Welcome to Astralpoint.net
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again."—Alexander Pope
After my first son was born I asked myself the question—“What am I going to teach my kids about religion?” When they’re older, they’ll be able to “make up their own minds,” but I thought it would be much better if I could first make up my mind and be able help them. I had thought about it before, but to be honest, many of the things that I was taught about religion just did not make sense. I couldn’t teach them things that I didn’t believe and I wanted to be able to give them better answers than “I don’t know.” This was enough incentive to cause me to re-examine the subject carefully.
Different religions have their own beliefs, doctrines, and dogmas that they claim are the truth. Some seem reasonable and others appear to be based on faulty logic and narrow-minded, literal interpretations of things that were intended to be symbolic. They tell us that we have a soul, but do not tell us what it really is other than something that must be "saved." When we die, it will “go somewhere”—forever, and that place will be determined by our actions during a single life on earth. Which teachings are correct and which should be rejected? Some have asked these questions and ended up rejecting all religious beliefs.
Obviously, before you can believe in God, the afterlife, or any other non-physical entity or state of being, you must first accept the reality of non-physical realms. Today, the amount of knowledge accumulated by science and the advances made in applying that knowledge to help mankind is amazing. And there are those who believe that the human mind responsible for these achievements is nothing more than an epiphenomena of the electro-chemical reactions in our brains. Materialists believe that consciousness can be defined by purely physical means. There are others who tell us the exact opposite—that it is consciousness that “animates form.” They describe divine laws of cause and effect that operate at inner levels just as physical laws such as gravity operate on matter. The fundamental question is whether the physical world encompasses all of reality, or if it is just a small part of a greater reality.
What about paranormal phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, or the ability of mediums to communicate with “the dead?” What about reincarnation studies of people who experienced past life memories and verified them? Are they fact or do they exist only in the minds of those who believe that they experience them? I found it amazing how many will say that “the evidence is overwhelming”, while others adamantly deny that any evidence exists at all.
There are many ideas and opinions given by scientists, theologians, philosophers, psychologists, “skeptics” and “believers.” It is up to each of us to carefully think about these ideas until our own views make sense. When someone makes an important assertion about “reality” think about it carefully. I spent some time and energy looking for answers that made sense to me. I thought that some references might be useful to someone else, so I put them on this website. But you must examine the facts and prove these things to yourself. Fortunately, there are many people who have developed “the eyes to see” and we can learn much from them—but we must try to develop our own sight or we will surely miss the point.
–Bill Walker“My son, believe not that which any man saith, not even I, the Lord Buddha, unless it appeals to your common sense. And even then, do not believe it, but treat it as a reasonable hypothesis until such time that you can prove it for yourself.”
“Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”
“A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms – it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.”
