Originally Posted by gdawson6
I used to believe in the sleep forever after death theory...but I had some experiences which changed my mind for good. I believe that is what it takes though...it takes actually experience to really change your mind when you believe in only what you can see and touch.

But I do remember one of the first things that made me question. It was a show on the discovery channel. It was about Tibetan Buddhists who showed on camera a technique that was passed down to them from antiquity. They went out in the absolute freezing weather (I think it was below zero farenheit) in a thin robe. They would then procede to wrap themselves in wet blankets and went into deep meditation. They dried the wet blanket in the freezing weather and would procede to wrap themselves in a newly wet blanket and would go the whole night drying these wet blankets. The camera men, in their high tech expedition gear, nearly got frostbite that night yet the monks were smiling blissfully.

It made me wonder...how did these monks generate supernatural levels of heat, without eating immense amounts of food as well and without having hardly any bodyfat. They were not skinnier after this either, nor did they have a big feast. They claimed to be tapping into the cosmic source of all energy through special breathing and meditation techniques.

I started wondering about those monks...if they could achieve something I would think was impossible, what about what they believed? Why were they so happy? What else was possible that they weren't willing to show the discovery channel? What about all of the amazing stories they had of incredible feats of supernatural ability...they were not demonstrated but clearly they are capable of things I didn't think were possible...


Hey hey, gdawson!

I don't see what your first paragraph (no afterlife) has to do with the rest of your post. People who believe they can walk on hot coals without burning their feet can do it just as the Buddhist monks heated their bodies (some denominations can even commit self-immolation without feeling a thing). Using belief to accomplish (seemingly) superhuman feats does not require belief in a deity. A prime example here is the one you used. Buddhists do not believe in a God or for that matter a creator. So they're employment of belief to demonstrate amazing feats is the same as believing you can walk on water and then doing it. There's no god involved in this picture.

I could be a true blue atheist and still do what the monks and suffi mystics do: by believing that I can.