Stephen Hawking

[usmaak]

I was thinking of Stephen Hawking the other day.  I have no idea why.  Stephen Hawking was an atheist.  He said:

"I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful."

I wonder if he woke up after his passing and thought, "well, I sure missed that one."

[Sena]

This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either.

Poor guy. He had a miserable life because of his neurological disorder. Hope he is enjoying the afterlife.

When i gave up religion I suppose I became an atheist. A friend of mine recommended the books of Alan Watts. That put me on the right track.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts

"Watts has been criticized by Buddhists such as Philip Kapleau and D. T. Suzuki for allegedly misinterpreting several key Zen Buddhist concepts."

Some Buddhists consider themselves atheists, but Watts was not an atheist. Most Buddhists would reject the idea of a soul or Inner Self.

[Deb]

I read his bio several years ago, and then saw the movie that came out in 2014, "The Theory of Everything," which I thought was really well done.

He sure picked a big life challenge for himself, but it didn't seem to hold him back much. He had a good wife, three kids, left her to marry another woman (a caregiver), that didn't work out, went back to his family. I wonder how much more, or less, he would have accomplished in life if he never had ALS. It certainly gave him the opportunity to be "more in his head." But there are plenty of geniuses that manage to be that cerebral without physical challenges.

He did seem pretty cynical to me about a lot of things. Apocalyptic doom of humanity in 500 years due to overpopulation, therefore the need for humans to colonize other planets. Almost guaranteed cataclysmic asteroid impact. The human race eradicated by AI. He was a regular ray of sunshine. Maybe his doomsday thinking was a product of his physical challenges.

BTW, off topic, I came across a Netflix series, "If I Hadn't Met You." It's about a man who is shown how to travel to parallel universes. His hope, after a horrible tragedy, is that he can land in a place where his life is still intact. "There's a different universe for every decision you make" seemed pretty Sethlike to me. The movie is Spanish, and it must be dubbed, but in some places it doesn't appear to be. I've only seen episode 1, but I'm intrigued enough to watch more. Here's the trailer: https://www.netflix.com/title/80988860

[leidl]

He sure picked a big life challenge for himself....

That he did.  Wow.

He did seem pretty cynical to me about a lot of things.

I can imagine choosing a life where I experience living with an incurable degenerative disease.  I can imagine choosing a life where I experience the results of a negative cast of mind.  But to choose both...no.

A few years ago I was at a Bon conference at a local liberal arts college.  (Bon was the native religion in ancient Tibet, sort of a pre-cursor to Buddhism.)  During a break I went out and stood under the trees for a break.  There was a men's frat house next door, and someone had spray-painted on the brick wall "I am grateful for the conditions that allow experience to exist." 

That graffiti, if you would even call it that, made a far bigger impression on me than anything said by the learned elders there.  It still blows my mind.  Were I to ever develop something like ALS, it would be the thought that got me up each morning.  It works just as well from the perspective of physicalist science as from a spiritual perspective, which is pretty cool.

[Sena]

BTW, off topic, I came across a Netflix series, "If I Hadn't Met You." It's about a man who is shown how to travel to parallel universes

Deb, thanks for recommending that.

P.S. I am half-way through the first episode. Could the woman (Lisbeth Everest) he meets be his Inner Self? The Jungian term for her might be "anima".

"The anima represents the necessary initial "inwardness," the brooding, caring, intuitive, inside-turning characteristics, the inward focusing from which creativity comes." (from "Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul (A Seth Book)" by Jane Roberts)

https://amzn.eu/dLW1wAB

P.P.S. On the second episode. Lisbeth says, "There is a different universe for every decision you make in life." Probable realities in the Sethian terminology.

[Deb]

"I am grateful for the conditions that allow experience to exist." 

That's pretty profound, particularly the choice of the word "experience." Almost feels like a prayer or mantra to me.

P.S. I am half-way through the first episode. Could the woman (Lisbeth Everest) he meets be his Inner Self? The Jungian term for her might be "anima".

Wow, I didn't even think about that. I tend to take fiction shows for face value, don't think about the implications until the next day, if at all. Now you've got me thinking. They do have some sort of connection of which he's not aware, while she is. In the beginning of Episode 1, he stops his car on the way home... a hand on the driver side window, then she crosses the street in front of the car. He looks around, finds nothing. Then she shows up again later on by the train track and diverts him. How does she know him? How does she know what he was going to do?

If not his inner self/animus, they knew each other in a different probability, maybe several. He has the one-reality-only focus, but she does not. She has unique knowledge and understanding, she's special.

I watched part of episode 2 last night, but was too tired to finish it. So far an interesting show, I'd love to know where it's going.

[Sena]

I tend to take fiction shows for face value, don't think about the implications until the next day, if at all. Now you've got me thinking. They do have some sort of connection of which he's not aware, while she is. In the beginning of Episode 1, he stops his car on the way home... a hand on the driver side window, then she crosses the street in front of the car. He looks around, finds nothing. Then she shows up again later on by the train track and diverts him. How does she know him? How does she know what he was going to do?

If not his inner self/animus, they knew each other in a different probability, maybe several. He has the one-reality-only focus, but she does not. She has unique knowledge and understanding, she's special.

Deb, I keep looking for Seth-type ideas in other writings and films. If Seth taught universal truths, then those ideas should crop up elsewhere without an obvious connection to Seth. The idea of probable realities seems to have developed from the 20th century onwards, possibly connected to the discoveries of quantum physics. It is interesting that Lisbeth comes from a scientific background. Perhaps the truth is now dawning even for Stephen Hawking in another reality!