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PHILOSOPHY CORNER – ‘Life and Afterlife’

Or both?

(2006-2010): I just thought I’d start a section which would have the character of PHILOSOPHY (gr. ‘philosophía’/ ‘φιλοσοφία’: the “LOVE”/”striving” for knowledge/’WISDOM’) itself, in which through unnumbered hardships and difficulties you ‘seek’ to reach the ‘TRUTH’ about certain things – be it the truth of a situation or the ‘truth’ of a person’s behaviour or even the truth of the structure of our universe and it’s wondrous mechanisms...; some fragments will be here just for entertainment, some others (like quotes or thoughts of philosophers for example) out of interest which you can then take up and continue if you like…

I chose the title ‘Life and Afterlife’, because I wanted to sum up what I feel are the main purposes or focuses of philosophy: on one side: our ‘real’ life, ethics, behaviour, our actions… and other side the ‘afterlife’ (almost all religions believe there is afterlife; Christianity is very sure about it; there is also philosophy of religion which reflects on this topic, on religion, God and faith), and everything which is outside our ability to ‘see’ as well as abstract things/”ideas”, like the sense/meaning of life, God, our hopes, dreams, emotions… instead of afterlife I would poetically call it even a ‘world within a world’ which is always present, wherever we are – f.ex. the ‘world’ of emotions and thoughts which is situated within our “body”.

2013 status/ statement: since couple of years, after all kind of questions, seeking and hardships etc. I am a “born-again” Christian; I was interested in religion since I was a teen, but it took time and now I strongly have faith in Jesus Christ and the God He revealed, and the word of God (the New Testament); I think philosophy, reading and education/ knowledge is still very important, because it teaches you to THINK, and the more you know, the better you are able to separate true from false - “knowledge is power” - but I felt the “final basis” was always missing, or you can call it the direction of life – this direction is found in faith, and I found it in (“true”) Christianity (people who abuse Christian faith to kill other people are not Christians to me, there is a lot of abusing and misusing going on – those people are bad and not true Christian faith itself...);

I think in the end it is good that I pursued philosophy, finding out what is not so good and suspicious to me (materialism etc); so I could also find out what is WRONG philosophy and a “wrong view of life” – wrong philosophy is dangerous the more if you believe without analyzing: there is philosophy which propagates nihilism etc etc and I think this philosophy is an instrument to harm people’s souls and to control them... If you like to know more, there are sure a lot of books on these sometimes difficult and delicate topics, you just have to look for them (search the internet for key words) or you can write me :-)

Enjoy and stay in tune!

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SPECIAL (2010): some thoughts on philosophy

the world of philosophy…

the world of thinking…

the world of perception, ideas, views, insights…

some topics and questions of “philosophy”

(auguste rodin – the thinker)

So, well, what are the thinkers who were most inspirational to our mankind?

Without a doubt, Greek philosophy (in the western world)… Plato, Aristotle… - and Christianity? Is Christianity a philosophy? Is it “only” a religion? What is this, a religion? How can we understand it?

As you/ we see MANY questions, many answers… searching for answers… searching for some truth, for something you can rely on, for a sort of guide…

In my opinion, even religion is such a complicated topic… I think there can be nothing “constructive”, no “creation” (in the metaphorical sense of this word) in this world without something “metaphysical”, that means, there can be no life or living without any principles or without love, without a goal, without a certain spirituality; no living without dreams, without (emotional) fulfilment… no “living” and maybe even no happiness without all these “things” (which are not things)…

We human beings have a natural “metaphysical” and spiritual side to us, we have a “soul”/soul, even if some (even philosophical) directions/schools (also of sciences) do tell us the opposite…. But in fact, as I have learnt and researched in my studies (I’m student since 2006...) and read and thought about it… often such misunderstandings are the results of not enough information, or manipulation, or just lack of knowledge… “forgive them Father, because they do not KNOW what they do” the Bible says… they are not AWARE… how important it is to get an AWARENESS of what you are doing, of what you’re feeling, speaking… if it is right or not right… good or bad… - because EVERYTHING turns to reality… everything we do, feel, speak, does “create” the world we are living in…

After all, even if you are not believing in God, or something “higher” how can you live without any guide?....

You see it takes a lifetime of argumentation, thinking THROUGH, living THROUGH this questions which we are asking… after all “know thyself”, told us the Delphi oracle…

There are even theories like this – if we assume the sort of argumentation like the one above… - well can we say then that “GOD” is (also?) “within” us? Who is God... what is God… WHO ARE WE? WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING? (Immanuel Kant) These are lots of different complex questions and it shows how ACCURATE we have to be to answer them, to get just a little insight, not just say “this is it” and now we’re going to force our opinion to other people…

“People, stop all the fighting”…

A great variety – but is there a unity, something UNQUESTIONABLE? Jesus and prophets, philosophers told us “LOVE”… but what is Love (love is not sex)… it’s maybe our destiny as humankind to know what LOVE is and to fulfil our “mission”…

In my opinion, we have to improve ourselves; we have to seek, READ… THINK… LOVE - only then, something better, a better world can be here with us, soon… let’s look at Africa… let’s look at all the poor countries…. If it would be possible to improve the conditions of life SLOWLY and cautiously, with LOVE, and DEEP RESPECT, then the world would be a different place soon…. – many (esoteric) teachings are telling us – a “NEW TIME” will come… although as a philosopher, I’m thinking through all I’m hearing and reading – I rely on what I’ve learned, on my REASON, my HEART, my INTUITION… after long researches I am sure we have reason but also something like an intuition, a heart, one soul (which classic philosophers and Christian faith assures us)… so that there is not a “dualism”… how can you separate this, if we, as a human being, are actually “ONE” – one soul – even if there are different fights within our selves, many opposite thoughts etc. within ONE person…

Max Scheler said once – it would be wonderful if we as humankind would seek TOGETHER for the “truth”…

A lot of questions indeed to resolve in the lifetime of a human being…

© Daria Kokozej, written in September 2010 (revised 2013, please see statement above)

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+++ QUOTES +++

Quotes by my favourite philosophers... Coming soon... (16.1.2013 :-))

+++ a summarised portrait of the religion Freddie Mercury was born into (information taken from Wikipedia and http://www.religioustolerance.org/zoroastr.htm) +++

I don’t know if Freddie Mercury was himself a Zoroastrian, because he wrote also a song about Jesus and he sang mostly about the God Christians know...; but if you like to get an insight into the holy book of Zoroastrianism, I’d like to recommend you a very interesting site:

www.sacred-texts.com

Zoroastrianism:

The Zoroastrian faith is claimed to be the earliest monotheistic religion with a dualistic nature.

The religion itself was founded by Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek; Zarthosht in India and Persia). Historians and religious scholars generally date his life sometime around 1500 BC. He lived in Persia, modern day Iran. Zoroastrianism became the state religion of various Persian empires, until the 7th Century AD. When Muslim Arabs invaded Persia in 650 AD, a small number of Zoroastrians fled to India where most are concentrated today. Those who remained behind have survived centuries of persecution.

Today, small Zoroastrian communities are found in India, Pakistan, Iran, as well as major urban areas in United States, Canada, England, Australia, and a worldwide Diaspora. There are two main groups of people: those of Indian Zoroastrian background, who are known as Parsis (or Parsees), and those of Iranian background. The Parsi Zoroastrians of India speak a dialect of Gujarati as well as English.

Parsis have gained a reputation for their education (today, around 70% of Parsis in the USA and Canada hold doctorates) and widespread influence in all aspects of society, partly due to the divisive strategy of British colonialism which favoured certain minorities. As such, Parsis are generally more affluent than other Indians and are stereotypically viewed as among the most Anglicised and ‘Westernised’ of Indian minority groups. They have also played an instrumental role in the economic development of the country over many decades; several of the most well known business conglomerates of India are run by people of Parsi descent.

The attributes of Zoroastrian faith are:

· A single god Ahura Mazda who is supreme

· One school of thought promotes a cosmic dualism between the all powerful God Ahura Mazda who is the only deity worthy of being worshipped, and an evil spirit of violence and death, Angra Mainyu, who opposes Ahura Mazda. The resulting cosmic conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity who is required to choose which to follow. Evil, and the Spirit of Evil, will be completely destroyed at the end of time. Dualism will come to an end and Goodness will be all in all. Another school of thought perceives the battle between Good and Evil as an ethical dualism, set within the human consciousness – the persistent conflict between Good and Evil that distinguish Zoroastrian morality is summed up in the simple phrase, “Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds”. Predestination is rejected in Zoroastrian teaching. Humans bear responsibility for all situations they are in, and in the way they act to one another. Reward, punishment, happiness and grief all depend on how individuals live their life. Good befalls the people who do righteous deeds. Those who do evil have themselves to blame for their evil-doing.

· The symbol of fire: The energy of the creator is represented in Zoroastrianism by fire and the sun which are both enduring, radiant, pure and life sustaining

· Death and burial: Religious rituals related to death are all concerned with the person’s soul and not the body. Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body remains as an empty shell. Traditionally, Zoroastrians disposed of their dead by leaving them atop open-topped enclosures, called Towers of Silence, or Dokhmas. Vultures and the weather would clean the flesh of the bones, which were then placed into an ossuary at the center of the Tower. Fire and Earth were considered too sacred for the dead to be placed in them. While this practice is continued in India by some Parsis, it had ended by the beginning of the twentieth century in Iran. In India, burial and cremation are becoming increasingly popular alternatives

· The Zoroastrian holy book, called Avesta, does not only contain religious literature but also works on Medicine, Astronomy, Botany and Philosophy

· Unlike Christianity, Zoroastrianism is a non-proselytising religion, and if you are not born one, it is very difficult to become one