From a site visitor: “I really have sat in contemplation and tried to come up with answers for all the questions you offered on May 12th, but when I get to the discussion of religious and spiritual roles, I try but I just can’t imagine there not being a God. I’ve been taught all my life to turn to Him during times of need. I’m at a roadblock.”
F.: You have two obstacles on your path, so consider the first one: if you have trouble imagining there is not a God, then imagine there is a God. For the sake of argument, imagine there is a God that is all-powerful and all-knowing, and “He” has a plan and is in charge of everything. Study the results of "His" techniques of managing life on planet earth via "His Divine Plan": deadly plagues, pestilence, volcanos, and earthquakes; millions of children and adults dying from AIDS; global poverty and hunger; religious wars; tsunamis; ghettos; genocide; religious leaders sexually molesting little boys and adults giving money to pay for the cover-up; fatwas; ignorance; rape; murder; pandemics; ethnic cleansings; pollution of 99% of the waters and much of the air; corporate corruption and other thefts; jihads; nuclear proliferation; terrorism and bioterrorism; cancer; inadequate schools; inquisitions; decimations; less and less freedom; more and more insanity; holes in the ozone layer; global warming and its accompanying hurricanes, flooding and storms; war-loving megalomaniacs…ad infinitum. So again, imagine there is a God.
F.: You have two obstacles on your path, so consider the first one: if you have trouble imagining there is not a God, then imagine there is a God. For the sake of argument, imagine there is a God that is all-powerful and all-knowing, and “He” has a plan and is in charge of everything. Study the results of "His" techniques of managing life on planet earth via "His Divine Plan": deadly plagues, pestilence, volcanos, and earthquakes; millions of children and adults dying from AIDS; global poverty and hunger; religious wars; tsunamis; ghettos; genocide; religious leaders sexually molesting little boys and adults giving money to pay for the cover-up; fatwas; ignorance; rape; murder; pandemics; ethnic cleansings; pollution of 99% of the waters and much of the air; corporate corruption and other thefts; jihads; nuclear proliferation; terrorism and bioterrorism; cancer; inadequate schools; inquisitions; decimations; less and less freedom; more and more insanity; holes in the ozone layer; global warming and its accompanying hurricanes, flooding and storms; war-loving megalomaniacs…ad infinitum. So again, imagine there is a God.
Now, are you impressed? Does “He” deserve your worship and adoration with that record? Is it suddenly easier to detach from the awe that was programmed into you? Or, can you still not see the nonsense in worshipping someone who could supposedly eliminate evil and suffering but chooses to allow both to happen? And why does “He” supposedly allow that to happen? You have been told that he allows evil and misery and suffering in order for there to be “consequences”—the price that must be paid—for people who do not use their free will properly to make the “right” choices, even though persons (a) have been programmed and conditioned and therefore have no ability to choose and thus (b) have no free will at all. Or, is your claim that your religious or spiritual practices have left you so blessed, and in such “good company,” that your relative existence is untouched by the misery of the human condition that prevails on most of the planet? Then you do not yet know the Oneness.
The second obstacle you face is a result of your belief that you have “times of need.” If you are without shelter, it shall be granted that, physically, you have a need. If you have no food, it shall be granted that, physically, you have a need. But that is not your case. Your “needs” are not real; they result from your distorted perceptions which have resulted from your enculturation. Only ego-states perceive needs, and perceived needs are about emotions and about the “mind,” both of which are erroneously based in your assumption of false identities. “Husband” needs “a wife” to exist, but You need nothing. “Boss” needs “employees” to exist, but You don’t. The one assuming the role of Super Teacher needs Super Students to exist, but That Which One Truly Is needs nothing.
In order for you to move farther along the “path” to Realization, you must see that the beliefs that have been passed along to you are rooted in myths and superstitions and concepts dreamed up by controlling men over the last 5000 years. You must see that all of the gods of all of the ancient, pagan cults and religions were morphed into one god by Abraham. And you must see that “their” beliefs have been morphed into what you now take to be “your” beliefs (which are not yours at all). What you think Moses knew or Christ knew or Sankara knew or Mohammed knew or Ramana knew is all irrelevant. What Benny Hinn claims he can do or what is shared on this site is also irrelevant. What the Dalai Lama or Jerry Falwell claim to know is lunacy as well (one believing Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans because of “the past karma of the residents” and the other claiming that the storm was sent because a gay pride parade had been planned. Get free of all of the nonsense involved with magical, supernatural thinking.)
Ultimately, as far as your movement along the “path” to Realization is concerned, the only thing that matters is what You know…WITHIN. Forget outer gurus and outer gods for a time. Question all you’ve been told and see the fiction for what it is. Then, try tapping into Your inner resource to find what You have always known but have forgotten as a result of focusing on what you think others know that you need to know also. It’s all learned ignorance, so unlearn it all. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: A continuation of the review of the questions. Next: “Why is child ignorance preferable?”
The second obstacle you face is a result of your belief that you have “times of need.” If you are without shelter, it shall be granted that, physically, you have a need. If you have no food, it shall be granted that, physically, you have a need. But that is not your case. Your “needs” are not real; they result from your distorted perceptions which have resulted from your enculturation. Only ego-states perceive needs, and perceived needs are about emotions and about the “mind,” both of which are erroneously based in your assumption of false identities. “Husband” needs “a wife” to exist, but You need nothing. “Boss” needs “employees” to exist, but You don’t. The one assuming the role of Super Teacher needs Super Students to exist, but That Which One Truly Is needs nothing.
In order for you to move farther along the “path” to Realization, you must see that the beliefs that have been passed along to you are rooted in myths and superstitions and concepts dreamed up by controlling men over the last 5000 years. You must see that all of the gods of all of the ancient, pagan cults and religions were morphed into one god by Abraham. And you must see that “their” beliefs have been morphed into what you now take to be “your” beliefs (which are not yours at all). What you think Moses knew or Christ knew or Sankara knew or Mohammed knew or Ramana knew is all irrelevant. What Benny Hinn claims he can do or what is shared on this site is also irrelevant. What the Dalai Lama or Jerry Falwell claim to know is lunacy as well (one believing Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans because of “the past karma of the residents” and the other claiming that the storm was sent because a gay pride parade had been planned. Get free of all of the nonsense involved with magical, supernatural thinking.)
Ultimately, as far as your movement along the “path” to Realization is concerned, the only thing that matters is what You know…WITHIN. Forget outer gurus and outer gods for a time. Question all you’ve been told and see the fiction for what it is. Then, try tapping into Your inner resource to find what You have always known but have forgotten as a result of focusing on what you think others know that you need to know also. It’s all learned ignorance, so unlearn it all. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: A continuation of the review of the questions. Next: “Why is child ignorance preferable?”
