1 result for (book:ecs2 AND heading:"esp class session novemb 17 1970" AND stemmed:idea)
[... 2 paragraphs ...]
Once you accept, you see, that idea then you must, if you follow your thought completely through, accept the idea of a random accidental universe in which you are at the mercy of any accident; in which mind or purpose have little meaning; in which you are at the mercy of all random happenings; in which 300,000 human beings can be swept off the face of the planet without reason, without cause, simply at the whim of an accidental happening. And if that is the universe in which you believe that you live then it is a dire and forbidding universe, indeed. In that universe the individual has little hope for he will return to the nonexistence that his random physical creation came from. Following that line of thought, then accidentally, if you follow this through, a group of atoms and molecules were sparked into consciousness and song and then will return to the chaos from which they came. And the individual has no control over his destiny for it can be swept aside at any point by random fate over which he has no recourse.
[... 69 paragraphs ...]
There is no accidental universe. You create the accidents. You create the triumphs. Now, each of you create the ambiguous universe that you live in, and you project your ideas of reality upon it.
[... 3 paragraphs ...]
You magnify the differences of culture as a background and idea instead of realizing that you are both human beings embarked on a magnificent adventure. Travelers in a space and time that you have both created. Actors wearing different masks, but in a play that you have both created.
([Ned:] “I realize what you are saying, this is what I have always thought. I don’t see where you got the idea that I thought the way you are talking.”)
[... 16 paragraphs ...]