From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 15 1998 - 06:48:31 MDT
Gerhard Kessell-Haak wrote:
>>> ...The Darwinian "Aha" experience for me was more
>>> drawn out and therefore less traumatic...
>>
>>the darwinian "aha" experience was truely a breakthru.
>
>This is slightly off topic, but by own personal beginning of the "aha"
>experience with regard to the possibility of religion being bogus occurred
>when I was about 6 or 7. The priest said something along the lines of
>"Close your eyes to see God!!". Being at that age, I expected to literally
>see God when I closed my eyes - but saw nothing but the back of my
>eyelids instead. At this point I began to *seriously* wonder whether the
>priest was a liar.
For me it was about the same age, though not so strictly religiously
oriented. I was standing outside watching some sprinklers water the lawn
when I saw a rainbow out in the mist. Remembering that there was supposed
to be a pot of gold hidden at the end of the rainbow, I noticed that this
one was small enough that I could check both ends without breaking a sweat.
:)
Unfortunately, by the time I had gotten there, the sprinklers had
automatically shut off. Frustrated by this, I nonetheless figured out how
to make a rainbow with the hose in our backyard. Yet the rainbow was
suspended in midair: it never touched the ground, so there was no pot of
gold. Yet I also noticed that when I moved the hose, I saw "different
parts" of the rainbow, like illuminating an object with water which
otherwise remained hidden. Following the path, my "aha" experience was
when I saw that the rainbow I was observing was no bigger than 3 feet
across: a circle suspended in midair. There was no end, and no pot of gold.
"They've all been tricked!" I thought to myself. "There is no pot of gold!
What's more, I can make rainbows in my own backyard!"
Elated, I tried to explain this to my parents, to no avail. :)
-Dan
"Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive unceasingly."
-- The last words of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
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