On Sep 19, 3:06 pm, "Carl Sagan's billions" yahoo.com>
wrote:

Waking up should be a struggle.:-) Spiritual evolution is at our
core.Just make certain that spirituality is NEVRER confused with
religiosity. Don't underestimate the power of self dialogue.

You have been able to eliminate most of the dogmas that go with the
course. Many spiritual masters (yes they do exist....but never ever
believe that, or you will miss them) say that the process of self
realization is a path of elimination. Finding out what you are not,
and you have done a great job of that.

It is easy to write off the point of religion, but you only have to
look how most of us communicate with our own children. It has to be in
a language they can relate to.
Ive no doubt that you have tried to communicate your logic to
dogmatists, and likely been surprised that even the more
intellectually advanced ones (in a general sense) are not even in the
same book as you , let alone, on the same page. Part of the 'worship'
of modern man, is of the intellect, and is equally illusory as any
dogma.

Most dogmas have a 'seed' of reality, as do our communications
regarding the tooth fairy and Santa clause to our children.

One always comes to mind, regarding the holy cow in India for example.
A practical solution to an obsolete problem, leaving Deli up to its
knees in cow manure :-).

One of the first 'links' I made between science and old testament (the
sum is always greater than the parts) was based on an inherent feeling
I had regarding poetic justice. I had an unassailable feeling that in
spite of what appeared to be a world of great injustice, such as the
examples you used, there was something much deeper.

I used to juggle with the concept of 'the sins of the father'
revisiting the umpteenth generation etc, which contradicted the sense
of 'reaping and sowing' (which felt real), ,and when the genetic code
was discovered, (demonstrating illogical flaws in an incredible bio
system), the two aspects started to blend.

My definition of spirituality, is 'to seek and find self awareness',
part of which involves 'joining many dots' such as illustrated above.

I was a great fan of Sagan. He has a charisma that I had never come
across in such a field as cosmology. Hawking was also a attention
grabber, but for different reasons;-)

The best epitaph imo for him was his movie "Contact".

All that time energy and resource, and it was all about an inner
journey.

For me, superb confirmation. To some, another dot to be linked and to
some of the intellectual dogmatists, an illustration of a misguided
imagination.:-)

One of the most significant 'dots' comes from non other than Einstein,
when he stated his realization that the imagination was superior to
the intellect.

One of the toughest steps to take today, it to acknowledge experience
of metaphysical or so called 'super natural' experiences, without
feeling one is regressing into religious dogmas once more.

Proving (to yourself) such realities has no more to do with the
concept of god, as being appreciative of the 'smell of the roses'.

I thoroughly enjoyed your essay btw. YOu could have been reading my
mind of thirty years ago ;-)

BOfL