Christine, just a passing observation:
<You say: "By "visited the earth", I didn't mean anything mystical, however. We all are
just visiting the earth."
How do you respond to "We have 'always' been of the earth. We will 'always' be of the
earth. Our current configuration is a but a passing expression of our earthiness (which
includes cosmic rays and the whatnot)?"
An awful lot rests on one's approach to the above contrasting approaches.>
Well, that is very philosophically interesting, George. Thinking about it takes me immediately to the core of my own spiritual beliefs. I believe our bodies are earthly, and that there can be no happy, grounded human life in the future unless the power of the earth and nature are respected. I think it is sacrilegious to destroy the planet. Obviously, we are nurtured by the earth's bounty, and our bodies disintegrate back into dirt unless we interfere with the natural process.
However, I also believe that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception. I do not know where souls come from--I vaguely see them flying around the universe. I guess you could argue that this is a religious point of view; it certainly is the basis of my strong bias against abortion. But it is not a Christian viewpoint.
One thing I read recently, because my daughter is fascinated by angels, is that they exist in almost all religions in some way. That is an aside, not very logical, but certainly part of my concept that spirituality and religious beliefs are a very broad part of life even in the absence of faith in a particular deity. |
