From one perspective, there is no infinite.
From the other perspective, there is no finite.
God is the infinite - there is only one God, one reality. God is reality. People from different religions fight with each other only if they don't understand this. If they don't, then Buddhists will say that Hinduism is wrong because of some way they describe reality, and actually Buddhism is correct. But they will only say this if they have no real understanding of that reality - that it is infinite peace, bliss, knowledge, and existence.
There is no way to prove to an atheist that God, that the Absolute, exists. It took me most of my life to break free of my strongly held atheist views. The first time I did was when I realized that all this had a source, that the universe had a source. I was quite happy because there was absolutely nothing illogical about this, and I thought I could share it with other atheists. At the moment I realized that, I stepped from being as absolutely an atheist as Mark, The Atheist, or anyone else, to realizing that there was more to it than I thought.
A couple years later I had a direct experience of reality. I experienced what Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and Sufi mystics have once in a while seen throughout time. I cannot explain it any better than Alduous Huxley, whose seemingly simple statement contains an unknown and yet absolutely essential truth. "When the doors of perception are cleansed, all will appear to man as it is, infinite." Everything that is, is infinite. It seems like nonsense to those who say there is no infinite. From the other side, however, it's seen that there is only Reality, and nothing more. This existence is something like a dream. We think we are limited, we think we are separate from reality. When we realize that we are connected to the Source of Being, we experience that all we had thought before is nothing. It seems so far away because we feel so limited - we are ingrained with ideas that we are inherently flawed, incomplete, lacking, imperfect. There is no greater affront than to say one is perfect. When we experience our Source for the very first time it is like awakening a thousand times, like an evolution of sorts, a thousand times. A thousand times all of our doubts, fears, misconceptions are stripped away, our karma is burst open to reveal something new.
The idea we are imperfect, incomplete and lacking is so ingrained into us, and yet it is wholly false. In this realm of subjectivity we have a great control over our lives and our reality. Our physical body alone is subject to interpretation. For some it is weak and impish; and for others it is a veritable universe of immense harmony and beauty. Taoism and Buddhism and Hinduism all revealed this truth in a surprising way.
When I experienced my connection to the Source of Being for the first time, it was like waking up from a dream, literally and absolutely. Knowing that I came from the Source, was like feeling my feet on the ground for the very first time - although this simpler analogy doesn't capture the encompassing feeling of suddenly every level of my being knowing absolutely that I was whole and complete. My range of being - and your range of being - is not what you and I have been deluded into thinking: my physical body, ending at my skin, the sum of my conscious actions. It also includes my subconscious actions, such as growing my hair, growing my bones and the rest.
The truth I am expressing is the unity of all opposites. It's the answer to every desire, every question, every need, every pain. The answer to every question we, as a race, ever wondered is there within every one of us. Consider a somewhat hapless humanity, wondering, wondering. The answer is there within, and a necessary component is non-duality. When you realize what you really are, the universe, you no longer have any doubt or question unanswered. It's not a piece of knowledge that can be spoken, and heard and simply known. It's an individual, personal experience which is also universal. It's found in Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American spirituality - these that I know of. As Black Elk said, Only when men know they are one with the universe will they know peace in their souls.
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
