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I did this "your reality vs. my reality" thing with new agers 30 years ago; reality is reality and most religious thinking leads us away from it.
If you feel that you need the chanting, the incense, a guru and all that stuff that's perfectly fine, it's where you need to be. But how you are presenting things offers an arrogance to it (for lack of a better term); especially when you consider that none of what Lord Buddha actual said, exists. Even according to Buddhist historians and chroniclers, most of the teachings are ATTRIBUTED to Buddha but probably came about as a collection of analogies taken from a number of different "Wise Men" from his era into the first and second century c.e. (and yes, I know the same is true with Jesus and even Mohamed. . . not that humankind is in a habit of creating God in man's likeness or anything
) If you check my posting history here, I don't do back & forth things well especially when hairsplitting comes into play; I have health issues that limit my recollection and likewise, my desire to cite specifics is null in most instances. Then there is the biggie in this case; polite people don't get into deep religious "discussion" and so I much step out on that point.
Blessed Be!
Statistics: Posted by Craig Browning — 22 Apr 2011, 06:35
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My personal views aren't western or eastern, they are a culmination of both; I've had decades of exposure to eastern (particularly Asian) perspective via the Martial Arts and schooling I've taken in certain facets of healing science (herbology, acupressure & Reiki) as well as my personal studies in philosophy. I've actually sat with 30 feet of His Holiness during a visit he made to the L.A. area about 25 years ago but likewise, I've been sat relatively close to the Pope and I'm nowhere close to being Catholic (absolutely no connections to said group, family wide). I could add a short list of other individuals that have been classified as being "special" or "holy" not as a boast but to sustain fact that it's all the same -- all of it! All paths contain an aspect of the same truth but no one path is the complete truth and most importantly, no one path is right for each person; we are individuals, we are born into the world as such and will leave it as such -- alone! (at least, on the physical level). This is what each person... all things... must deal with first, before it is ready to understand its interconnection with the Universe.
We are "All Things" simply because we have been "all things". . . so to speak. The theory of reincarnation suggesting an evolution of the soul-self or consciousness through which we start off as the monad and unfold. We must experience several life-times in each form before we can thoroughly comprehend the lessons that stage has to offer. If we are of the fortunate few, we can move on within roughly 5 cycles in that state; that's roughly 1,000 years per stage of human form existence, which translates into hundreds of incarnations before we are prepared to move to the next level of spiritual evolution. . . and that's if we are getting every lesson "right" with each phase we enter, something few of us will do. . . even Buddha points that great fact out.
I'm not wishing to change or challenge your thinking even though I am obliged to given you those perspectives "spirit" (for lack of a better term) shows me or guides me to express -- insights and points of view you seem to need to hear presently. . . not my opinion, but simply the way things work in the world; when the student is ready, a teacher will be revealed -- when we come to a point in our life in which a particular type of lesson is required, it will come to us in one form, via one path, or another; there's simply no getting around it.
. . . and before it's said, this has nothing to do with "destiny" theory or the idea that all things are set in stone. It has to do with education and when someone is "ready" to progress and so, new lessons are presented. The student can accept the lesson and advance through it or they can deny the opportunity, stagnating for a time, until another opportunity arises to take the lesson again. Then too, they may take the lesson, believing they are ready and fail to fully understand things and thus, (as with most of us) have to come back and try again in a new incarnation.
We all have our freedom of choice but we likewise have an obligation to learn, to grow and evolve. Even in Greek lore and as far back as Babylon, the god's seemed to only admire those mortals who did not depend upon them as much, who had the audacity to shake their fists are the gods and challenge their word. You even see it in the Old Testament, as Abraham, David, Moses and other prophets grew frustrated with the duplicity of god's action. My belief, given these examples, is that "man" is to become more independent; acknowledge the divine but don't lean on it -- don't make it your only source of strength or "blame" it for the good and bad that happens in life. ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY in and of yourself and one another!
Jesus and other noted "prophets" likewise spoke out against professional clergy, the priesthood and even the idea of having buildings that were ornately decorated for the sake of honoring the divine, pointing out that "God" is everywhere -- wherever you are, so you will find the divine. Jesus went so far as to laugh at the fools that testified in town squares and he would condemn those that boasted of their good works and huge tithes made to the temple; those that used the idea of temple patronage as a social-political statement. . . including the all so popular "My God Can Beat Your God Up" routine.
Jesus, along with Krishna, Buddha, and a long list of other "divine teachers" all taught us to go within and find the divine WITHIN, not outside of ourselves, not in the essence of any one teacher, but from the altar of the soul -- our own gut, if you would. Our gut, when we are honest, is the only guru we actually require; it is where the conscious and subconscious minds communicate and help us wake-up. My experience proving that 90% or more of this "awakening" comes from direct education -- Gnosis/Knowledge! "Wisdom" does not come from gullibility but by asking questions and then listening with both, your gut as well as your intellect; it is only when these two aspects of the mind come together that any semblance of "truth" becomes evident, albeit, a truth understood by the individual at that point in time, which is a malleable factor that shifts. As we learn more/experience more in life, our points of view will slowly evolve and move in new, more refined modes of understanding when it comes to certain things/issues, this is physical as well as metaphysical law in action, nothing is static! At the same time, these paradigm shifts must retain balance; a harmonizing between logic and imagination -- yin & yang, etc.
I'll not ramble any further in that I would hope what's been said allows at least some glimpse of clarity here. . . at lest, when it comes to how I've come to understand things and why. You will note that this explanation likewise shows why I give stronger support towards pragmatism and the rational mode of things over the fantastic, even though I believe there is both, room and reason for the phenomenal -- it's important and not as mythical or even elusive as the rational-delusion leads us to believe at times. But that's another issue all together.
Statistics: Posted by Craig Browning — 21 Apr 2011, 23:20
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One night, I awoke from the most horribly evil dreams, but I didn't awake normally. It was almost like I was still half asleep and filled with the most chilling visions of hell-like places and horribly cruel ideas. I partially delighted at the excess of evil ideas and it was almost like I was in communication with some demon. I initially felt compelled to write these things down as a book, but then I regained some control and thought, "No, it would be immoral to bring such an evil book into the world. I will not write anything down," and then went back to bed.
The next day, I awoke and I was mostly normal. In some ways, I wish I had written my evil thoughts down that night because then if I had looked at them the next morning and seen that they were only silly, ramblings then I could have easily dismissed the whole experience. But the fact that I didn't keeps me wondering about my nocturnal encounter with the most pure evil.
Statistics: Posted by Jackal — 21 Apr 2011, 06:07
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