Actually, bro, evolution is not a musing but actual science that has been reproduced in laboratory conditions.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/02/evolution-in-real-time/#:~:text=Since%201988%2C%20Richard%20Lenski%20has,believes%20is%20a%20new%20species.
So this is not speculation or whatever. It is fact. If you are a seeker of knowledge then you will accept it as such. If you are a believer then you don't have to accept anything you don't want to.
Theories in science, are different from normal theories. A theory in science is the explanation for why something is what it is or why it works or functions the way we observe.
One of the things about science is that it is repeatable. That means if the same experiment is run multiple times the results give the same kind of results.
I don't discount your experiences. I simply don't discount the fact that MANY people have such experiences; people from different cultures and walks of life, and in every case I have heard of the vision or dream involves things they have already heard or believe. If a 7 year old Chinese Buddhist has a vision they're going to see something different and interpret it as something different.
If you want to consider your experience to be knowledge you have to be willing and able to criticize yourself and not take anything at face value. The mind is very powerful. You can pass out just from heat and have a dream before you realize that you even lost consciousness. Happened to me very recently. You're not the only one in the world who has experienced things. That doesn't mean what you experience is real.
How far away was this "mighty one"? Was it far enough that you could barely see it? How do you know it was a chariot? Why would it be a "chariot"? How does a chariot make any sense in the sky? In the bible the term is used because the writer doesn't have a better frame of reference than to use a land vehicle. Today, we have newer inventions that actually fly. So why not compare it to a jet, helicopter, drone, etc. Why a chariot? Because perhaps your mind wanted to have a religious experience and chose to show you what it believed to be a vision you wanted or needed to see.
Older folks who have read about many different experiences, including ayahuasca, know that people have even seen the same type of imagery as another person who has taken the same halucinogen. You should read the Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby.
What you haven't done is combined the experience with knowledge about how the mind works. When you were younger have you never seen something in the dark that you thought was alive and moving? Many children are afraid of monsters because their brains cannot identify every object in very low light situations so what does it do? It takes the electrical signals from the eyes and passes it through the filter of imagination. You don't see exactly what your eyes see. You see an image that is filtered through your mind's eye. If that filter is compromised, whether it be by drugs, or by fear, or by belief, etc. What you see isn't necessarily what was actually there.
We also see this in NDEs or "near death experiences". A lot of people report to see familiar images from their religious convictions. A lot of people see a bright light. Of course the light could simply be the sun, if they're looking up from the ground, the lights on the ceiling whether their home or hospital bed and they are simply extra sensitive to the light because of the condition they're in, etc. But how does this explain NDE experiences where someone, for example, thinks they've actually gone to heaven and were sent back? These experiences match their brand of theology but not necessarily a correct interpretation of the bible. It's simply their personal belief.
So what should we say then? That the bible is wrong? Or do we admit and accept the possibility that two people can have conflicting visions?
And how do we know that Moshe himself didn't venture to a part of the mountain near the burning bush where noxious gases were being vented and it caused him to hallucinate? How do we know?
Did you know that your imagination plays a role in your memory recall? Did you know that you really don't remember all the details of your past like you think; that your memory has gaps that is filled in by your imagination. So the imagination plays a large function in how we experience life.
If what you saw was actually there, who else saw it? If it is your experience alone then why not accept that it was in your mind? There's nothing wrong with that. It's normal. That's why I told you before that personal experience doesn't define reality for other people. Other people have other experiences. I've seen things that weren't real too. And once I stopped believing in those things I never saw them again. Why? Because I reprogrammed my mind not to produce those images from my imagination because I no longer accepted those imaginary things could possibly exist.
You can say all day long that you weren't hallucinating, you weren't passed out, you weren't dreaming, you weren't having a heat stroke, you weren't this or that, that's fine. But until you have exhausted all medical explanations for that state of brain activity you really don't know the reasons why you saw what you saw. But in my mind you are a believer because you don't seem to care why you saw what you saw. You only care about what you saw. And that's fine... for you. But I'm not you and therefore I don't have to accept what you believe you saw. Just like I don't accept everything I read. I don't just look at what someone wrote. I consider WHY they wrote it. I consider their intentions, their beliefs, their power, their circumstances, their affiliations and social contracts, their culture, and even their politics. That is how you seek knowledge vs belief. You question everything.
With all due respect, if you don't ask questions it is because you don't want to know the answers.
|
|