I almost feel bad interrupting the current tranquility.
I also think that there is a difference between attraction and intent. Attraction being a (somewhat passive) conditioned response. Intent being an active response, or even a pre-action forced decision.
I like this idea. Do you mind terribly giving examples of each? I have an idea in my mind's eye but want to make sure I am on the same page as you.
Well, probably the easiest (which probably also makes it the worst) example I can come up with is having an affinity for things. Like, for instance, Taco Bell's Double Decker. you're hungry, and short on cash. So you decide to fill your belly with beany, beefy goodness. It's just sort of happenstance.
Intent would be a thought somewhere along the lines of "Self, you have not filled your belly with beefy, beany, delicious firey goodness in quite some time. I believe that we need to take a drive a little later this evening."
I hope that kind of gives the gist of it. Sorry, I had a good one when I was first writing the post. But alas, I had to go to work, and it has thusly slipped from the recesses of mine mind.
I can feel your anger...
Whooee. This place seems hostile.
You're like John. You're assigning your emotions to words that were typed without emotion.
John? I don't know about that. Some feathers were rattled, and there was a point where I could have made fire from the heat. But I know everybody's nearby with their buckets of water.
The point of knowing that you brought something upon yourself who be so that you could understand why you would do such a thing. What purpose was there in said experience? What can you learn from in that?
Well, the case that usually comes up is the idea of child abuse. I personally wasn't abused as a child (unless you consider being raised into Christianity to be abuse

)
However, what would a child learn from having been abused? They didn't even have a chance to get started in life and they are being abused by their own parent and they are supposed to learn something from that?
To be perfectly honest with you, if I had been abused as a child I would have learned that adults can't be trusted.
Why should I turn the finger toward myself and assume that I did something to deserve to be abused?
Well, it taught me to be peaceful, that anger is harm. Granted, I didn't have it nearly as bad as some people did... but for a while I was a very unhappy person. Then I learned that only you can make you happy. To be completely honest, I'm GLAD that I got what most people would consider the raw end of the deal. As far as the not trusting adults thing goes, you're partially right. That's probably the reason why I still look towards things with a child's sense of awe and curiosity. Why I'm still an idealist. Otherwise, I probably would have given into the evils that beset the world. Because, and let's all be honest, crime pays (if you don't believe me, look at the government).
You used the word deserve. That's a very victimized word. "Well, I probably deserved to get beat because I did ___. I should have known better because dad doesn't like ___." No, he beat me because he had a sh*tty day, and I just happened to be nearby. That's fate. Wrong place, wrong time. Thinking the contrary would have made me the definition of victim mentality. You think like that and you saturate yourself with fear. It's unnecessary, and unwelcome.
Was I asking for it sometimes, sure. When you use their religion and ask "if they want the other cheek", you just get hit again. Was it totally worth it, yes.
Moreover, someone had posted way back in the other thread (I think it might have been Jill) the fact that children who are abused often become abusers when they become adults.
I wouldn't doubt it, actually. Had I not turned myself around, I'd probably have been a serial killer.
Because I have to agree. I don't want to be assimilated.
Well that's just silly.
Cleary that's your ego talking.
Your higher self would never say such a silly thing. The higher self doesn't have an ego to be assimilated.
The fear of having your ego assimilated is a false fear of the ego.
Like I said before, if Spirits have egos and are on a learning curves then how are they any different than the human condition?
They wouldn't be.
You seem to have the same fear as Jeannie. A fear of being assimilated after you die.
I have no fear of being assimilated after I die. I'm comfortable with the idea of spirit as I understand it.
You aren't being assimilated into something 'other'.
You are being assimilated into your true self.
There's nothing to fear.
Trust me.
That's really what this whole thing is all about.
Fear of assimilation.
Fear of loss of ego.
Well, spirits are eternal. That's considerably different than the human condition. And hell, maybe I'm not here to learn. Maybe I'm here to teach, and just happen to be learning while I go. I'm also sure there's a lot that *I* know, that I don't know.
That withstanding, I don't believe that my eternal self, and your eternal self, are the same self. I believe that they are separate entities, each with their own ego. The eternal ego can learn an infinite amount more than we, as physical beings, ever could.
I can't wait to meet my true self, or god, or whatever you want to call the mysterious controlling force in life that isn't my doing. I've got some questions. I want to laugh with myself. Strange, I know. I also intend to call me a sob and an *ssh*l*. All in good spirits

, of course. And I have to thank me, for having me be me......
Even then, if we were to completely discount the afterlife and spiritual realm from this debate, is not the purpose of being human to learn and to enjoy life?
Well sure.
But what's that got to do with believing in any particular unproven ideas?
What is to gain from believing that we necessarily were the cause of 100% of everything that happens to us, over accepting that possibility that some things that happen to us might actually be due to the actions of others, or from purely random events?
Why should I believe one over the other?
I've given my logical reasons why it makes no sense to believe that we attract 100% of everything that happens to us.
I feel those reasons are sound.
Who said anything about 100%? That's what fate is for. But by not attracting or intending, you're leaving yourself open to the will of others. And I have to thank Rush for this little tidbit...
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."