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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
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If you discovered that the life you are living is in a gigantic virtual programmed reality, how would that change the way you behaved? a. I would be nicer to people b. I would be more selfish c. I would not change a thing "We are living in a computer programmed reality." - Philip K. Dick, 1977
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2009 Posts: 448 Points: 1,347 Location: N.Lewisburg,OH,US
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A. seems the only choice. To achieve the absolute perfect state of niceness. Not-nice is the root of all evil.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
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I've got to go with C
Great question, by the way. I should add it to our polls.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2008 Posts: 435 Points: 1,132 Location: USA
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C is the only answer ... since I discovered that the life I am living is in a gigantic virtual programmed reality ... a long time ago.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/21/2008 Posts: 580 Points: 1,643 Location: Ireland
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Hmmm, I think 'C' too. Kinda like the question " If you knew for sure that there was a G_d, would you alter your lifestyle?".
There is no spoon.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/1/2009 Posts: 52 Points: 156 Location: Washington
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I heard a radio interview recently of an old Kurmudgeon and Paranormal investigator describe his conversation once with a Catholic Priest, when the priest let slip the word Karma. The Kurmudgeon latched on and asked him if he is speaking of Karma, does he and the church believe in Reincarnation? The priest replied; "Why yes we do" and when Kurmudgeon pressed by asking; "so why then does the Church not teach people about it, rather than the fear of purgatory?" The priest reported honestly; "It is the Church's position that if the flock knew they have many chances to get their lives right, and in order with their creator, that they would ignore life everafter, for the temporary temptations of the mortal flesh, knowing they could keep coming back".
It is a different take on your question.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2008 Posts: 435 Points: 1,132 Location: USA
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Neo wrote:Hmmm, I think 'C' too. Kinda like the question " If you knew for sure that there was a G_d, would you alter your lifestyle?". Wow! 'C too." This is one of those personal oincidences for me (another forum topic) but it pops up here -- and of all people by Nero. In one of my blogs, I made up a new name for this thing quantum physicists, Einstein, Pauli, Dirac, Schroedinger, Planck, Born, Bohr, De Broglie, Heisenberg (20th Century DNA of the periodic table) all struggled with -- it was this huge gap between the behavior of reality in the quantum world -- compared with the behavior of reality in our corporeal world. They simply do not agree. If quantum physics were correct, then magic, miracles, sorcery, witchcraft, psychic abilities and so forth -- should all be common place. Since, they are not (common place) I called this the "CII" or "counter intuitive of the intangible" or "counter factual information implosion" or anything you want the acronym to stand for, it means "see two" or in other words, the world reality is not only different than what it seems, it is entirely the opposite of what it seems. CII means that man is nothing.
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Rank: Newbie Groups: Member
Joined: 1/2/2011 Posts: 3 Points: 9 Location: Vancouver, BC
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Hi to all from Canada, I'm a blog virgin so be gentle lol.
I know in my own case it has profoundly changed my outlook, If we as individuals are merely a fragment of our combined consciousness then "all of the above" is obviously what we have chosen. I think there is empowerment from the notion of a programmed reality as long as we realize that we are the programmer. It seems to me that a segment of humanity, who understands that thoughts are what generates the program, has chosen "B" with an intention of controlling/directing our thoughts to serve their reality, by limiting ours. Imagine if the masses ever understood this, the creative genius that would follow. Knowledge is power.
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That's an awesome virgin post. The idea of who is the programmer is extremely interesting to me. There's actually a thread here on "Do We Have Access to the Program." I'd love to hear your input on that.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/1/2009 Posts: 52 Points: 156 Location: Washington
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Welcome Blog virgin. :d/ Good points. I'm leaning more on the idea that if this is a programmed reality it was started a long time ago from our perspective. We are also temporary programs in this Tron like game plane, that are merely interacting with the existing paradigm as we see it from our field of view.
It has a momentum to it which engages our conscious minds to "play along" with the current running map so-to-speak.
Those of use here, have gotten into this "map" and seen the programmed aspect that begs the question of hackability. We see ourselves as a kind of reality hackers that are looking for the backdoors or anamolies. So within the current programmed reality, there does appear to be existing hacks running and previous backdoors opened.
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ebb101 wrote:That's an awesome virgin post. The idea of who is the programmer is extremely interesting to me. There's actually a thread here on "Do We Have Access to the Program." I'd love to hear your input on that. I concur, can we hack the program? I think that to a a certain limit, yes we can. "We are living in a computer programmed reality." - Philip K. Dick, 1977
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Joined: 1/2/2011 Posts: 3 Points: 9 Location: Vancouver, BC
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Through a wide and eclectic search including of course “The Universe Solved” I have found a programmed reality to be the only logical answer for the mechanics behind reality, as most everyone on this site has as well. All that’s left to sort out, in my mind anyway, is who the engineer is and how the program evolves. Maybe its my aversion and distaste of the thought of living inside the laptop of a seriously intelligent nerd, from a past we haven’t yet achieved again ourselves, that has lead me to the conviction that we are the programmers. However, that notion is well founded in ancient myth and scripture from Hinduism in the east to hermetic philosophy in the west... Maya is illusion, we are a mind within a mind, and to know thy ‘higher’ self is the consistent message they all conveyed to understanding the game. One of the key books toward this understanding for me was written in 1903 by ‘the three initiates’ (whoever they were), long before even the concept of our modern computers, titled “The Kyballion” which details seven hermetic principals that provide the basis of an understanding of reality as was handed down through secret societies and mystery schools for thousands of years.
Here's a quote from the book on the theory of mental-ism.
The All is mind
This Principle embodies the truth that "All is Mind." It explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality underlying all the outward manifestations and appearances which we know under the terms of "The Material Universe"; the "Phenomena of Life"; "Matter"; "Energy"; and, in short, all that is apparent to our material senses) is SPIRIT which in itself is UNKNOWABLE and UNDEFINABLE, but which may be considered and thought of as AN UNIVERSAL, INFINITE, LIVING MIND. It also explains that all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a Mental Creation of THE ALL, subject to the Laws of Created Things, and that the universe, as a whole, and in its parts or units, has its existence in the Mind of THE ALL, in which Mind we "live and move and have our being." This Principle, by establishing the Mental Nature of the Universe, easily explains all of the varied mental and psychic phenomena that occupy such a large portion of the public attention, and which, without such explanation, are non-understandable and defy scientific treatment. An understanding of this great Hermetic Principle of Mentalism enables the individual to readily grasp the laws of the Mental Universe, and to apply the same to his well-being and advancement. The Hermetic Student is enabled to apply intelligently the great Mental Laws, instead of using them in a haphazard manner. With the Master-Key in his possession, the student may unlock the many doors of the mental and psychic temple of knowledge, and enter the same freely and intelligently. This Principle explains the true nature of "Energy," "Power," and "Matter," and why and how all these are subordinate to the Mastery of Mind. One of the old Hermetic Masters wrote, long ages ago: "He who grasps the truth of the Mental Nature of the Universe is well advanced on The Path to Mastery." And these words are as true today as at the time they were first written. Without this Master-Key, Mastery is impossible, and the student knocks in vain at the many doors of The Temple.
If you read it with modern eyes does it not sound seriously like a mainframe computer that we access and program with our thoughts? If you think about our current reality you have to admit that the controlling forces spend a great deal of time and energy on manipulating our collective conceptions, I have to think there is a reason.
From one came many is an ancient and mythical tale of creation. I believe we created this game environment ourselves from a level of oneness that we don’t yet completely comprehend, as a way of experiencing many aspects of ourselves. I firmly believe that we can hack the program quite easily by simply regaining control of our thoughts.
Was this too long for a blog? Learning my way as I go.
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Welcome to the forum "an open path"! And thanks for your insightful posts - I think you are going to fit it here perfectly. A couple random thoughts that your last post triggered... Assuming for a moment that the Program exists... - I think there is actually more to sort out than who the engineer is and how the Program evolves. There is also "how long has it been going on?" and "how does it work?" (status quo as opposed to how it evolves) We are getting clues on the latter question. For example, Daryl Bern's recent research on precognition really seems to show some interesting functions of the Program, not previously realized. I think my next blog will be on that topic. Much seems to happen due to probabilities that are not random and not black and white, but somewhat skewed. Developing experiments to tease out some of these effects of the Program would help us to learn how to better deal with it. - I don't worry too much about the laptop nerd idea. It helps to think of the Program as something unearthly. I also think that "we" are outside of the program. We are only experiencing its ability to stimulate our senses and read our intent (e.g. the "observer effect.") - Given the likelihood of other intelligent life out there that would probably be capable of generating a "Program" (capital P), it certainly might not be us. Then again, what we think is "out there" is based on observations in the Program, so unless the Program is modeled on the underlying reality, it is kind of a circular argument. I explore more on that topic here: The Odds of Contacting ET Are Nil, Despite That They Are Already WatchingIn any case, I think it leaves open the possibility that the Programmer is not us. Especially when you take seriously all of the NDE research that has been done. - I agree that the "All is Mind" concept really does sound familiar in the context of what we explore here. Thanks for that contribution. More supporting evidence.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
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"Cognitive Causality" does not mean that the mind creates all reality, but that the mind creates your reality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3OXDwmlEZE Just feeling a little nostalgic on this fine January 6, 2011. Don't you think we are all after that little "connection" or "Epiphany"? January 6 (or thereabouts is when historical "Christiandom" celebrated the "Epiphany" I think in many ways, our world religions are steeped in gnosticism -- not to be confused with any particular religion that has actually taken on the title of a "Gnostic" religion, but simply the idea that religion recognizes our "human" condition as mere mortals who desire to move forward and out of this "probationary" state. In order to "move on" we require a certain form of "admission fee" (or achievement) while in this probationary state. But the idea of "Epiphany" -- doesn't that alone seem very "gnostic" -- even at its core? I think Christians particularly focus on our (or the world's) revelation of the true divinity of Christ -- that Jesus is God. From a "gnostic" (or "secret knowledge" requirement to "move on") point of view, I think the Epiphany is really when Jesus becomes fully aware of his own previous position in the heavens outside of "space-time" and his mission on earth within that space-time continuum. Here are two short exerpts -- one from non-virtual.com and the other from Urantia Book -- that I would like to share on this fine January 6, 2011: From non-virtual For those of you who think that all faith and religion are devoid of logic or reason, you are sorely mistaken. Take the 17th century thinker, Blaise Pascal. He was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher.. Pascal argued that it is always a better "bet" to believe in God, because the expected value to be gained from believing in God is always greater than the expected value resulting from non-belief. It is important to remember that Pascal's wager or "gambit" is about the belief in God, not the existence of God, but if you were to analyze your options in regard to belief in Pascal's God carefully (or belief in any other religious system with a similar reward and punishment scheme), you would come out with the following possibilities: · You may believe in God, and God exists, in which case you go to heaven: your gain is infinite. · You may believe in God, and God doesn't exist, in which case your loss is finite and therefore negligible. · You may not believe in God, and God doesn't exist, in which case your gain is finite and therefore negligible. · You may not believe in God, and God exists, in which case you will go to hell: your loss is infinite. From these possibilities, and the principles of statistics, Pascal deduced that it would be better to believe in God unconditionally. It is a classic application of "game theory" which is a way to itemize options and payoffs and in game theory the answers are always valid within the assumptions made. But then, faith will become the last piece of the puzzle - at least the last piece in the puzzle we are currently working on; the ever present metaphysical world. Meaning that for this perspective, we will have to have faith of the existence of things that cannot be proven, but can still be understood even loudly and clearly. As with Pascal's Gambit, your faith will not be the basis for the existence of God, but the existence of God may be the object of your faith. In other words, if there is a being out there whose "eye is on the sparrow" and knows your every thought, you must consider the new type of wager; that is a wager that does not belong to you. Instead of you making the bet of whether or not there is a God, someone else is betting on you. Turn your game theory around; God just might have a wager on you. If God is a supernatural being who is all knowing, and you have knowledge (faith) that She is all knowing, then it follows that there is some purpose for this arrangement. She will always keep you in the driver's seat. God is counting on you! She is counting on you a whole lot more than you can possibly be counting on Her. From Urantia 101:0.1 Religion, as a human experience, ranges from the primitive fear slavery of the evolving savage up to the sublime and magnificent faith liberty of those civilized mortals who are superbly conscious of sonship with the eternal God. 101:0.2 Religion is the ancestor of the advanced ethics and morals of progressive social evolution. But religion, as such, is not merely a moral movement, albeit the outward and social manifestations of religion are mightily influenced by the ethical and moral momentum of human society. Always is religion the inspiration of man's evolving nature, but it is not the secret of that evolution. 101:0.3 Religion, the conviction-faith of the personality, can always triumph over the superficially contradictory logic of despair born in the unbelieving material mind. There really is a true and genuine inner voice, that " true light which lights every man who comes into the world. " And this spirit leading is distinct from the ethical prompting of human conscience. The feeling of religious assurance is more than an emotional feeling. The assurance of religion transcends the reason of the mind, even the logic of philosophy.. Religion is faith, trust, and assurance. ... 101:1.7 Thus it may be seen that religious longings and spiritual urges are not of such a nature as would merely lead men to want to believe in God, but rather are they of such nature and power that men are profoundly impressed with the conviction that they ought to believe in God. The sense of evolutionary duty and the obligations consequent upon the illumination of revelation make such a profound impression upon man's moral nature that he finally reaches that position of mind and that attitude of soul where he concludes that he has no right not to believe in God. The higher and superphilosophic wisdom of such enlightened and disciplined individuals ultimately instructs them that to doubt God or distrust his goodness would be to prove untrue to the realest and deepest thing within the human mind and soul—the divine Adjuster.
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Thanks for the welcome. I do feel quite at home here.
Some of my response will sound familiar as I conveyed as much in my initial e-mails to you when I discovered your website.
You’re right, that my general understanding of reality is short on evidence and long on conjecture. Having no formal education in Science or computer engineering I have formed all of my opinions on the backs of others (including yourself, after having just finished your book) and will have to further rely on others for proof as well.
I started to look for a better understanding of how the Universe works, out of concern that my children were not going to have the same opportunities as I, as it seemed the world was headed in a downward spiral. So as much as anything I was looking for signs of hope. Because I’ve spent so much of my life competing I like to know who/what I’m up against and because I know so many beautiful people, I’ve never bought in to the notion that unimaginable greed was an innate part of who we are. While I’ve been able to confirm this to my own satisfaction, I also confirmed how easily we can be manipulated in that direction.
I believe we are discovering a mental reality just as we’re about to destroy the physical one, both figuratively and literally, as necessity has always been the mother of invention. Like everyone who has been confronted with the possibility that the world we live in is not the solid physical (Newtonian) world we have based our lives on, it was a challenging concept to wrap my mind around. But once done, it gives impetus to the power of thought, which has no real ability, beyond an individuals frame of reference, in a physical environment, and leads to the realistic possibility that the world’s problems could actually be dealt with if a critical mass figured this out.
The premise I’ve used to arrive at my, current and hopefully still flexible opinion, was to presume that possibilities were limitless inside a mentally created reality as long as the technology was available to pull it off and I viewed technology the same way. Your interviews and writing, particularly on nanotechnology, have lead me to believe this basis is valid; coupled with the idea that the mainframe is programmed/influenced from our thoughts, leads me to believe that possibilities are endless. Which is borne out I think, in what we see in the world... as everywhere we look (with enough desire) we seem to find. This explains paranormal phenomena and how/why science fiction, no matter how bazaar, seems to take on a life of its own after its introduced, and which is unexplainable in a physical environment. I believe its only our thoughts that provides the wishing well we draw from and includes our intentions which are just mentally focused ones with an additional boost from the desire for a specific outcome. Our ego, emotions and actions, that lead up to and follow thoughts, are merely tools from the very sophisticated tool box, we‘ve developed, to reach our intentions with, but do not effect the source; only to the extent to which they may further affect our thoughts. These same tools, however, are also, to some extent, our adversary and are easily manipulated if we’re not on top of them constantly; and it's what “the constructed reality” uses, to limit our dreams within their desired confines, fear being their greatest deterrent from the unrestrained possibilities we could have. The awareness of the programmable avatar that we experience the world with, and its remarkable ability to function without us, is the first step toward leveling the playing surface and makes the job of taking back control of our reality, completely manageable.
To paraphrase the author of ,“The Intelligent Universe”Jim Gardner, when asked in a recent interview on Red Ice Creation, if he thought we could be living in a simulated reality. He responded, “Ultimately, when you break it down, it doesn’t make that much difference. Let’s assume it is a game and the game is played with all the same chess pieces that constitutes the atoms and quarks that populate the physical cosmos, then the ideas collapse to the same idea”. Inferring that it sure operates like one. I take that same position and therefore don’t necessarily believe that we live inside a typical computer environment, however similar it functions. At some point, I believe we will arrive to find the ‘original program’, no matter how many others we find along the way, is us. Believing that we live inside a programmed reality outside of ourselves only moves the problem of who the original engineer was, back one level.
I think the evidence is provided by the premise itself, that anything is possible and therefore, impossible to prove but just as impossible to disprove. It all started from a Universal mind that includes all of us. As above so below. But of course, I could be wrong.
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