Replying to LO30754 --
Dear LO'ers,
I passed this on to a friend of mine and this is his response. He was
happy for me to share it with you - so here it is!
Tricia
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Turner
Tricia,
I did appreciate it very much, thank you.
Why do we live? Hmm, I think that one way to tackle this is to
consider evolution (encompassing the development of mater, emergence
of primitive life forms, the development of self awareness in higher
animals, and the uncovering of spiritual awareness in man) as the
spiritual process, the very organisation of energy into a form that
can ultimately, through enlightenment, apprehend the whole non-dual
realm of emptiness within which all is contained.
I would contend that within this non-duality exists creation the
omnipotent potential for all, everywhere, outside time, the existence
of god permeating all, connected to all, accessible through all. Why
do we live? To serve the process, to become part of ongoing
creation/evolution, to affect the process, to be a creative (or
destructive?) force that helps to steer the evolution towards
enlightenment.
My theory puts forward the idea that the answer to, ^Ñwhy do we
live?^Ò is that living serves evolution and that through evolution it
is possible to achieve enlightenment. ^ÓBut the achievement of
enlightenment, what is that for?^Ô I hear you ask. Well it seems to
me that through enlightenment we are better able to serve the
evolutionary process, the ^Ógrace of god^Ô. Life provides us with the
opportunity to serve the universe and since we are part of the
universe, we also serve ourselves.
I feel I have come close to At here with his, "I am living by the
grace of God" answer to "why do we live", but for me it is slightly
altered to, "I am living in the grace of god". For me I am not living
"by" the grace of God, in the sense of "along side" or, "with the
permission of", I am living "in" the grace of god, part of it,
contributing to it, benefiting from it.
Please feel free to share if you want.
Phil
--"Tricia Lustig" <TLN@LasaDev.com>
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