What does it mean to live in reality .

[zheer]

  Reality, when does one no-longer live in reality. ?

[pianistimo]

first of all - what is reality?  is it only what we see - or does it encompass things that we don't see?  spiritual things.  balaams ass saw angels.  balaam didn't.  it didn't mean the angels didn't exist.  it just meant that he couldn't see them - but the donkey tried to go around them. 

i'm not attempting to be sassy.  it's just that i think that there are people who are unaware of the 'mutitudes of angels' that God has at his disposal.  an army.  David said - 'though a thousand die at my right hand....'  so that means - even in battle or the worst situation - we dont' have to go crazy.  we have an army at our disposal.  a ripping army.

the biblical David understood God's power in both civilian and military perspective.  psalms 3:5 'i lay down and slept; i awoke, for the Lord sustains me.  i will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.'  arise, O Lord, save me, O my God!  for Thou hast smitten all my enemies on the cheek; thou hast shattered the teeth of the wicked.  salvation belongs to the Lord; Thy blessing be upon Thy people.'  btw, i think 'thy people' means people from every nation and walk of life.

in reading the bible literally, i feel that God chooses a few people out that are pointed in His direction already.  whether their parents led them to God or they themselves seek him out.  then, he uses them as cannon fodder.  He shoots them out over and over.  people think - 'why didn't they die or fold up last time?'  but, they keep coming out.  it is to be a 'witness' for God.  'isaiah 55:4 'behold, i have made him (David) a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander for the peoples.'  as i see it - if you make right judgements according to other people's fates (if you see it in the sense that you have a certain control over other human beings lives and happiness by what you do) then God will assure that your life is protected also.

[zheer]

first of all - what is reality?  is it only what we see - or does it encompass things that we don't see?  spiritual things.  balaams ass saw angels. 

     True, we each have different perception of what is and is not reality. If we set-aside religion for a weeee moment and think along the lines of art ,from a artistic point of view ,reality is often distorted .
    Though to remain true to this thread, what does to live in reality mean on a day to day bases.

[counterpoint]

  Reality, when does one no-longer live in reality. ?

In the arts, wonders happen all the time. Or at least they are expected to happen all the time.

In real life wonders are extremely rare.

I think, that's the main difference.

[zheer]

In real life wonders are extremely rare.

  I see, i gess that is the reason why pianistimo made the point about religion ect ect, since people with spiritual power tend to be people that are a wounder, ? 

[pianistimo]

a wounder?  what does that mean?  well, the analogy of being canon fodder being shot out over and over - might be an exaggeration - but on the whole - we're not here to wound people.  mostly just to be bold and fearless. 

those bumper stickers - 'fearless' or whatever - they are pointless.  you have fear if you don't have God.  that's all there is to it.  God can strike fear in the hearts of men by simply causing a volcano to erupt.  we are small.  God is big. 

as i see it - He's more than a genie in a bottle.  basically we're in the bottle (this earth) - He's free.  He can do whatever He likes.  He's not limited by time and space and this physical universe.  therefore - if we 'fear' Him - then we have more of a chance of altering our own time and space to include infinity.  if God is infinite and we are His children - i think there is a possiblity of us becoming eternal - like Him.  our beginning was with Him - since He conceived us - and if He gives us 'no end' - then we were and are with Him from the beginning and end - as the alpha and omega.

but, the wicked are said to have an end.  that is reality.  the end of life as we know it.  death.  death is reality to us in this life.  it will limit our future unless we accept Jesus Christ paid our penalty for sin/death - with his death and ressurrection.  to me, the most real thing i want to see is the dead come to life.  to be ressurrected.  it is said in the bible that 'the dead shall rise first ' - then those that are still alive will be changed and be with Jesus forever.  'in a twinkling of an eye - at the last trumpet.'

[nightingale11]

''We do not have access to reality. All we have access to are sensations (sight, touch, smells, hearing, etc.), which are organized into sensorial experiences. These are "models of reality". There are three processes of modeling: Deletion, distortion and generalization. If you think of a map, which is a model for a territory, you can see the three processes of modeling at work: the map is much smaller than the territory (distortion), the map does not contain all of the attributes of the territory like people or trees or individual buildings (deletion), and all maps use similar conventions (generalization). Therefore, the map is not the territory, but a deleted, distorted and generalized representation of it. Such simplified representations are very useful, since a map that was exactly the same size of the territory would be useless. So models are important and useful, but very often people forget that the map is not the territory and start believing that the model is the real thing.''/bernhard

[zheer]

  Jesustimo, not pianistimo.

[zheer]

''We do not have access to reality.

    "True some look but can not see and some listen but can not hear" (jesustimo)

[pianistimo]

that's why the word 'revelation' means so much.  we can't reveal things to ourselves.  the Holy Spirit does it.  the Holy Spirit is said to be like fire, like water, like a dove...  just as God can manifest Himself in many ways according to how the spirit moves Him.  can you imagine being that free?  i mean -you just be who you want to be at the moment.  if you want to be a cloud or in a cloud - you make yourself part of the cloud.  if you want to be a consuming fire - you become fire.  you can enter the elements you make - but you are not the elements.

[jakev2.0]

Zheer and pianistimo - together in one thread.

*RUN AWAY*

[zheer]

Zheer and pianistimo - together in one thread.

*RUN AWAY*

  It's Jesustimo, not pianistimo.