The Ultimate Questions - religion and spirituality
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Religious debate about essential questions
These are the ultimate philosophy questions we all ask ourselves about religion and spirituality. Vote, get inspired and share what you think about questions like: is there life after death? why is there evil? do we have free will? and more.
So - what's your ultimate Question?
What would you like to debate?
Vote for the question you think is most important - and add the ultimate question I forgot. After many people have voted I will create a module for the most popular question(s) (if there isn't one already)
1
What happens after death?
33 points
2
Why do people insist on looking outside themselves for a reason for their life?
19 points
3
What were we before this life, what are we during this life and what will we be after this life?
9 points
4
Why is there evil?
6 points
5
Is there scientific evidence for an intelligent designer
Do you think there is real evidence for an Intelligent Designer of our universe?
Alan6 points
6
What is the nature of our soul?
5 points
7
Why is there poverty?
3 points
8
Who created us?
3 points
9
Why is there a universe?
As I understand the universe emanated from infinity, as a "self expression" of god(infinity). But why?3 points
10
How can we be truly good?
Religion is not just a view of life, It has to be in some sense practical as well. If it does not contribute to our personal and collective goodness (love, compassion, care) it is certainly no good. No matter how interesting its worldwview is. So for me, the main question is: how does any religion teach its adherents to be truly good?3 points
11
Where did we all come from?
1 point
12
What will make us respect and love each other?
I think that is the basic question. If God is our creator, then of course we have to respect and cherish our fellow creatures.
That is why the question about Gods existence is so important.
Unfortunately belief in God does not always help us to accept each other. Now why is that?1 point
13
What are the differences between religions?
I have a great interest in religions & spirituality as a whole & feel very spiritual in myself although have never thought of myself as being "religious" as such...what are the differences between spirituality & religion?0 points
14
Why am I on earth and not someplace else?
0 points
Books on the ultimate questions
Do you need a spiritual teacher to make spiritual progress?
Do you need a spiritual teacher to make spiritual progress?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, you need a teacher
Kandy says:
we all learn from example and we all need a little gudiance to lead us to the right path.
Posted February 12, 2012
jmillerepps says:
His name is Jesus, He is the perfect life example! A wonderful teacher.
Posted February 09, 2012
T says:
Just using the Bible to answer the question I would say "yes you need a teacher."
All of Jesus followers were spiritual men, however they needed help to understand what they learned. There were many scribes and Pharisees, men who were trained in the scriptures, yet Jesus said they were without understanding.
Jf you would like to know more write to bibleteach@live.com
Posted January 20, 2012
hippo says:
you need a teacher fammmmmmm cuzzzzzy dont know me blad
Posted January 11, 2012
No, you can learn best on your own
selena says:
no you don't it's what you belive in
Posted February 08, 2012
:):):)lol says:
no u dont cuz only u can find for ur self iner peace
Posted January 12, 2012
mera says:
no i dont think you need a teacher to make spiritual progress as long as you study but sometimes you do need a teacher just ask them for help.
Posted January 11, 2012
John from serbia says:
We all have fate,some of us are good and some bad,
but real angel can be created only from soul beleveing and united people
Posted January 10, 2012
Emily123 says:
No.
Posted January 10, 2012
More on the spiritual teacher controversy
- Can you feel the quality of a spiritual teacher?
- I got a book for review recently that I put down within a few minutes because it made me all jittery. A few days ago we had a spiritual teacher do a lecture at our local theosophical lodge, and he turned the room quiet. We didn't even have questions to last the full time set for that stuff.
- Spiritual teachings best fresh?
- I dreamt of fruit going bad last night, so I wonder%u2026 are spiritual teachings best 'consumed' fresh? What do you all think are classic spiritual books for instance of the same value as say the fresh teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama?
- When yoga increases stress: about the teacher
- Yoga is generally sold online and off as a great stress reliever. I can vouch for that: with the right teacher, yoga can be very healthy emotionally. I've often come away from a yoga class with a great big smile on my face that was certainly not there before.
- When are you ready to be a spiritual teacher?
- Two people recently made the same remark to me. They both complained that they weren't getting through to people. That they were getting negative responses to their spiritual path. They were rubbing people the wrong way.
- Messengers of the Masters or the Great White Brotherhood | Spiritual Teachers
- An anonymous reader asks my opinion on the Trans-Himalayan teachings, as they've been called, going from H.P. Blavatsky to Mabel Collins Cook to the Temple of the People to Agni Yoga to Alice Bailey etc.
- Caring for beginners a mistake?
- Whether beginners are practicing virtues or not is their problem not yours. Believe in no teachers, trust your own logic, your own experiences, make your own mistakes, learn and grow. Have a courageous attitude and be inwardly prepared to die.
That would be all nice and dandy if all I cared about was myself. But I also care about beginners. I care about what effect spiritual teachings have on other people. I care about whether people make themselves and others happy or sad. I care about a lot of things. And I don't feel I need to let go of that in order to 'grow spiritually' - and if I do, I'd rather not grow 'spiritually' at all. - On spiritual experiences, what are they worth?
- In the theosophical lodge in The Hague yesterday, during a very interesting meeting, we were discussing what theosophists call 'initiation'. Real initiation is a transformative experience, whereas initiation rituals are another thing altogether (though they may have a lasting psychological effect as well). These aren't my definitions, but those of a lecturer we had heard the previous week.
- About spiritual donations and making a living | Life style
- Spirituality and money - the sticky points
The basics in the relationship between money and spirituality are clear I think: money isn't a measure of spiritual health and each person needs to take responsibility for their own financial health. - Choosing a spiritual path or group | Spiritual Growth
- Guidelines on how to find a spiritual path, a spiritual teaching, that you can trust. Just some pitfalls to avoid.
- Spiritual Teachers and Gurus - Modern Theosophy
- One of the most controversial and essential themes of spiritual development is the relationship between gurus and devotees, masters and chelas, teachers and students etc.
Is there a 'God' behind it all?
Do you believe in God?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, there is an ultimate ruler / creator in the universe
parwathy says:
I do believe in a higher power and that I am connected to that higher power. It gives me a sense of peace.
Posted October 20, 2011
jewelkid87 says:
Yes I believe there is a God. I believe the universe is complex and some kind of higher power had to have created it.
Posted August 16, 2011
jaye5500 says:
I believe there is a force greater than myself. Whether you call that force God is another issue. There is no way a person can sit and think that the world just happened like that. There is so much order with its existence that you just cannot dispute there is a force.
Posted May 08, 2011
No, there is no God
DaveMurphy says:
Absolutely not, there's no need for mysticism to explain the wonders of nature
Posted January 12, 2012
moonlitta says:
I prefer to think of it as of way of experiencing life and its events rather than some kind of an almighty creature.
Posted July 04, 2011
MartinAston says:
Define what God is? There are three basic concepts regarding the definition of God. 1) A being that sees all, knows all - even our thoughts, and requires constant acts of penance and worship. 2) A being that created everything and has left us to our own devices, for which we will be judged when we die. 3) A being that is 'everywhere'...the trees, rocks, water...and what many people call the Universe or Devine. Or, because there is no evidence to back any of that up, there is no God. And spare me the argument that there is no proof that God doesn't exist either because that would require 'faith' and faith is not proof.
Posted April 29, 2011
James says:
No, I wouldn't say there is a god.
Unless everything he said were hypocritical and false.
Posted February 09, 2010
Lenses on God
So I apologize - and please vote over there...
Why is there evil?
So, what do you think the cause of evil is?
What's the cause of evil?
Is there life after death?
What happens after death?
Is there an afterlife?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes
steele says:
I CAN ONLY SAY WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IT. THE SCRIPTURES TEACH AT JOHN 11 CHAPTER 25TH VERSE"JESUS SAID TO HER:"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE THAT EXERCISES FAITH IN ME,EVEN THOUGH HE DIES WILL COME TO LIFE." ALSO AT ASTS 24TH CHAPTER AND VERSE 15 STATES"AND I HAVE HOPE TODWARD GOD WHICH HOPE THESE MEN TEHEMSLEVES ALSO ENTERTAIN THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE A RESURRECTION OF BOTH THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS. tHESE ARE JUST TWO SCRIPETURES THAT TEACH US THAT EVEN IF WE DIE GOD TELLS US THAT THERE WILL BE A RESURRECTION. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS BE OBEDIENT TO THE SCRIPETURES TO PLACE OURSLEVES IN A POSIETION TO HAVE GOD REMEMBER US WHEN WE DIE.
Posted December 25, 2011
Lenore says:
I would never want to believe that there wasn't. God is real, and I want to see the face of GOd when I die.
Posted November 22, 2011
jewelkid87 says:
I choose to believe so....I think we are more than just a body. We have complex feelings and thoughts and i think there has to be some kind of afterlife.
Posted August 16, 2011
No
pasodennubes says:
Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too.
Posted September 18, 2011
Mespia says:
No. Once we die, the electrical impulses in our brain are turned off.
And we're dead.
I'd like to believe in an afterlife, but I really don't think there is one.
Posted September 03, 2011
moonlitta says:
I wish I could tell you for sure some 40 years later, but I'm more inclined to believe I will not be able to.
Posted July 04, 2011
hell says:
i believe only those who are dead knw ......
Posted December 31, 2010
Lola says:
i think life after death gives people comfort
Posted May 16, 2010
Afterlife lenses
What's after death? Reincarnation? Karma? Heaven? Hel?
Do we have free will?
Do we have freedom of choice?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, we have freedom of choice
Mespia says:
This is my life. I can do whatever the hell I want to do with it. Jump off a cliff, start a forest fire, scream at the top of my lungs off the roof, live in the jungle for ten years.
They're not practical, but if I felt like doing anything I wanted to, I could do it.
Posted September 03, 2011
moonlitta says:
In spite of all existing circumstances enforcing us to do all types of things, we are free to choose and change our situation, or retreat from it.
Posted July 04, 2011
jaye5500 says:
I believe we have freedom of choice-simple reason being is that God gave us that choice to choose what we want for ourselves. The catch here is knowing how to choose a path that would bring us eventual happiness and that is pleasing to God.
Posted May 30, 2011
No, our freedom of choice is an illusion
yourgoldenfuture says:
Theoretically yes...practically no...as when we are able to decide we are already soo much influenced that it is difficult for free decisions.
Posted January 04, 2011
truthcontestant says:
Free will is an illusion of the mind. Look closely at the physical universe, and you will see that everything is just moving around randomly. You have limited options as to what to do, and your mind uses the best option possible. As einstein said: "Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."
Posted October 03, 2010
doofuss says:
all of our choices have been chosen we just think we can chose either this or that.
Posted November 01, 2009
says:
Freedom of choice is an illusion. HOWEVER, it does not matter that everything is fated to occur, that I am fated to decide certain things - because I do not KNOW what will happen. I do not have knowledge of fate, except in speculation about the future, and therefore I essentially have freedom of choice. I am an ignorant captive, which means I am the same as free.
Posted January 24, 2009
More on Free will
Do we have a soul?
More on the soul and consciousness
What is essential for happiness?
More about happiness
Does life have any purpose?
Does life have a purpose? (If so, what is it?)
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes
squidshe says:
to be. We know the concepts, life allows us to experience them on a physical and emotional level.
Posted January 08, 2012
parwathy says:
Our purpose can be as simple as a random act of kindness to a stranger.
Posted October 20, 2011
jaye5500 says:
Even though I am going to answer yes to this question. I am also aware that is a complex issue for simple reason. Everyone actually would be correct because we might want to say that life has purpose because it about going through experiences etc. how are we to know what it really is? One thing we do agree is that we know we exist and it must for some reason. However, but none of us can put our finger and pin point what that reason is.. very interesting indeed.
Posted May 30, 2011
No
Mespia says:
Nope. We're just random organic life forms here randomly.
Make the most of your time here.
Posted September 03, 2011
Kumar says:
There is no purpose for us as such but opportunity is there.
Posted September 13, 2009
isobel says:
There is no purpose, you learn from your own experiences, and
go where life takes you.
Posted November 24, 2008
spirituality says:
Sometimes I think Life doesn't have an implicit purpose - we have to create meaning in our lives.
Posted May 14, 2008
The purpose of LIFE - Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61)
Amazon Price: $4.41 (as of 02/13/2012)
This book is life-changing. It makes you look within for the central truths in your own life, letting go of the Ego and finding the ability to LOVE right there. As someone said on the Oprah Show: Love is not a to do list. It's there when you let go of your own barriers to love.
More on having a purpose (or not)
Should we even ask these questions?
"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life."
Albert Camus
More spiritual quotes and sayings
So - should the ultimate questions be asked?
Albert Camus (see the quote above) insists searching for happiness doesn't bring happiness. Living and looking for the meaning of life don't combine.... Do you agree?
Does asking questions about life, enrich life?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byNo, asking these questions is useless
moonlitta says:
Just asking the questions doesn't have much sense... giving some answers would probably be better:)
Posted July 04, 2011
jaye5500 says:
My grandmother always had a saying that not all questions can be answered because of our intellectual limitations. Whilst we all know questions is a great way of finding answers, in relation to questions concerning life tends to complicate and thereby create doubts in our minds because there is no one answer,everybody might have their theories and their beliefs but still does not give you the comfort you are looking for.
Posted May 30, 2011
HorseAndPony says:
I am of the why ask why camp. However, I am very interested in why others are interested. What are they looking for and why?
Posted September 13, 2009
Byrnz says:
The don't help. They raise further questions and lead you into believing religion (which, in my opinion, is just a thing humans invented to find comfort in themselves; to fill in the lows of their lives to end up on a "spiritual high").
Posted May 06, 2009
says:
Asking questions is NOT useless. But asking questions does not enrich my life - finding meaning through insight does.
Asking questions can lead to answers that give us happiness. However, learning the answers and gaining insight can often come without ever asking the question. Some answers give us sadness or uneasiness, or lead to ever more questions, but overall, answers bring contentment in life.
In the end, we may still have endless questions, but still have happiness because we have come to terms with the insight we have already gained.
Posted January 24, 2009
Yes, asking these questions is essential to who I am
Mespia says:
Ignorance may be bliss... but I'd prefer to sacrifice that and search for knowlege.
Posted September 03, 2011
Peter.Murray says:
The wise ask questions. Fools think they know everything already.
Posted November 22, 2010
Alfiesgirl says:
Possibly for some people it does, otherwise would they be asking the questions if they thought their lives wouldn't be enriched?...or do they ask these impossible questions to enrich their deaths or their after-life's?. I think that everybody could be happy & should be happy just by "being here now". I asked my questions of "why", "how", "when" & "where" a long time ago & came up with this as my answer which works for me...most of the time.
Posted April 17, 2010
Why do people insist on looking outside themselves for a reason for their life?
What do you think: Why do people insist on looking outside themselves for a reason for their life?
Is it because there IS a God outside ourselves?
Is it because we really aren't self-sufficiant (and who is)?
Is it because people don't depend on themselves enough?
Should we even look only inside ourselves to find meaning in our lives? How about sharing? How about people being interdependent? Is that such a bad thing?
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squidshe
Jan 8, 2012 @ 8:51 am | delete
- we are seekers by nature, we were designed that way.
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Vallygems1
Dec 24, 2011 @ 4:49 am | delete
- Everything that exists is God as God is everything
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moonlitta
Jul 4, 2011 @ 2:46 pm | delete
- Because they don't feel significant and powerful enough to have these answers in themselves. We all love to find bigger powers responsible for what's happening rather than accept complete responsibility.
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Peter.Murray
Nov 22, 2010 @ 5:11 pm | delete
- Looking inward is finite. Looking outward is infinite.
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HorseAndPony
Sep 13, 2009 @ 8:29 pm | delete
- I never look for a reason for my life, inside or outside of myself. I am not sure why it matters.
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Combining science and spirituality
Can science and spirituality be combined?
Can science and religion be combined?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, truth doesn't fight truth
jaye5500 says:
Religion and science are combined because they have many in common they are (1) always searching to find out why things existed (2) they believe in putting the pieces together in areas that might be of difficulty to understand (3) they are man-made. Historically, scientists have disproved many of religious theories like the world being flat when it really round and the earth being the center of the universe.
Posted May 30, 2011
No, my religious tradition has more authority than the scientific community OR Science is the only source of truth
parwathy says:
I think science is limited to explain the how infinitely spirituality actually is
Posted October 20, 2011
Mespia says:
Religion is man-made, to explain phenomena that they couldn't explain with science...
A lot of stuff that used to be explained by religion is now explained by science, more proof that it is useless.
Posted September 03, 2011
brendatucker says:
How could it possibly ever be combined without religious texts that praise the researcher?
Posted February 01, 2009
silkop says:
"My religious tradition has more authority than the scientific community?" How about the exactly other way around? This poll is like asking "have you stopped beating your wife?"
Posted August 17, 2008
AndreaB says:
Science is the search for one universal truth. Religion is the search for an individual truth. Religion is sometimes shared by many but in some way remains unique to the person being touched by that religious thought or belief. For this reason religion and science can not be combined. Science should be true for all while there will never be one religion that everyone will share.
Posted May 14, 2008
Religious pluralism...
Religious pluralism information
So - did I ask the Ultimate Questions?
What did you think of this ultimate questions lens? Did I ask the right questions? Were you inspired? What questions did I forget? - and anything else you may want to say. Including:
Share your lenses on the ultimate questions - I might just feature them here (if I like them).
And if you liked my lens - don't forget to vote for it!
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squidshe
Jan 8, 2012 @ 8:52 am | delete
- Thank you for raising important questions we should all be thinking about.
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MinRu
Aug 22, 2011 @ 10:02 am | delete
- " Broad minded people see the truth in all religion, only the narrow minded people see the differences " Chinese Proverb
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moonlitta
Jul 4, 2011 @ 2:48 pm | delete
- I was may be just perplexed... but it's good you made me think of answers:)
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jaye5500
May 30, 2011 @ 6:50 pm | delete
- This lens encourage us to think a little outside of the box and not be defined by any religious philosophy. very informative and thought provoking lens. Deserves a thumbs up!
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Peter.Murray
Nov 22, 2010 @ 5:19 pm | delete
- Can you put a guestbook after the "Why is there evil?" poll. The reason for evil, poverty and disease is to show how good "Good" is.
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