Do you Belive in Gaia/Eywa?

[loverofnature]

do you? i sure do... i meditate occasionally, pray pretty often, and it does help me

[Grif]

I am a radical atheist, but I use radical rather loosely though. It's to avoid the confusion that I may just be agnostic.

Gaia exists up to a point, because we are technically made up of atoms of passed things we are never truly gone. We are just parts of our ancestors and the Earth. The planet has not evolved to the point of Eywa, which depress me some.

[Sempu]

There are some things for which a strictly rational, objective viewpoint is not the most useful interpretation. Most models of human behavior that do any good take license with what is actually going on.

So a belief in Eywa/Gaia can be empowering and life-enhancing regardless of whatever the truth is. Whatever "truth" is :nlol:

[mp2]

i believe that all life is interconected in one way or another, not quite as tightly as on pandora though

[Txim_Asawl]

We have a similar thread on meditating to Eywa/Gaia/you-name-her there: http://www.avatar-forums.com/na-vi-culture-language/8602-how-do-you-meditate-eywa.html

The other thread doesn't have a poll, but the topic is sort of the same.
Oh, BTW, I voted "yes".

:nwink:

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[Svansfall]

Yes, I believe in Gaia... the Eywa of Earth. Ever since I was young, I have felt how everything existing on this planet is linked together, not only in the biological eco-system sense, but in a more spiritual sense as well. Whatever now 'spiritual' consists of. Maybe it is simply physical energies, that we simply cannot measure yet. But yes, I feel this deep connection between all living things.

[Starskillz]

I marked "no" above. I don't think there is an all mighty God sitting somewhere (like in the movie Bruce Almighty)

And it is pretty evident that there is no Eywa on Earth.

But, the way it was put in Pandora, I think it is plausible for an Eywa like tree thing to exist. Because trees are alive, and when they can form connections to one another and pass information, it becomes a brain. If the brain reaches human level complexity, then it will become self aware as much as we are, and a very real being.

Furthermore, such a being could only die if enough trees died. It seems like a very, very, high level life form. Much higher than anything Earth has nowadays.

[Grif]

Our neural network will not be made of tree roots, it will be made of fiber optics. I can't wait for the Eywa AI.

[Fighter-of-Wars]

I believe that there is a higher power at work in world, our bodies, and our lives.. I think we were created one way or another by something or someone not evolved from bacteria to humans. I believe that changes have been made in the past. But life had to start somewhere and I think that a higher power started it, started the universe and made little nudges here and there to keep things running smoothly.

I'm sure someone somewhere will disagree with me, but its my opinion and I'm sticking to it, no matter what anyone says.

[Devourment]

It's not a religion.

[Fighter-of-Wars]

It's not a religion.

Good point, but one could argue that Gaia/Ewya could be larger than just Earth/Pandora but interacts with all things everywhere.

[Devourment]

Good point, but one could argue that Gaia/Ewya could be larger than just Earth/Pandora but interacts with all things everywhere.


My main reason for saying is that religion is all based upon faith in a deity. On Pandora, they know for a fact that the forest has a conscious, not that it's a being, but that the connections throughout the trees act in a way a brain would.

Eywa isn't a god, it's simply the connections between the plants of Pandora.

[Fighter-of-Wars]

Eywa isn't a god, it's simply the connections between the plants of Pandora.

This is true, but what if Eywa extends beyond just Pandora and has connections with plants and animals on other planets, such as the other moons of Pandora?

The Na'vi know that Ewya is all around them on Pandora, but what if Eywa could communicate and perhaps influence biology on the other moons as it does on Pandora, we will never know unless it is explained in a book, or the movies.

But what I was referring with Gaia is that I know something is with us on Earth, I know something made things they way they are for a reason. And what if Gaia extend beyond our planet and we just don't know it, maybe Gaia and Eywa are the same thing just it is different on Pandora than Earth because the Na'vi have chosen to embrace it rather than attempt to control it as most humans do.

Someone could sit and speculate on this for days on end and still never know how it really works.

[loverofnature]

I believe in Gaia. i just refer to her as Eywa

[Na'viTirea]

its not a religion to me, but I do believe there is a natural life-force that is the reason behind our existence, and controls our environment to an extent, yes.
what we've got to remember is that Eywa/Gaia is not a person or being.

[Theorist]

Yes I believe Earth is more interconnected than we understand, and that every single atom making up the entire universe, even stretching out to the multi-verse (if there is one) is more connected than a human brain can ever begin to imagine.

Do I believe great extinction and suffering will come in 2040, and there is nothing we can do to stop it? I don't deny it can't happen, but I am leaning on hope, hope that something better will come. Hope that Lovelock is wrong, and that mass extinction and suffering are avoidable. Hope that all the various species on Earth will not be killed off.

The reason I don't readily accept Lovelock's theory of unavoidable destruction is because DaisyWorld is not Earth. Earth is way more complicated than we will ever understand, and nobody will ever know what is going to happen to them in their future, because regardless of where you are in time, your future hasn't been observed from your point of view yet, so you don't know what will happen later when you are in a different point of view.

[Tu'te]

Kaltxi ma ayelans,

I've posted upon this genre before, but for completeness :) ....

On many occasions, whilst engaging with physical activities outdoors (usually solo running or climbing) I felt 'in tune, touched even' by 'something'... it's hard to define but on these occasions I'm unaware of the ground in a physical sense - usually, I aware of my breathing, footfalls etc but during these 'moments' nature seems vivid, close and powerful. Power that I experience engulphing me, giving me flight so so speak.

Very hard to explain, not sure if I've given it justice.

But yes, I believe there is a power to tap into but one must in a sort of meditatory (is that a word?) state to feel it.

Tu'te

[Zapgun]

I refuse to answer your question due to the fact that the options you provide are biased.

I must believe in Eywa\Gaia or I surrender the idea that I might not believe in either yet remain religious?

I am a christian, I believe in God.

[Colonel Quaritch]

Not in the slightest.

[Shatnerpossum]

Dislike the options.

I believe in God, a creator whose work we can feel.

[ZenithLord_42]

This basically can be compared to whether or not other life (inteligent or otherwise) exists in the universe and I'll have to say that the universe is too large to not have a planetary "allspirit" in existence somewhere out there! I'm not talking about God I'm talking about a being like Eywa actually existing. As for God I say he definately exists, but I can't truly give physical proof (although sometimes you can) of a spiritual being. Or as I like to say you can only see as far as you want to...

[loverofnature]

i like all of your answers

kinda thought christianity was dying 'cause not many around here speaks much of him or something like that, but that is just here, maybe i aint paying attension

Col. Quaritch: why am i not suprised xD

[Sight]

Call me superstitious, but I do believe in an interconnecting power existing in nature. Whether this is a "god" or just the combined energy of all life doesn't matter to me. Once again, call me superstitious, but I believe this energy can be felt and experienced by those who seek it.

[Grifff]

no , im an atheist, i dont believe that there is any kind of lifeforce/god/devine entity at all

[Zapgun]

This poll is baised in favor of naturalists >:(

The results will be skewed.

[Colonel Quaritch]

Note to OP

You're missing quite a popular poll choice:

"No I don't, I believe in my own religion"

[loverofnature]

Yeah i guess dont know you are sarcastic, But i vant change the poll ,to bad

[Migg3006]

Why not, it's better then any other religion I know and it's not very like a religion, it's more like a nature mother.

[Kreb]

I believe in some kind of soul of life of the planet, perceived by many as the "Earth Goddess". We are her children, whether plant, fungi, or animals.

We are animals. Very clever two-legged tool making animals. We must be careful with the tools that we make!

It is possible to mentally connect with her, but our mind must be attuned to harmony with nature and the mind in a calm, meditative state.

The Sun is also an important entity, he gives light and warmth.

[joeylovesgaia]

Whatever "truth" is :nlol:

This. Determining what "truth" is, is a difficult task. One that's been the cause of philosophers shouting at each other, and countless wars. One interesting perspective: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics (http://deoxy.org/parashft.htm)

[limxuxu09]

I think her in reality as Mother Earth except that in Pandora, she's more alive and much easier to converse with like a CPU of a computer that links every living things... I believe like those storms occurring and those earthquakes, these natural occurrences, they are brought about the earth's Eywa... In order to keep the balance of living... However, I don't believe she's my god... I'm a Christian... I just believe we need to take care of nature... of her...
s

[Meerkat]

I don't really believe in any religion, but occasionally I say "Eywa ngahu" to people...

[joeylovesgaia]

My main reason for saying is that religion is all based upon faith in a deity. On Pandora, they know for a fact that the forest has a conscious, not that it's a being, but that the connections throughout the trees act in a way a brain would.

Eywa isn't a god, it's simply the connections between the plants of Pandora.

And you have a mind, a consciousness, which is more than your brain. More than the sum of the parts.

[joeylovesgaia]

I think her in reality as Mother Earth except that in Pandora, she's more alive and much easier to converse with

If you have a queue! :ntongue: Seriously though, there's a neurotransmitter called DMT, found in just about everything that lives on earth. It's in the animals, it's in us, and it's in certain plants and mushrooms. Ayahuasca is made with it, and it has been compared with tsaheylu. This movie is full of shamanic stuff. Aya Avatar | Heart of the Initiate (http://www.heartoftheinitiate.com/library/articles/aya-avatar)

[Tìrol]

I find the concept interesting. I do not see it outside the realm of possibility.

[Grey Wolf]

Apparently I voted in this poll and forgot to post something. I have believed/still do believe in a Gaia/Eywa, "Mother Earth" great spirit that resides within every living thing. This is the force of nature as we know it, speak of it, breathe all the time. It IS us.

[CiaphasCain]

No.

I do not believe that there is some sort of magnetic impulse within the Earth's core capable of influencing and controlling our thoughts, or storing our "souls". There is no emperical evidence for this, despite experimentation done to prove/disprove it's existence. And as Eywa, allegedly, is a purely scientific being, to suggest the logical fallacy that Christians use to 'prove' God exists - that you cannot prove he does not exist - is an insult to anyone with a scientific mind. The first rule of formulating a scientific hypothesis is that it must, in someway, be disprovable. That is to say, that a null hypothesis can both be formed and not immediately disproven by the original hypothesis' existence.

And Science Works.

[Tìrol]

Sure, but several years ago folks knew the earth was flat. Our science is really just along the line of fantasies itself, and soon enough we will make new and better ones. Though considering I find most of it interesting so that is not a bad thing at all. My point with this is either we will learn about it or not, but for now we just have to act with as much certainty as we can.

[CiaphasCain]

Sure, but several years ago folks knew the earth was flat. Our science is really just along the line of fantasies itself, and soon enough we will make new and better ones. Though considering I find most of it interesting so that is not a bad thing at all. My point with this is either we will learn about it or not, but for now we just have to act with as much certainty as we can.

Wrong.

The idea that the Earth was round was first postulated by Pythagoras in the sixth century BC. The first empirical evidence was gathered by Eratosthenes circa 200 bc, who noticed that on the solstice, the Sun shined directly down a well in Alexandria, but in another town 50 miles away shone down a well at a seven degree angle. He then used this information to calculate the circumference of the Earth. Had he used more data points to solidify his results, the teachings of more famed Greek mathematicians would have been replaced. Most scholars knew this, but it wasn't made widely accepted among the uneducated masses (who believed what the Church fed them, and they fed them Aristotle and Archimedes and Socrates, because most of what they claimed matched the Bible) until those years. Nice try, though.

However, I will admit that there is a possibility for some sort of Oversoul. I use Oversoul instead of Gaia/Eywa because it is the more accurate to for the situation currently being explored - the possibility of Humans being able to communicate over long distances, and perhaps even form a consciousness, via the Schumann Resonance, an extremely low frequency part of the Earth's electromagnetic field that is rather close to that of the human brainwave (Human only though, and thus Oversoul instead of Gaia). So far, however, studies for it have thus proven inconclusive, so I will believe it when I see data saying "Yes indeed" (which is the very reason you form a null hypothesis for each hypothesis - that is the one assumed to be correct until the hypothesis is proven).

[Tìrol]

I am aware and a fan of the folk that had the will to further knowledge. However I do agree with the rest. I like to see things as possible, though my reasons for doing so are neutral.

[CiaphasCain]

So let's blame the church for everything and move on.

Hi ho not quite impossibilities away!

[Zapgun]

We are the borg, your technological and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own, your culture will be made to service us, resistance is futile, lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated.

[Avatar3079]

Well, good question

I'm still atheist always but believe to god not sure, forgive me guys and this member of the forum.

but I'm still respect on any religious, I'm quite happy.

Irayo Tsmukan si Sister(whatever),

Mawnztey

[Zapgun]

If you have a queue! :ntongue: Seriously though, there's a neurotransmitter called DMT, found in just about everything that lives on earth. It's in the animals, it's in us, and it's in certain plants and mushrooms. Ayahuasca is made with it, and it has been compared with tsaheylu. This movie is full of shamanic stuff. Aya Avatar | Heart of the Initiate (http://www.heartoftheinitiate.com/library/articles/aya-avatar)

But....plants and fungi dont have neurons, why would they have neurotransmitters in them? There is nothing to transmit.

[TheForgeofGod]

Why isn't there a no answer in the poll? Anyway's which gaia are you talking about? The gay neo pagen version, or the more awesome hellenism version?

[Tynach]

I believe that Eywa is the name of the operating system that Pandora operates on, since I believe that Pandora is a massive supercomputer, and possibly a weapon.

[Shatnerpossum]

We are the borg, your technological and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own, your culture will be made to service us, resistance is futile, lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated.

I am Dyslexia of Borg, your *** will be laminated.