Interesting read. I wonder if you are at all inspired by Buddhism, specifically, the concept of Anatta which states that there is no permanent, unchanging self. I believe Westerners erroneously interpret this to mean that Buddhists don't believe we have a soul. But, according to my admittedly limited understanding of Buddhism, it means that we humans - like everything else in the universe - are constantly changing physically and mentally. And, by embracing the impermanence of everything, including ourselves, we enable ourselves to "let go" of the pain and suffering in this existence and transcend to a higher state of being. Reading your thoughts here just reminded me of these aspects of Buddhism.
Yes, I had intellectually begun abandoning the precepts of Christianity by early 20s and in college, I began taking religion and philosophy classes. I took a dive into Hinduism and Buddhism. I particularly identified with what seemed to be the rationality of Buddhism. I especially liked that there was no true “organized” religious structure which allowed me to explore what made sense and what did not. As noted, I spent a couple of decades as an atheist and then agnostic, but continued to philosophically explore consciousness and meaning. Having determined that meaning was inextricable from consciousness and that consciousness could not be objectified by language, it became clear to me that conscious being imbues objective reality with meaning, not the other way around. From those observations, I have tracked pretty closely with Buddhist understanding of the human condition, but always feeling free to make my own meaning of things. I particularly learn a lot with Sadhguru who is quite scientific about his spirituality though he is of a generally Hindu paradigm. He frames his approach as a technology or inner engineering. Lots more to be said, but yes you grokked the Buddhist leanings.
Interesting read. I wonder if you are at all inspired by Buddhism, specifically, the concept of Anatta which states that there is no permanent, unchanging self. I believe Westerners erroneously interpret this to mean that Buddhists don't believe we have a soul. But, according to my admittedly limited understanding of Buddhism, it means that we humans - like everything else in the universe - are constantly changing physically and mentally. And, by embracing the impermanence of everything, including ourselves, we enable ourselves to "let go" of the pain and suffering in this existence and transcend to a higher state of being. Reading your thoughts here just reminded me of these aspects of Buddhism.
Yes, I had intellectually begun abandoning the precepts of Christianity by early 20s and in college, I began taking religion and philosophy classes. I took a dive into Hinduism and Buddhism. I particularly identified with what seemed to be the rationality of Buddhism. I especially liked that there was no true “organized” religious structure which allowed me to explore what made sense and what did not. As noted, I spent a couple of decades as an atheist and then agnostic, but continued to philosophically explore consciousness and meaning. Having determined that meaning was inextricable from consciousness and that consciousness could not be objectified by language, it became clear to me that conscious being imbues objective reality with meaning, not the other way around. From those observations, I have tracked pretty closely with Buddhist understanding of the human condition, but always feeling free to make my own meaning of things. I particularly learn a lot with Sadhguru who is quite scientific about his spirituality though he is of a generally Hindu paradigm. He frames his approach as a technology or inner engineering. Lots more to be said, but yes you grokked the Buddhist leanings.