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Q. It seems obvious that the hypothetical has to be confirmed by subjective, experiential verification. In view of this, why has religious argument persisted over the centuries and resulted in religious conflict and partisanship?

A. It is based on confusion about the source of true authority. This was compounded by the statistical rarity of the ultimate subjectivity of enlightenment. It also results in the lack of awarness of the limits of the intellect and its incapacity to inclusivley comprehend the relationship between the linear and the nonlinear domains. The intellect deals with hypothetical postulations and probabilities that may or may not have the potential for experiential verification. If the intellect concludes that the nonlinear cannot be confirmed experientailly, then it tends to downgrade such subjective verification as 'unreal', 'mystical' or 'unscientific'. This is the favorite epithet of materialistic reductionism.
The difficulty facing theology and religion, however, is that the information upon which religious structure is based was provided from the radically subjective experience of the enlightenment of the mystic, the sage, or the avatar upon whom a religion is founded. If the strict religious traditionalist insists that subjectivity is not real, then all religious foundations are baseless. Throughout history, Christ, Buddha, Krishna, and every enlightened hindu sage has been self-realized for they were all transformed by the subjective Reality of the Presence/Divinity of God.
Because of the rarity of the enlightened state, each religion then presumed that its originator and founder was 'the only one', and the possibility that there were others in history who came to the same or similar advanced states of consciousness was not considered. In fact, they were often denounced. This limitation of comprehension is understandable since it is impossible for ordinary consciousness to appreciate and grasp the profound signifigance of Enlightenment.
In addition to these difficulties, the ego/mind is unable to discern truth from falsehood and thereby has no absolute means to confirm the authentic from the false. To add to the difficulty, not only was the state of enlightenment extreamly rare, but when it did occur, the majority who experienced it disappeared from society or, if they did not, their enlightened state was not recognized or comprehended. As a result, the illusion prevailed that it never occurred. It is a characteristic of religions to act as though all truth was at a standstill and unmoving since the time of the original founder. Because of this opinion, it was thought that there was nothing more to be known.
Whereas truth is complete and unchanging, on the contrary, man's understanding and capacity for comprehension significantly advances and changes in all areas of knowledge. With it, signifigance and meaning become contexualized so that, although truth does not change, mans understanding of it certainly does....

I pulled this out of a book i'm currently reading called "Reality and Subjectivity"...it's quite a page turner and i wanted to share it with others.

"...Life is mysterious and inherently undefineable... "

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Yesterday is yesterday. If we try to recapture it, we will only lose tomorrow.

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jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley

"...Life is mysterious and inherently undefineable... "

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley

"...Life is mysterious and inherently undefineable... "