Paradise

[Wayne Goodwin]

What Does Paradise Mean Too You ?

Is It Here On Earth ?

Is It A Place In Your Mind That You Think Of ?

Is It In Heaven ?

Could It Be In A Different Dimension Of Time ?

Your Thoughts Please .....

[frenchy]

well just my 2 cents .. i have a hard time believin that everything just happened like darwin thought up .. ..( don't get me wrong tho i do believe in selective breeding cause thats been proven ) but i believe there was some kinda intelligent design behind the whole thing .. and i believe that life here is some kind of learnin experience or maybe test .. does that mean that god or our creator is this fire and brimstone kinda guy who just loves to cut us off at the knees every chance he gets ?? i don't think so .. and just how do you reach him ?? i don't know .. i'm still tryin to figure that out .. and i'm not gonna give you directions cause i'm lost too, i believe that christ was his son just like we all are , only he was the first born of all creation .. i believe he came back from the dead and was the only one to do so on his own.. but thats my personal belief and just like he told his deciples to go out two by two and preach the good news he also told them that if they didn't wanna hear it to wipe the dust off their feet and move on..  he didn't say to kill em .. and i think this is where a lot of religions go wrong .. conversion by the sword is not true conversion .. you either come because you believe or you don't .. and there are times i have my doubts .. this whole concept of god is a very ambigious and vague kinda thing .. just like paradise .. for all we know we all get our own different seperate paradise .. or , as some believe after this there is nothin .. that would be sad if that was true but once we're gone we won't know it .. so none of us will be able to say see i told you so .. if god does exist and he welcomes us as his children the believers will have been right .. at this point we all have to make up our own mind based on what makes the most sense to us .. i think it makes no sense to have all this around us and no place to go after we die .. but thats my belief and everybody has their right to believe what they want .. if you don't believe then i'm not gonna set you on fire , or behead you , or boil you in oil , have you drawn and quartered or put you to the sword .. believe as you wish .. its your life and your soul .. me , i think there's somethin better waitin after this ..   

[Merry]

I always wanted to go to a library that told the truth about everything about reality and the cosmos. Not conjecture. But a place where you could go look up your past lives and read about them or something. Maybe that's what happens when someone meets up with the creator. I just want to know >>>WHY?

[ProblemAgain]

just for the record....snagg references a particular novel and it does have a certain vonnegutesque flavor...the novel is "Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins...

What if the Second Coming didn’t quite come off as advertised? What if “the Corpse” on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is—what does that portend for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tell us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hot dog and eroding the borders of the mind.

[Merry]

LOVED READING THIS BOOK.

[Snagg]

I'm not "preaching atheism" here, but...

"What does it hurt" ?

Hundreds of grade-school and high school children abused during the pedophile scandal, just in America.

The AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Overpopulation epidemic in India.

Women and gays still struggling to be treated as equal human beings.

The last 5,000 years of the Middle East.

Religion can provide a sense of community and a feeling of stability during trying times...But when it starts ordering everybody around or teaching fairy tales as scientific reality or refusing to take responsibility for it's own crimes - That's when the problems start.

[frenchy]

religion does a lot of things that i doubt the creator would approve of .. nobody gets it right all the time .. i think its about forgiveness, because if you can't forgive someone else ?? how can you expect someone else to forgive you ?? that don't mean that some acts shouldn't be punished .. like osama bin ladin .. or priests kiddie diddlin little kids to name a couple that come to mind right off ..on the plus side religion gives a lot of people a sense of moral compass where there may not have been one .. with no moral compass at all life here on earth would be total chaos . and there are times when i think we're just inches away from total chaos .. atheism hurts nobody , except the atheists if god really does exist .. and again thats their right to not believe .. just let those that believe, believe, and those that don't, not believe .. simple as that ..  

[crestofwaves]

[frenchy]

all we need now is to figure out where home is.. maybe its all about the walk ??  

[crestofwaves]

Well, I think that's what old Ram Das is saying.  The journey is the important thing. And we will all help each other find the way.  This was just posted on FB, and it was so integral to our conversation here, that I had to bring it to this site.

When I saw it, though, I went Whoa because to me it is just so true and powerful.  One of those hits you like a silver bullet right between the eyes things.  ( What movie is that from? The silver bullet thing?)

 

[Snagg]

Are you thinking of this, Crest...? At about the 2:45 mark ?

[crestofwaves]

Yes sir! He is the epitome of the man who has to go to the dark side to get to the light. At one time he smelled the flowers on the river--and now.... Oh, diamond bullet.  I remember now.

[Kim]

You know, Snagg....I've often thought the same thing when people talk about what heaven is like. To ME, it would be something like living on the most beautiful beach with amazing flowers and trees everywhere, butterflies, and all breeds of animals (MINUS SNAKES and Mosquitos) just walking all over the place and the mountains and indescribable beauty everywhere you look. But it took me awhile to realize SOME people HATE the beach, water, animals, and flowers.

BUT seriously....paradise to me is many things...its in the "every day" of life. Over the course of this summer, DESPITE the crappy weather,  I've experienced many glimpses of paradise. I have been to some new places/restaurants, ALL on the water where I'm listening to a band that sounds like my favorite classic rock songs while I have a glass of wine or a Margarita and I'm thinking WOW...it doesn't get much better than THIS! Then I go for a boat ride and think...it doesn't get much better than THIS. And the beat goes on....