fish in a fish tank

[Gordon Gekko]

for perspective, first go here:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7995

i'm not saying i believe what i'm about to say, but it is something i wonder sometimes. could we, on a higher level, be like fish in a fish tank that don't understand what is outside the tank?

p.s. not my fish or cat.

 

[chasinfla]

yes. and there is a cat. but there is also a Dog, and He's man's best friend.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko
could we, on a higher level, be like fish in a fish tank that don't understand what is outside the tank?

after i thought about this a little more, i came up with a better example that is a little more closer to what i'm thinking.

chasinfla, i know you're religious, so you're gonna disagree with me here.. but i don't believe we are necessarily "watched" by another being. (like that cat is watching the fish.) my metaphor for the fish tank was to point out that maybe there is just so much we can understand, but there really is more to it all.

anyway, this is what i'm here to say. have you ever walked around with a bag of grass seeds, you reach in to get a handfull, and then you scatter it on the ground. you know you're kind of creating life, but it really isn't a big deal to you. but each seed really does have its own story.

maybe there are beings way larger than us that can scatter seeds of life throughout what we call the universe. maybe these seeds are what we call comets.. and maybe when they land on certain planets they can initiate the building blocks of evolution. the beings know they're creating life, but each individual "seed" doesn't matter much to them. by that i mean, they don't watch each one...just like we don't watch each grass seed grow. but to us, our one seed is everything.

i guess you could think of this as levels. a virus in the body doesn't understand what's outside the body. an ant living in texas doesn't understand that there are other states too. a bug that walks around your house at night may never even leave your house, but outside your house is still a place that exists. a monkey in the jungle doesn't know there are other continents or planets. just because we understand a lot as humans does not mean there are no higher levels than the one we're on. we don't understand levels above us, just like the ant doesn't. it's no different.

our intelligence allows us to take a peek into higher levels, but we don't fully understand them and maybe it's not where we belong.

 

[Josh_B]

A person's awareness defines the extends of his world/universe.

Just because we can't "see" something, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. The limits if of our universe are only defined by the limits of our comprehension, in many planes, physical, mental, psychological, theological, philosophical etc.

Maybe we live in world within a world within a world. Where are the boundaries? who knows.. maybe the limits are always defined when we decide to keep our minds closed.

A good first step could be to keep an open mind and accept that the possibilities maybe infinite...

Josh

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Originally posted by Josh_B
A person's awareness defines the extends of his world/universe.

Just because we can't "see" something, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. The limits if of our universe are only defined by the limits of our comprehension, in many planes, physical, mental, psychological, theological, philosophical etc.

Maybe we live in world within a world within a world. Where are the boundaries? who knows.. maybe the limits are always defined when we decide to keep our minds closed.

A good first step could be to keep an open mind and accept that the possibilities maybe infinite...

Josh

good post. i'm pretty much in agreement with you.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

this is going to bring in a religious element, but i'd still like to make this point.

it seems a lot of religious people like to believe their religion because it makes them feel special. for example, everything here on earth is here for us. the old idea of the sun revolving around the earth is another example. religious people also tend to think that non religious people don't feel that life is special without god.

for me, that is not true at all. i find life to be special knowing how crazy the universe is. knowing that we're just one speck in the universe in one speck of time makes me feel fortunate to actually be here with the people i'm here with. i don't need to be told life is special. for example, the odds that you know anyone in your life are so small (you could argue they were 100%, but that isn't my point). the turns your life take are so unpredictable. knowing how incredible everything is all i need.

 

[daniel_m]

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko


it seems a lot of religious people like to believe their religion because it makes them feel special. for example, everything here on earth is here for us. the old idea of the sun revolving around the earth is another example. religious people also tend to think that non religious people don't feel that life is special without god.

That's right.. that's why everytime these religious people try to explain their god - none of them have ever met him, mind you - he is always painted as 'all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good'; because it makes us feel better that way.

IF I have somehow cosmically miscalculated and there actually IS a god out there, who's to say if his powers are limited or not? that maybe he doesn't know everything? that maybe he's not really all that 'good' at all? He might be a powerful asshole that doesn't even know what's going on in the world. Maybe he doesn't give a shit about his creation and about getting involved in peoples' lives and is busy working on some other plans.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Originally posted by daniel_m
IF I have somehow cosmically miscalculated and there actually IS a god out there...

this may ruffle the feathers of some, but...

one thing's for sure, if there is a god, it certainly isn't "jesus christ."

lol

 

[daniel_m]

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko

this may ruffle the feathers of some, but...

one thing's for sure, if there is a god, it certainly isn't "jesus christ."

ruffled feathers or not Gekko, some people are just so in love with the jesus idea they choose to completely ignore the FACT that there is NO extra-biblical evidence to support his existance and MOUNTAINS of extra-biblical evidence to show how the whole myth got started..

(cos if jesus never lived: out the window goes idea that he died to save us; out the window goes the idea of the 'trinity'; basically, out the window goes the whole concept of 'christianity')