taijasi
Gnōthi seauton
One of the most discouraging aspects of potential Interfaith dialogue between any two or more distinct religious groups, is the tendency to scapegoat and demonize. We have seen this here, at this Interfaith/Comparative Religion discussion forum, over the years. Often enough it is Christianity, some particular denomination, or even the entire Judeo-Christian Tradition which receives the attack. I know that the onslaught is unwelcomed, though many would argue that it has been more than warranted ... even if their reasoning falls short with the part about, "Maybe if I go insult some people on the Internet, all the evils perpetrated across the globe in the name of religion, or of a God of Love, will just magically go away." Thus the vicious circle turns ....
It is especially distressing when one calls herself Christian, or seeks to, and with relative innocence sets out to enrich her own life, improve the world around her and do Honor to the name & example of Him Who came before, only to become the brunt of hostilities verbal and/or physical & overt, or at least experience ridicule and scorn for being "so foolish as to believe in invisible men in the sky," and other such jabs. What this signals to me is that our culture is far less tolerant and open-minded overall than many segments of it would otherwise indicate.
More about some of these segments on another thread ... here I will only clarify that it is often by working on a problem from within that we can expect to change the prevailing culture, or otherwise uplift those who are seeking both leadership and leadership opportunity, both guidance and the Wisdom to guide oneself. Such is the way of the brave Souls that choose to incarnate AMIDST a particular problem, or people, or yes, even a `problem people' ... for if you think that all of God's `Projects' on Earth have been 100% *successful* simply because it was "God" that started them, then I would ask you, where is it you've been hiding, since time began?
So it would be helpful, I think, for those who wish to understand Christianity, and for those who do not wish to insult God, God's Intelligence, Christ, Christ's Intelligence, Humanity/our Fellow Man, our FELLOW MAN's budding Intelligence ... and ALL people's spiritual and religious sensibilities everywhere ... if we could first of all, contemplate the distinct possibility [and a forgone conclusion for some] that ~ in colloquial terms:
A) Christ Jesus meant to take birth among the Jewish people, and
B) God very much intended that we do our best to "follow in Christ's footsteps."
Although many people are quick to testify to the Truth of part (B) and love to otherwise assure each other, in whatever format, that they are "Christians after Christ," I notice that not many of them evidence an understanding of part (A) ... which, personally, I find utterly *indispensable* if you really wish to understand Word ONE about part (B).
Further contemplation is warranted. My point, however, is to move on to give a handful of reasons why I think modern CHURCHIANITY becomes an easy target ... with Christianity being the unfortunate victim of many people's personal crusade to end all hypocrisy, all superstition, all psychological and religious delusion in the world, now and forever. Not that this is, in itself, a poor motive or even an unrealistic goal ~ if we allow for many, many future - and hopefully wiser, more enlightened and tenacious - generations, in order to achieve these goals.
Yet Christ came even as the CULMINATION of an Age of SEARCH and Inquiry, which saw the Israelites literally & proverbially Wandering {a clear symbol, is it not?} in search of Freedom, Identity and Independence. The lessons He brought included INTER-Dependence, more clues to our Spiritual Identity than were then extant, plus a definite Path to Spiritual Freedom which involves going back to parts (A) and (B) above: accepting Christ's example ~ of what it LOOKS LIKE to Live by, Walk by and thus SERVE God's PLAN.
The mind of man cannot easily grasp wholistically, probably for some time to come, the Majesty and the Wonder of the Divine Plan for Evolution in Cosmos. I would submit that we know a fraction of a sliver of a hair about the true Divine PLAN, since this embraces ALL of Creation, including the billions of galaxies in existence, with billions of Stars per Galaxy, and surely also billions upon billions of other Humanities out there, maybe not so far away, also evolving toward a DIVINE GOAL ... for said Galaxy, said Star, said Planet and of course, said PEOPLE of any given Generation, Country or time period.
So the proverbial `world' turns ... yet Christians often provide an easy target for ridicule when they then puff themselves up and begin to yammer and gab all about Jesus, the blood sacrifice, and how no one but themselves, the "CHOSEN and PRIVILEGED" {whether pre-selected, detected, infected or self-neglected} shall be able to "enter Heaven." I think it's about right HERE that 95% of the reasoning population of our world, even including FELLOW CHRISTIANS, upon hearing this nonsense, pretty much just turn and walk away ... as it becomes apparent that *here is a person of little faith, of great insecurity and clearly with a strong desire to FIT IN* ~ yet neither possessing the social skill, nor the knowledge of Christ & Christ's Teaching to really be able to do so in any of the terms which Christ really asked of us.
We are told that many are called, but that few are chosen. We are told that those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear will understand, then asked to look at the tens of thousands of splinter-groups formed "in Christ's Holy Name" ~ all claiming to be the "only way to God," and a REASONABLE person is asked to accept the obvious cluster___ of a situation as in ANY way indicative of God's Will, God's Plan and GOD's TRUTH?
No, it is no wonder that the atheists have-at the Christians, yet there are many of us, Christian or otherwise, who know that it is equal folly to simply dismiss "the invisible man in the sky" as it is to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and affirm a MATERIAL COSMOS as the only legitimate, verifiable state of things. As if Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which modern science itself now confirms as occupying, respectively, about 84% of the known matter and 73% of the known mass-energy, were not indicative of precisely the affirmation of the Bard, spoken by Hamlet to Horatio:
Thus it becomes contigent upon those minds that may still, or finally, be [becoming open and] operative within the Christian sphere ... either as pastors, as Sunday School teachers, as occasional participants in the worship service and *certainly* as the proud & willing volunteers at & for their local church, as also through their church they reach out to the rest of the COMMUNITY ... to demonstrate the model, to BE the Good Example which Christ asked of us, and to remain *steadfast* upon such a path as we have chosen and often which we have felt is a response to a Spiritual CALL from `G*d, directly' ~ until such time as we believe that there is a better path, or perhaps another stage of this SAME path as we now (at some point) find ourselves better prepared to tread.
Anyone who has ever been confused about what I, AndrewX/Taijasi [an Ecumenist at heart, especially when working from the plane of SOUL] might believe or think wisest when it comes to religion, and specifically to the Virtue of treading the Christian Path (in any of its variants, generally speaking) SHOULD be able to discern my true feelings & opinion of the matter from these words, and this post. To state that I believe otherwise, or that I am antagonistic toward the teachings of Christ, is not only patently absurd, it is misrepresentation, and by definition it is LIBEL.
I realize that this, and many other, FAR more cunning, subtle and EVIL tricks of the enemy are often used ~ even openly, here at this site and elsewhere ... on the Internet, in print media and every day, all day long on the idiot box, as anyone with a moment's patience can prove and verify. Yet as I have been reminded several times of late, WHY bring yourself down to a lower level, which is precisely what occurs each time we get sucked into the vortex of a personal attack, or when we see the arrow flying toward our brethren of ________ [whatever] co-Affliiation?
The bottom line is, we are asked not only to "turn the other cheek," but to try to recall what Interfaith is all about to BEGIN with, and we are encouraged to do this with Love-Wisdom, which is Loving-Wise Compassion, often preceeded by Forgiveness, which itself follows upon the heels of INSIGHT, this gained by Contemplative Meditation, whose precursor is Stillness, attained gradually via Mindfulness, Perfected through PRACTICE ... and so on.
At first, our task may seem daunting. Yet there are Messengers who have assured us, sometimes personally (as many of us here can attest), other times in groups or even on the public stage, in camera eye or otherwise in popular legend & lore ... that YES, we CAN do it ... and YES, it is a difficult path at times, while at others, the rewards are quite obvious ~ as to change one's world FOR THE BETTER {even on a very small scale} is 1000 times better than to live a life "that could have been," or only in realization of a FRACTION of our true talent, our God-Given {because earned} POTENTIALs.
The Goal in my introductory post has been to set the stage for possible future discussion of some of the greatest difficulties encountered (by all of us, with particular potholes being familiar impediments for each of us, even as these vary - according to location, and depth) in approaching Interfaith dialogue, especially where Christianity is one of the topics at hand, or Faiths involved, and also where we ourselves may either feel we are being attacked (usually because we are Chrisitan, or because we simply become the scapegoat for someone with an ax to grind) ~ or may discover that, witting or not, WE have been the one [or one of the ones] doing the attacking!
No one who is approaching Interfaith with an ear to Harmony, and an eye out for the SIMILIARITIES which bring us togetether, can fail to observe opportunities on every side to smooth over rough edges, return discussion to the real topic(s) at hand [when digression inevitably occurs] and raise any worthwhile dialogue to a higher level, simply owing to the Nature and Quality of the Presence contributed ... while our particular area of expertise, or amassed knowledge of some specific subject, will additionally serve as a boon, yet is otherwise - not required, and not even central to the discussion.
In a subsequent post I hope to highlight three or four pitfalls which I think are helpful to consider, AS Christians approaching an Interfaith discussion (both what to do and what *not* to do), and also as anyone who is open to what others have to say, as opposed to merely providing a prosyletic, talking head for one's particular Church, denomination or bundle of beliefs - whether codified as `doctrine' and stamped with some seal of supposed authority, or otherwise. For in the latter cases, there is deceit & impure motive, while as Christians we are taught that PURITY of motive, of mind, of body and speech, leads to an inevitable, MUCH-desired and in one sense, FORE-Ordained conclusion [as per Ephesians 4:13, etc.] ~ as surely as the sky is blue.
Let Love prevail
Let all men LOVE
שָׁלוֹם
It is especially distressing when one calls herself Christian, or seeks to, and with relative innocence sets out to enrich her own life, improve the world around her and do Honor to the name & example of Him Who came before, only to become the brunt of hostilities verbal and/or physical & overt, or at least experience ridicule and scorn for being "so foolish as to believe in invisible men in the sky," and other such jabs. What this signals to me is that our culture is far less tolerant and open-minded overall than many segments of it would otherwise indicate.
More about some of these segments on another thread ... here I will only clarify that it is often by working on a problem from within that we can expect to change the prevailing culture, or otherwise uplift those who are seeking both leadership and leadership opportunity, both guidance and the Wisdom to guide oneself. Such is the way of the brave Souls that choose to incarnate AMIDST a particular problem, or people, or yes, even a `problem people' ... for if you think that all of God's `Projects' on Earth have been 100% *successful* simply because it was "God" that started them, then I would ask you, where is it you've been hiding, since time began?
So it would be helpful, I think, for those who wish to understand Christianity, and for those who do not wish to insult God, God's Intelligence, Christ, Christ's Intelligence, Humanity/our Fellow Man, our FELLOW MAN's budding Intelligence ... and ALL people's spiritual and religious sensibilities everywhere ... if we could first of all, contemplate the distinct possibility [and a forgone conclusion for some] that ~ in colloquial terms:
A) Christ Jesus meant to take birth among the Jewish people, and
B) God very much intended that we do our best to "follow in Christ's footsteps."
{And no, this is not a non sequitur unless you make it so ... }
}Although many people are quick to testify to the Truth of part (B) and love to otherwise assure each other, in whatever format, that they are "Christians after Christ," I notice that not many of them evidence an understanding of part (A) ... which, personally, I find utterly *indispensable* if you really wish to understand Word ONE about part (B).
Further contemplation is warranted. My point, however, is to move on to give a handful of reasons why I think modern CHURCHIANITY becomes an easy target ... with Christianity being the unfortunate victim of many people's personal crusade to end all hypocrisy, all superstition, all psychological and religious delusion in the world, now and forever. Not that this is, in itself, a poor motive or even an unrealistic goal ~ if we allow for many, many future - and hopefully wiser, more enlightened and tenacious - generations, in order to achieve these goals.
Yet Christ came even as the CULMINATION of an Age of SEARCH and Inquiry, which saw the Israelites literally & proverbially Wandering {a clear symbol, is it not?} in search of Freedom, Identity and Independence. The lessons He brought included INTER-Dependence, more clues to our Spiritual Identity than were then extant, plus a definite Path to Spiritual Freedom which involves going back to parts (A) and (B) above: accepting Christ's example ~ of what it LOOKS LIKE to Live by, Walk by and thus SERVE God's PLAN.
The mind of man cannot easily grasp wholistically, probably for some time to come, the Majesty and the Wonder of the Divine Plan for Evolution in Cosmos. I would submit that we know a fraction of a sliver of a hair about the true Divine PLAN, since this embraces ALL of Creation, including the billions of galaxies in existence, with billions of Stars per Galaxy, and surely also billions upon billions of other Humanities out there, maybe not so far away, also evolving toward a DIVINE GOAL ... for said Galaxy, said Star, said Planet and of course, said PEOPLE of any given Generation, Country or time period.
So the proverbial `world' turns ... yet Christians often provide an easy target for ridicule when they then puff themselves up and begin to yammer and gab all about Jesus, the blood sacrifice, and how no one but themselves, the "CHOSEN and PRIVILEGED" {whether pre-selected, detected, infected or self-neglected} shall be able to "enter Heaven." I think it's about right HERE that 95% of the reasoning population of our world, even including FELLOW CHRISTIANS, upon hearing this nonsense, pretty much just turn and walk away ... as it becomes apparent that *here is a person of little faith, of great insecurity and clearly with a strong desire to FIT IN* ~ yet neither possessing the social skill, nor the knowledge of Christ & Christ's Teaching to really be able to do so in any of the terms which Christ really asked of us.
We are told that many are called, but that few are chosen. We are told that those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear will understand, then asked to look at the tens of thousands of splinter-groups formed "in Christ's Holy Name" ~ all claiming to be the "only way to God," and a REASONABLE person is asked to accept the obvious cluster___ of a situation as in ANY way indicative of God's Will, God's Plan and GOD's TRUTH?
No, it is no wonder that the atheists have-at the Christians, yet there are many of us, Christian or otherwise, who know that it is equal folly to simply dismiss "the invisible man in the sky" as it is to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and affirm a MATERIAL COSMOS as the only legitimate, verifiable state of things. As if Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which modern science itself now confirms as occupying, respectively, about 84% of the known matter and 73% of the known mass-energy, were not indicative of precisely the affirmation of the Bard, spoken by Hamlet to Horatio:
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Thus it becomes contigent upon those minds that may still, or finally, be [becoming open and] operative within the Christian sphere ... either as pastors, as Sunday School teachers, as occasional participants in the worship service and *certainly* as the proud & willing volunteers at & for their local church, as also through their church they reach out to the rest of the COMMUNITY ... to demonstrate the model, to BE the Good Example which Christ asked of us, and to remain *steadfast* upon such a path as we have chosen and often which we have felt is a response to a Spiritual CALL from `G*d, directly' ~ until such time as we believe that there is a better path, or perhaps another stage of this SAME path as we now (at some point) find ourselves better prepared to tread.
Anyone who has ever been confused about what I, AndrewX/Taijasi [an Ecumenist at heart, especially when working from the plane of SOUL] might believe or think wisest when it comes to religion, and specifically to the Virtue of treading the Christian Path (in any of its variants, generally speaking) SHOULD be able to discern my true feelings & opinion of the matter from these words, and this post. To state that I believe otherwise, or that I am antagonistic toward the teachings of Christ, is not only patently absurd, it is misrepresentation, and by definition it is LIBEL.
I realize that this, and many other, FAR more cunning, subtle and EVIL tricks of the enemy are often used ~ even openly, here at this site and elsewhere ... on the Internet, in print media and every day, all day long on the idiot box, as anyone with a moment's patience can prove and verify. Yet as I have been reminded several times of late, WHY bring yourself down to a lower level, which is precisely what occurs each time we get sucked into the vortex of a personal attack, or when we see the arrow flying toward our brethren of ________ [whatever] co-Affliiation?
The bottom line is, we are asked not only to "turn the other cheek," but to try to recall what Interfaith is all about to BEGIN with, and we are encouraged to do this with Love-Wisdom, which is Loving-Wise Compassion, often preceeded by Forgiveness, which itself follows upon the heels of INSIGHT, this gained by Contemplative Meditation, whose precursor is Stillness, attained gradually via Mindfulness, Perfected through PRACTICE ... and so on.
At first, our task may seem daunting. Yet there are Messengers who have assured us, sometimes personally (as many of us here can attest), other times in groups or even on the public stage, in camera eye or otherwise in popular legend & lore ... that YES, we CAN do it ... and YES, it is a difficult path at times, while at others, the rewards are quite obvious ~ as to change one's world FOR THE BETTER {even on a very small scale} is 1000 times better than to live a life "that could have been," or only in realization of a FRACTION of our true talent, our God-Given {because earned} POTENTIALs.
The Goal in my introductory post has been to set the stage for possible future discussion of some of the greatest difficulties encountered (by all of us, with particular potholes being familiar impediments for each of us, even as these vary - according to location, and depth) in approaching Interfaith dialogue, especially where Christianity is one of the topics at hand, or Faiths involved, and also where we ourselves may either feel we are being attacked (usually because we are Chrisitan, or because we simply become the scapegoat for someone with an ax to grind) ~ or may discover that, witting or not, WE have been the one [or one of the ones] doing the attacking!
No one who is approaching Interfaith with an ear to Harmony, and an eye out for the SIMILIARITIES which bring us togetether, can fail to observe opportunities on every side to smooth over rough edges, return discussion to the real topic(s) at hand [when digression inevitably occurs] and raise any worthwhile dialogue to a higher level, simply owing to the Nature and Quality of the Presence contributed ... while our particular area of expertise, or amassed knowledge of some specific subject, will additionally serve as a boon, yet is otherwise - not required, and not even central to the discussion.
In a subsequent post I hope to highlight three or four pitfalls which I think are helpful to consider, AS Christians approaching an Interfaith discussion (both what to do and what *not* to do), and also as anyone who is open to what others have to say, as opposed to merely providing a prosyletic, talking head for one's particular Church, denomination or bundle of beliefs - whether codified as `doctrine' and stamped with some seal of supposed authority, or otherwise. For in the latter cases, there is deceit & impure motive, while as Christians we are taught that PURITY of motive, of mind, of body and speech, leads to an inevitable, MUCH-desired and in one sense, FORE-Ordained conclusion [as per Ephesians 4:13, etc.] ~ as surely as the sky is blue.
Let Love prevail
Let all men LOVE
שָׁלוֹם
