Even though we think we have individuality, we still have a herd mentality. We often follow the dare-devil knowing that it is dangerous. We cling to conformity. We only transform when we reach awareness and consciousness. Then we will find true liberty.
Science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is born. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call 'soul' or 'spirit,' is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the 'soul' or the 'spirit' ceases likewise. I expressed these ideas long before the behaviorists, led by Pavlov in Russia and by Watson in the United States, proclaimed their new psychology. This apparently mechanistic conception is not antagonistic to an ethical conception of life.
A wonderful area for speculative academic work is the unknowable. These days religious subjects are in disfavor, but there are still plenty of good topics. The nature of consciousness, the workings of the brain, the origin of aggression, the origin of language, the origin of life on earth, SETI and life on other worlds...this is all great stuff. Wonderful stuff. You can argue it interminably. But it can't be contradicted, because nobody knows the answer to any of these topics.
What can we practice daily to become more aware of how we interact with the minds thought commotions? The first step is not to become overly demanding in our attempt to become free of the mind and live more consciously. It is a process and should develop naturally. Therefore, there are no rights or wrongs.
There are many, many, many worlds branching out at each moment you become aware of your environment and then make a choice.
We have collectively and constantly created and are creating the world we exist in, who knows who really authored what. If every success is someone elseβs failure, and failure someone elseβs success, how then can we not all be part of the manifested.
What is a word? What is the word death without its meaning to us? What is the word life without itβs meaning to us? Is it meaningless? Does it in fact have less meaning? Less meaning implies opposition. Less meaning than what? What is life or death without the meaning we attach to it. Without the words life or death, If In fact we knew them not, what then would they be? The answer is simple, nothing... no thing. So then what is a word, if not a fabrication made to solve the problem of not knowing. Not knowing is the beautiful landscape of life, of being. We act like we know what death is, and go on experiencing it while we think we are living. The word for this is irony or more specifically tragedy.