July 1 2020
In response to a post (shown below): Christians who might be feeling they’re getting attacked during the pandemic, isn’t for any other reason than the protesters are nihilists. I want to say something about what you refer to as the spirituality debate, which refers to the human spirit and not necessarily to religion or religious belief. When spirituality refers to the human spirit it corresponds to how a person responds to their surroundings or constitutes a person’s five senses through which they perceive the world; they are perception, conception, volition and consciousness and a temporary union with form. It is not what one has lost when they die, but the life that one lives in order to die without regret. When one feels sad, repentant, or disappointment over something they cause to happen or do in their life, it means they feel at a loss for missing the opportunity to make something right before they die. Where a person is wrong in life that brings him or her harm by believing in what they do, is by living under illusions, false or misleading perceptions of the truth. Behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment, or conscience is stupidity. It has nothing to do with what anyone thinks of you, but is about suffering that is far-reaching that conjures my compassion. One of those false perceptions is by not recognizing the law of cause of effect, and instead placing one’s faith in omnicausality, a God being the cause of everything, when every effect in nature has an antecedent or simultaneous cause. Humans have the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate. Humans possess the ability to act at their own discretion. That means humans can live a life without regret and die without regret by taking responsibility for the circumstances into which they have been born and for the causes they make in this lifetime in order to change their lives and experience better circumstances. Humans are born with free will, without moral obligation to serve a god. It does not mean they don’t concern themselves with principles of right and wrong behavior or with the goodness or badness of human character, nor does it mean they do not possess faith. What about people born into abject poverty in an arid desert of absolute authority, political and social unrest, whose life condition you can only describe as living and dying in a state of hell, and hunger like that of animals? Flaming heat completely engulfs them. They are slaves to agony. They completely lack freedom. There is no hope of respite from their torment. All that arises from their inability to quell their misery is resentment and desperation. Living in a constant state of starvation, all their suffering knows is the unfulfillment of their overwhelming desires. That struggle for survival is a world where people lack reason and conscience, and where there is a willingness to harm others to protect oneself. All the causes one makes will produce an effect of the same quality as itself, that is good, evil, or neutral in this lifetime, the next, or subsequent lifetimes, depending on motivation, on whether it was done habitually, or causes harm to others. The belief of being saved from misplace hell said to be under the earth and given eternal life with God in heaven is irreverent; it shows a lack of respect for the dignity of people, which should be taken seriously. There is no fundamental distinction between an ordinary person and those who are spiritually aware of the ultimate truth or principle of life and the universe that is cause and effect, but that wisdom is found in faith alone and only results from observing one’s own mind and possessing a seeking spirit. On the other hand, the consequence of redemption is the action of a religious figure of absolute authority saving a person from sin, error, or evil at the expense of observing their own mind, and which veneration is the exchange or payment to clear the debt, without an opportunity to change their circumstances. It can only exist when there is a belief in the ANNIHILATION or complete destruction or obliteration of life at death without continuance, where it persists in some eternally unchanged form as a soul in either a heaven or hell. Then life has no meaning and the nihilists are right, but they are not. Life has meaning. How uncanny, as if nihilists in the streets were rioting for other reasons, than to completely destroy and obliterate life as society knows it; life’s customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of every particular nation, people, or other social groups, its attitudes and behaviors characteristic of every particular social group. How does that affect you? If you’re wrong and you are, the consequences are far worse, that is an absolute authority coming for you, not a condition of life that is heavenly; only a temporary contentment and joy anyway, which will only disappear with the passage of time, even with a slightest change in circumstances. What saves humans and releases them from their suffering in this world is not a god. It is none other than their humanity, that condition of composure and tranquility, the quality of reason, perceiving the true nature of their unique reality and tapping into the wisdom that not only enables them to distinguish between right and wrong, but with the distinction of making sound judgments, in order to improve their lives. Illusions are like a desert, full of innumerable particles of sand. You can certainly regard inferior things as superior, adhere to misconceptions, view erroneous rules that intend to regulate your behavior or thought as correct, using your ideas, beliefs, or methods as believing are the true way to happiness. All of that will not change the inclinations of greed, anger, stupidity, arrogance, or doubt humans experience, which arise in connection with the various affairs of this world. Actual facts are all around for us to see, but “There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds.” (Nichiren) Eternal life is a virtue, a useful quality, but not something you get to do when you die; it has an inseparable link to law of cause and effect from the eternal past, through the present, through the eternal future as in, there is “neither birth nor extinction, neither cessation nor permanence, neither uniformity nor diversity, neither coming nor going…” (Nagarjuna), which is the true nature of all things. “When we look into our own mind at any moment, we perceive neither color nor form to verify that it exists. Yet we still cannot say it does not exist, for many differing thoughts continually occur. The mind cannot be considered either to exist or not to exist. Life is indeed an elusive reality that transcends both the words and concepts of existence and nonexistence. It is neither existence nor nonexistence, yet exhibits the qualities of both.” (Nichiren) In response to the post: “As Christianity gets attacked during this pandemic, I want to say something about the spirituality debate. You don’t believe in God? Fine. Why is it so important for many of you to mock those of us that do? If we’re wrong, what have we lost when we die? Nothing! How does our believing in Jesus bring you any harm? You think it makes me stupid? Gullible? Fine. How does that affect you? If you’re wrong your consequence is far worse. I would rather live my life believing in God and serving Him, and find out I was right, than not believe in Him and not serve Him, and find out I was wrong. Then it’s too late. I believe in Jesus Christ. He said deny me in front of your friends & I will deny you in front of my Father. HE’S COMING BACK…soon!! Greatest man in history, had no servants, yet they call him Master. Had no degree, yet they call him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they call him Healer. He had no army, yet kings fear Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. His name is JESUS. ✝️ If you’re not ashamed copy & paste. 🙏AMEN I copied and pasted from another person’s post.”