This morning our priest preached a crude and clumsy exposition of the afterlife.
I can remember that, when I was very young, I quietly cried at night because I knew that I would eventually die. This gradually subsided into a deeply suppressed worry which took some time to go away. After this, death became simply the obvious fact that is held by most none-religious people.
Christianity, Islam and many others, however, proclaim an "afterlife" (as was preached to me this morning), believing that our mind re-starts after death, being embodied in a new version of the body (I may not have got that quite right!). For me this is baffling!
I recognise that normal human understanding can grasp only a tiny shard of reality, so that there exists a vast expanse of being that we can never understand - at any rate, not with our normal way of thinking. I am content if the "afterlife" is part of this expanse. But I know that on occasions I have touched the isness of other beings; and so I might at some time receive an inkling of afterlife as well.
Sunday, 30 July 2017
Monday, 24 July 2017
Back to Christianity again:
why do I continue as a regular member of a christian church when I cannot agree with the the statements of the "creed" (the formal statement of belief)? It's not because I enjoy the chatting at the end (because I'm not very chatty). Rather, my "faith", if you can call it that, is as follows:
About 14 billion years ago the "seed" of our universe came into being. We know little about the seed. There may, for example, be many universes emerged from some greater unity. But there must surely be such a thing as the totality of all universes (even if their numbers enter the hierarchy of infinite numbers that current mathematics allows). So, if we are to talk about god, god would hold this infinity of infinities, this oneness, whose nature would be incomprehensible.
We, despite our limited capacity, can still reach out to this totality - from science and from our inner imagination that can receive a spark of the oneness. It is this that enables me to speak the first words of the christian creed (and the similar assertions of the Quran and others) and then move on.
why do I continue as a regular member of a christian church when I cannot agree with the the statements of the "creed" (the formal statement of belief)? It's not because I enjoy the chatting at the end (because I'm not very chatty). Rather, my "faith", if you can call it that, is as follows:
About 14 billion years ago the "seed" of our universe came into being. We know little about the seed. There may, for example, be many universes emerged from some greater unity. But there must surely be such a thing as the totality of all universes (even if their numbers enter the hierarchy of infinite numbers that current mathematics allows). So, if we are to talk about god, god would hold this infinity of infinities, this oneness, whose nature would be incomprehensible.
We, despite our limited capacity, can still reach out to this totality - from science and from our inner imagination that can receive a spark of the oneness. It is this that enables me to speak the first words of the christian creed (and the similar assertions of the Quran and others) and then move on.
Saturday, 22 July 2017
Wandering ...
My thinking this month has been a scattering of ideas, only now (perhaps?) starting to make sense. Some amusing notes came from looking back to when I was Physics Professor, my group expounding ideas of multiple universes flitting through many dimensions - all, of course, with no basis what ever! Only in the last few years have I settled down to the real questions: why is there something, rather than nothing? what is "isness"? And the answer is here, every day: in every true encounter with a living being, from trees to beloved people.
My thinking this month has been a scattering of ideas, only now (perhaps?) starting to make sense. Some amusing notes came from looking back to when I was Physics Professor, my group expounding ideas of multiple universes flitting through many dimensions - all, of course, with no basis what ever! Only in the last few years have I settled down to the real questions: why is there something, rather than nothing? what is "isness"? And the answer is here, every day: in every true encounter with a living being, from trees to beloved people.
Sunday, 2 July 2017
Random conversations
Random conversations
A post-person knocked at our door today. As we jointly struggled to get my signature onto the her recording device conversation led to other simple things made complex, such as trimming the hedge on top of the wall beside us.
Avoiding mechanical assistance takes longer, but it produces satisfaction and very often produces better results - baking recipes are like that. Here's my standard daily (i.e.for eating!) bread:
50 gm yeast, 250 gm strong white bread flour, 1 kg strong wholemeal bread flour, Sesame, sunflower and linseeds to taste,A little sugar ad lib,Up to 720ml warm water as required 1.3 tsp salt,About 2 serving spoons of vegetable oil for kneading.
Let me know for the method!
A post-person knocked at our door today. As we jointly struggled to get my signature onto the her recording device conversation led to other simple things made complex, such as trimming the hedge on top of the wall beside us.
Avoiding mechanical assistance takes longer, but it produces satisfaction and very often produces better results - baking recipes are like that. Here's my standard daily (i.e.for eating!) bread:
50 gm yeast, 250 gm strong white bread flour, 1 kg strong wholemeal bread flour, Sesame, sunflower and linseeds to taste,A little sugar ad lib,Up to 720ml warm water as required 1.3 tsp salt,About 2 serving spoons of vegetable oil for kneading.
Let me know for the method!
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