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150 What I KNOW experimentally
My reality necessarily reflects my perception and evaluation of my unique set of experiences. My authentic self is what I think, upon which I act.
Deconstruction
Ernstraud Philosophy is a name I give my experience of reality. I write my truths in first person, because my own experience is more direct than the words of others. Scholars might parse what I create. It follows that my philosophy is not your reality. At best my sharing provides material for your evaluation. Hopefully expressing my original findings contributes to your edification, subject to your discernment. My humanism begins in emerging awareness and points to personal unlimited expansion, as explained in articles 135, 136, 139.
My pure earthly beginning occurred in a setting of powerful mind control under the influence of organized religion. People who deconstruct Mormonism frequently go on to deconstruct Christianity and organized religion in general. One of my stages is reported in article 140. It echoes George Fox: "This I knew experimentally." My experiment turned out quite different from his.
Not Christian
- I entered mortality pure and open to learning.
- Sentience (conscious self-awareness) developed over time.
- I learned to associate some actions with discomfort. Certain thought patterns had negative effect.
- Discernment developed conscience. That is, I deliberately chose to do appropriate actions.
- I have never purposely chosen unhappiness. I cannot conceptualize anything inside me that can be called "sin." Admittedly, my eventual unlimited capacity does not begin with infinite comprehension. However, the fact that I am constantly rising does not prove beginning in a "fallen" state. My awareness has been rising uniformly ever since my beginning in innocence.
- I appreciate the constant need for education, not for "fixing." There is nothing to be "saved" from.
- Internalizing my educational experiences accumulates enlightenment.
- I cannot transfer responsibility. My identity develops as I evaluate experiences; who I am is not the result of the actions of others, mortal or otherwise.
- Therefore, "being saved" is meaningless.
Applied belief - individual choice
You are all invited to meet Tuesday morning at Widow Smith's house to pray the load of coal into her basement. Those who believe God appreciates cooperation should bring shovels.
Putting our burdens on Christ leads to waiting for God to do all the work [#196]. We incorrectly say God is letting people starve. Having religion does not pay the rent. Our place is to learn by doing, not by watching. Human responsibility is to take cognizance and take action.
Creating a fictional god to take all the blame and receive all the credit ignores human development, which is the positive benefit from solving problems. Situations do not contain unique solutions. Creativity provides multiple paths upward. Individual choice makes humans unique, and cooperation makes them successful. Learning balance, or give and take, is as important as the engineering steps of problem solving. The social element of succeeding together makes us able and worthy to live with each other.
Corollary - no "fallen man" theory
Children who are taught that they are sinful by nature are being mortally sabotaged. Children who are taught to express their innate goodness will endure. [#219]
Corollary - deconstruction
The first link ("deconstruction") in the second paragraph above points to Brittney Hartley on MormonStories where I left the following comment:
Thank you for opening underexplored questions. Yours is a premier conversation in MormonStories, tipping my balance to becoming a contributor. Bravo! Working through your interview alleviated several of my severe stress symptoms. Our paths differ in a healthy way. Your Western mind traces deconstruction to nihilism. A little bit of Buddhism gave me a different path: after I take everything out of my mind that was put there by somebody else, I have ORIGINAL MIND (not the VOID). That shows up in our reactions: you undertook READING (outer substance), I turned to WRITING (inner substance). Helping people be what they are coincides with the premise of my humanist blog: "studying the material helps you mature your own unique world." Applied to deconstructing Christianity, having ORIGINAL MIND (Buddhism doesn't like the word "self") makes "being saved" meaningless. My reality originates inside me, and I have always sensed it is not a void.
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