/lit/ - Literature

If I am my awareness, what/who exactly is perceiving this illusion of personality?

>>14812264
>>14812282
I was raised, and returned to, non-denominational/"Bible" Christianity. But, when I was returning, I really did consider going Catholic or Ortho. I admire and respect tradition and ritual and hierarchy, and both Catholicism and Orthodoxy are more serious and less 'feel good', for lack of a better way to put it. There's something that feels, in a sense, more spiritual about both than about the churches I've attended.

With that said, I couldn't make the switch largely for the two reasons mentioned in the OP.

>Saints
It's not that I don't believe in saints in the sense that they were likely very Godly/holy people who were blessed/protected/spoken to/etc. The Bible does mention that there are saints, even if they're not given by name (aside from those that wrote the Gospels), but the idea of praying to those saints is where I draw the line. I just can't understand what the point would be, or how you can just reach out to people in Heaven. God is the be-all end-all of who you petition and praise through prayer, and the only one who can do anything in the end. Why even waste the time to pray to saints? It feels like idolatry.

>Mary
Special, of course, because she's chosen by God to be the virgin mother of Jesus, but the idea, again, that she herself has any kind of potential or power for which and to which I'd pray doesn't make sense to me. Abraham and Sarah aren't deified by Jews, though he is respected, despite being the first of the patriarchs of Judaism. I don't get why she should be worshiped, instead of simply respected and appreciated for her part in the grand plan.

I'd appreciate Orthos or Caths explaining their viewpoints.

>>13844373
>regress

>>7075878
>you know, hearing mario playfully yip and wahoo coming out of your speakers in public
>Playing anything outloud in public

Manchild game or not, it's simply rude to be blasting anything out of any speakers in public places with other people

>>5914916
>>5914925
He makes an interesting point, but I think I agree more with what the anon you replied to said - that the importance lies not with what's being experienced (pictures in a museum, a great cathedral, etc.) but rather in the fact that they can show that they experienced those things. It feeds their ego to think that other people see them enjoying these "intellectual" pursuits or historical items. It elevates them.

This, I think, is because we live in a time where unintentionally or not, your life is almost always in view - photos and posts and tweets and whatnot, posted by you or a friend or a family member, are around for the world to see. They probably feel as though they have to include themselves in things in order to make it known that they're dong it - it's not something that's existing outside of them.