Spiritual Survey - Swan's Response

Bruv, you certainly know how to get one's brain cells working! Well done for coming up with these questions, never mind answering them!

It has taken me a long time to ponder over your questions and I felt that this would be a very long comment to make - so I made it a separate post.

1. That what we experience through our bodily senses is all there is to life?

I think this depends on what you call bodily senses. I would say no, not the 5 senses that we all think of when we think of our senses, but our senses of perception go far deeper than this. Our bodies can sense many other things, for example, we can sense the space behind our backs. This is a direct 'bodily' sense that you have and use all the time. You can sense not just the space, but you can sense the people behind you which you could turn and speak to. You can also sense how you might feel if you turned and spoke to them. This sense might also include messages like 'I need to walk faster' or 'change my route' etc. I cannot explain this as anything other than sensory perception. Not to be confused with ESP - I have seen one or two psychics in my time and have not been convinced by any ot them.

Our bodies interact with our environments in many ways, animals can sense themselves too - in having a sense of ourselves, our bodies sense not just the physical environment but also our situations with other human beings.

So I believe that the senses do not just consist just of colors, smells, and sounds etc. Even the simplest situation cannot be understood just in terms of the five senses. Most situations involve other people and their very complex involvements with each other.

I also believe that some people do not consciously interact with any of their senses in terms of trying to understand what their senses are telling them.

2. That a higher force exists?

I agree with Bruv on this one to some extent. I can only explain it by saying that I believe the higher force is our sub-consciousness. I expect at times that we have all looked to what we believe might be our version of god for help at times, but I have always found the answers to the problems I have had within myself. I think that I like to think that there is someone watching over me sometimes as perhaps a sense of security, when I know full well that it is I that has the power to make things change or happen.

I think that the sub-conscious mind is incredibly powerful yet we don't know how to tap into what it is trying to tell us a lot of the time.

3. That there is life after death?

I do not think that it is a life we have after death in the same way that we have a life now. But perhaps we exist in some shape or form, I steer towards spiritual life rather than physical life.

4. That the spirits of our ancestors live on?

I really like Namaste's explanation that our ancestors live on through our DNA. I think that is spot-on.

5. That good and evil exist?

I suppose that the answer to this question depends on how moral you are? Everyone's perceptions of good and evil I would think are different - what I might think is evil, another might think is acceptable. Good doesn't seem like a strong enough opposite to evil - evil to me is something that is unforgiveably horrible. Good, is just 'good'.
I do not believe like Bruv, however, that we are all good and evil, I believe that we all have the capacity to not be good at times, but that doesn't mean that we all have the capacity to be evil.

6. That we can contact and be contacted by spirits?

Yes, I do believe this.

7. That there are other realms we can travel to?

No, other than other planets - I do not believe in heaven and hell.

8. That we can be healed by something other than conventional techniques?

Yes, we can heal ourselves. Many of our health problems come from within us, from our thoughts and feelings, fears and problems. I believe very strongly that we have the power to heal ourselves and I also believe that alternative medicines can heal as effectively if not more effectively than other conventional medicines - and this includes the placebo effect, which has supposedly the highest rates of success in many medical trials of new drugs.

9. That we have a higher purpose?

Yes I do think that we have a higher purpose, that we will gradually, through the generations to come, understand more about human life until we can know no more. Then what?

10. That the universe was created rather than developed naturally?

I agree with Bruv and Namaste on this one, I don't think anything was 'created' for any purpose, everything took its course naturally in its own sweet way - and now look at what we are doing to it! I have a feeling that in many, many years to come, mother nature might have to do the same thing again, as we will have destroyed all of her good work.

Like Namaste I also agree that Astrology can give us a lot of insight into people's personalities. I find it spooky how all of my friends are either Arians or Cancerians.