Originally Posted by
NikolaiI
Let's reconsider that belief, that nature and storms are subhuman. Nature extends - nature includes the universe. I mean planets, stars, galaxies, all those are included in nature. Do you really mean nature is subhuman? Humans are a part of nature, and if they are greater than nature, you're saying they're greater than themselves, which doesn't make sense.
Again, non-conscious doesn't mean sub-conscious. Eastern wisdom tells us that the path of growth, of spiritual enlightenment takes us on a path, where we begin and end non-conscious. As an infant, we are not conscious, and there's no difference between the infant and the world around it. To make it short, then there's different levels of the ego, until we eventually transcend it all. (No Boundary, and The Atman Project, by Ken Wilber) At least that is the goal. On one end is an infant, on the other end is the enlightened individual, that perceives the truth, etc.
This fact is what leads people like me to try for a reconciliation of beliefs, and encourages people to expand their minds and learn and grow and experiment and all those things. It's because I've seen glimpes of very rich and beautiful knowledge in lots of different places, it's what makes me open to new things as well.
As you probably know, I was raised Christian, Presbyterian, which was my mother's faith. My father has always been atheist and never lied to me about that. I used to have full faith and at some point I realized I was faking my belief, and became atheist. I won't recount all the twists for you, but like I've said, I've seen many beautiful glimpses along the way. At some point I studied Buddhism, then later the Bhagavad-Gita, and eventually decided I could reconcile the (yes, personal) God of YHWA with other faiths. Eventually I realized that even atheism was compatible with other isms, and I'll argue that with you if you like, it is the topic of this thread.
As to what you were saying, regardless of whether it is good or not, I would like to hear what you meant. I mean, the earth - subhuman? I can't think of any value system that would support this except one that says humans are greater than things that aren't human. Anyway, forget about the conscious thing. As someone once said, "Without comparing, beauty is everywhere."
But surely that gets too zen for you. As with most people. I'm not trying to be personal, just slightly provocative.
As for Nietzsche, I'll ask you how much of him you read. I've only read the first two books and part of the third of Thus Spake Zarathustra, and I am a person that loves him. How much of him have you read - who holds him in such low esteem? And if that's all you've seen of his, then I really suggest you don't read anything else, you really won't like it.
Okay, cheers, have a good day, Namaste.
Also, everything has a purpose. Especially time - to illustrate how life goes. Each day and each minute are building to something, and all of our past is building up to the present, always. That is what meditation is good for. And if we have fallacious beliefs, I truly believe humans have the capability to be openminded and learn and arrive at the truth.