I appreciate your post, Zag, because the sense of it is close to what I feel.
IMO The part I've chosen to highlight strikes closest to the truth.
I would add that, for me, "blind" obedience (submission) to G-d (not to man or man's doctrines) is a requirement and a pleasure.
Thoughts?
Thank you. Understood, Prober,
I think. We cannot always know what G-d's will holds in store for us ...
or for others, let alone for the whole planet! I like to imagine that it is an inconceivable, indescribable glory - a
veritable Heaven-on-Earth. Otherwise, Christ's Mission here, as well as Humanity's presence, is meaningless.
I do not mean that I don't believe in
life after death, or that we do not continue on to something much greater on the other side of the veil. I just don't think we have to die to get to Heaven.
As far as
submitting to Divine Will, this is not always easy. Nevertheless, my experience has been - and continues to be - that periods of
fasting, increased self-discipline and voluntary
sacrifice (of our personal will and the interests of the
little self) ... are
well worth the reward when it comes to the Spiritual. There are also
plateaus, where we are given an opportunity to
stretch our legs, so to speak, and reflect on the trials that we have just been through.
The part that must remain constant is our dedication -
the commitment to "keep on keeping on," even when
the flesh is weak. This expression doesn't just mean the
body; it also refers to the mind nature, and to our desire for material comforts ... even
sympathy, or various
understandable emotional desires. The
Prayer of St. Francis comes to mind, as a beautiful reminder of how to
redirect the desires of the little self to those of the Greater.
Above all, what must come to characterize our spiritual search, and also our
commitment to the spiritual path (whatever that may be), is a tenderness towards others, a positive attitude in
every situation which presents itself, and a
genuine, heartfelt Joy ... so that we may become a conduit, an infectious agent, for God's undying & unconditional Love for all that lives and breathes.
I know these are high ideals. But
blind obedience ... just sounds so empty, and impersonal to me. Still, I think I do know what you're saying. It is in the submission of our
little wills that we can make space, and a way, for
God's Will ... and although we do not expect to perfectly express this will, let's not rule out any possibilities.
(As a good friend mine has often reminded me,
Things are always a little bit better than you imagine them to be. )
and make this a planet of peace and of material prosperity
cyberpi said:
Say what? Who wrote that religion?
I knew I forgot to qualify or comment on something!
See, I think this is
precisely the great tragedy of the triumph of materialism, and a
failing of religion ... that we have come to react even to just the
notion of material prosperity as something inherently wrong! I love the Gnostic Wisdom; I will mention quite often in my posts something about the
Demiurgos - as the
face of God whom & which we have often come to accept, as a
substitute for the real thing.
And yes, such a being would ask us to
bow down & worship [it], all the while with a wry smile on its face. I mean, wasn't the Buddha
first Noble Truth that
the world is full of suffering!?! And by this, was he not referring to
conditioned being, such that our objective becomes the
escaping of the wheel of rebirth - and entrance into Nirvana(or even,
Mahasunyata)?
Yes, sort of. Christianity is on the same page here, but I think this is where
both religions fall short,
imho. I do not mean that the founders didn't
Teach us a better way,
but LOOK at what they DID, when they were here on Earth, to illustrate their Teachings!
Everyone on this forum is well aware of
what Christ DID in His 3-year Ministry. And if
Heaven, the
after-life, and
faith alone were all that really mattered - yes,
escaping the suffereings of the material world - then WHY, please tell me, WHY -
did he even BOTHER to minister to the sick, to treat of people's physical & psychological suffereings, and to FEED the physically hungry (!) - along with healing & feeding men's SOULS?
Yes, there was a dual-purpose, and we see that Christ taught us the
Living Truth ... but if THAT was all that mattered, then
WHY the "down-to-Earth," hands-on
practical ministry? As for Buddhism, though the legends of
Shakyamuni's good DEEDS may be less well known to many of us here in the West (myself included), I can still
assure you - the record is very much like those of His Brother, the Christ!
So, here are
two World Teachers - each regarded as a Savior by
millions of people, and each having taught the
transitory nature of life in this world ... but yet BOTH MEN worked
great wonders for all to plainly see - and this, they indicated, not simply to win converts or impress, but to SHOW us something.
Show us what?
Christ pointed toward
God the Father ... and this takes us squarely back to the Purpose for our being here. Even material
prosperity (which I think we often do not understand) is part of our purpose here - yet this has
nothing to do with
Greed or
Attachment to the things of the world. But what has Western Capitalism contributed, in the positive, to this understanding?
We should note that the Buddha, building upon a Foundation that was
well established - LONG since embraced in the East - emphasized
detachment from the things of this world. Yet
the Noble Middle Way is that lifestyle, a spiritual and practical approach, which
avoids both extremes - of over-indulgence, on the one hand, and
ultra-asceticism, on the other. Buddha illustrated, in His life-example, that we are to tread the path of
moderation. Yet for some reason the very
concept of prosperity still suggests the extremes of greed & indulgence. Why is this?
In simplest terms, I just feel that
a Loving God would not want, does not want, for ANY of His creatures or Children to suffer. This
even includes our existence here, within the
physical world - including the inner world(s), of the human psyche, or
personal consciousness.
The Gnostic attempt, then, and also the Eastern approach, will say much about
why we seem to suffer so greatly ... while
every Mystical Tradition (of both East & West, modern
and ancient times) will affirm that in the Spiritual Worlds,
God's Purpose is Done (vide the `Our Father,' or `Lord's Prayer') - and suffereing is not. Christianity explains our predicament with
`Original Sin' and the
`Fall from Grace,' both of which doctrines I reject,
as they are presented today, after 1500+ years of theological wrangling & haranguing.
But you see, long before these ideas were
invented, there was already fighting between tribe & tribe, nation & nation, even family & family.
There was conflict & dispute, often over land & possessions, perhaps also status & worldly glory ... but all of this we lump together under the expression "
the haves and the have-nots." "With ... without/And who'll deny, it's what the fighting's all about," says the Pink Floyd, aptly (`
Us and Them,' Dark Side of the Moon).
Speaking of
Purpose, this imbalance still underlies the entire human condition today, and
chokes off our progress, by gnawing at the roots of the Tree of Unity. There is nothing wrong with the system of Capitalism
in theory. But just
look at what has happened -
to people, to our planet, to our society - in even just a
short time of practice!
We are all-too-eager to see the
personal prosperity aspect of capitalism, and too hasty to denounce the
shared, communal aspect of a system like communism ...
meanwhile unwilling to pratice the nitty-gritty aspects of a religion like
Christianity (or Buddhism, either one). All this, and we have ENOUGH food, ENOUGH resource, and ENOUGH of everything - upon planet Earth - for
everyone to live a meaningful life ... both spiritually and materially prosperous, rewarding. Enough of
almost everything, that is ...`There is no human problem on this planet that cannot be solved by Intelligence and Love.' --anonymous
Love and Light,
~Zagreus
