Thursday, February 10, 2005

Spiritual Calling, Hebrew Scriptures, and Spiritualism


Re being "different": bottomline: You cannot be "average" (read "normal") and extraordinary at the same time. So, if you are going to reach for the platinum, you are going to have to leave more traditional types in the dust. And that is okay; everyone has to be exactly where she is, when she is there! But you must also walk the path of your authentic inner calling,and the "danger" here is that people with extraordinary potential often allow others to hold them back. This is a real "lose-lose.":(

The good news is that you can walk the interior path, and keep peace with all around you, simply by remaining silent. Not every spiritual person is called to be a teacher. And so not everyone has to get into the same social "hot water" that is the inevitable fate of the spiritual teacher.:) Of course, you are always free to share your personal views with anyone, anywhere, at any time. But as you know, you will not always be received, or understood.

"Pop spirituality," we have called elsewhere "pneumobabble," in parallel to "psychobabble!:)

A person with whom you can pour out your heart is a very rare diamond! (Make that seven hundred carats!:)

The Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") is of very little value in spiritual understanding. Much of it is biased, unreliable history,and much more is all about the ancient wargod adored by the ancient soldier-nation of tough but semiliterate desert-dwellers. Re even the Psalms, there is so much talk about "Jehovah" being against "my enemies," that even in this more redemptive of the Hebrew texts, one does not by any means find the very highest spirituality. (Parts of it were written by David, traditionally a mass murderer/soldier, and you can "see" him trying to live with his angry conscience in many verses.) Isaiah does indeed contain much of beauty, but he too was smothered spiritually by mistaking the ancient wargod for a Lord of mercy, justice, and compassion.

Re words: The word "Spiritualist" must begin with a cap (higher-case)letter. The reason is that it is a proper, not a common, noun. A Spiritualist belongs to the Spiritualist Church, a denomination founded in 1847. It is an organized religion, just like any other denomination. Its main teaching is that people survive death, and its main activity is to get in touch with those passed beyond, into the Afterlife, through seances. (These have a long history of dishonesty.) So, a "Spiritualist" is not the same as a "spiritual person." And "Spiritualism," being an organized denomination or church, is not the same as "spirituality."

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