Posts
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It is "politically correct" to act as if all faiths worship the exact same God. While mystics, of course, support intercultural and interfaith exchanges, and mutual support, of all kinds, it would betray the truths of history to pretend that all godimages (and there have been many) are equal and "the same."
The God of the Enlightenment Tradition-- in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and many Eastern faiths-- is Love plus nothing. This is the God that needs to be recognized by our poor little tiny nanoplanet if it is to survive, and if we are to create and maintain peace.
A careful study of both history and Scripture, if it is objective, will prove beyond reasonable doubt that this God of purest Love has not been the traditional, historical, or Scriptural god of many traditions. For these gods have actively participated in warfare, genocides, bigotries, and other acts of stupidity and terrible violence. None of this could ever have been countenanced, or tolerated, by the sweet Lord of purest Love. For He/She has nothing to do with the godimages of traditional culture, which were formulated often by soldiers and/or very primitive, backwards, and sometimes even antispiritual, people.
The being of Love has always been forced into a corner, to make a choice:
For it is impossible consistently to continue to accept godimages of the society/culture and, at the same time, truly to accept and welcome, with all your heartmind, the Lord or Lady of pure Love.
So, as usual, the person of enlightenment cannot simply go along with the crowd. For, in almost every church and religion, there exists an alarming absence of discrimination. In some, the godimage is so violent and evil that it is virtually indistinguishable from the "devil" image, although true believers always deny this.
But to cleanse our personal heartminds, and, ultimately, our poor little world, we, the people of Love, cannot compromise on this important matter.
This is true even though we generally always prefer the peaceful path of compromise to the unproductive, harmful path of confrontation. And, holding the truth in our hearts, we are still, and always, never interested in confrontation.
So, dear friends, let us insist, even in the face of enormous ignorance, that "God" cannot and must not be reduced to the common godimages of backwards, primitive cultures. Let us instead stand up for our right to believe in, and to worship, a God that is illimitable, immeasurable, quite beyond the human mind. And even though this God is beyond our imagination, we rest fully assured that She/He is the sum total of all the Love in all the heartminds on all the inhabited planets in all the galaxies.
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Showing posts with label godimages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label godimages. Show all posts
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Dangerous godimage of Our Society
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I know of no God but Love.:) For me, after having grown spiritually for half a century, I have abandoned, like you, the childish godimages of our society and culture.:) I have left the Jehovah-myth in the dustbin where it belongs.:)
People become like the god(s) that they worship. So, "Jehovah" is a particularly dangerous myth to guide our culture, which has nuclear power enough to destroy the whole planet, many times! We need to grow, and we need to hurry, into the realization of a "God" Who is Love plus nothing!:)
There is no feeling quite as "high" as receiving this Love from friends.:) The world, at springtime, is full of Goddess! (The image of the Goddess is so much more satisfying than the traditional all-male, even macho, image of the old god.)
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I know of no God but Love.:) For me, after having grown spiritually for half a century, I have abandoned, like you, the childish godimages of our society and culture.:) I have left the Jehovah-myth in the dustbin where it belongs.:)
People become like the god(s) that they worship. So, "Jehovah" is a particularly dangerous myth to guide our culture, which has nuclear power enough to destroy the whole planet, many times! We need to grow, and we need to hurry, into the realization of a "God" Who is Love plus nothing!:)
There is no feeling quite as "high" as receiving this Love from friends.:) The world, at springtime, is full of Goddess! (The image of the Goddess is so much more satisfying than the traditional all-male, even macho, image of the old god.)
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Monday, February 11, 2008
In What Can We Believe?
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Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and other childish myths are being joined, in the minds of hundreds of thousands of serious, spiritually wise, people by the silly childish myth of "Jehovah." This violent, bigoted, murderous godimage is presented in the older part of the Bible-- the Hebrew Scriptures, or so-called "Old Testament."
But the Lord of Love, recognized by spiritually sophisticated and educated people, bears no resemblance at all to this very ancient, very archaic, godimage. There is a good reason for this: The Lord of universal, unconditional Love has nothing to do with the ancient wargod of the Hebrews.
Until a spiritual student gets this one fact straight, if she is from a fundamentalist or even traditional background, further spiritual growth is paralyzed and petrified. For the Jehovah-myth is the curare of spiritual development: It leaves you paralyzed; and in time, it will be possibly lethal to real spirituality. We must all find ways to break through the glass-ceiling of the Jehovah-myth!
Most of us grew up with this nightmarish myth. Our "god" was guilty of mass-slaughters, mass-murders, bigotry (against all the "nations" outside of the "chosen" people). Our childhood "god" was regularly angry; thousands died in his temper-tantrums.
He was always male. He was a soldier. He insisted that his "chosen people" go to war, and further was careful to insist that they murder the women and children of the tribes which they invaded. These are the actions of a psychopath; we can recognize this in politics, but not often in religion.
Worse, by far, Jehovah is a psychotic, and a dangerous, murderous one.
We must lift ourselves beyond and above this pervasive infection of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We must reject and renounce this god of the old texts, and declare with our whole hearts that we are the people of Love; we worship Love!
Love is not the often dangerous, unreliable romantic, sexual relationship often mislabeled as "love." No, this Love is a cosmic force, a Mindpower that can transform selfimage, and can and does radically improve our relationships with others.
Love is what you feel when compassion rises in the heart. It is a desire to aid and help others. It is a desire to improve our little world. It includes a desire to have no personal or greedy desires.
So, you can see that this "Love" is unique. It requires timenergy to cultivate it, and an entire lifetime to cleanse the heart with It. For It is also forgiveness-- holding absolutely nothing against anyone!
Since we have all been hurt-- often seriously and very painfully-- by our Journey of learning on earth, forgiveness can be a real challenge!
But it might help to know two facts: 1) When a person does not forgive, she harms only herself; and 2) When you do not forgive, you are allowing your enemy to control your thoughts and feelings! So, you cannot and will not taste the sweet delight of freedom unless and until you forgive universally!
So, let us not just think about, and talk about, Love. Those are both good and therapeutic actions; but Love in us is dead unless It becomes action. This action can take many forms, depending onyour gifts: A medical doctor or health-worker loves when she is a good healer, and not just a pill-dispenser. A teacher loves when she truly cares for her
students-- their future, their hearts, and their minds. Even an accountant, or factory-worker, or housekeeper, can transform her work into Love by acting out of a motive of Love for people!
So, examine your heartmind, and discover your own gifts. Then, surrender to Love, and allow Love to use those gifts in the aid and assistance of other living creatures!
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Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and other childish myths are being joined, in the minds of hundreds of thousands of serious, spiritually wise, people by the silly childish myth of "Jehovah." This violent, bigoted, murderous godimage is presented in the older part of the Bible-- the Hebrew Scriptures, or so-called "Old Testament."
But the Lord of Love, recognized by spiritually sophisticated and educated people, bears no resemblance at all to this very ancient, very archaic, godimage. There is a good reason for this: The Lord of universal, unconditional Love has nothing to do with the ancient wargod of the Hebrews.
Until a spiritual student gets this one fact straight, if she is from a fundamentalist or even traditional background, further spiritual growth is paralyzed and petrified. For the Jehovah-myth is the curare of spiritual development: It leaves you paralyzed; and in time, it will be possibly lethal to real spirituality. We must all find ways to break through the glass-ceiling of the Jehovah-myth!
Most of us grew up with this nightmarish myth. Our "god" was guilty of mass-slaughters, mass-murders, bigotry (against all the "nations" outside of the "chosen" people). Our childhood "god" was regularly angry; thousands died in his temper-tantrums.
He was always male. He was a soldier. He insisted that his "chosen people" go to war, and further was careful to insist that they murder the women and children of the tribes which they invaded. These are the actions of a psychopath; we can recognize this in politics, but not often in religion.
Worse, by far, Jehovah is a psychotic, and a dangerous, murderous one.
We must lift ourselves beyond and above this pervasive infection of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We must reject and renounce this god of the old texts, and declare with our whole hearts that we are the people of Love; we worship Love!
Love is not the often dangerous, unreliable romantic, sexual relationship often mislabeled as "love." No, this Love is a cosmic force, a Mindpower that can transform selfimage, and can and does radically improve our relationships with others.
Love is what you feel when compassion rises in the heart. It is a desire to aid and help others. It is a desire to improve our little world. It includes a desire to have no personal or greedy desires.
So, you can see that this "Love" is unique. It requires timenergy to cultivate it, and an entire lifetime to cleanse the heart with It. For It is also forgiveness-- holding absolutely nothing against anyone!
Since we have all been hurt-- often seriously and very painfully-- by our Journey of learning on earth, forgiveness can be a real challenge!
But it might help to know two facts: 1) When a person does not forgive, she harms only herself; and 2) When you do not forgive, you are allowing your enemy to control your thoughts and feelings! So, you cannot and will not taste the sweet delight of freedom unless and until you forgive universally!
So, let us not just think about, and talk about, Love. Those are both good and therapeutic actions; but Love in us is dead unless It becomes action. This action can take many forms, depending onyour gifts: A medical doctor or health-worker loves when she is a good healer, and not just a pill-dispenser. A teacher loves when she truly cares for her
students-- their future, their hearts, and their minds. Even an accountant, or factory-worker, or housekeeper, can transform her work into Love by acting out of a motive of Love for people!
So, examine your heartmind, and discover your own gifts. Then, surrender to Love, and allow Love to use those gifts in the aid and assistance of other living creatures!
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Sunday, September 09, 2007
"Atheists" and Mystics Share Skepticism
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Watch the baby when tossing out all that bathwater! Your article against swallowing the whole Bible was very bold, even startling! But you did fail even to mention the galaxy that separates "Jehovah" from "God.":):) It is similar to that galaxy that separates the atheist from the mystic, although both have fully rejected the cultural, anthropomorphic, historical, and Scriptural godimage common to this society.
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Watch the baby when tossing out all that bathwater! Your article against swallowing the whole Bible was very bold, even startling! But you did fail even to mention the galaxy that separates "Jehovah" from "God.":):) It is similar to that galaxy that separates the atheist from the mystic, although both have fully rejected the cultural, anthropomorphic, historical, and Scriptural godimage common to this society.
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Judaism and Christianity, Jesus and Messiah
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The entire history of the Ten Commandments has never had anything to do with the Christian religion. The entire doc has been, from the beginning, a Jewish text. If "Christians" were fighting for the display of the Sermon on the Mount, at least, their arguments could hope to make a tiny bit of sense. But, they regularly make the nightmare error of equating the ancient wargod Jehovah with the Lord of pure Love taught by Jesus. They insist also that every Jewish law is also somehow "Christian." This despite the fact that most of the ancient Jewish laws, recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"), go absolutely ignored by almost all Christians all the time. Jehovah forbade the eating of pork, for example, but Christians-- almost all of them-- continue to chew and swallow huge amounts of the dangerous fats of bacon and ham.
It is as ludicrous and out-of-place for a Christian to fight to protect the Ten Commandments as it is for a Jewish person to argue for the "messiahship" of Jesus Christ.
The people of the Book [Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament")] have made it clear, repeatedly, that Jesus is not, was never, their messiah. Now, the whole idea of a "Messiah" was a Jewish one, not a Christian teaching. And does it not make sense, if you have a question about Judaism, to ask the experts-- the Jews-- about any of their teachings? The "Messiah," in prophecy, was predicted to be a very bloody general who would lead legions of Jewish soldiers in war against the Romans. The whole world, it was predicted, would be flowing with the blood of the Messiah's "enemies." Jesus, a man of non-negotiable and unchanging peace, did not fit this profile at all. So, it only made sense for the Jewish people to reject him as their Messiah. So, despite later Christian bias, and the twisting of ancient records and prophecies to make them look as if they were specifically about Jesus, I have come to the logical (indeed, inevitable) conclusion that Jesus was not the "Messiah of Jewish prophecy. Except for a single text in Mark, which might have suffered emendation and/or alteration by a later Christian scribe, Jesus himself never claims to be the Messiah. In fact, I believe that he denied it, as he does in The Mystic Gospels of Jesus the Christ.
What mostly uneducated fundies have never come to terms with is the solid historical fact that Christianity and Judaism are two very different, in many ways, unrelated, faiths. As two faiths, they have two separate sets of Scriptures, two different sets of recognized "prophets," two different sets of teachings, different traditions, different "holy" days, different customs, and yes-- most spectacularly-- different gods. The "Jehovah" of the Hebrew Scriptures was never the God of pure Love taught by Jesus. (That alone explains why, although some form of the wrongly translated name "Jehovah" appears nearly seven thousand times in the Hebrew Scriptures, it does not appear a single time in the best ancient texts of the Christian Scriptures.)
Most Jewish people today have as sophisticated and loving an image of God as anyone. But, four thousand years ago, the primitives worshipped a god of genocide, rage, emotional immaturity, violence, and psychosis. This confusion between two very different godimages is why Christian fundies are so hopelessly confused.
Your best bet, with people whose minds resemble blocks of unchanging granite, is just to let them be. In time, karmic force alone has the necessary power to alter some minds. Happily, it is not our job even to try to change the dogmatic mind!
*******
The entire history of the Ten Commandments has never had anything to do with the Christian religion. The entire doc has been, from the beginning, a Jewish text. If "Christians" were fighting for the display of the Sermon on the Mount, at least, their arguments could hope to make a tiny bit of sense. But, they regularly make the nightmare error of equating the ancient wargod Jehovah with the Lord of pure Love taught by Jesus. They insist also that every Jewish law is also somehow "Christian." This despite the fact that most of the ancient Jewish laws, recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"), go absolutely ignored by almost all Christians all the time. Jehovah forbade the eating of pork, for example, but Christians-- almost all of them-- continue to chew and swallow huge amounts of the dangerous fats of bacon and ham.
It is as ludicrous and out-of-place for a Christian to fight to protect the Ten Commandments as it is for a Jewish person to argue for the "messiahship" of Jesus Christ.
The people of the Book [Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament")] have made it clear, repeatedly, that Jesus is not, was never, their messiah. Now, the whole idea of a "Messiah" was a Jewish one, not a Christian teaching. And does it not make sense, if you have a question about Judaism, to ask the experts-- the Jews-- about any of their teachings? The "Messiah," in prophecy, was predicted to be a very bloody general who would lead legions of Jewish soldiers in war against the Romans. The whole world, it was predicted, would be flowing with the blood of the Messiah's "enemies." Jesus, a man of non-negotiable and unchanging peace, did not fit this profile at all. So, it only made sense for the Jewish people to reject him as their Messiah. So, despite later Christian bias, and the twisting of ancient records and prophecies to make them look as if they were specifically about Jesus, I have come to the logical (indeed, inevitable) conclusion that Jesus was not the "Messiah of Jewish prophecy. Except for a single text in Mark, which might have suffered emendation and/or alteration by a later Christian scribe, Jesus himself never claims to be the Messiah. In fact, I believe that he denied it, as he does in The Mystic Gospels of Jesus the Christ.
What mostly uneducated fundies have never come to terms with is the solid historical fact that Christianity and Judaism are two very different, in many ways, unrelated, faiths. As two faiths, they have two separate sets of Scriptures, two different sets of recognized "prophets," two different sets of teachings, different traditions, different "holy" days, different customs, and yes-- most spectacularly-- different gods. The "Jehovah" of the Hebrew Scriptures was never the God of pure Love taught by Jesus. (That alone explains why, although some form of the wrongly translated name "Jehovah" appears nearly seven thousand times in the Hebrew Scriptures, it does not appear a single time in the best ancient texts of the Christian Scriptures.)
Most Jewish people today have as sophisticated and loving an image of God as anyone. But, four thousand years ago, the primitives worshipped a god of genocide, rage, emotional immaturity, violence, and psychosis. This confusion between two very different godimages is why Christian fundies are so hopelessly confused.
Your best bet, with people whose minds resemble blocks of unchanging granite, is just to let them be. In time, karmic force alone has the necessary power to alter some minds. Happily, it is not our job even to try to change the dogmatic mind!
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Godimages
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There is a great negative, antispiritual force at work in the human mind. This has been personified, among ancient and primitive peoples, as the "devil." In an enlightened life, the only "devil" is fear, Love's opposite.
Originally, says the legend, "satan" was one of the faithful followers and servants of God (Love). But pride, or egotism, created a being of insecurity and evil within the Mind. Negativity and antispirituality are very strong among primitive, undeveloped species with tiny brains, such as human beings. Although we are capable of reaching for the spiritual condition of the Christ, we also contain the negative anti-pole of an interior Hitlermind. Life is largely the conflict between the interior Mind of God (Love) and the mind of "demons," "devil," or fear.
Fear continues to fight with Love within all human beings. Fear has generated the monstrosity of a god of terror, vengeance, and related fearbased qualities. Many worship this monstergod, who behaves in a way that we would and could never accept from any sane human being: What would we think of an angry old man who took his beautiful daughters in the back yard and burned them alive on a barbecue? Or, what if he just slaughtered them?
We would recognize instantly, and sickeningly, that this old guy was psychotic. Any responsible religious or community leader would insist that he be locked up, for the safety of all.
The modern godimage was created four thousand years ago, by very bloody, violent, evil men-- soldiers, kings, generals, and backwards "prophets." None of these men was a tower of softness or compassion. These men actually "solved problems" by killing people, including the stoning of their own disobedient children. Naturally, being sick with ego, they assumed that god was exactly like them. So, they formulated the ghastly Jehovah-myth-- a false god of horror, nightmarish injustice, and monstrous cruelty.
Jesus came with a very different vision of God, God as pure Love. But the people were ready for neither Him nor for His beautiful vision of God. The lower nature of ignorance preferred, and still prefers, the barbaric god of war, blood, and vengeance.
It was only because Jesus was born in Palestine that people assume that this Jehovah was the God of Jesus. If Jesus had been born in Greece, people would be worshipping Zeus, the godking of Greek religion. That it was not is proved by the fact that the "ancient witnesses of Jehovah" were behind his murder.
Men and women controlled by fear are barely affected by Love. They actually prefer a god that is more like themselves. In the Middle Ages, when people "solved problems" within the Church by torturing others to death, it seemed that their god was like these vicious and obscene inquisitors, for torture was quite "acceptable" to them. So, they distorted the universal Mind so that It contained all their ugliness. For violent, ignorant, and stupid people prefer a god that is just like them.
*******
There is a great negative, antispiritual force at work in the human mind. This has been personified, among ancient and primitive peoples, as the "devil." In an enlightened life, the only "devil" is fear, Love's opposite.
Originally, says the legend, "satan" was one of the faithful followers and servants of God (Love). But pride, or egotism, created a being of insecurity and evil within the Mind. Negativity and antispirituality are very strong among primitive, undeveloped species with tiny brains, such as human beings. Although we are capable of reaching for the spiritual condition of the Christ, we also contain the negative anti-pole of an interior Hitlermind. Life is largely the conflict between the interior Mind of God (Love) and the mind of "demons," "devil," or fear.
Fear continues to fight with Love within all human beings. Fear has generated the monstrosity of a god of terror, vengeance, and related fearbased qualities. Many worship this monstergod, who behaves in a way that we would and could never accept from any sane human being: What would we think of an angry old man who took his beautiful daughters in the back yard and burned them alive on a barbecue? Or, what if he just slaughtered them?
We would recognize instantly, and sickeningly, that this old guy was psychotic. Any responsible religious or community leader would insist that he be locked up, for the safety of all.
The modern godimage was created four thousand years ago, by very bloody, violent, evil men-- soldiers, kings, generals, and backwards "prophets." None of these men was a tower of softness or compassion. These men actually "solved problems" by killing people, including the stoning of their own disobedient children. Naturally, being sick with ego, they assumed that god was exactly like them. So, they formulated the ghastly Jehovah-myth-- a false god of horror, nightmarish injustice, and monstrous cruelty.
Jesus came with a very different vision of God, God as pure Love. But the people were ready for neither Him nor for His beautiful vision of God. The lower nature of ignorance preferred, and still prefers, the barbaric god of war, blood, and vengeance.
It was only because Jesus was born in Palestine that people assume that this Jehovah was the God of Jesus. If Jesus had been born in Greece, people would be worshipping Zeus, the godking of Greek religion. That it was not is proved by the fact that the "ancient witnesses of Jehovah" were behind his murder.
Men and women controlled by fear are barely affected by Love. They actually prefer a god that is more like themselves. In the Middle Ages, when people "solved problems" within the Church by torturing others to death, it seemed that their god was like these vicious and obscene inquisitors, for torture was quite "acceptable" to them. So, they distorted the universal Mind so that It contained all their ugliness. For violent, ignorant, and stupid people prefer a god that is just like them.
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