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"Dost thou love
life?
Then do not squander
time;
for that's the stuff
life is made of."
-
Benjamin Franklin
"The more you learn, the more you realize that
we're just scratching on the surface of life.
We don't know the whole story about
anything." - Matthias Nahrendorf
What is life? No one
knows. Life is
aware of itself the moment
it becomes life, that much is certain - and yet it
does not know what
it is. Consciousness, as sensitivity to stimuli, is
undoubtedly aroused to some extent at even the lowest, most undeveloped stages
of life's occurrence; it is
impossible to tie the emergence
of consciousness to any particular point
in life's general or
individual
history - to link it, for instance, to the
presence of a nervous
system.
The lowest
animals have no nervous systems, let alone a cerebral cortex, and yet no
one dares deny that they are capable of responding to stimuli. You can
anesthetize life, life itself, not just
the special organs capable of the response that informs
life, not just the nerves. You could temporarily
suspend the responses of every speck of living matter, in both the plant and
animal kingdoms, narcotize eggs and sperm with
chloroform, chloral hydrate, or
morphine.
Consciousness of self is an inherent function of
matter once it is organized as
life, and if that function is enhanced it appears
to turn against the organism that strives to fathom and
explain the very
phenomenon that produced it, a
striving of life to
comprehend
itself, as if nature were rummaging to find
itself in itself.
What is life? No
one knows. No one can pinpoint when
life first emerged from nature. Nothing in the realm of
life is self-actuated, yet life
seemed to have actuated itself. If anything can be
said about life, then, it is this:
life's structure is so highly
developed that nothing like it could
occur in the inanimate world. The distance between an
amoeba - a pseudopod - and a vertebrate is minor, insignificant in comparison
to that between the simplest form of
life and inorganic matter, which does not even deserve to be called
dead - because death is merely the
logical negation of life. Between life and
inanimate nature is a yawning
abyss.
What is life?
Life is warmth, the warmth produced by instability
attempting to preserve form, a fever
of matter that accompanies the ceaseless
dissolution and renewal of protein
molecules, themselves transient in their complex and intricate construction.
Life is the existence of what, in actuality, has no inherent
ability to exist, but only
balances with sweet, painful precariousness
on one point of existence in the midst of
this feverish, interwoven process of decay and repair.
What is
life? Life is not
matter, it is not spirit. Life is
something in between the two, a phenomenon borne by
matter, like the
rainbow above a
waterfall, like a
flame. But although it is not
material, life
is sensual to the point of
lust and revulsion, it is
matter shamelessly sensitive to stimuli
within and
without -
existence in its lewd
form. Life is a secret, sensate stirring in the chaste chill of
space. Life is furtive, lascivious, sordid - nourishment
sucked in and excreted, an exhalation of carbon dioxide and
other foul impurities of a
mysterious origin and
nature. Out of overcompensation for its own
instability, yet governed by its own inherent laws
of formation, a bloated concoction of water,
protein, salt, and fats - what we call flesh - ran riot, unfolded; and took shape,
achieving form,
beauty, and yet all the while was the
quintessence of sensuality and desire. This
form and this
beauty are not derived from the
spirit, as in works of
poetry and music, nor derived from some neutral
material both consumed by
spirit and innocently embodying it, as is the case
with the form and
beauty of the visual arts. Rather, they are derived from and
perfected by substances
awakened to
sexual passion, to
reproduction, by decomposing and composing
organic matter itself, by
reeking flesh.
-from The Magic
Mountain, Thomas Mann
"Over the last 25 years a new
understanding of life has emerged at the forefront of science.
I want
to illustrate this new understanding by asking the age-old question, what is
life?
What's the difference between a rock and a plant, animal, or
microorganism? To understand the nature of life, it is not enough to understand
DNA, proteins, and the other molecular structures that are the building blocks
of living organisms, because these structures also exist in dead organisms, for
example, in a dead piece of wood or bone.
The difference between a
living organism and a dead organism lies in the basic process of life – in
what sages and poets throughout the ages have called the "breath of life."
In modern scientific language, this process of life is called
"metabolism." It is the ceaseless flow of energy and matter through a network
of chemical reactions, which enables a living organism to continually generate,
repair, and perpetuate itself. In other words, metabolism involves the intake,
digestion, and transformation of food.
Metabolism is the central
characteristic of biological life.
But understanding metabolism is not
enough to understand life.
When we study the structures, metabolic
processes, and evolution of the myriads of species on the planet, we notice
that the outstanding characteristic of our biosphere is that it has sustained
life for billions of years.
How does the Earth do that?
How
does nature sustain life?"
- Fritjof Capra
to
live in the moment
"It is a state of abundance without
control, a state of creativity and growth
without domination, a state of
ease that yet fosters exquisite mindfulness." - Charles
Eisenstein
To live in the moment is misunderstood by most
people.
Living in the moment has been given the connotation of living
irresponsibly.
The fable of the grasshopper and the ant is an example
of the mindset that has been taught - living in the moment is living
irresponsibly.
But the fable of the ant and the grasshopper presents
only a dichotomy.
Each choice exists at the farthest extreme of
diametrically opposed poles.
In reality if we live like the ant we die
like the ant. Our carcass is carted off to the rubbish heap without a second
thought.
To live like the grasshopper today is to sell our future for
purchased happiness now. Eventually our credit card bills catch up with us and,
as the purchasing of happiness can only last while there are funds to be had,
our happiness, built on the shopping experience, wanes.
Looked at from
this point of view both the grasshopper and the ant, having taken extreme
positions, payed the inevitable price of their extremity.
Is there a
middle way?
Naturally.
Realize that one must think to the
future, plan and prepare for the future but one must also be able to enjoy
naturally occurring moments in life when the beauty, mystery and awe of living
break through the bounds of the need to plan, prepare and think to the future.
Or in other words:
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES!
This is
living in the moment!
If our tasks our enjoyable then we are living in
the moment.
When our tasks no longer seem like tasks then our hearts
float free and the task morphs into an activity.
Activities are
fun!
This is living in the moment!
Living in the moment is
enjoying the life that is being lived here and now.
Living in the
moment is not dependent on spending money.
Living in the moment is not
dependent on some future event occurring.
Living in the
moment is accepting reality for what it is and enjoying reality
now.
Living in the moment is accepting existence
for what it is and enjoying existence now.
See God
See
Jesus
See The Golden Rule
See
I Corinthians 13: 4-7
Revelation
Power of Imagination
!! EPIDEMIC OF INNER PEACE PREDICTED !! |
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This website defines a new religious
ideology to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification
of reality outside personal experience has created a populace unable to discern
propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an
international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt
version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any
group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due
to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of the religion
aptly named The Truth of the Way of Life - a rational religion based on reason
which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no
church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to
develop a personal relation with God through the pursuit of the knowledge of
reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the
human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of Life are spelled out in
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This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary
the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the
international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The
international corporate cartel already controls the world central banking
system, mass media worldwide, the industrial military entertainment complex of
America and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of
self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization
is based on cooperation. Cooperation does not occur at the point of a
gun.
American social mores and values have declined precipitously over
the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more
power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general
through mass media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed
into the population through prior mass media psychological operations. The
results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social
structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a
perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the
bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the
corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which
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