Messages

Bravo...  

And what about you ? Do you believe there is a God ?

You're brave...  lol

Yes, I believe in God but I'd best be described as a non-dualist.

For me God is nothing you can point to - no mental image you can form, and this would include the image of a man looking down from the clouds.

As soon as you've formed an image of God in your mind you've also, by default, created the idea that something exists outside of God.

Anything that can be grasped by thought is bounded.   Anything bounded is finite.  Anything that is finite is no longer infinite.

The ramifications of this line of thinking can be quite profound.  For example, for one who thinks this way God can no longer be described as just "all good."  As soon as we describe God as "all good" by default we are saying there is something that exists outside of God (i.e. bad)..  As soon as you accept the idea that something exists outside of God then God is no longer infinite.

There is, however, a way to resolve it...  

Out beyond ideas of rightdoing
and wrongdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
- Rumi

Hey Magicmac and all..

You ask a very meaningful question.  What I would point out that we often wind up running around in circles when we talk about God because that word means different things to different people.

See:   God - A Definition
http://reluctant-messenger.com/God.htm

As to whether there is a God or not I'm afraid that is a question that can only be answered by yourself.  It's only by asking the question and pondering the possible outcomes internally that the answer can have any meaning.

Best of luck!

Hey yormie,,,

While admitting that I'm not qualified to critique it, I'd nevertheless say that it's one of the best written and most easily understood essays on the subject that I've run across.

Thanks! - I bookmarked it.

Far out...  

Congrats, Souljah..

NO ONE HAS A SOUL....your Soul "has" you,

I like that..  

Thanks for sharing, nightowl..  

Well done, vsskye    

Congrats!

Hey Gang..  

Here's a question for those of you who may be friends of Bill W and even those of you who aren't.  Today (yep, Halloween) marks 3 years for me without a drink.

Although 'not drinking' seems very easy for me now (I rarely even think about it anymore) getting to that point was without a doubt one of the biggest hurdles of my life.  In terms of my spirituality it also raises several questions or beliefs.

For instance, it's my conviction that I chose this hurdle for this lifetime.  If my memory serves me correctly I'd also say that this is the second time I've chosen to face this particular obstacle.

I'm trying to ingrain in myself the idea that should I go through the cycle of death and rebirth again that I will not choose this obstacle again.  - Once is more than enough for anybody. Twice is just way too much...    

Anyway, I'm guessing some of what I've said sounds odd to some.  It may be that some more elaboration is necessary to explain it. However, in as much as today is my 3 year anniversary I thought I might open up the floor with regard to addiction, "attachment" - spirituality, whether or not we choose our own obstacles, and (if this makes sense) adrenaline junkies.. lol

Anyone have any thoughts!

My goal began with a desire for understanding,
From that it turned to inward examination and self-discovery
Having examined that I sought an understanding of love
What is it, how does it work?  What is this about Adam and Eve
how does love differ from attachment, what is 'relational nature.'
From there I sought enlightenment - the reality of self-forgetfullness
that every esotericist must eventually face.
Today I'm simply enjoying the ride.
I believe God is an adrenaline (experience) junkie.
Might as well make the most of it while we're here..  or there  

Out beyond ideas of rightdoing
and wrongdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
- Rumi

[better]

What has disturbed me in practically all religious approaches is/was, that somewhere they usually all hold an element of "punishment", chastising, or like the topic suggest, the need of getting "better", enlightened.

"We" seem to have a strong emphasized sense of "self-discounting"

Hey Jo'ogn.....  

Just a couple of thoughts - IMHO only.

There are several ways to look at this.  Your post paints a stroke across several different topics.  However, I'll start with the most simple one which is "self-discounting."

Man began asking why.  "Why do all these terrible things happen to me? - I pray to God, I lead the best life I can, and nevertheless these bad things happen."  The recent visit by Katrina probably gives us a good example.

In those religions where God is seen as an individual (i.e. a projection of ourselves) when there is no answer after a while the only thing man is  left to do is blame himself. - It pretty much falls into the same category of "God move in mysterious ways" - which is the same thing as saying that our philosophy and theology completely break down at this point.  Again, all that is left to do is to blame one's self (or worse blame your neighbor). - Think Katrina.

I find it interesting to note that the words "original sin" are not even mentioned in the Bible.  We got that from St. Augustine some hundreds and hundreds of years later.

There's also another problem with this blaming of our self...  How can an all knowing, all powerful, and all seeing God continually create perfect plans that fail? - And why would an all knowing, all loving God become so angry at the failure of "His own creation" that he chose to destroy it and even the 'creepy thing.'

Was it a failure of the painting or the painter?

I do not propose to suggest that I can answer, but I will propose that this idea of self-discounting (i.e. blaming ourselves) is riddled with conceptual problems from the get go.

--------

Now, another subject, "enlightenment."

You mentioned enlightenment being seen as a better state than this, and surely it is seen this way even by me.  However, I'm reminded that's really an improper use of the word.  To use the 'better' is to quite markedly evoke the concept of duality.  Enlightenment then is not anything that is better or worse than.  Enlightenment is simply reality - what is - being (devoid of any concepts of better or worse).

Out beyond ideas of rightdoing
and wrongdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
- Rumi

So what about the dream, maya, this world?

Well, again, I'll refer to my tag-line.  

It's a game.  In the end you spin a football.

Might as well have some fun while we're here..  

being mindful of karma, of course..

In addition to positive affirmations, just mentioned by Namra, I suggest that throughout the day as often as you can think of it simply ask yourself the question, "Am I dreaming?"

If you find you're having trouble remembering to ask yourself this question put it on a sticky note, tape it to your computer screen, to the fridge, etc..

And, of course, no snooze button!

The moment you awake, groggy or not, you should be prepared to write!

Cheers!

It is fascinating, how similar things can be put into so many different words... And in terms of "suchness" been "distorted", so that it is split into "thatness" and "thisness"... by thinking...

Here Here to that..  

..and also your reference to the game, Jo'ogn.  We should have cookies and tea and talk about the Tree of Life - lol.  Perhaps you've seen my sig-line.

I thought it might also be worth mentioning, perhaps once more, that this subject of 'enlightenment' is by no means confined to the venue of the East.   It's at the heart of Christianity, but simply unexplored.

Consider:

I AM
I AM THAT I AM
I AM THAT

I'm not sure what could be more central to Christianity than an understanding of that. - Ask most pastors what it means and you'll find that it is largely unexplored.  Instead, everything has been replaced with eternal preservation of the I-concept (i.e. the ego, the idea of a separated self, everlasting, my "me" victorious in death).

I think it's understandable why the masses would cling to that.

Consider:

"He who seeks to save his self shall lose it, but he who gives up his self for my sake shall find it."

In more secular terms:

"Wouldn't it be wild if we all woke up one day and realized all we'd really been doing all this time was looking in a mirror?"

That last one cracks me up...    

[Realization]

..widening of the perception of self as a part of the reality.

Nice way to put that, jilola..

I thought I might also point to this.  It's taken from one of my favorite passages.

Realization

I have been asked to explain what realization is, but if it could be explained it would not be realization. While you are kneading the dough of your thoughts, you cannot enjoy the bread of realization.

Confucius said:
My friends, do you think I was hiding it from you?
No! I would never do such a thing!
It was only that you were unable to see it.

-----------------------

In This Lifetime

I could show you my clenched fist and open it like this—and bid you all good night. Unfortunately, however, educated on this side of the Pacific, you Westerners are somewhat deficient in intuitive matters, and so I am forced to give as a substitute, dualistic explanations, though that's not at all the way to express Zen.

           Man began by assuming that the things about which he wished to learn existed outside of himself. Wondering what that is, he established so-called "science," which is the study of thatness. Soon, however, he discovered that his science explained only how things are, not what they are, and so man turned inward. Seeking to understand what this is, he established psychology and epistemology. Together these constitute the study of thisness. But, paradoxically enough, when the mind itself thus became an object of study, it ceased being this and became that. The experience of true thisness had been rendered impossible by the very nature of man's science (which can only understand thatness).

           Of course Zen monks in China and Japan do not traffic at all in thisness or thatness. Somehow they manage to live quite happily and peacefully, for all that! Do you want to know the trick? They dwell in the region of what is known as suchness..  

More:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/Archives/Features/2000/Mar00/Talks&Poems.htm

Perhaps another way to describe it is "the end of thatness."

Consider if you will, trippin, that this world is composed of subject and object.  Both are necessary for this reality to exist.  If there were subject but no object reality as we know it could not manifest.  If the were object but no subject to perceive it it could not exist.  But here's the catch.  This separation of subject and object is not actually reality.  It's Maya, or illusion.  In reality subject and object are both one.

When that state of oneness is realized we can call it enlightenment.

Or at least that's one stab at describing it...  

At the end of a brief dream that turned lucid for a few moments, just before I awoke I heard a female voice talking to me.

She uttered "the truth of the matter."

Telepathically I uttered "the truth of the matter" back.  As I was awaking now the mental-audible-sound (for lack of a better way to describe it) was ever so slight.

This is the first time I've ever experienced this specific phenomena.

My impression is that I heard the tail end of a conversation that I was having on the Astral Plane.

From Webster

Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: 'k&lt
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate -- more at WHEEL
1 : formal religious veneration : WORSHIP
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

Not really sure why you believe the definition of 'cult' would apply to Catholics but not Protestants.  

I can only speculate that it is because you believe they have a false doctrine.  However, if that is what we use to decide who is a cult and who is not a cult would not every protestant denomination call the other a cult too?

It's my understanding that we have all of these protestant denominations because they can' seem to agree.

Biblical Support for Reincarnation
http://reluctant-messenger.com/images/reincarnation-bible.gif

Early Church History - Pope Arrested for Believing in Reincarnation
http://reluctant-messenger.com/reincarnation-pope.htm

----------

Hey Tombo..

With regard to 'eternal life' it can be said that all religions, not just Christianity, fall into two schools of thought.  One seeks victory of the ego everlasting while the other seeks self-forgetfullness.  Both viewpoints can be seen as eternal life since forgetfullness of the individuated self does not represent the end of life for those who ascribe to that idea but rather simply the end of maya or the illusion of seperatness.

I should add also that there is ample room in Christianity to follow the later.

Two quotes:

He who seeks to save his 'self' shall lose it, but he who gives up his 'self' for my sake shall find it.

Both read the bible day and night,
but thou readst black while  I read white
- William Blake

Cheers!

Has anyone run across any accounts of what I would term 'reincarnation in one lifetime?"

Picture one life progressing to a point where a realization experience sets in.  At that point memories of prior realization experiences come flooding back to that person - each of them having occured within the same life.  The subject knows that at some point post the realization experience he will fall back into what I term 'forgetfullness' again.  When forgetfullness is entered life will seemingly move backwards in time and his circumstanaces will be somewhat changed.  The subject will remain in that state of forgetfullness until the next realization experience occurs, at which time all the memories come flooding back again.

I've akined this to going through something of a time warp.  It's like repeatedly taking two steps forward - experiencing realization then forgetfullness - and at that time taking one step back.  The cumulative result of that is that one is always moving forward and one retains the same life character - but new events and experiences are always unfolding.  For this reason I term it "reincarnation within one lifetime."

Hope that wasn't confusing..  

BTW  - an good read on the subject of reincarnation is the biography of Shanti Devi.  The book is called "I Have Lived Before"

Cheers!

Hey Gang..  

It's been a while since I posted.  A dream  last night reminded me it's time to get active again.

- I'm at the Olympics - in Greece - at the ruins...
- It's very dusty - from the games - horses
- William Shattner is there (Star Trek) -
- He's taking pictures of the game with a disposable
- Disposable cameras are now more advanced...
- They can now rapid fire just like an expensive 35mm
- Shatner is using this option although it's still a manual process
End of dream..  


On a personal level the only significant thing going on right now is that I have a lot of opportunities/offers for me work-wise.  In fact, I've had so much activity in this area lately I've thought that I might retroactively check my horoscope just to see what it said.

Thanks for reading - and cheers!

About your dream:
You have an attitude of, "Let the games begin!"

Wisp, I think you're right, but as one who believes in reincarnation, I believe this attitude gets me into trouble... lol

When we're aware of the game, I believe we have a tendency to bite off more than we can chew..

Ohhhh.. the messes I have seen this time around...  

[the limbs of the tree were made not of wood - but dirt.]

Oh man, I've had a dream about a tree again..     lol

As a result, I thought I'd make the entry here.

In it the tree is huge, and I climb down.  At the bottom of the tree there is a rugby pitch, and we're about to play rugby.  I played Rugby for U.S.M. while in college.

What's interesting about the dream though is that the limbs of the tree were made not of wood - but dirt.  

I think it's related to the fact that just yesterday I read this article on Kriya Yoga wherein  this cat named Paramahamsa Prajñanananda gave an explanation of the body being made from dirt.. lol

The Body Is Dust Created by God

There was complete silence in the room. As no one was saying anything, I asked "Would you like to hear what I have understood?" They agreed. I explained what was the meaning of "dust"—fine particles of soil. Soil means what? The earth element. Inside the earth there is water. Inside the earth there is fire. Inside the earth there is air. This earth or dust itself remains in the vacuum, space. Thus there are five elements. God created man—meaning human beings—out of these five elements. And these five elements are remaining in the whole body, each one being dominant in a particular chakra—earth in the bottom center, water in the sex center, fire in the navel center, air in the heart center, and vacuum in the throat center. God created man from dust. This body is made of dust. I do not know the Jewish custom of burying the dead, but I have seen how the Christian priest sprinkles a little soil over the coffin and says "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes..." because this body is made of dust and it is going back to dust. What is the value of your body? Dust. Dust means "insignificant." Do you like dust? If there is dust in your house, you remove it with your vacuum cleaner. Although we do not like dust, we like this dust-body because it comes from the hand of God. Although it is made of dust and insignificant, it is beautiful, because God has applied his hand to every part of the body. God made man from dust, and man is mortal. "Man" is to be understood as "human being." "Man is mortal" does not mean that woman is immortal! God created you and me, God has no partiality.

http://www.kriya.org/information/info_links/what_is_bible.htm

Congrats, Potatis..!

WhoooHoooo!

Hey leaf...

It's a "Google Bomb."  -  

Search engines rank sites based on the links that point to em.  For instance, if I were to get 2,000 people to link to this site using the word "success" although the site is about astral projection it would prolly rank #1 for the word "success."

In this case, an idea caught on - folks across the net got a little organized - and mostly from their blogs, everybody linked to that page using the word "failure."

Google Bomb..  

Hey wisp..

I'm not really sure about the truck.  The feathers, however, are supposed to be a symbol for 'lessons learned.'

Like many things, I'm not sure where the saying comes from.   It's just one I've known since I was a kid..