soma

skyseeker I like your reasoning. I feel The Bible offers a window to see the road we are traveling on, our destination and the motion. We do not translate the Bible; it is there to translate us from a physical to a spiritual being. It can be translated with religiosity, and used as a history book about Jesus, but then one has to deal with all the inconsistencies the irony and the parables or it can be a book of spirituality about the mind of Christ. I feel then it is more a mythology to awaken the Divinity within.

Dusk you make a very good arguement. I agree.................... The experiments performed in a laboratory take physical observation with the 5 senses of an objective experience without any internal forces. The experiments performed in the mind for example, testing a mathematical formula is beyond the senses or external forces. One takes the formula and plugs in different numbers to see if the results are the same. It is performed in the mind, not the physical world. Pythagorean Theorem In metaphysics one applies the disciplines from personal research in the laboratory of the mind to get a subjective experience, which I sometimes call a spiritual experience then one observes the effect and analyzes the results to make a conclusion. They are then published or passed on and if replicated with similar results by others it can be considered metaphysics. Some of the common subjective results are: - The sense of a deep reality beyond what appears in the world - Clues to unity, a parting the veil of duality - one steps out of separateness to wholeness - New eyes see love, beauty and wisdom everywhere The subjective spiritual experience should arouse one from immaturity and prejudice to a higher morality or ethics.

My three ideas are Eternal Now Unity all all in God's pure consciousness and Being, not becomming

It seems churches talk about many gods, duality, healing of the body, and personality. To persuade others to stay with their church they have to set up situations where they are right and others are wrong. My god is stronger, the true god. We are chosen so others are hell bound. We will heal your physical and mental problems so listen, believe and follow our orders. Selling is all about personality. Christianity sell with the personality of authority. I feel this is against Democracy and for Theocracy. I feel the solution is for people to recognize there is only one God who loves everyone, that there is duality in unity, and that religion is about awareness of the soul and not about authority and personalities that speak for that authority, but supernatural grace experienced individually by following the Divinity within and not externally.

It seems that the NRA diversion has worked in that we are discussing video game regulation rather than gun regulation. I think a good start would be for Churches to stop giving their blessings to automatic weapons of mass destruction and voice their concerns in the matther. Everyone needs to get up off their knees and speak up.

I like what Neon said about Chrisianity emphasizing violence and may I add the arrogance that makes them better than others. It seems this sets up the culture to make violence acceptable. I feel Christians can bring that up when appropriate instead of bashing Muslims or when Christians bash Muslims. I feel Muslims need to step it up in their culture that accepts violence also.

There are different ethics and morals and I respect people who honor their code. In India my money and belongings were separated from my physical being by thieves many times. They followed a code so I wasn't harmed and they stole my money in very artistic ways. I am grateful that no harm was done. I think as we progress in the spiritual absolute our morals and ethics change with our evolution so I think helping someone find their path, their dharma helps them with their ethics, morality and life. It doesn't have to be Christian.

I feel our dominate Christian society can attemt to attack the cultural problem with the path of discovery. In solitude, silence, contemplation and meditation Christians can find their compass. It keeps the living components of body, mind and soul in balance and can sustain people through every crisis. I think philosophy, theology and self discovery can help people find their way without negating the world, but can put it into focus. As a Christian I am indebt to the people of different faiths including Christians for putting me on the right path to become a better Christian. Young people need this guidance and it is our duty to guide without preaching. We can attract them to the spiritual nectar with our actions, words and example of spiritual experience.

NRA recommended armed guards, which didn't work in Columbine, but I think a tax on guns and amunition could pay for it. I am not for it because the people for it take action to cut education and mental health. Armed guards would be another tax on Education and healthcare if the gun, amunition tax is not implemented. I don't think we can ban guns, but rational regulation could be a start. Sorry, I am not going into detail, but the guns bought at gun shows should be regulated, criminals who use guns in crimes can buy them easily on the internet and at gunshows. They should be registered and if stolen the numbers traced. We also need to trace the bullets with markers.

Randall thanks for taking time to write and reflect on Reality. May we all help each other on the journey inward which is also outward. Happy New Year.

Thank you for the picture. I see it starts underwater and rises into the imagination similar to our progression in evolution.

dusktilldawn, Welcome, I believe in science and I am a Christian too. I enjoy both and use science to help me understand the myth of Christian symbols. Look forward to your post.

Ed I respect your strength to follow the spirit, light, Divinity and flame within. I guess that makes you a flaming liberal. Welcome and look forward to your post.

indigreek, Welcome! It looks like you are strong and being guided from the Divinity Within. I can't wait to learn from your being in spirit.

Welcome Lisa and your comments. Annie's avatar and your comments remind me of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Daniel 6:4-27

Bearpawss you speak well. I also feel a Christian does not have to say he/she is a Christian because the demeanor and actions will do the biding. I find many Buddhist are better Christians than the stone throwers. Welcome and feel free to share your thoughts.

Wisdom_Bodhisattva Welcome and may we help you and you help us on our journey to the present.

Science has a lot of answers and more are on the way. It has opened up many realms of knowledge, and we are justified in looking to science for help, but it cannot supply all the answers. Are we the bones, the chemicals, the tissues of the brain? All the dead bodies of the world are chemically identical, but we are living individuals with different personalities. We cannot live by science alone because science is only perceptions of our environment; we also need patience, sympathy, understanding, love, and hope. "...Man shall not live by bread alone..." This saying tells us it takes more than food and a pill to make us happy and healthy. Dead bodies are all the same, but living individuals are not because of our minds. Without positive feelings and the thought that life is unobstructed, science cannot heal. We need to know that life is expressing itself in us and through us with all its perfection. I feel we need to heal the rift between science and religion and stop the war. They both are concerned with the truth and can help us understand it. I feel the Christian war on science is killing Christian faith and not science. Texas, unfortunately is leading the war trying to change our text books to reflect an ideaology and not the truth.

kemij good luck in your search for a church and your spiritual search. I am sure the search will bring rewards.

dblad look forward to your post. May everyone grow from the experience.

Padre775, Salutations to the Divinity within you. I am very interested in Christian Mysticism and have been reading many of the earlier Christian comtemplatives or as I would call them Christian Mystics. I love their descriptions and I also see many similarities with the mystics in all religions. The experience seems to be the same, but the way, description and personalities are different. We can learn so much as Christians from other religions about ourselves, God, Christianity and the Christ experience. I am glad you landed safely here.

Eusebius, Greeting to the spirit within you. I am sure I can benefit from your postings. I study the Bible more as mythology or symbols to an inner experience, but can learn a lot from your perspective.

I like the comments about earth being comfortable. I feel it is comfortable because you are in heaven. Heaven or Hell to me are mental states of mind. I also feel fortunate and enjoy life when in the present, but everyonce in awhile I get a glimse of a higher state of the mind. I experienced hell on earth and heaven on earth so the glimpse of eternity propels me to another step in awareness and bam...bam...another moment in heaven. It might be the same step, but I seemed I change for the better so I enjoy another glimpse and step to nowhere. Heaven helps us and I feel the gimpses of it help me. I change, get a glimpse become better so it seems logical for me to continue onwards. Some have steeper steps some are on an excalador, but we all are on a path to heaven because we are already in heaven on earth.

It seems the glimses propell us onward into being, being humans because we are humanbeings. I think this was the purpose of Zen Koans to shock the mind into being and get a glimse of Eternity.

We are in heaven now, but get lost in a good or bad hair day. That is hell to get lost in the hair style that is never perfect. Heaven is right here, but we are somewhere else. That is hell to be in heaven, but not realize it. The Eternal moment in the here and now, no one has a monopoly on it, Heaven is everywhere. Every step of the way is the way to insight, the Divinity within, the Eternal moment, which is non-dual in the present moment. Heaven is not separate from ourselves, but is obscured with distractions. Beyond our attachments, aversions and judgements there is no-thing, nothing that is good or bad, they are just being. Getting closer to God we can enjoy every step of the way, getting closer to the Divinity within, attending to the present, we know it and be it by just being. We get glimpses of the Eternal Heaven because we are in Eternity now. Turning the search light inward we get in-sight of the Divinity within friends, spouses, children and work mates, but first we must find Divinity within ourselves. Heaven is the wake up call that frees us from bitterness and resentment. It doesn't make us perfect, but makes us aware that everything is perfect in God, the Whole, the collective unconsciousness. Just some late night thoughts..............