If we accept the premise that we’re all extensions of some all-encompassing, all-powerful divinity, then it goes to follow that we chose every triumph and every atrocity that arises in our lives. We would be responsible for every facet of our individual existences.
So—if that premise is true—then our existence as limited beings would be unimaginably empowering and fantastically cruel. If this is the case, I’d say that discordant simultaneity is the embodiment of transcendence.
Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 
Entropy. And at the end of time, we’ll still be asking ‘Is this all there is?’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the key is to enjoy asking it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What makes you feel it would be “fantastically cruel”?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Because if it’s true that they are all-powerful beings who chose every circumstance, then people who endure atrocities did so by choice from an omnipotent point of view. From the individual—not omnipotent—point of view, that’s as cruel as it gets.
LikeLike
Empowering and cruel. Exactly the way life is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Couldn’t agree more. I truly hope there’s an underlying order to it that is benevolent at the core.
LikeLike
I, too. have challenged the logic of God. But I have a friend, Mensa member and as intellectual as I have known, who showed me something. His question was, “What harm do I do, with my limited (by the standards of all knowledge) knowledge, by seeing and expecting the best possible outcome of my life? What does it matter what mental and emotional processes I use to give myself the best life I can imagine?” He used the Catholic faith to frame and direct his expectations through belief and prayer. After all, we are psychological animals, barely under control of our “intellects.” Some set of rules leads to our experiences and results. We just do not know for sure.
Frankly, I have been in and out of belief in any power greater that human (e.g. divine) many times. When I had no support for a future of love and good, I meditated, prayed, whatever that inner consult called for. Did it make any difference? Maybe not, but it did ALLOW and not foreclose or forestall any possibilities. It does not have to be supernatural to be optimistic and focused.
Is there any comfort and benevolence in not clinging to the most negative, personally controlled events? Whether God exists, or any religion reigns, I do not care. We are flawed in our perceptions and conclusions, no matter how we rate on the scale of humanity.
“Pick your poison.” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d say a simple quality check would be to assess satisfaction or fulfillment over a longer stretch of time, a few months to a year, possibly. The more honest one is with themselves, the more they can stretch that timeframe out, for it requires increasing levels of clarity to know or reasonably guess what will satisfy in a 10, 20, 30 year timeframe.
I think it’s fairly self evident that decision-making based on what will satisfy for an hour or a day—or some similarly short period of time—isn’t very productive. If a certain religion propagates ethics and fulfillment over a sufficiently long period of time, I’d say “pick your solution,” rather than poison.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is what I really meant by “pick your poison.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gotcha. I’ve definitely switched between a few different poisons myself over the course of my lifetime.
LikeLike