Keep the wisdom

[cleve]

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful and useful input; I learned a lot from reading your posts. Your responses conveyed an energy of passion that I don't always experience in communicative exchanges with other people.
In similar fashion, I've feel I've had opportunity to experience an energy of passion that has helped me to learn about following wisdom. A neck injury that I experienced early in life has blessed me in this area and has shown me how a calm and undisturbed heart and mind can help provide life and health for the body.
Along the same lines, I've run across some YouTube segments on the topic of wisdom. Some of the information that was presented gave the impression that a step toward understanding what wisdom entails can come from becoming aware of what is missing or lacking in a given subject matter. Although these people want to share their wisdom about wisdom, after listening to them, I came away with a sense that there are/were some gaps in their theories. Since all of us have had a wide range of experiences to help us in gaining wisdom about life, I'd be interested in your input about these discussions of wisdom - especially, what you sense might be missing from each presentation on wisdom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWQ46lFPShc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMEwgDugaq4
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Define "intangible realm".

Your question helped me to experience the challenges entailed in trying to define "intangible realm". From that standpoint, even "love" ends up lacking a framework for defining it. Thanks.

[Keep The Reason]

What's more, it's seems peculiar to hear King Solomon lauded for his wisdom when it was his own missteps that lead to his kingdom's eventual downfall. Or perhaps he was just a wise judge and not a wise ruler.

I haven't thought about this story in a few years, buti if you think about it, it's almost comically lame. I mean, ok, let's give props to Solomon for devising this great "outing plan" but it wouldn't have worked unless the false mother was pathetically stupid. Solomon comes up with the idea of cutting a baby in twain, and one mother is like pathological liar Jon Lovitz from Saturday Night Live:

"Ah, yeah, split the baby in twain, that's the ticket.... Yeah, good plan, that'll work! Justl like I did with... Ah, Morgan.... Ah... Morgan Fairchild, yeah, that's right. Morgan Fairchild."

[Keep The Reason]

Your question helped me to experience the challenges entailed in trying to define "intangible realm". From that standpoint, even "love" ends up lacking a framework for defining it. Thanks.

Well, now "intangible" might need to be defined. Love creates chemical and neural responses (all emotions do) so is love actually "intangible"?

[cleve]

Cleve, I've honestly tried to answer your questions, but I have to admit that I don't quite comprehend the question in some cases.

- What methods have you found to be useful in determining the validity of a matter?

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your creative and interesting thoughts in response to my brief but vague questions.
If I could restate the same question, I might add this example: If a car mechanic wrote on your bill that he had re-timed your car engine, and your engine is still running poorly, this disparity would raise a red flag to you that something in the motor or the mechanic's workmanship and/or attitude are out of relationship here. That being the case, why do you think it could be important to understand time relationships in religion or a car motor?
If your church asked you for 10% of your income, how would you choose to respond?

- How do you see this to apply to determining whether or not God is merely serving to be a temporary emotional personal choice for someone?

In my own experiences with church leaders, the church actions and activities that members get involved in are often done ignorantly, half-heartedly and superficially - more because the church leaders are telling them to do so, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally. Instead of opting to do what they sense God is telling them, church members often get encouraged to become codependent on their church leaders. This kind of interaction often drives those who are searching for more meaning to life to study and read the bible on their own. Eventually - and hopefully - through their independent study of the bible, they will learn/become more aware of what is right and how to apply what they learn to their own lives. Ultimately, they have to choose between a lifestyle of service to God with personal independence from unnecessary religious authority figures, or codependence on other humans and church leaders. But all of us have a choice to make on the matter. If a person chooses to remain dependent on church leadership, his/her service to God tends to be based more on emotions than logic.

- Would you classify "the unknown realm" into the subject area of supersition/myth or not? Why or why not?

If by "unknown realm" you mean heaven, I guess I consider that superstition/myth primarily because of a lack of evidence or any explanation that makes sense. Also because of the abundance of manufactured explanations.

Because of its intangibility, heaven tends to be an unknown realm that most of us know little about. For myself, Heaven is a kind of inheritance - specifically, an abode for the uninterrupted and spirited passion of love.

... And it is not the deities that are the source of such dysfunction; it's the humans who populate the churches. ...

That being the case, what would you attribute the force that can motivate evil passion in people who otherwise have a desire to be nice ?
Again thanks Gary. For helping me learn how to ask questions.

[cleve]

Your question helped me to experience the challenges entailed in trying to define "intangible realm". From that standpoint, even "love" ends up lacking a framework for defining it. Thanks.

Well, now "intangible" might need to be defined. Love creates chemical and neural responses (all emotions do) so is love actually "intangible"?

To start with seeing is a dimensional process that is similar to how something becomes invented. "The intangible realm" can represent the starting point - at first, from there being unable too see, prior to when the process of seeing begins. At that point, nothing is visible (tangible), except by means of an idea or a similar tangible item. Creative energy from passion can produce additional ideas by means of a spark from an unrelated idea or thing. Changes get made through a series of steps in seeing. Some ideas often prove to be weak and faulty - proving to be inadequate and discouraging steps.
Ultimately, as the process unfolds, the question remains: Who is the "inventor"? God or man?

[gary_s]

If I could restate the same question, I might add this example: If a car mechanic wrote on your bill that he had re-timed your car engine, and your engine is still running poorly, this disparity would raise a red flag to you that something in the motor or the mechanic's workmanship and/or attitude are out of relationship here. That being the case, why do you think it could be important to understand time relationships in religion or a car motor?

Wow, I mean this in the most respectful way, Cleve. I have no idea what you are talking about. Time relationships in religion? I've got nothing.

If your church asked you for 10% of your income, how would you choose to respond?

If I were a church member, sure, I'd contribute. That would only be fair since I would be utilizing the church facilities and services. But if I want to contribute to charities, I'll do that directly. Most churches blow too much money on selfish things.

That being the case, what would you attribute the force that can motivate evil passion in people who otherwise have a desire to be nice ?
Again thanks Gary. For helping me learn how to ask questions.

I think the core reason people do selfish things (and I consider selfishness to be the root of all evil) is because that is the default nature of creatures. Many creatures have the ability to override this default state, but none more than humans. We operate in a state of suspending this default nature most of the time, but there are occasions where our primal nature simply gets the best of us.

[cleve]

If I could restate the same question, I might add this example: If a car mechanic wrote on your bill that he had re-timed your car engine, and your engine is still running poorly, this disparity would raise a red flag to you that something in the motor or the mechanic's workmanship and/or attitude are out of relationship here. That being the case, why do you think it could be important to understand time relationships in religion or a car motor?

Wow, I mean this in the most respectful way, Cleve. I have no idea what you are talking about. Time relationships in religion? I've got nothing.

My apologies and my fault, Gary. I have a tendency to conclude in on a matter before I get enough groundwork laid for the other person to get a drift of how and where I'm orienting my discussion. I also get overly concerned about coming across as being too religious, and I end up doing it anyway.
Don't feel bad about not knowing what I'm referring to when it comes to time relationships in religion. Apologies for the confusion; I should have said "the Bible" rather than "religion". I myself have spent many years trying to understand this concept of time relationships of the Bible. (I have found some bible teachers who have been helpful through the internetl. Just like everything else in life, something doesn't seem mysterious after we come to understand it better.) So when it comes to the matter of time relationships in the Bible, I am referring to specific periods of time as they pertain to 3 different groups of people covered in the Bible. The scriptures can be divided in such a way to show how this occurred. There appear to be three separate salvations in the Bible for three different groups of people; the separate salvations indicate that God plans to bless each of these groups in a unique way.
Just like a car engine needs to be timed correctly in order for all moving parts to synchronize and run efficiently , the Bible needs to be "timed" correctly so we can understand how God is/will be blessing these three groups of people. Once time relations in the Bible become understood, what the Bible says has a lot less confusion to it.
For starters, here's a chart that might help a little bit for a visual concept of the relationship that I am talking about:
http://www.bibleunderstanding.com/pauls14epistles.htm