Okay, so on Tuesday, Samhain, I mentioned that "a lot of theological and metaphysical puzzle pieces just fell into place for me." It hit me with an obviousness and clarity that I have only experienced once before. Calling it a revelation is not an overstatement.
I said then that I needed a bit of time before talking about it publicly.
I am certain that now is the right time. Thread below, behind the cut.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
So okay. Starting with the basics, the material world as we understand it is a small corner of all that exists. Concepts such as matter, physical space, and linear time are fake concepts that our physiology assumes and finds necessary to interpret the world.
This much I already knew.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
Second: we, our consciousnesses, are a temporary instantiation of beings much larger and less limited.
We instantiate into this material world because there's value in limitations such as perception of linear time and space, individuation, growth, temporariness. We're here to learn and have experiences.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
When we exist outside of this instantiation, we exist as individual but de-individuated beings. Parts of a whole exists, but thoughts and affect are shared, and together we form a collective.
My best metaphor is individuals are like it's lobes of a cumulus cloud -- real and individual, but existing blended together and with divisions drawn between them being somewhat arbitrary.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
We exist in this state as non-material, atemporal beings.
This is our true existence. Our material instantiation is a deliberate choice, but we don't choose what circumstances we're born into.
We instantiate over and over again (reincarnation). We come in a bit different each time, as a result of the blending process of the collective.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
I want to be very, very clear on this point: I do not want this to valorize human suffering.
We're here to learn and experience, and a lot of different kinds of experience have value, but that doesn't make privation or cruelty in any way okay. We need to do what we can to make this world give us the most meaningful experiences possible, for all of us.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
Anyway, certain lobes of the collective are stable and can directly interact with our material world without instantiating into it first.
These are what we experience as gods.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
Gods are real, and exist prior to instantiated-human thought. They also exist out of fundamentally the same substance as we do, just without the limits of instantiation. As parts of the collective, the boundary between gods,is inherently fluid and as much as question of labeling than it is of ontology.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
Before and after we die, we join the collective and exist as part of the same state of being as gods do.
I am *pretty sure* that experiencing music is one of the ways we can come closest to what it feels like to existing in this state. Sex and drugs, too.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
I want to be clear here that all of this is metaphor. The actual, real way this all works is something not fully comprehensible within the limits of our instantiation or language. People have been groping towards different understandings of this truth for as long as there have been people, and the ways we understand it are heavily mediated by cultural context.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
I also feel that this is at least vaguely compatible with a whole lot of extant and historical religious/spiritual thought.
Heck, it's even compatible with xtian doctrine, which is entirely unexpected to me.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
I also feel like this explains a *tremendous* amount about the world and our subjective experiences, including some of the less-typical ones of the people around me such as being kin or having personal histories connected with realities other than this one.
I don't want to enumerate a list, but the amount of stuff that is explained by all this is kind of staggering to me.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
Anyway. I feel this is true with a certainty that is entirely novel to me when it comes to dealing with woo stuff. I'm still kind of shocked by the clarity here.
A big thanks to @rowanyote and @KawaSeadrake for conversations which laid the foundations for this gnosis.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
I hope this is valuable to folks.
Thoughts/feedback/questions are extremely welcome.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
@starkatt I don't have the spoons to engage with this currently, but consider this a bookmark for "we really need to hang out and chat about this sometime." ;)
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
@starkatt Infinity works in funny ways.
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
@starkatt That's an interesting perspective!! Thank you for sharing it ^^
Revelation: theology, metaphysics, mortality
So I can call our existence as a collective under a whole lot of different names. The ones that I've thought of so far are Collective, All-Mind, One-Mind, Link, Continuum... the actual name doesn't really matter, but I should probably pick one. It's a picture in my head, not words.