No overpopulation, no economic inequality, no competition for scarce resources, no sociopaths, all the Murdochs and bin Ladens would be on board? Really?
Of course resolving these thing require the use of higher reason, morals, ethics, knowledge, etc. Where mystical experience plays in all this, is not as a replacement for these things, but to illuminate all of these things through a heart of compassion and truth, egos set aside.
To be honest, for something like that to happen, my money's on reason, not on mysticism.
Reason without love, reason without a true knowledge of our interiors, is just cold mental calculations. It doesn't speak to, or about, the whole person, which is required in order to grow and evolve. Out of curiosity, do you believe that reason
alone can help us to transcend our egos? If so, how?
As much as you are convinced it's not mysticism that will save us, I am convinced it is definitely not reason alone that will either. Both are necessary. Mysticism opens us to compassion. Reason, not so much, if at all. Both together, is to me where the true human will awaken, and true progress that embraces every aspect of life will emerge as the result.
That might be true. Or we may both have experienced one or other form of those states and reacted differently to the experience. I'm not sure how we could sort that question out ─ any suggestions?
I don't doubt that may be the case. Mystical experiences, transcendent experiences are actually quite common. I speculate that it is really more a matter of the optimal conditions under which they occur which makes the difference. If someone has "too much to lose", such an experience may threaten to upset their handles on reality and lead them to deny, repress, ignore, forget, such a moment. Guilt, for instance. To stare into the face of God, means to see into yourself, and that is absolutely terrifying for us. We all deny parts of ourselves to ourselves, demonize them, bury them, repress them, and project them on to other as part of that. We all do that to one extent or another.
But if someone is at their end of all their projects to avoid staring into the Deep and see themselves as they truly are, then such a "revelation" of Truth itself, saves them. It leads to profound transformation in their lives, and they cannot walk away from all of that without paying a horrible price. It truly does fit with what the great Wisdom teachers always say, you have to consider the costs, as it will cost you everything. Seeds are sown all the time in our lives, but it really is about the soil they fall onto. Is it fertile, broken up and loose, or hard and compacted? And the conditions of that may be one thing at one season of our lives, and another thing at another season.
Don't be silly!. Realists are entitled to their pleasures, just as much as mysticists are.
Hey, don't get me wrong! I appreciate a good drink. But not as a substitute for awakening. Too much of it, dulls the mind and we may use it to hide the Truth from us that is hard to face in ourselves. It can become an avoidance of being truly happy, which comes from letting go of all our guilts, shames, fears, anxieties, projections, and angers. If those are not a factor, then "Cheers!"
I've tried meditation, had a couple of serious shots at it, but (not to mince words) I find it essentially boring. In my view, the world, the question, What's true in reality? is vastly more interesting.
What's interesting is that for me, the answer to that question comes through meditation, which allows the rest of the body/mind/spirit to perceive and receive what actually is, rather than using our critical thinking minds to try to understand that which is wholly, infinitely, beyond such a "dull faculty". I give you an Einstein quote here that speaks to this,
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
Clearly, he understood the limits of the rational mind. So do I. There is far more to Truth and Reality than the "dull faculties" of our reasoning minds, "can comprehend only in their most primitive forms". That is where you take the next step beyond being a rationalist, into being a poetic and a mystic.
As far a "boring" meditation goes, that really depends on what is a good fit for you or not. Not all forms of meditation are right for everyone. There are many forms, such as involve movement, such as Tai Chi or Qigong. I would never accept anyone saying "this is the true right way to meditate". You may even need to do different forms on different days. My motto is, whatever works, whatever is effective for you, is the right way to do it.
Call me old-fashioned, but if you don't like whisk(e)y, wine is a substantial subject too, and quite a bit of modern beer-making will appeal, not least in summer.
I like whisky, and my go-to drink had been an old-fashioned made with Bullet Rye whisky. With the work I've been doing, that became a hindrance for me as it dulled me too much. I do still enjoy a nice local craft beer though.
I'm asking a serious question. I genuinely don't understand the appeal of mysticism.
And that is a genuine question on your part. The answer I can offer is that once having tasted Reality, as such, there is nothing short of that which satisfies. I had a profound awakening experience when I was 18, and it became the cornerstone of my entire life since that time. Now, four decades of life later, I can drink from that Water again now. In this sense, it's both a blessing and a curse. The former because you can know beyond all possible doubt that absolute Beauty that is Life itself, radiating in everything, in every blade of grace and molecule of air, in every cell of the body, and vision of the mind, in each deep breath the whole of reality inhales and exhales, and the absolute Freedom from this knowledge.
But as I said it is a bit of a double-edge sword. After that, nothing else will again satisfy. No lies we tell ourselves can withstand that Light. And without that as an actual lived experience, where instead we are trapped in the cycles of the programming of our minds through culture and language, then you feel profoundly separated from this Ultimate Truth. This can be described as "the dark night of the soul", by many mystics. But as the saying goes, even if you spent your entire life in pursuit of this, only to have but one moment of it in the end, nothing but that ultimately matters. It is Eternal. It doesn't move. It is not a matter of time, of "when", but of "is" or "is not".
But if as you say that's irrelevant, well, I can take my ignorance elsewhere.
Sorry about that. I didn't mean to insult when you were being sincere. I'm happy to discuss.
