TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS

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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. See the end of the post for the full meaning and implications of that. 

REALIZING WITHOUT DOGMA, WITHOUT CONTINUOUS SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, AND WITHOUT A PREOCCUPATION WITH “THE NATURE OF REALITY AND THINGS NOUMENAL": 

(1) No one has a clue regarding anyone else actually needs and (2) believing one knows what is "good" and what is "bad" in sheer foolishness 

Consider: 

In the Wild West in the nineteenth-century U.S., a man was concerned that he had not recently heard from a neighbor who was also a cattle rancher. He saddled up his horse and set out on a half-hour ride to check on his friend. 

As he approached the main house, he saw that the gate on the horse corral was open and that the horses were gone. Then he saw that the fencing had a huge gap in it and that the cows were also missing. He spurred his horse to hurry toward the front door of the ranch house, and the door there was also open. 

He walked inside unnoticed and saw his friend seated in a chair in the living area, obviously preoccupied. He shouted, “Ernest, what the heck is going on!?” 

Ernest looked up and said, "Oh, hi, Josh." After a pause, he shook his head and replied, "You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” 

Josh said, “Try me!” 

Ernest began his tale: “Well, several months ago my son was checking the fencing on the back range and came across a rattlesnake and his horse reared up and threw him off and broke his leg.” 

The neighbor said, “Oh my gosh, that’s really bad.” 

The rancher replied: “No, that was good because of what happened after that. One evening a couple of months ago, my son and I were having dinner in the house and the ranch hands were all having their meals in the bunkhouse. 

"Suddenly, we heard yelling and screaming and shots fired, and just as we stood up, some bandits kicked in the back door and the front door simultaneously and leveled their guns at us and told us to sit down and then they tied me to my chair. 

"Next thing I know, there’s dozens of them outside and they’re stealing our cattle and our horses and taking all of our ranch hands with them as work slaves." 

“But your son’s broken leg was still a bad thing.” 

“No, that turned out to be a good thing because they were going to take him too, but when they saw his leg in a cast, they knew he couldn’t work for them so they left him.” 

“Well then, that a good thing alright.” 

“No, that was a bad thing because of this: his leg healed and he formed a posse and they tracked the marauders across the border and found our cattle and horses.” 

“Well that’s good.” 

“No, that’s bad, because they walked into a trap and were put to work by the thieves who had taken over a prospector’s gold mine.” 

“Dad gum. That is bad.’ 

“No, that actually ended up being good because some guards drank too much one night and passed out and my son and the posse and the ranch hands were all able to escape and took a lot of the gold with them.” 

“Well, that is good.” 

“As it turned out, no, not really, because the ranch hands took off in one direction and my son headed to the nearest large town. But he's always had a gambling problem, so when he went into the saloon and got into a card game, he lost every bit of the gold he had.” 

“Oh man! Now that’s bad.” 

“No, it’s good because he happened to meet another rancher living nearby who felt sorry for him because of his loss, so he took my son in and while there my boy met the rancher’s gorgeous daughter and they ended up getting married almost immediately. After that, my son came back here and he and his new bride moved in and we started making plans to rebuild out herd.” 

“Well now that’s good.” 

“No, that turned out to be bad, because that woman was a gold-digger and she met a rich man traveling through town and ran away with him. My son took off after them and caught up with 'em a few towns over and he shot the guy and his bride. Now, my son’s in jail awaiting trial.” 

“Okay, I'm not going to try to guess. This time, let me ask. I’m sorta thinking that's bad, but I’m gonna stop guessing and let you tell me if I’m right.” 

Ernest looked up slowly and turned his eyes to meet those of Josh and said, “Have you been listening to a damn thing I’m being saying? How the hell could I possibly know if anything is actually good or bad!?” 

Josh walked out in silence, mounted his horse, and rode off toward home, a bit wiser when it comes to thinking anyone could possibly know what is good or what is bad in the long run. 

He got a little humility that day, realizing as he looked back over the happenings in his own existence that, actually, he’d never had a clue about what’s good or what’s bad. He saw that most of what he had spent days or months or years anticipating and dreading ended up never happening, and he realized that all the things which had ended up being full-blown catastrophes - as far as his entire relative existence was concerned - he never saw any of those coming at all but instead had actually been totally blindsided in every case. 

What about you? Want to change the world? Think you can? Or might your energy be better spent focusing on the issues rooted in"self" (in all of the false selves) and then clearing away the mental “stuff” which leads to misery and suffering and which - if discarded from the mind - can bring to an end most all pain and misery and suffering if one is finally freed from the endless machinations of mind? 

 To be continued.

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Here, with those who are still driven to talk about "God," the "Son of God," the "Holy Spirit," "Buddha," "Krishna," etc., etc., etc., the invitation to them is to view those as verbs, not nouns. 

THE EXPLANATION 

If looked at as nouns, they point to illusions and are, therefore, a total waste of time to even discuss; if looked at as verbs which are resulting in certain sane but rare behaviors among humanity, then they are worthy of some attention during the relative existence. 

Meaning? There are members of certain groups who say things such as "My concept of God in the past was of a weak God, an absentee God, A Santa Claus-type God, a mean, punishing, vindictive God, etc. Today, I am in close contact with a loving and caring God whom I worship and praise and glorify and give thanks to." 

The reply to that usually goes like this: "If you are in contact with a God that wants to be worshipped and praised and glorified, then you're dealing with someone like yourself - a narcissist - and hanging out with narcissists will never bring an end to your narcissism (that narcissism evidenced by the fact that you think you are "godly"). 

Next, in the phrase 'loving and caring God,' any supposed God that truly had her or his act together would tell you that the totally irrelevant part of that phrase is 'God' and that the only part that is relevant is the "loving and caring" part. 

"That is, a non-narcissistic god / goddess would say, "I care not an iota about being worshipped and praised and glorified by you or anyone else. How arrogant and insecure and needy would I have to be to want that? Forget the man-made, dreamed up noun 'God' and focus on the 'God as a verb' understanding and then go forth and let loving and caring be verbs - not adjectives - and let them generate the act of love and the act of caring and let those actions manifest through you." 

Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on: 

"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within" 

and 

"Heaven and earth shall fade away." 

and 

"Heaven and hell are not geographic places but are states of mind, nothing more than concepts dreamed up by men" 

and 

"There is no hell."