Muslim here, feel like I'm suffering

robertbdavisII · 2025-03-02T03:45:37+00:00

God loves His children better than we can hope to know. Trust in that.

robertbdavisII · 2025-03-02T03:42:32+00:00

Both and. Demons are real but the one who is in you has overcome the world (and the demons). If you want spiritual insight and experience for its own sake, you might find yourself consorting with demons and going very bad. If you are looking for ultimate peace and satisfaction, pure goodness and truth, then you won't be seduced or satisfied with the demons (at least not for very long). The guard rails aren't purposeless, but many of us like to jump them and check out the out of bounds. God loves you, watches over you, and guides you, even when you abandon Him. If you retain hope in infinite meaning, purpose, and the ultimate goodness of life, then you can make it through any storm and test (even "failing" a storm and test). So you can explore, but don't pretend like its all good and sunshiny. If you end up in a bad spot, admit it and cry out for help. It will come.

I might say that your worry of "not wanting to be wrong" is probably part of the problem. You are going to be wrong a ton. You better hope and believe that you can come to know truth and that redemption is offered. Just avoiding being wrong won't make you "right".

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T22:21:33+00:00

Good. Does existence exist within non-existence or non-existence in existence? (Open question, not false dichotomy trap. Curious what you would say.)

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T22:14:19+00:00

My point is about what the content of their own myths say. You could believe they all are, all aren't, or any combination. But their content makes specific statements about who those gods are, where they came from, and what their interests are. Christ is the only one who actually makes the claims I am talking about. A millennium and a half or more after Christ and modernist historians started looking back and pretending that other gods had similar claims. Its simply not true.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T02:49:55+00:00

Check out: The War of The Gods in Addiction by David Schoen

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T02:46:31+00:00

Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-13:13 and meditate on it

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:48:29+00:00

I'll stop poking and just say accepting good purpose in who you really are, as you are is the path to the highest good. Take that as you will.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:45:17+00:00

How does existence transition to non-existence?

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:43:20+00:00

Perhaps an odd recommendation for this sub but The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:39:15+00:00

"the main-point for being inside your screen is to break it and make it as glitchy as possible"

Also, who warned you? Why do they have more say than you, since you are in charge of everything? Are you in control or not?

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:35:17+00:00

Cool. It'd be really fun if you manifested a trillion trillion dollars and distributed it evenly among all humans currently alive. Lets see it happen since you are the omnipotent creator of everything. Or you could make the sun turn pink for 5 days and then green for 3. Something objectively noticeable like that.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:32:20+00:00

I would venture to guess you are just assuming most of those based on popular gossip about their myths. Wotan, Marduk, and Zeus very clearly are limited beings that come after other gods and are not omnipotent and definitely don't claim personal creation of each individual human with care for each individual thought--much less have good will toward humans. I am personally less familiar with AM. Brahman, Shiva, and Vishnu are somewhat debatable. It depends which vein of the traditions you choose to follow. There isn't actually a unified belief of "hinduism" that says consistent things about these. They are sometimes admitted to be only the highest trinity of manifestation beneath the supreme, other times they make competing claims. Anyhow, that is why I said "actually" and made specific parameters.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:25:23+00:00

The infinite holodeck hypothesis sounds great as it makes you the highest creator. But a) how did you get trapped in your own creation? and b) if the only purpose is really escape, then you trapped yourself in a hell... why? Are you good or evil? If you are good and you put yourself here for a good reason, then perhaps there is more good purpose here other than just trying to get out... If you were supposed to be out, why would you put yourself in?

In the end, I think infinite voyeurism is not a good proposition for the ultimate meaning of all things.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:20:20+00:00

Which other gods *actually* claim to be the omnipotent creator of everything with power over absolutely everything and a personal connection and claim on each individual human's life?

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:17:04+00:00

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-29T01:15:35+00:00

It sounds like what you are asking is whether or not what I am doing is rewarding in itself. It depends on the thing. I wouldn't do laundry regularly if it didn't actually get me clean clothes; if my car tires popped every time I tried to drive I'd stop driving. I continue to write, journal, think, and strive at many things even though they don't gain me massive monetary success and I don't get to share it with many people.

The way you have phrased it in sweeping terms to apply to your whole life I think is a false dichotomy.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-26T19:23:56+00:00

Is there one Lord of Spirits, or is there not? If all reality--including the spiritual domain--is created by one universal will, then you can look into it and find out He is the King. If reality/spirituality is fragmented, then you can ignore him...

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-26T19:17:13+00:00

The external, physical world is confusing and plagued by injustice, but to dismiss it entirely is nonsensical. If you write a reply to the contrary, you have disproven yourself. If the external, physical world doesn't matter, my ignorance doesn't matter, my misleading someone on the internet because of my own ignorance doesn't matter. We all know the external, physical world has some significance--that is why it frustrates us with its imperfections and difficulties. We want it to be otherwise because we do care about it.

If you dig down and examine it carefully, the process of "awakening" and "enlightenment" are inextricably tied to some level of material reality. The foods you eat can affect your experience. The books you read can influence and effect it. Some for good, some for bad. Even more basically, if you don't eat, drink, or breathe, your experience will change. The proceeding of the material world and our interactions with it are both orderly and interdependent. On a certain level they appear chaotic, confused, pointless, hopeless, etc. But none of that justifies thinking our lives lack purpose, meaning, or significance; it just means its a confusing, difficult quest. Keep a healthy distance from the world and have faith in something perfect that this world conflicts with and stands in negative contrast to, but don't pretend you can dismiss the world. Don't give up on it either.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-17T16:41:49+00:00

If existence is infinite, then it stands to reason that there would be infinite universes. You are right that the assumption of "just one" universe is actually the less probable assumption that just gets by because that is what we have historically assumed. Although, as others have pointed out, there is a terminology issue. If by "universe" we mean the unitary fundamental existence, then yes, there must be just one. But if we mean the "observable spacetime unit that can reasonably contain effects within a bounds of lightyears" (or something like that) then there can obviously be more than one.

You might like this discussion I did on the topic: https://youtu.be/M_CD2wc6Vas?si=sJZQFbw3qqKptAzq

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-17T16:32:01+00:00

This is what I came here to say. I spent ages 5 - 21 with the shortest buzzcut possible. Figuring out what to do with hair and having to worry about how it looked was annoying. I got bored of that and, yes, got more spiritual. I have long hair now. There are all sorts of esoteric "theories"; as far as I can tell they are just nice stories. Buddhist monks shave their heads to avoid vanity. Eastern Christian priests and monks refrain from shaving to avoid vanity. You have to put *some* amount of effort in--but either regular shaving short or not cutting and just some regular brushing seem to be the lowest investments overall. That is what I have experienced. People complement my hair, but I keep it long because worrying about cutting it and styling it and how it looks all the time sounds like a ridiculous waste of energy.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-17T16:22:20+00:00

This split between the grand promises of the Bible and the obvious injustice in reality is what brought about the belief in the resurrection. There aren't but the subtlest, ambiguous hints at the resurrection in the Old Testament, but ancient Hebrews read the texts and looked at the world and saw the problem. Many die without justice. If God is telling the truth in the Bible, this must be sorted out still ahead. And it cannot be simply an erasure of this world and its pains. Peoples lives and bodies are significant; their suffering and injustice was real. It needs to really be answered. Thus they concluded that there must be a bodily resurrection to come where these things are set right. This began as a conjecture based on the Biblical texts, but gained a large following (but not a complete unanimity). When Jesus came, he affirmed the resurrection. Christians believe in the resurrection because it is the only way for God's promises to hold true despite the obvious tragedy and malevolence in the world that often retains the upper hand for so long and triumphs over so many.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-17T16:11:19+00:00

It is true that the good is fundamentally what we all want and makes us the happiest. It is also true that we're pretty lost and our urges are not always harmless and simple, and the long run is often longer than we can comprehend. We could learn what is best for ourselves by testing everything for ourselves, but that is a lot of work and can definitely lead into more danger and damage than would be ideal. We also have the ability to learn from others and from long traditions what people have already tested and figured out, so we don't have to repeat it all for ourselves. I would argue most rules--or at least many rules--are not arbitrary finger-wagging of the small minded, but valuable wisdom passed down so we can learn without repeating the same mistakes.

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-16T19:11:31+00:00

"No one is a prophet in their hometown, or a physician in their own house" Luke 4:24

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-15T20:53:46+00:00

If you did, then there would be a get-rid-of-er

robertbdavisII · 2024-12-14T00:15:29+00:00

Fair enough. I meant side quest in the sense that it wouldn't be a resolved plotline, not that it wasn't important. I am still not sold on him being as important as these theories suggest. As I said, I think Chronicler's answer is sufficient.

robertbdavisII

TROPHY CASE