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See to me judging spirituality by repeatable results really doesn't make any sense. That seems so odd to me. I can't get my brain around that.
think "reliable" instead of "repeatable"
for instance, my intuition is a reliable source of useful information. Prayer is a reliable source of peace and well-being. I know this by having experienced that result over and over and over, consistently and repeatedly, year after year. those are examples. verified by me in my own daily life.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 12-15-2019 at 02:21 PM..
To me, spirituality is a framework where one can explore ones connection to each other, our world and all that is in it. To extend that connection to whatever one calls "God" -- Creative Intelligence, Universe or the prime force. It is a area to consider that which goes beyond the physical and/or appearances. To seek experiences that can be explained in no other way. Spirituality is where we open ourselves to the unknown and mystery.
See to me judging spirituality by repeatable results really doesn't make any sense. That seems so odd to me. I can't get my brain around that.
Repeatable doesn't imply that all elements of the thing in question must be static. Evolution isn't mutually exclusive with repeatability. You can account for differences in perception, personality, emotion, maturity, consistency of practice, etc., but if "prayer changes things" then, well, it should change things in some way clearly more than random happenstance. If you pray for someone to be delivered from cancer, for example, it might take more or less time or different people might have different "techniques" but the cancer is either gone or not gone at the end of the process. Or at the least, cancer outcomes are at least overall somewhat better for Christians who get prayed for vs everyone else.
Christianity is full of all sorts of people but that doesn't change that if Christianity nourishes a superior morality (or even, as some claim, the only actual morality) then one should expect to see, at least in aggregate, less crime, less mental illness, less divorce, etc. in the Christian population vs the non-Christian population. And yet what one sees, is no difference within the margin of error, but some indication that outcomes are actually a bit WORSE. There are fewer atheists than Christians in prisons for example, controlling for the relative size of the two groups.
I could go on, but maybe this helps you get your brain around it a bit. I think you're suffering from a false dichotomy: either spirituality or consistency. But spiritual teachers are always exhorting their acolytes to be spiritually consistent. So I don't see a problem here.
Side question. I have seen where this word "repeatable" is used as a way to verify. But if something is repeatable is it evolving? If we lock into only what is repeatable don't we stop growing?
yes. Repeating can mean evolving.
repeatable means we can take what we did to people anywhere and they would draw the same or similar conclusions.
for example, I give them a meter stick and ask them to measure something. Take that to as many people as you can and have them repeat the measurement. If we come up with the similar answers we have repeatably.
the object that we measure can change size, but the people would repeat the new measurement.
then the conclusion is that its growing (if getting bigger) or evolving.
thus repeatable is not dependent on the change. the conclusion is including the change.
repeatable means we can take what we did to people anywhere and they would draw the same or similar conclusions.
for example, I give them a meter stick and ask them to measure something. Take that to as many people as you can and have them repeat the measurement. If we come up with the similar answers we have repeatably.
I wouldn't expect someone to have the same or similar conclusions as I draw in reference to spirit though.
I wouldn't expect someone to have the same or similar conclusions as I draw in reference to spirit though.
In that case you are confessing that your spirituality offers no guidance for anyone else's spirituality, and no help in determining whether any one else's spirituality is "genuine" or "correct".
If more people could accept that their spiritual life is theirs and theirs alone, and binding on no one else, the world would be an ever so much better place.
here is a start:
develop the ability to identify your intuition
develop the skill to discern between your intuition and your other thoughts
be able to differentiate between intellect and intuition, both in your conceptual understanding, and also in practical application distinguishing between them.
collect data for your own use on what perceptions, information, knowing, and ideas are delivered to you by your intuition. Collect data also on how you respond to the intuitive information delivered to you, for instance, dismiss it, ignore it, discount it, call it something else, deny it, doesn't make sense. Collect data on outcomes related to your responses to intuition, i.e. turned out to be helpful, ignored it and wish i'd listened.
note your comfort level with, or resistance to, any of these steps. none of this has any value or usefulness to anyone except you yourself. It is not about proving anything to anyone else, or convincing anyone of anything. a person's relationship with spirit is their own first hand experience and participation. if a person has no interest or intention or desire to participate in that relationship, then that is their exercise of free choice.
the mechanism and the verifying are carried out by you and you alone. it requires participation.
it is a relationship. talking about a relationship is not the same as being in a relationship.
our decrements are not really good at comparing our claims. We really need something that removes the "me" and the "you" as best we can to sort out personal bias and error?
I don't have any discomfort in comparing claims side by side. Like I said, I just don't care about god or spirituality. You claims either fit the standard model or they don't. I have no stake in the answer.
for instance, my intuition is a reliable source of useful information. Prayer is a reliable source of peace and well-being. I know this by having experienced that result over and over and over, consistently and repeatedly, year after year. those are examples. verified by me in my own daily life.
But I think that gets to having an opinion versus general belief.
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