Introduction to Belief

Are you are a seeker? Maybe you have a feeling things are not quite right or maybe you feel the meaning in life is missing. I'm hoping I can help you find what I've found: love, joy, peace, contentment and well, truth. And still demonstrate in a humble way, I'm completely sane and rational. I am convinced ultimate purpose and truth are present here to be found. It requires you to set aside your pride, if need be, and look beyond physical gratification as the ultimate goal of life. Sexual fulfillment is wonderful. Financial sucess is good. As powerful as sensual experiences can be, if they are the focus of life, most of us end up by having a feeling there's something more to life...something lacking. And if you strive to seek sexual fulfillment, whose pursuit certainly seems obsessive here in America if you judge by the Supermarket magazine counters, I'm thinking we're striving too much in the wrong direction. (For example look at the high percentage reported in surveys of those married Christian Fundamentalists that say they are having satisfying sex. My guess is it's not the sex manuals. )

And if I can I'd like to be able to confirm your spiritual belief however elemental. And show there's a purposeful life and provide some measure of enlightentment, so to speak, and to strenghten and expand your spiritual understanding.

Oh, I forgot...sensual and financial ways are not the only ways people strive for meaning. People use drugs and alcohol to provide meaning and forgetfulness as well. That's not the answer either of course. This American society is a Disney Land/World of pleasure and comfort but in many ways a spiritual desert. (I think Mother Teresa said something akin to that.) I'll speak to my personal involvement with those in later blogs.

Also I'm hoping to dispel any faith and belief in theories like Darwinian Evolution that rely on construction of complex biological organizisms by mere chance (....lets put all the parts of the Boeing 747 in a bag and shake till done or GIGO is only for computers.) and show an alternative view to the purposeless cosmology as well. These provide a philosophical and ultimately religious foundation for cynicism and destroy spiritual truth.

Also on this blog for me to help you I need you to set aside the idol of your own intellect. This doesn't mean set aside your intellect and reasoning facilities but the pride of having a superior intellect and placing a cynical faith in what it can provide for you. Because as superior as that intellect is, its finite and mortal, within 90 years it will be gone. For those who seek answers to the mystery of this life and our exit in death I hope to provide a response.

I want everyone to know that I am convinced our (cognitive) thoughts and our feelings may die but the spirit (consciousness or awareness) lives on. Life on this earth is not all that there is to existance. Nearly every accepted spiritual tradition holds a belief of an immortal soul, including Orthodox Christianity. Testimonies of individuals experiencing an after-life are numerous and compelling. People report floating above their body on the operating table while being clinically dead (note: no brain waves) and being aware of events they couldn't have possibly known. And seeing a tunnel with the bright light at the end. And just as importantly we will be judged by our life here on earth as well (argubly Eternal Justice demands it). This is not just a game. This is for keeps, baby!

Isn't life wonderful? It wasn't always that way with me(and of course who knows what tomorrow will bring.) I'd like to relate my intellectual and spiritual journey how I arrived at these convictions, in later blogs as well.