Ascension is the transcendence from this plain of existence into the next, existing as a bodiless soul with enhanced mental capacity such as the ability to contain all of the universal knowledge while still maintaining identity. Do you think it is possible? If not, then why? You can talk here if you have questions about it also, I don't care.

Dunno. One of those things you can't really prove until it happens to you; and when it does, you're the only person you can prove it to.

Well, it is a matter of faith but possibly the most famous ascension was that of Jesus, the whole thing scares the shit out of me though. For a person to ascend to that level they need to meet certain criteria, which include taking the life of a being of equal or greater existence to your own and you yourself dying. Also there is sort of an minimum I.Q. level which is much higher than that which we can normally handle (think Steven Hawking only smarter and can move and speak freely).

I don't recall Jesus killing a man, which cancels out what you say is required for Ascension. Though, it sparks an interesting thought; perhaps the concept of God is a misinterpretation of an Ascended man, the one he killed being Jesus.

Actually, in the Gnostic Gospels which were rejected by Constantine when they decided what would be included in the New Testament there is a story of how Jesus began experimenting with the ability to control life. He started out with small animals, first killing them and then bringing them back; he eventually worked his way up to a human but failed to bring the man back and at that point he stopped killing, promising only to renew life. Also, the perception of life being equal or greater is dependent on how you perceive the existence of others. You might recognize certain animals such as deer, bears, wolves, foxes, or even lions as equal. Perception is key. An animal by itself may not have much life energy but the consciousness of that animal may be heightened, think of the old stories when gods entrusted certain animals to guard over a piece of land. So if you killed a land-guardian you would technically have killed something of equal spiritual power.

Well I believe in Christ's ascension as well as that of Elijah and Enoch, although I'm not sure its possible to set certain "criteria" for ascension.

Fairy 'nuff. I might be wrong, I have not read on the subject in a long time. I do remember there being four stages of ascension before leaving this plain of existence though.

some scientific guy recorded the weights of several people while they passed away. he found that on average, as a person id dying they loose about 2 grams of weight (or something)..
he thought this to be the soul of a human as it ascends.
he did the sme test on dogs however, dogs did not loose any weight whatsoever. he therefore reasoned that dogs do not have souls...

We all release bodily fluids when we die. If he counted that weight as weight lost, then the experiment was flawed. He probably corrected this error by the time he weighed the dog but forgot to check his work over.
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Also, if you have the link to the article I would appreciate it a lot.

probably.....
i don't even know where i got that.. i just remember it from somewhere....
well time for beddy bies.. night all!

I might Google it later.
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Also, fix the damn "warning: new post" new post message

fixed..

It's a lot the same concept as Scientology, although Scientology is a lot more cliche and complex.

About half of what I know of Christianity comes from reading the bible, and about half comes from the game Xenosaga. In the game, KOS-MOS, an uber-powerful android, fills the concept of Jesus, and it does relate to the scrolls lost in The Constantine Translations. I'm not going to go into it, but basically all Xenosaga is is a translation of the lost bible scrolls from ancient times to space age, and there's also a sort of different story intertwined in it too.

you learned Christianity from playing a game?

No, he didn't. You can't possibly know that the basis of a game is a religion if you don't already know that religion.
Xenosaga did have some similar concepts, but I would never say thats it's whole base.

I don't believe ascension to be possible, as I am highly doubtful of an afterlife. As much as I would like to classify myself as agnostic, I am in reality more of an Atheist. I believe existence to have no purpose, and everything to be one cosmic fluke. I just can't get past the whole, "if God created the universe, than what created God" thing.

I know what you mean gabriel. I got stuck on that for a while. I couldn't answer it, so I decided to come back to it later. =P

Good, idea. I try to just not think about all that kinda stuff. It makes me want to turn emo... and thats a scary thought.

I was hoping this would be about God.

I don't like thinking about how we got here, and it especially annoys me when people see our existence as meaningless. Everything has a meaning. We just don't know what humanity's meaning is.
No, he didn't. You can't possibly know that the basis of a game is a religion if you don't already know that religion.
Xenosaga did have some similar concepts, but I would never say thats it's whole base.
I dunno...KOS-MOS hanging dead from a cross and the fact that chaos is an arc angel both kind of give it away.

I don't like thinking about how we got here, and it especially annoys me when people see our existence as meaningless. Everything has a meaning. We just don't know what humanity's meaning is.


Wow, we are like exact opposites in terms of philosophy. I think nothing has a meaning, and thats why we should enjoy life as much as we can. It's cool that everyone has their own opinion though. So, what exactly do you mean when you say everything has a meaning? Do you believe in fate?

In a way. I like to think that everything happens and exists for a reason, and that we all fulfill our own personal purposes and all that, which is not to say that we are controlled, but I have a whole other set of opinions on that. But...what you said about enjoying life as much as possible because nothing has any meaning doesn't make much sense to me. I know that if I could confirm for sure that all life had no meaning I would be quite sad.

Well, I don't believe there to be an afterlife or any higher purpose in our existence. Meaning, the only thing we can really do while we are here is enjoy ourselves, because this is all there is. We might as well live it up. PARTY! WHOOOO!

Hmmm...that seems like a lame way to live, but I'll not judge you.

I'm quite sure there is some sort of guiding force. There are way too many odd, serindipidous things that happen to me for there not to be a guiding force.

As for an afterlife...I'll refrain from decision. I've been going to church with my girlfriend, which has been interesting, but I think the ideas of attaining Immortal Soul are much more likely than those of heaven and hell, although the concept of hell fascinates me infinitely.

I was jk about the partying, though I do believe it is important to enjoy your time on earth. Thats why I try to keep an open mind to other peoples interests(as long as they aren't harming anyone). Oh, and btw, if you like the concept of hell read The Sandman Volume Three, and then proceed to read the Lucifer Morningstar series.

i believe that there would have to have been something that created the universe, but the idea of an old white guy sitting on clouds and watching over us is just too imaginative to be real.....

Jesus was Arab! Get yo facts straight ho u betta chek urself b4 u rek urself

Jesus was Arab! Get yo facts straight ho u betta chek urself b4 u rek urself
god wasn't...

check yourself...

Personally, I do not care to think on what created the universe, I am just glad it exists.

From a scietific point of view, I find it interesting. From a spiritual point of view...let's not get started.

I see. It is difficult to discuss them both at once as there is no tangible proof of these things which are often intangible. I suppose this statement makes me an existentialist but "what is, is and nothing more" no point guessing or stating things you cannot back up with fact.

Agreed. Btw, I mispoke. It is Sandman Volume 4, The Seaons of Mist, that has the really cool story about hell.

mist doesn't have a cool story about hell....

Ok, anyhow. Carry on people. I want to read your thoughts (as I cannot hear them).

*thoughts*

mist doesn't have a cool story about hell....

Yah it does. Its all about Dream getting the key to Hell... and what insues.

???????
ive played
mist, riven (all 5 disks), exile AND Uru and i have never heard anything like that...

The writer of the Sandman series has a fantastic imagination. He created The Mirrormask, which was one of the best fantasy movies I have ever seen. Ever.

explain how mist relates to hell for me....

What is mist?

mist is a computer puzzle game series.....
very popular
why don't ya Google it.... (http://www.google.com)

Dude, read the comment. Its not about the game Mist. Its about the graphic novel, Sandman Volume Four, The Seasons of Mist. Once again, read the comment before commenting on it.

oh sorry... i thought you meant sandman 4 AND the seasons of mist..
don't worry i fucked up.... my bad

That's cool, but now you have to go watch The Mirrormask (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GA1iawlsKLg)

That. Looks. Awesome. Think they have it at Blockbuster?

Blockbuster has it, or at least my local one does, and it isn't very extensive. I saw that movie on Thanksgiving almost three years ago and I'm still recommending it to people. That, and Brick, but most people don't like Brick.

that is my next rent out!

Mirrormask was amazing! So trippy.

That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it.

I saw it at about midnight... I was delirious... Oh, what a night!

Those are the best kinds of movies. I watched Donnie Darko and it ended at around one in the morning. I was just like, "Okay, not even going to try and think about this one."

Will have to see it. I was at a seminar once and there was this part about the physics of it. Either your molecules move so fast or so slow you can pass through solid matter.