In Reply to: To me, Science is the manifestation- the proof, the IS. God(dess)/ Universe/Cosmos gifting posted by us, showing off, giving us something in which to believe, a safe place for our faith. Shawn on June 29, 2008 at 14:06:21:
: : To us, fancy cars and jewels are extravagant and excessive, but for some people, it's the world they live in. There are some people who live in neighborhoods of excess, and they rub shoulders with the successful on a daily basis. In the Dalai Lama's book, "The Art of Happiness" he talks about how each of us is not an island...we live and grow amongs our neighbors and our coworkers. It that demographic is wealthy enough to include luxury automobiles and lots of bling, than in order for the person we are talking about to feel "normal" they would have to have those things equally.
: : I would not feel comfortable in that circle, but I have a friend who married a woman who DOES (not only feel comfortable in that circle, but works in it, lives in it...it's too much stress for me, but they like "livin' large.")
: : My favorite sentence in my favorite novel (Aztec, by Gary Jennings) is this: But I was born into the middle class of our society, the macehuáltin, "the fortunate," so called because we were equally free of the upper classes' heavy responsibility and of the lower classes' liability to being basely used.
: : I really don't think a person can manifest with New Thought something they don't think they deserve or need. The subconscious is in balance, and will allow the conscious to continue in its delusions of grandiosity, all the while holding true to magnetic North.
: : You said "I also don't feel the concept of giving for the purpose of receiving is the right underlying concept of giving." I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying. There are people who are givers by nature and there are people who are takers by nature. If a giver gets in with a group of takers (or marries a taker) and starts practicing the philosophy of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," they will eventually find themselves completely empty, naked and alone. You are very fortunate to have lived in an environment that responded in kind to your generosity.
: : Your post didn't offend me, I'm just bitchy today. I guess sometimes I just feel like screaming that it IS possible to be spiritual without having faith or a belief in something beyond science (which CAN explain electricity, BTW..the property of protons, electrons and ions to each other) ;-)