Inspiration and Infallibility

Gandhi is one of our role-models. His use of Ramanama [repetition of a divine name] is the same as "pervasive meditation," and so, is identical with "acognitive therapy," as described in Teflonmind.

We mystics often love the Buddhist texts most,, of all faiths. Life is a great experiment. And, if you want to know how the experiment turns out,there is only one way: Do the experiment!

We do believe in "divine inspiration." It occurs whenever a person acts, speaks, or creates from a motive of pure Love-- expecting no personal rewards.

But we do not believe, even under the influence of Love-inspiration, that a person is error-free or infallible.

When a person acts in Love, it makes her creative, and even "noble," in a way, but it does not make her incapable of error.

Some of the ancient Christian writings do not seem very "honest" when it comes to the admission of human fallibility (inevitable in any context). But that seems to have been their style of writing. Other ancient works, from other traditions, do not go out of their way to point out that they are human works, and not infallible. The classic Bhagavad-Gita springs to mind, as does the Tao Te Ching. In almost all cases, everyone agrees that a book was produced by human beings; and it follows logically that no book is infallible. But fundies, and some earlier Christians, started out with a different supposition-- one that was distorted by their bias that certain books were actually "written by God," whatever that is supposed to mean. For all of the books of the Bible, like every other book ever written, were written by human beings. So, this idea is an absurdity in view of the historical facts. Maybe they think, as they seem to, that these works were "channeled."
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