is there anything wrong about having a purely literal, physical view of life and the universe? (sorry, LONG)?

Question

This is a tough question for me to ask, I'm struggling to find the words to explain what I mean, even though it's not really a complicated thing in my head. What I mean is that more and more I just look at everything literally, for what it literally is and nothing more, rather than what it supposedly "means".

Example:- Marriage. Is it a lifelong, sacred bond between two people, or is it just two people standing in a church, putting metal hoops on each other's fingers, making a few empty utterances then going about their lives? What has that affected in the universe really? The people involved might act differently towards one another, but the reason for that is all in their heads, imagined.

I've spent the last 10 or 11 years getting an education in physics, and it's led me to view everything in terms of inanimate matter, energy transfers and so on, but nothing more. You can take anything and pick it apart until it's just this objectively meaningless "stuff" that we attach value to. Money is a good example - this material we call "gold" is what we use as a point of reference to judge how much something is worth, but what is gold really? It's just an atom whose nucleus contains 79 protons, there's nothing special about it beyond it's scarcity and it's apparently desired aesthetic aspect. It's arbitrary as hell, its value is completely imagined.

Virginity is another thing people attach significance to, but what does it really mean? It's that someone's penis hasn't been inside a vagina, or someone's vagina has not had a penis inside it. Nothing more. Yet so many people build it up to be this massive, significant thing. Sex is nothing special either, certainly nothing naughty/shameful - it's just a natural evolutionary drive. It's as normal as feeling hungry or thirsty, it's not something to "shield" children from knowing about, even if it's damaging for them to participate in it. It should be talked about as freely and openly as anything else, without taboo attached. Infact, NOTHING should have taboo attached.

I don't respect percieved "status" either. I would offer the queen no more or less politeness or respect than the man in the street. I would not go out of my way to acknowledge a "celebrity" I saw in public. We're all just people, we just eat and sleep and $hit and fvck like anyone else. I have no belief in the "women and children first" rule. Pointless, empty social norms irritate me - fashions, handshakes, false politeness, whatever. Needless to say, I have a very low opinion of religion, although I believe/assume nothing about how everything came to exist in the first place. We can only peer back as far as the big bang, so perhaps there was some sort of supernatural entity responsible for the whole thing, or perhaps there wasn't. I don't know. Nobody knows or has even the slightest idea, those that live their lives pretending they do should really stop it. I always try to have a reason for what I think or how I behave, I always try to identify what I really "know" (knowing 100% anything is impossible, but you understand what I mean), and what I have merely been told. Knowing the supposed facts of something is nothing to me, understanding is the reasoning behind something is what is important, as well as having assumptions backed up by evidence.

Even life has become "insignificant" to me - I mean, the complexity & perfection of it is amazing, but the death of anything from a bacterium to a chimp can occur without us batting an eyelid. Why then is a human death such a tragedy? Why is a human life the only sacred thing? Is anything really sacred?
Having a more advanced brain or level of consciousness is irrelevant here by the way, we are no more or less sentient beings than say, a dog, or a dolphin, despite our differences. I don't even think free will really exists, it just seems that way, but my reasons for this are too long to explain here. I do feel that we're all just observers though, just reacting the way our evolution and life experiences (ie. the uncontrollable sensory info fed to our brain) have programmed us to.

You can reduce life to being nothing more than chemistry. It started out as some sort of automatic chemical reaction involving self-replicating molecules and grew more complicated from there. It just happened because it was always going to. For this reason I have no opposition to doing anything with stem cells, any abortion, any genetic manipulation, cloning - anything that does not cause something to experience unnecessary suffering. I'm not a psychopath in any sense by the way, I'm a generous, friendly, social guy who wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt anyone - I just don't buy into all this stuff we're programmed with from being young children. I g

Answer 1

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That's a very lucid, and courageous statement. Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but it is the line of consciousness progression that humanity is taking out of the quagmire of fears, and superstitions, that still create hatred, and war. People who have teleological answers to the mysteries of life expect others to believe them, or suffer condemnation of various degrees.



The thrill of life, and wonder, does not need to be cheapened by teleology that so often confronts those who find out that it is all far more complex than any of them had thought. Some great scientists have been thrilled at this, others cowed into religion.



Life is enhanced by the view at which you have arrived, not reduced.



I have been making many attempts at explaining, and encouraging for many years. For the last five, I have also been using the medium of YA to force myself to confront the limitations of people with whom I would never meet otherwise, and chip on my own limitations.



In that process, I have expounded on the view you express, from my own limits, and combined many thousands of answers into a few posts on



http://gshpower.wordpress.com



You may find something useful there, and I welcome further contact.

Answer 2

Well, I read everything you wrote too. I can't respond to all the aspects you've written, because I'm on this little, tiny keyboard. But your POV came across clearly. Quite pleasant to read.



No, there isn't anything wrong about having a purely literal, physical view of life and the universe. Your reasoning makes a lot of sense.



Funny thing, to me, is that people with similar view points (throughout time) usually have some kind of "awakening" mid to late life. Very few seem to take this view point to the grave. (How could I really know though...just my observation). At some point there seems to be some kind of encounter or connection of the dots away from the completely literal & physical side. I've read & seen where these once very scientific minds, who blew our minds and changed our world with their discoveries, shift their mindsets to a less definitive way of thinking, after these great & significant discoveries. Why, in sense, were they left unfulfilled by ignoring that which was not ALL science and logic? What happens to them? Why, in the end, do these brilliant men & women throw up their hands (figuratively) and say, I thought I had it all figured out. SOME of them then find more satisfaction & truth in the less logical.



Anyway, I digress. Your wonderful question exemplifies what asking questions, pondering, and drawing conclusions for oneself is all about. You do it in an exceptional way.

Answer 3

I see that I'm 5 years late! Haha



But to answer your question; your view is extremely narrowing. Here's the deal; you can either choose to see the act of marrying someone as an emotionless social contract, or you can view it within the greater framework of the universe around you. Right and wrong is relative in a very superfluous sense, but I would encourage you to think about the question of pros and cons.





Your opinions are your opinions, and your's alone. But if you spent 12 years getting educated in physics, and you still view everything as inanimate objects and energy, then I'd say you pretty well missed the point of everything they've taught you

Answer 4

I've just read every word of this and nodded my head the whole way through. The only difference is I'm not educated in physics and I'm not the most social of people.. I also don't think I'm a psychopath and I'm generous to a fault. I'm single and have no real desire to be in a relationship. Looks like I'm going to have a lonely life except for the few friends and family I have.

Answer 5

Since your question is rather long I'll do what I can to answer.



No, there's nothing 'wrong' about a literal, physical view of life but keep in mind it's only one phase of it. There is more to Life than meets the eye! Overall I can see you've dismantled the so-called material world, getting down to nucleii and such, so it's time to move forward from that point. See:



"Consciousness Drives The Universe"



http://youtu.be/y9bVd3BspIQ

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Societal values, customs, traditions, taboos, etc., continually vary in time and place. What is normal for us today was frowned upon a century ago, and East and West generally have had different standards of conduct.



I can honestly say that the main problem with materialists (those who see the physical life as the one and only life) is that they put all their eggs in one basket. What I mean is, they see death as the end, nothingness is their only future, and no hope or understanding to take them out of the darkness into the light of day.



It's true that the physical body is a fine-tuned mechanism and needs to be cared for, nurtured, in order to continue its survival. However, have you given any thought to "Who is the observer?" If you say, "I am directing my own life by my thoughts", then ask again, "Who is doing the thinking?" Is it not "Consciousness"? That is the undying part of what you are as an eternal soul.



You do not find Truth outside yourself but deep within your own mind and heart by recognition of your essence, a higher state of awareness which is above and beyond mere intellect or the relative world of cause and effect.



You state you only accept what is seen and weighed as being the only Reality, yet would you not agree that genuine Reality is to be regarded as a state of eternal continuity which has no beginning and no end. The Relative world is forever in a state of flux, so where is its reality then? It has none. Similarly, take the chair you sit on, you think it is real but in its microscopic elements, as you have also pointed out, it is really whirling atoms constantly moving about in a great space.



The intellect itself can only go so far and must turn within to Intuition, Inspiration, those higher phases of the mind, in order to find its answers. After all, the physical plane is the lowest and slowest in vibratory rate and it is for us to raise our vibrations (frequencies) to come into contact with the higher realms of being.



Granted that many animal and bird species have much more keener senses than humans do but this is simply sensory response to a physical world. Man is of greater value than plant or animal life since he has the ability to reflect on his inner being, which is his higher Self, or soul, or Spirit, call it what you wish. Eventually, he expands his consciousness into the Allness of the Cosmos and learns to allow the divine consciousness to flow through his being. This is what all great Masters have accomplished.



Meanwhile we are here in this world to learn our lessons, to overcome our weaknesses, and transcend the limitations of our physical nature. It all points to eventually becoming aware of our true selfhood by casting off the layers of false identity, the "persona", as we become a living soul whether or not we are in the physical or astral body or solely as pure consciousness.



The Universal Consciousness is being expressed through the individual consciousness. The Ocean is in the drop, and the drop is also in the Ocean. They are one and the same, only differing in degree.



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Answer 6

funny that you have such a bland outlook on life after studying physics and coming to the assumption that we are beings of energy with potential only as much as our minds can comprehend. and there is no problem not believing in 'right' or 'wrong' as that refers to duality and a world without duality would be fantastic (in my opinion).



and you yourself admit you don't believe in right or wrong? so your question doesn't really make sense..

Answer 7

I believe there is no right or wrong.it's interesting to see that someone has that kind of view and feels comfortable. I ended up frustrated, hopeless and devastated. I'd rather someone punched me so that i could pass out and stop thinking like that. right now, i'm trying to focus on here and now. I'm afraid that i'll miss out on life i keep thinking those nonsense.

Answer 8

Wrote a paragraph. Deleted it.



Hmm.. you sir, broke life. At least what was taught to us as "life" by the ones whispering lies.

Answer 9

You are stuck with the wrong humanity. There must be a reason for it. Go into that.