think that I would rather come back in another human body, but if people really believe in reincarnation they ought to think about working to ensure that humanity survives, or else they won't be able to come back at all, at least in this cycle of existence. — Jack Cummins

Exactly. For me the thought goes like this- There is life on other planets and that life depends on that planet, even the souls who have passed. Now if their planet dies, are they extinguished, or as a group of souls can they wander through space until they find another planet that will support their lives? I don't do well in science forums because my reading is not limited to science and my imagination is beyond science. In philosophy, we are not limited to saying something is so or not, but we can imagine and question if such a thing could be possible and if so what would that be like.

You partly understand me. What you have described are cultural differences, which are a mix of nationalism, propaganda and, yes, some of this is philosophically derived, sure. I didn't say ideas weren't important. I was simply referring to academic or the serious study of philosophy, which most people don't do and still manage to be good people. A simple observation of no particular worth. — Tom Storm

Okay, I agree that fortunately, we all tend to be good people. I think that is because like other animals we are social animals and we learn from each other and social pressure shapes us. And we also share cultural notions of what it means to be a good man and a good woman. The changes in our notions of how a government should function is blowing me away. I never thought the federal government should be held responsible for child care so mothers can work outside the home. In the past marriage was about family duties, and by law members of the family had to take care of each other. By law, in my state, women could not hold jobs unless they can take care of the family and do the job.

Families sent their young children to work in factories until there were laws preventing this. The parents took what the children earned and used that money as they saw fit, but wives who worked could keep what they earned. The government did not help anyone pay rent, or subsidize their need for food. Marriage was very important because it was very difficult for single parents to meet the needs of their children. It was never just a matter of law that made people care for each other and their children. Society expected proper behavior and social pressure usually got people to conform until we get to very cities where social pressure becomes less effective as we are strangers to each other.

But there is a possibility that America is heading that way. If it happened in China where people went from worshiping the emperor to worshiping Mao Zedong overnight then it can happen anywhere. Pulling down statues and cancelling history can perfectly well end in cancelling culture and cancelling freedom. It looks to me that a lot of people are going along with that and I don't see what will stop it unless as you say, we go back to educating people in the established culture. But that won't happen if the education system is controlled by people whose main goal in life is to cancel Western culture as soon as possible. — Apollodorus

Exactly! However, I do not think there is a goal to cancel Western culture. I think the purpose of education is defined by military and economic needs and the values set by the military and bankers are not family values.

When the US mobilized for the first world war, industry argued to close schools, saying the war caused a labor shortage and that they were not getting their money's worth because even after a young person was educated they still had to train them for the job. Teachers argued schools that made the young good citizens were also good for making them patriotic citizens and that education must replace the educated people who would be killed in the war, and indeed public education was used to mobilize the US for WWI and WWII.

And as national defense needs change so does education. As employers had to train new employees for the rapidly changing technology, so would any military branch have to train people. We were in a crisis as our young did not learn what was needed for the developing technology and we needed to train typists, record keepers, mechanics, etc as fast as possible! :gasp: Vocational training was added to education at this time, and as everyone knows the military technology of the second world war, specifically air warfare and the atom bomb, radically changed education again.

There is also the radical bureaucratic changes that changed education and culture. Military order needs people to obey authority. Prussian military-bureaucratic order applied to citizens brought an end to preparing everyone to be industrial and civic leaders. We tore down our national heroes who were examples of strong individuals who stepped into leadership positions, long before tearing down statues. With this change is a nanny government, subsidizing us for rent and food and medical care and now trying to change this dependency on government by insisting industry pay everyone higher wages. I think that is a mistake, but subsidizing workers is also a serious problem. And an economic system that has destroyed traditional family values is also a problem. While those educated for technology are as dependent as people in third world countries on industry to provide them jobs, because they are not educated for leadership.

Lastly, our industry is modeled after England's autocratic model and that leads to autocratic values, not democratic ones.

There is also the radical bureaucratic changes that changed education and culture. Military order needs people to obey authority. Prussian military-bureaucratic order applied to citizens brought an end to preparing everyone to be industrial and civic leaders. We tore down our national heroes who were examples of strong individuals who stepped into leadership positions, long before tearing down statues. With this change is a nanny government, subsidizing us for rent and food and medical care and now trying to change this dependency on government by insisting industry pay everyone higher wages. I think that is a mistake, but subsidizing workers is also a serious problem. And an economic system that has destroyed traditional family values is also a problem. While those educated for technology are as dependent as people in third world countries on industry to provide them jobs, because they are not educated for leadership. — Athena

I think that's a pretty accurate analysis there. However, it isn't just the military industry. The military industry depends on the corporate groups that control natural resources and raw materials such as oil and steel, starting with Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, etc.

It was these corporate interests and their allies from the banking and financial sector, that started taking over culture and education by funding cultural and educational institutions through their foundations and endowments. Among the groups funded by the Rockefellers was the London-based Fabian Society whose members became highly influential in education, culture and politics on both sides of the Atlantic from the early 1900s, i.e. long before WWI.

The Fabians were the original initiators of the nanny-state concept as a method of gradual implementation of socialism. They worked on it before and during WWII and implemented it straight after the war when the Labour Party which the Fabians had founded came to power.

How these corporate groups operated in close collaboration with the Fabians on both sides of the Atlantic has been described in detail by historians in

Fabian Freeway: High Road to Socialism in the U S A by R. Martin
and
The Anglo-American Establishment by C. Quigley

Martin focuses on the Fabians and Quigley on Anglo-American corporations. If you haven't read them already, I would highly recommend them.

I am glad that someone else on the forum wonders about the what ifs rather just what is. Generally, I think that a lot of people I know in life don't have much patience with the what ifs. I love the imagination and the arts which is all about that. I think that is probably because my mum used to act in plays, so she encouraged me to imagine all kinds of things when I was playing as a child. She also used to like writing, and she used to write song lyrics and someone used to put tunes to them and sing them, along with a guitar for her, and record them on cassettes. Generally, I see creativity as an essential aspect of life and philosophical thinking.

So far I am not well impressed by the Fabian Freeway book. It really is a conspiracy theory. Maybe it is written that way because murder mysteries are so popular and scaring people a little might pique their interest. The communist and socialist, I have met, all want to convince everyone that their understanding of how things should be, is the best. I don't believe anyone is secretly trying to take over and steal our freedoms from us. However, when we do not understand the importance of culture then we do not prepare our young to defend our democracy so they become adult citizens who are not prepared to defend the culture for liberty. Personally, I don't think my liberty should be at the expense of others so communist and socialist ideas are appealing to me.

The second book is more agreeable so far. I have no problem with information about an elite group of people meeting. The Imperial Federation doesn't look like a bad thing to me yet.

The Imperial Federation League was a 19th-century organisation which aimed to promote the reorganisation of the British Empire into an Imperial Federation, similarly to the way the majority of British North America confederated into the Dominion of Canada in the mid-19th century. The League promoted the closer union of the British Empire and advocated the establishment of "representative government" for the UK, Canada and the self-governing colonies of 'Australasia' (Australia and New Zealand) and Cape Colony (the future Union of South Africa) within a single state. — wikipedia

Perhaps we need a separate thread for this discussion. Figuring out the best form of government and best economic organization might be a mystery but probably not the kind of mystery that this thread is about. However, the subject is interesting.

Maybe it is written that way because murder mysteries are so popular and scaring people a little might pique their interest. The communist and socialist, I have met, all want to convince everyone that their understanding of how things should be, is the best. — Athena

Well, it is a critical study. However, the point about Fabianism is that it seeks to implement socialism by stealth. This is clear from the Fabians' own statements. The method is called "permeation" in Fabian writings and it refers to putting Fabian socialist ideas into people's minds without letting them know that those ideas are socialist. It's a technical term in Fabian Socialist theory that you need to be familiar with in order to understand what the author is saying. I thought you were aware of it already.

Fabianism/socialist movement - Britannica

But I suppose we could start a separate thread on this. I'll look into it.

The new thread is at Open Conspiracy - Good or Evil?

I thought we could start with the Fabians' book The Open Conspiracy and the political ideas suggested in it.

Just in case anyone is confused by the comment above, the new thread which was started by Apollodurus, is not meant to be to replace this one of mine, meaning this one is discontinued. I think that the idea of a separate thread is because in the last few days a political discussion has been dominating, so it probably required a separate thread.

So, any further discussion of the mysteries of philosophy is welcome here, because I don't think that they have really been solved yet. As this thread is long, and people, especially new forubm members, may not wish to go back to the beginning, the three central mysteries which I pointed to were the existence of God, free will and life after death. In discussions of them, one theme which emerged was that of trying to understand and explain the nature of consciousness.

Just in case anyone is confused by the comment above, the new thread which was started by Apollodurus, is not meant to be to replace this one of mine, meaning this one is discontinued. I think that the idea of a separate thread is because in the last few days a political discussion has been dominating, so it probably required a separate thread. — Jack Cummins

Correct. Athena and I thought the political conversation we were having should be continued on a separate thread without this in any way affecting Jack's thread. My apologies should this have caused any misunderstanding.

It is fine. I think that you are going to be busy because you still have your reincarnation thread going. At times I have 2 or even 3 on the go but it can take up a lot of time replying to comments, and it sometimes means that I don't have time to pay much attention to others' threads. I may not get involved in the one you are starting. I am a bit wary of getting too involved on political thread discussions on the site and it is partly the site is online for the public. You are anonymous, but I even have my photo showing. I could have chosen a username, but I chose not to, so I am just aware that what I say is available for anyone to read.

But, if you have any spare moments after your own threads you are more than welcome in the discussion of the mysteries. I can't believe that this thread is still going because it must have been going for about a month.

Just in case anyone is confused by the comment above, the new thread which was started by Apollodurus, is not meant to be to replace this one of mine, meaning this one is discontinued. I think that the idea of a separate thread is because in the last few days a political discussion has been dominating, so it probably required a separate thread.

So, any further discussion of the mysteries of philosophy is welcome here, because I don't think that they have really been solved yet. As this thread is long, and people, especially new forum members, may not wish to go back to the beginning, the three central mysteries which I pointed to were the existence of God, free will and life after death. In discussions of them, one theme which emerged was that of trying to understand and explain the nature of consciousness. — Jack Cummins

Thank you for restating the mysteries, and yes, the separation is about not taking your thread off-topic as we kept moving in a political direction and I felt bad about that.

I want to go back to your earlier statement

I am glad that someone else on the forum wonders about the what ifs rather just what is — Jack Cummins

Immediately Einstien comes to mind and his thought experiment about riding on a beam of light. I am thrilled that you encourage thought experimenting as the people of science seem to be as far off course as the church of old became when it made itself the authority on what people can talk about and what they can not talk about or think about. I am sure the empirical scientists mean well, and the formula for scientific thinking has merit, but when our thinking becomes too rigid, it limits our understanding of truth.

Einstein expanded our knowledge of reality with his thought experiments and I am sure that applying such thought experiments to the mysteries can also extend our knowledge of the unknown. One of my very old books on logic explains we can intuitively know things but need to test those ideas with the scientific method before moving a thought from an interesting thought category to empirical fact. And isn't this the work of philosophy? Creative thinking is essential to expanding our consciousness. One of the biggest mysteries is what is math? Why can knowledge of pi, and other mathematical tricks, reveal so much information? I have a math professor's lectures and he can talk for 4 hours about knots and how math makes the unseen known, such as knots in DNA. It is mind-boggling and people are arguing if math is real or a human invention.

It is fine. I think that you are going to be busy because you still have your reincarnation thread going — Jack Cummins

I've got the feeling you might be right there. And possibly one or two other threads, too. But we all do what we can ....

Really, I thought that you were better off having the discussion a little more discreetly on this thread as a it is quiter. I think that the topic you have started is so controversial. I am not saying that it is not worth starting, but sometimes it can all become so heated, when politics, race and gender threads are started. I did start one on prejudice, but I took a different approach to the usual political one, because I approached it from the point of how can we overcome our own prejudices. But, of course, it did get into the wider question of overcoming prejudice, but I managed to steer it away from too much politics. I also had one on totalitarianism but that was more my based on my own fears.

I still have this one on the go and the one I started about reading, but I am going to try to avoid starting any more for about a month. I went back and counted and I have written about 40 threads in 8 months. So, I am going to try to have a little break because on some days I have about 20 comments to reply to. However, I love creating threads, so I can't promise to wait a month. But, I partly want to wait because I think that there are overlaps in my threads, so I wish to stand back, reflect and come up with something really new, but it is difficult because I am the same person with the same ideas on any thread I create. But, I do still think that the mysteries need more discussion...

I am afraid I have difficulty understanding Maths. I was doing okay at school until I had a particular teacher whose approach I could not grasp, and I got behind. I am sure that when people get into the philosophy behind Maths it is interesting, but there is only so much we can explore.

I do read on quantum physics and I do read about biochemistry, because it was relevant to psychiatric nursing, but I probably won't explore Maths. However, I was aware of how the doctors I worked with come from a studying the sciences and I do think it gives a certain knowledge base. Some of them took an interest in the arts too but this was variable. I generally explore philosophy, psychology, art, literature, psychology, sociology, anthropology and comparative religion, so I have a lot to read. Generally, though, I feel that one discipline alone is a bit too narrow for trying to understand 'truth.'

Really, I thought that you were better off having the discussion a little more discreetly on this thread as a it is quiter. I think that the topic you have started is so controversial. — Jack Cummins

Agreed. But what good is a forum if you can't discuss controversial topics? We can't pretend that certain issues don't exist. And on this forum, in particular, it looks like even the most non-controversial of discussions can very fast turn (or be turned) into something else.

I think that it is interesting to discuss the controversial issues, but sometimes it seems like full scale war. I wish to explore certain amounts of controversy, but not to get too stressed out, because I have experienced so much stress in life anyway. I struggle with sleeping, and if I am glance at my phone in the night, I expect that I will see your thread popping up all night. However, my latest thread has been popping up quite a lot, so I may see that too. Anyway, I think that this is the last post for today, so goodnight.

I have noticed that you are referring to English politics, so are you based in England too?

I think that it is interesting to discuss the controversial issues, but sometimes it seems like full scale war. I wish to explore certain amounts of controversy, but not to get too stressed out, because I have experienced so much stress in life anyway. I struggle with sleeping, and if I am glance at my phone in the night, I expect that I will see your thread popping up all night. However, my latest thread has been popping up quite a lot, so I may see that too. Anyway, I think that this is the last post for today, so goodnight.

I have noticed that you are referring to English politics, so are you based in England too? — Jack Cummins

That did make me laugh, imagining your phone flashing up in the night while its owner is struggling to gather his philosophical thoughts or go to sleep. I always switch mine off unless I'm expecting an important call. Otherwise people tend to abuse your friendship and try to force you into the role of agony aunt and turn you into a convenient extension of their personal life ....

But just the other night I had this dream about a pigeon that came back to me and next morning I got a parcel in the post of stuff I had ordered online ages ago. You did mention dreams earlier, mine tend to be of this "coded" type, sometimes more direct and obvious than other times but always connected with events taking place within the next few days. It is as if your subconscious is communicating to you in a language that you can learn quite easily if you make the effort. Some of my friends and acquaintances have that sort of dreams, too, and we have long discussions about it. Obviously, this is only explicable by positing the ability of human consciousness to operate not only independently of the physical body but also independently of time and space which is quite extraordinary really. Over time, this and other experiences (even more powerful and real than dreams) have convinced me than there must be some truth in reincarnation. This is what I mean when I say "reliable accounts" of paranormal experience.

I am a poor sleeper and often look at this site in the night when I can't sleep and even write replies. I used to have a lot of friends phone at about midnight but I try to avoid that because it just makes going to sleep harder, but I have lost touch with a lot of friends during lockdown. I have found life in England to be awful, but that was partly because I lost my job and had to move twice. We are starting to ease our way out of lockdown and I am looking for work again, but it is hard to know what will happen next. The biggest danger is if lockdown measures ease too quickly and the we get a third wave. I don't know how people would cope, because I think that so many people have become debilitated.

Dreams and premonitions were probably what got me wondering about the mysteries of existence in the first place. That was because in my final couple of years I kept having premonitions of people dying and the people died shortly after. This included my headmaster and several people I used to see around but did not know. I went with a friend to my local priest asking for explanations but, of course, he did not know. At one point I even started to worry that the deaths were my fault. Fortunately, I read Jung's autobiography at that time and read of his premonitions and his theory of synchronicity. I have had some similar experiences as an adult, but not recently. But I did have premonitions about 2 friends I knew committing suicide a couple of days a short while before they killed themselves. I just wish that I had been able to stop their deaths.

But, my own experience of premonitions has definitely stopped me from believing in some of the most common materialistic philosophies. I think that I might have become an atheist otherwise. I am not conventionally religious and only go to church with a friend occasionally, but I definitely believe that there is some source underlying our physical existence. I certainly don't believe that consciousness is an illusion. However, I think that some Christian ideas of God are rather narrow, and I see both Christ and the Buddha, as well as other 'masters' as having access to truths which most people are not aware of in daily experience.

In my opinion there is a "line" in everything and that line connects everything in universe. If people ever discover the Reason for everything. To answer to the Why question! Why everything happens like that. The Way it works. If people do ever achieve that I believe it will connect-answer to everything! It will connect all siences! It will be the line that connects all dots.so yes it will answer all philosophical questions too. If not then th questions will remain forever till science help

But just the other night I had this dream about a pigeon that came back to me and next morning I got a parcel in the post of stuff I had ordered online ages ago. You did mention dreams earlier, mine tend to be of this "coded" type, sometimes more direct and obvious than other times but always connected with events taking place within the next few days. It is as if your subconscious is communicating to you in a language that you can learn quite easily if you make the effort. Some of my friends and acquaintances have that sort of dreams, too, and we have long discussions about it. Obviously, this is only explicable by positing the ability of human consciousness to operate not only independently of the physical body but also independently of time and space which is quite extraordinary really. Over time, this and other experiences (even more powerful and real than dreams) have convinced me than there must be some truth in reincarnation. This is what I mean when I say "reliable accounts" of paranormal experience. — Apollodorus

I used to experience stuff like that a lot more than I do now. I went through a phase when I bought books about clairvoyance. Such as Edgar Cayce's books and Ruth Montgomery. Of course, quantum physical thinking is a must. It can be argued that our perception of time is just an illusion and that seems to make sense if what we dream seems to come true the next day.

In my opinion there is a "line" in everything and that line connects everything in universe. If people ever discover the Reason for everything. To answer to the Why question! Why everything happens like that. The Way it works. If people do ever achieve that I believe it will connect-answer to everything! It will connect all siences! It will be the line that connects all dots.so yes it will answer all philosophical questions too. If not then th questions will remain forever till science help — dimosthenis9

But then what fun would life be? My mind jumps to the Hindu god waking up, and reality as we know it disappears like a dream, only to start all over again when he goes back to sleep.

For me, quantum physics throws us into questioning all of reality as we understand it. It is all energy but we think of all of it as matter. That is mind-boggling to me.

so many people have become debilitated. — Jack Cummins

That is for sure and is especially so for older people who are slipping into dementia and dying. My job as a Senior Companion is on shut down, but the residential retirement housing and nursing homes are opening up. They have vaccinated everyone willing to be vaccinated and Senior Companions were required to be vaccinated. Our president is telling us we are a low-level risk. But my county we are in a high-risk level and I can not visit my people. Two of my clients are rapidly going downhill! Physically and mentally the elderly are in higher risks because of isolation than they are in risk because of the virus. This is eating me up. I feel so helpless against what the isolation is doing to them. I have never seen people decline so fast!

It is mind blowing for me too. Maybe the fun after will be that human being ensured that there is nothing after death could learn new ways to discover happiness and how should persuade it. But maybe it's the opposite a total chaos in human physicism. I don't know either. But indeed I agree that quantum actually indicates that everything energy. And I have a sense that this universal energy that connect everything might be connected in human soul and all the things we have inside us and we can't describe it with words or see it but we are still sure there are there! Anyway It might be all wrong it's just what I sense

It is mind blowing for me too. Maybe the fun after will be that human being ensured that there is nothing after death could learn new ways to discover happiness and how should persuade it. But maybe it's the opposite a total chaos in human physicism. I don't know either. But indeed I agree that quantum actually indicates that everything energy. And I have a sense that this universal energy that connect everything might be connected in human soul and all the things we have inside us and we can't describe it with words or see it but we are still sure there are there! Anyway It might be all wrong it's just what I sense — dimosthenis9

I am so thrilled to have DVDs of John Edwards communications with the deceased, much as he did in his TV show "Crossing Over". It is impossible for me to believe he is not connecting with those who crossed over.

There are several life-after-death books and this one, "Dead Men Talking" looks particularly interesting to me, because it questions religious leaders' ability to manage this time in history, and I have heard other stories like the ones described here. Like does the religious community have all the information of spiritual truth?

I also believe some people who have crossed over have communicated through me. My deceased mother warned me of a life-changing event and that things would come out okay. A friend's dead child used me to give his mother a message. A dead friend gave me messages with a bird and the electricity in an elevator both messages came in the same time frame on my way to my apartment. Another came from a friend's husband and it could not have been anything other than a message from him to her because only she could decode the message and I had no idea why I was thinking "red" and "bucket". I just knew I had to ask her if those words made any sense to her and I was shocked when she said there was a red bucket used for trash in his room. So much like John Edwards' readings, where he has a thought but does not know the significance of that thought until the person he is doing this with decodes the meaning.

Putting your experience of the difficulties arising from the pandemic, various ones of my own and other people, I wonder how to understand on a deeper level, what we are going through. Do you think it is all a learning experience from the universe and any underlying source, or force? At times, it does seem that we are being stretched almost beyond breaking point. Sometimes, I wonder if the pandemic is a lesson for humanity as a whole. Also, I do think that it is possible that our individual experiences are lessons to develop us. I am sure many on the forum would see what I am saying as absolute rubbish, but I probably dare say it here because this thread had faded but reanimated again today.

Putting your experience of the difficulties arising from the pandemic, various ones of my own and other people, I wonder how to understand on a deeper level, what we are going through. Do you think it is all a learning experience from the universe and any underlying source, or force? At times, it does seem that we are being stretched almost beyond breaking point. Sometimes, I wonder if the pandemic is a lesson for humanity as a whole. Also, I do think that it is possible that our individual experiences are lessons to develop us. I am sure many on the forum would see what I am saying as absolute rubbish, but I probably dare say it here because this thread had faded but reanimated again today. — Jack Cummins

Laugh, you may be losing sleep because of this forum but I am not getting necessary daytime stuff done, like the laundry, washing my hair, and other such mundane things.

There is always something to learn and I am pretty excited about all the things we have to learn from the pandemic. For darn sure the world is looking very little as what happens in South America and Africa can impact us immediately. I have heard talk of the US government taking over the research
and development of vaccines? Actually, we have political TV ads warning of the danger of our government taking over medical research. It is a bull shit, political ad playing on our ignorance and fear. The fact is

In the U.S., the federal government provides core sources of support for basic biomedical research and development. In general terms, 64 percent of all applied biomedical R&D funding comes from within the industry, while just 22 percent comes from the federal government.Jan 3, 2018 — Jeffrey A. Bluestone, David Beier, and Laurie H. Glimcher

The argument is for greater federal funding and that does not threaten us as the political ad suggests. The ad would have us believe the drug companies must make huge profits or we will lose the research work they do. Our right and left political battling does not improve our judgment of such matters.

India needed our help yesterday and when it comes to the struggle for world power this really matters because the location of India and the size of its population really matters. This is not something to leave up to private drug company interest. If the US wants to maintain a position of world leadership it must act as a leader to protect all people. Not only is this favorable to being a world leader but the virus keeps mutating and coming back to hit every country including the US. The virus does not respect borders or economic status. We must manage this pandemic and prepare for the next one and this demands thinking globally and only government can operate on that scale.

It seems like all social issues are demanding our attention right now. The inequality of income and education is surely demanding our attention. Far too many families are without internet access and computers for homeschooling. And in today's world computer experience is essential to most jobs. However, when we put children online, we then begin hearing of the suicides because of cyberbullying and we learn our children are not safe at home, but illegal drug dealers have gained easy access to our children. We need to update our morality to deal with the new threats technology has presented and the pandemic has brought this to our attention.

And then we may have never met if it had been for the pandemic giving you a lot of time to fill and for sure we are better off for knowing you and your perspective.

I am inclined to think that everything happens for a purpose. We would have never interacted and I do see my experience of using the forum as a very important part of my life. In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of people really attacking one another in various threads and I just hope that lessens. Today, there seem to be a couple of new members, including the person who you engaged with on this thread today, and that may dissipate the tensions.

As far as the world issues, especially the crisis in India, I think that it shows how the world is interconnected. Sometimes, especially when we are have got used to isolating it is easy to become insular. We are becoming so accustomed to doing things online and the people who don't have access must feel really left out.

I don't know how people would cope, because I think that so many people have become debilitated. — Jack Cummins

That’s a very good observation. I have noticed huge changes in people’s behaviour since last year. You can actually see the psychological impact on most people and many have obvious mental and emotional issues. Some get involved in political activism to vent their frustration and anger but in general nothing is done about it and it doesn’t look good.

I went with a friend to my local priest asking for explanations but, of course, he did not know. — Jack Cummins

That is the big tragedy of the Christian Church. Priests and vicars have lost the ability to lead and guide. Sermons these days are like an advertising campaign for charity organisations and the Church itself has become a virtual extension of Oxfam. People listen out of politeness, others try to extract something spiritual or more practical but in vain. It’s embarrassing and sad. I wish Christians could learn from Muslims and Hindus and stand up for their traditional beliefs instead of apologising for them. I think a new Church is urgently needed if Christianity is to be saved.

I think that some Christian ideas of God are rather narrow, and I see both Christ and the Buddha, as well as other 'masters' as having access to truths which most people are not aware of in daily experience. — Jack Cummins

The Church is struggling to keep its hold on the masses and forgets its spiritual message in the process. The Eastern (Orthodox) Church still preserves strong links to its spiritual heritage and with a bit of luck you can still find priests and monks who are in touch with the Hellenistic tradition that once inspired the Church Fathers. But I suppose other denominations also have some interesting figures among their clergy though not necessarily your local priest.

I wonder how to understand on a deeper level, what we are going through. Do you think it is all a learning experience from the universe and any underlying source, or force? — Jack Cummins

My mother and some of my friends think the epidemic, the weather, and everything is a “sign from above”. Maybe the Universe is trying to warn us, to get us to wake up to what we are doing to nature, to humanity and to ourselves before it’s too late? I tend to think so. A big awakening is needed.

I am inclined to think that everything happens for a purpose. We would have never interacted and I do see my experience of using the forum as a very important part of my life. In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of people really attacking one another in various threads and I just hope that lessens. Today, there seem to be a couple of new members, including the person who you engaged with on this thread today, and that may dissipate the tensions.

As far as the world issues, especially the crisis in India, I think that it shows how the world is interconnected. Sometimes, especially when we are have got used to isolating it is easy to become insular. We are becoming so accustomed to doing things online and the people who don't have access must feel really left out. — Jack Cummins

I doubt that everything happens for a purpose but we can find meaning in anything. :lol: When we reach old age and our bodies break down, there does not seem to be a good purpose for that, bringing us to thoughts of life after death, because it makes no sense for our short lives to be completely meaningless. To believe our lives are no better than the fleas on a dog's back and the world would be better off without us, is a terrible thought. We must create a sense of meaning and purpose.

The crisis in Palestine is very upsetting to me and I no more see the Israelites as doing the will of God, than I see the warring anywhere else in the world as the will of God. However, I have a book about war that explains it is a necessary way to keep populations down and so is Covid. It is like protecting the wolf population to keep other species in balance, so they do not destroy the ecosystem. It is not something a god wills, but it is what has evolved and just happens to keep everything in balance.

I hardly think destroying our planet is the will of a god and I love the common aboriginal people's belief that we are supposed to take care of this planet, as opposed to the capitalist belief that we are supposed to exploit the planet and kill anyone or anything that gets in our way. Our problem is recognizing right from wrong and I like to believe science is helping us do that.