of reason and which, thanks to its simplicity, is more reliable than deduction itself” Descartes

Think outside the box, you do not have to go by dictionaries and encyclopedias, that is what Philosophy is all about, that is what Enlightenment is all about, finding your own understanding, trusting your own intuition, your own reasoning, in order to understand the world we must be knowlegable in the worlds understanding, but that does not mean we have to conform.

If by conforming, you mean accepting demonstrable evidence as true until otherwise shown, I guess I'm a conformist.

 

[mindphuk]

but we have two very different views on Intuition thats all, and I will always keep societies notion in mind but I will never change mine bc it does serve me quite well

This just tells me that you are using the word intuition as a placeholder for another word for a concept you have in mind but does not have a word for it. This is an improper use of words. The only way that words (and hence your posts) can mean something to other readers is if we are all in agreement on a definition. We don't need a dictionary but we do need accession.

 

[New Age United]

"The sun revolves around the earth" is completely intuitive. Without careful observation and analysis there is no way to intuitively know that the opposite is actually true. There is literally zero intuition required.

Metaphysics? Metaphysics is like trying to fuck a hot girl on a TV set.... you get all hot and bothered watching her, thinking about what amazing things you could do with her, but when you try to have some form of physical contact or interaction with her you end up really disappointed, with a bottle of hand moisturizer.

That's to say, metaphysics are great to discuss and can be very though provoking, but that's as far as they go because we have absolutely zero way of testing any metaphysical premise. Otherwise, they'd be physical.

You've clearly never studied metaphysics in much detail, otherwise you would already know how un-intuitive some metaphysical concepts really are.

If by conforming, you mean accepting demonstrable evidence as true until otherwise shown, I guess I'm a conformist.

I am going to take mindphuk's advice, I will have to adapt, by Intuitive I mean Understandable, Knowable, without that Knowing faculty nothing could be Known, nothing could be understood, I will just say logical or understandable from now on.

Lmfao!!!!!!, ok that's a Nihilist perspective, and I will never take on that perpective, but hey I respect that, but honestly if you need logic to understand Love/Hate, pain/pleasure, suffering/peace, then you will never understand what I mean by Paradise, the Earth itself, that is what it is to me, and if you do not agree then you do not agree. I actually use the term Spiritual Intuition for understanding the metaphysical, the mind, the ego, the Heart the Soul, I will have to find a way to convey this to the Nihilist persona, I realize that some people have absolutely no interest in Spirituality, I really don't know how to express it any other way. I have focused on the metaphysical and now I am going to focus on the physical, I will keep the Nihilist perspective in mind.

 

[New Age United]

in·tu·i·tion

/ˌint(y)o͞oˈiSHən/

Noun The ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. A thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.

How does your definition of intuition fit these already established definitions AND explain everything you've said? That's what you need to do, not just tell us a new definition of intuition (that we have no evidence for).

You need to show how you can explain everything, and I mean everything, about how intuition fits into psychology, neuroscience, etc. AS WELL AS how it explains everything you've described to us as well. That's what a new theory has to do, it needs to account for everything the old theory accounted for, as well as filling in all the gaps that it claims it's addressed.

I do understand exactly what you are saying, it's just that there is some great Truth expressed in Plato's definition, now I know that is way outdated, but that doesn't mean that the Truth he was trying to convey does not still hold true, this is where the ancient wisdom comes in. I do realize that my theory is no where near complete, I have to learn here, and I realize now the absolute importance of Physics, I think it will be a great tool for revealing the genius within to people, and that is the key to understanding, people have to trust there own Knowing and understanding, everyone is unique and that is absolutely vital, I am not trying to change anyone, just make life easier for them, it does help a lot of people, and I will try to understand the Nihilist perspective.

 

[New Age United]

https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-intuition-13238

"These definitions are very useful because they remind us that intuition need not refer to some magical process by which answers pop into our minds from thin air or from deep within the unconscious."

"On the contrary: intuitive decisions are often a product of previous intense and/or extensive explicit thinking. Such decisions may appear subjectively fast and effortless because they are made on the basis of recognition."

Yes most certainly Heis, the rational mind and pondering are absolutely vital, and Plato expresses this as well, it is the recognizing that's exactly it, it's not that you can just pull the truth or the understanding out of thin air, you have to be able to see the whole picture.

 

[New Age United]

I wonder, if those who are so certain of their beliefs, would allow an idea to entertain their minds at least for a second or two if some sort of alien came down and claimed another idea of truth... or would you bludgeon that off as nothing and wrong just as you do with every other idea that conflicts with your own mind... as we have offered you countless times?

I'm sorry Zaehet it's just that I do not believe in free will, it's as simple as that, and like I say I don't think anbody should take on a perspective that they don't want to, I can still take wisdom from free will, I still enact my own free will, I do not constantly say I have no free will, it just I realize that my own reasoning is the result of a previous effect, life is just cause and effect taking place to me, that is what makes it so effortless, there are some perspectives that I cherish, I have worked hard to gain them, and I won't just let them go, and I don't suggest you do either, we are each our own person, and I do know exactly what you mean by pretending, yes we all do it, we do pretend to be who want to be sometimes. If an alien came down and started speaking about Truth, all I would do is listen, but I would still trust what I know, I would not just throw it away bc this alien says I should, and neither should anyone.

 

[New Age United]

Like the belief that its impossible to know if god exists?

Strictly my opinion, I tried to understand a supreme being for years, and couldn't grasp the purpose, but I can not deny that there is a good amount of wisdom that can be taken from the idea of supreme being, and I can not deny the possibility that one does exist, but I hold no beliefs about a supreme being.

 

[New Age United]

...maybe part of the problem is that some folks would benefit from seeing that an explanation doesn't provide an answer. The answer is purely subjective and might only provide a sense of direction. It takes a sht load of work to get to the middle of it all...no one can do it for you.

That is exactly my point, thank you, you said it better than I could, I can only give you my opinions, and I can only take yours into consideration and I do, but we must find Truth and understanding for ourselves.