RE: A Possible Explanation for the Big Bang...
Wow there is so much here. Bravo!
I as well follow the line of thinking that all physical manifestation first begins as thought. This is explained thoroughly in the Hermetic text the Kybalion as the Principle of Mentalism.
"THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental." — The Kybalion.
http://www.kybalion.org/kybalion.php?chapter=II
You bring up an interesting point about the ego being another name for the devil. That very well could be the case and the reason he is depicted as grotesque is to show his inner nature. The meaning of the word Satan is "The great adversary"... and if you think about any movie that you have seen (especially martial art movies)... who is your greatest adversary? Yourself!!! Your ego, your wants, desires that all come from physicality and tie you to this place through attachment. When you learn to master your ego, that will mark the beginning of you learning how to master yourself. Some people stop there... but that is only the beginning!
Well said and good point you brought up! :)
There is a saying in Zen Buddhism (as well as other places). that says "When a student is ready, a teacher will appear". That is very true and I know it to be true through personal experience (gnosis). So as long as we do the bare minimum to at least be open to this information, a whole new world opens up for you.
Great post! Very insightful. Keep up the good work!
Thanks again @dividebyzero. Moving forward I want to continue to post useful and thought provoking conversation, but I may need to slim them back just a touch ;-) There is a lot of thought contained in that recent post - some of which I believe the human race is becoming brave enough to ask and ponder.
Until recently I would never have thought to think of the ego as another name for the devil. However when you realize that the ego is what constantly tries to keep your focus on materialistic world views, how others feel about you, what “image” you portray, etc. - not to mention all the “self-talk” and temptation to deviate back to dependency on the physicality of life - it paints an interesting perspective. Could the ego be what keeps an individual in “Hell?” - physical world? Simply stated - away from truth or God...what we really are? Amazing to consider in my opinion...
I love Eckhart Tolle. His readings are what first brought the awareness of the ego and the “present moment” to my awareness. “The Power of Now” was a life changing read for me.
I’ll check into some of the suggestions you made in your comments to my post. I’m always looking for ways to further expand my understanding and perspectives. Thank you for commenting and for sharing some further helpful insight.
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I'm Jeffrey by the way. Yeah that is a good idea. It does take some time to digest all that so breaking it up might be easier on the reader, but still good stuff all the way.
In my opinion, the ego is actually useful and allows us to experience individuality and separation from each other and from God, just enough to experience separation but not truly be separated. The problem comes in when ego thinks it runs the show instead of just being a tool (albeit an important one) in the toolbox. So we need to have the understanding of what it is and what it is not and what it's proper role is.
A powerful exercise to ask people is "Who are you?"... most will reply with their name or their occupation or their a father or wife, etc. You keep asking until they start looking deeper and deeper beyond their ego. My answer to this question is that:
So to your point, I don't think it's ego that keeps us in Hell... but unchecked, unbalanced, rampant ego is what keeps us in Hell. What's your thoughts concerning that?
You are most welcome for the comments, keep writing cool stuff! :)
I completely agree about the ego. It only hurts us if we allow it to. The ability to grow and step back to observe it is important. That is the difference rather than instinctively reacting to the spontaneous ego. There is no doubt it is a learning device; one that benefits us once we know how to observe it and differentiate ourselves from it. It doesn’t always have to be bad. That’s where the learning and spiritual growth begins in my opinion.
I’ve started listening to Mark Passio now. I’m two shows into his 200 episodes / podcasts. It’s the first time I’ve heard the term “solipsism.” So far I like where he’s going. Hard to imagine it was 2010 when he first started. His first few shows are like the old public access radio stuff - but good! Thanks for the suggestion...
And I’m Ken; in this life...or rather I’m the spirit / soul of that identifies as the physical body known as “Ken.” Nice to continue these conversations with you Jeffrey.
So awesome that you started listening to Passio! He is honestly one of the best teachers I have ever had. He will take you really far down the rabbit hole... haha so be prepared. The quality of the audio gets better after 20 or so if I remember correctly. I think I mentioned it before but I went through all his material and it took me almost two years because he has so much of it. But I had to take some breaks because it did start affecting me emotionally. but after a week or so I was good again to keep drinking from the fire hose lol.
Yeah solipsism is people being their own arbiters of truth and anything outside of their own mind is unknowable. Seems to conflict pretty strongly with those who value objectivity reality and objective truth. I think his position on solipsism makes sense. I agree with the vast majority of his work, but there are a few things I don't. Not much.. but there are a thing or two.
Overall, the biggest things that I learned was how much I still had to learn so it was very exciting to get introduced to a lot of these topics and then you can do deep dives on the things you want to learn the most about.
Likewise, soul that is currently occupying "Ken's" vessel :) You cracked me up with that, but you are totally correct!