Grateful Dead

couldn't have said it better, myself. "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." - Ken Kesey

Nobody asked you to accept anything. You are welcome to believe and accept what you chose to, that has been the main gist of this thread so far lately. We are just discussing here. BUT calling other peoples' thoughts and writings "bullshit" because they are different, is uncool. The Gnostic Gospels exist, and actually pre-date what are now accepted by the church as the "true" gospels. Could argue that the 4 gospels coincide due to collaboration, and time going by before they were written. Just because something is widely "accepted" does not necessarily make it true. Am sure that you accept that the world is round, which was thought to be "bullshit" at one point in time. And am not arguing with you here because I necessarily believe in the Gnostic or ANY gospels, for that matter, but because you used to word "bullshit" about the collection. Is one of the dangers of religion that bugs me-aggressive reactions to thoughts, ideas and writings that are not widely-accepted ********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens

hey, little bri, thanks for your thoughtful comments on my post. It always gives us a chance to be more clear, when someone actually listens to us and engages our thought. You said: [ The intelligence to me is not God. If there was a God that created life on earth, who created God? ] Yeah. Maybe I can be more clear. To me God is just the word "good" in German. It's just another word like, spirit or mind, to refer to reality. I reject all other meanings for myself. So, i could of said, "that intelligence, i call it 'good', And noone else has to agree with me, that's just what i call it. And for me, Intelligence or "good", definitely didn't create life on earth, cause that would mean he/she created something finite and mortal, and that would just wreck everything. For me, God didn't make us as mortals, he/she made us as immortals. It's us who agree to see ourselves as mortals, which i definitely don't recommend. So, for me, there is just one Truth, with lots of words to refer to it, the most charged being God. But it's just a word that means good, to indicate that this intelligence is 100% good. So, then, what do we do with all this sense information indicating otherwise. I treat all that as delusion, hallucination. To me, any sense that Life (eternal, infinite, immortal) could be in ,or inhabit a body (mortal, finite), is impossible. But liitle bri, i don't mean you or anyone else has to agree with me. i love where you're at in your thought, and how you listened and responded. In my thought, the light is ALWAYS shining, and God will never be on my side or anyone's side, we have to be on God's side, or on the side of good. with all respect for your views- andy

around the valley of the scum here, say" Imagine No Religion"!............ seems i've heard that before somewhere! but hey, can't we all just get along? oh yeah, thats what religion is about........... isn't it? peace4all, imagine!

You might not believe in GodBut that makes you the one that's odd It's not uncommon, in your youth To search for answers and for Truth My friend before you were born We'd been to Dead shows, had hearts torn And we've all searched to find a way To try and make it, one more day Unless you die early, you'll find pain That turns the sunshine all to rain Will you deny, or will you pray When death comes and takes it all away So if you ever can believe There's more to life than we can see I hope you'll get down on your knees And thank the one who sets you free

I've been reading the Gospels for 15 years and I'm quite comfortable with whatever there is within the 4 accepted ones. If they all said exactly the same thing I would "not" believe them. The teachings of Jesus are close enough considering how long they were written after he died for us. The real discrepancies only occur when the gnostic gospels come into the picture. So don't tell me I need to accept whatever bullshit comes along just because it had Jesus name in it. Love ya.

we are allowing oursevles to have a religious experience no matter where we are". I am soooo digging that, littlebri. Your who created God question is reminding me of the chicken and the egg question quite alot. You have said in a few short sentences, a very concise summing up of vague thought have had inside for years. And agree with you that intelligence is less "God" and perhaps even quite the opposite of what you said about religion being when we feel invincible (brilliantly said, btw). Kinda suspect that the word God is a belief for when we do NOT feel invincible, but kinda small and helpless. But have to think about it more, again just a first thing in the morning-brain half awake gut-inspired response. ********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens

The intelligence to me is not God. If there was a God that created life on earth, who created God? Reality is not nothing, but rather, another thought or an idea. It just takes a pair of open eyes and an open heart to see this reality, and you portrayed that very well. Everything is interconnected and if we have an open mind and an open heart we are allowing ourselves to have a religious experience no matter where we are. Religion is just a belief, and this belief, in my opinion, is centered around the ideas that we have and the emotion that embraces a moment in time when we feel invincible. ~littlebri

Alright! Hal R-sounds good to me-I also liked "Mr. Natural" created by Robert Crumb, the cartoonist.......Sounds very Native American, which their ancestral religion has always been interesting to me & made way more sense than any other organized religion. Besides which being the best envionmentalist........."gotta go now".....ps-The Ice Cream Kid-one of my all time faves! Gypsy Cowgirl

Swiming naked in a mountain lake is my kind of praying and Dark Star is my kind of hymn, Zippy is my kind of preacher and nature is my father and mother and the holy spirit is art and the son is the peace and love that comes through this and happy trails are grate but sometimes there are rattlesnakes on them and then you may just bump into a friend there that you haven't seen in a long time because you both love the same wilderness. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake