BELIEF versus KNOWING

by

Alex PATERSON

https://www.alexpaterson.net/spiritual/knowing.htm

Updated: 18 February 2021

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BELIEF Versus KNOWING

Most people think that what they believe about the nature of reality and what they know about reality are one and the same thing, but this is incorrect. There is a fundamental difference between believing something and knowing something. Beliefs, such as religious theology or scientific theories, are invariably arrived at through a process of logical deduction and/or are taught to people by their peers, mentors, and society - whereas knowing something is always arrived at through direct personal experience. Thus for example, humans know that they are physically alive in this realm - not because they believe it based on some theory taught to them by their peers, or because they have deduced it - but rather because they are personally experiencing it. The experience of living itself provides a person with the ultimate, albeit personal 'proof' that they are physically alive in this realm and as such transcends the need for either belief or logic.

The same applies to spiritual experiences. Spiritual proof as to the nature of reality - in other words spiritual enlightenment - is always rooted in a personal spiritual experience that has nothing to do with deduction or spiritual theology taught to humans by their peers.

In my own case, my Near Death Experience (NDE) provided me with incontrovertible personal 'proof' that I am an inseparable aspect of SOURCE and as such I came to know that I AM SOURCE - as is everything else in the Universe. This knowing is rooted in the experience itself, which I can unequivocally say was the most 'real' experience I have ever had in this life and as such transcends belief or so called logic. I don't even need to understand it - I just KNOW it.

Once a human experiences what I have experienced, they will know what I mean. It is my belief that all humans are destined to experience some form of spiritual truth in which they re-discover who they really are - namely that they are an inseparable aspect of the Creator (i.e. Source) - if not in this 'life' (sic) then certainly in another. 1

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FOOTNOTES:

1. Experience in the physical realm is a Dream of Separation. Esoteric spiritual theology postulates that humans densify (i.e. lower the vibrational rate) of an aspect of themselves and incarnate into this realm forgetting their true identity - namely that they are immortal, multi-dimensional, inseparable aspects of SOURCE - for the purpose of experiencing the illusory perception of being separate from GOD. In a sense, the Physical Universe is our "dream of separation." It is for this reason why mystics who have come to 'know' who they really are, call this realm MAYA, which means illusion. If my personal Near Death Experience (NDE) is anything to go by, then humans have the opportunity to re-discover their true state of BEING upon death, which is an ecstatic experience associated with the proverbial "prodigal son" returning home to a state of full awareness of God.

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Copyright © Alex Paterson 1999

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ABOUT Alex PATERSON

Alex PATERSON is an Australian citizen by birth. He writes articles and advises on issues pertaining to aviation, politics, sociology, the environment, sustainable farming, history, computers, natural health therapies, esoteric teachings and spirituality.

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