Spirituality is All in How You Think

If it's arrogant to assume that there isn't life on other planets, how arrogant is it to assume that we're the result of an interested and doting supreme deity? Then how arrogant is it to stand up in front of a crowd once a week and convey this supreme deity nonsense to them as if it was the truth?

As UFO sightings go, Perspective, they follow more or less the exact same pattern as the experiences of those 'taken' by Faery beings or spirits throughout history. Whatever you'd like to make of the experiences, I see no reason to figure they're in essence any different than what's been going on since untold millenia: I think they took on a faceless, sexually-fixated technological nightmare face just at the same time history made that people's reality.

The same experiences happen, but people just don't have a *language* of consciousness that can cope, even a real notion that anything 'real' doesn't have to be *physical:* people get a *real* shock to the system when they experience presences during episodes of waking up while still under sleep paralysis, and frankly have no connection to what we'd call the 'spirit world' they come from. The means to successfully help people experiencing them actually have not changed: what's changed is that the culture tends to deal with it by these three choices: demonize, pathologize, or try to prove a physical existence of very sneaky alien critters.

The artificial dischotomy of literalist religion vs mechanistic science has simply left people unable to dream through it. Doesn't matter if it's aliens or not, from that point of view.

Interpreter Native - be very wary of mass hallucinations e.g. the visions in Fatima, et al.

Carl Jung proposed the idea that the onslaught of flying saucer visions starting in the late 1940's and beyond were global archetypal projections - and have people really been abducted by UFOs, or is it merely an hallucination? These folks really believe something has happened to them - have no doubt.

Some few UFO sightings over the years have never been satisfactorily explained. But what can we make of that?

PR, read the Bible like a spiritual guide using your reason. Most of the advise is just plain commonsense guidance for a good life. The Bible helps you to look at life in terms of eternity.

pr:

I agree that there is more to life than what we see. I used to believe I was agnostic, now I am not so sure - but I cannot believe in the literal interpretation of the bible and am glad to see the nation able to discuss literal vs allegorical interpretations of faith

July 16, 2008 3:51 PM

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It might surprise you to know that only a handful of fundamental Christians in the US interpret the Bible literally. The vast majority of over two billion Christians are able to differentiate between allegory, metaphor etc. Remember Jesus Himself taught in parables. That is the clue. The Bible is not a history textbook or science treatise.

"I thank God for the gift of imagination that allows us to see new possibilities which are beyond the limits of our materialistic, individualistic, consumer culture."

I'm thankful to (but not to God)for the abilities you mention. Please consider that the things you mention don't have to come from supernatural sources.

I read several of the comments related to this post and I think that people are missing the point.

Quite simply, all of us are limited in what we see and experience by our expectations and even by our culture. From my point of view, one of the gifts of religious faith is what some have called the prophetic imagination, i.e. the ability to transcend our cultural norms to imagine new possibilities and realities. Our culture promotes a highly rational view of the world which inhibits our ability to experience in-breakings of the spirit. Likewise the consumer culture promotes the ideas that our identity and our worth is determined by the level of our individual consumption. Our religious imagination can help us re-define ourselves and our world so that we find happiness in a growing sense of community where God's abundance provides for everyone.

I thank God for the gift of imagination that allows us to see new possibilities which are beyond the limits of our materialistic, individualistic, consumer culture.

I really can't believe you're a pastor of the Christian faith. Unbelievable...

Susan: "...his [deceased] daughter...told him to play the lottery, going so far as to give him the numbers he should play.

The experience was so profound and so unusual that he got up and played the numbers his dead daughter had given him - and won the super lottery."

Really Susan, do you know how common it is to get lottery numbers in a dream? I don't even hang out with a gambling crowd and I hear that kind of stuff all the time. Lottery players regularly dream of numbers or get some other kind of hunch and then one of these people wins!

You suggest this is evidence of spirits at work?

I don't know you, but I'm sorely disappointed that any seminary trained minister would promulgate this rubbish.

Religion gives us rules, dogma, doctrines and has been used to divide.

Spirituality connects us to The Divine within ourselves, all others and all of creation.

"I said, 'You are "gods": you are all children of the Most High God."-Psalm 82:6

It has been said that evolution is being held up by fundamentalism and the surge of fundamentalism throughout all faith paths sends shivers through cynical atheists and mystics alike. The bumper sticker actually did get it right: "We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

According to the 1987 classic, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, Dr. Scott Peck defines the spiritual life as fluid and that one may pass back and forth repeatedly through any of the four-probably more-stages of the soul.

Stage one upon this journey -that begins from within-is essentially our infancy in the spiritual life. Like a wild child, a person in this stage reflects the inner chaotic and anti-social, unregenerate soul that is interested only in its own self-satisfaction and ego, much like the stereotypical spoiled child.

Stage one people may claim to love others, but their behavior reflects they love their own pleasure, money, power, prestige, and security above any other. For stage one people, it really is all about them.

The good news is that the vast majority of humanity responds to that inner tug which is God, for lack of a better word. Catherine of Sienna wrote that within us all is the divine diamond. But life and all our baggage dulls the flame of our divine brilliance.

Stage two souls seek to "let their light shine" and will live virtuous lives and do many good works. They also can be judgmental of others, self-righteous, rigid of thought, cold of heart, legalistic concrete literal thinkers and may even be guilty of a lukewarm faith. They want to do right and they even may desire to love and please God, but have not yet fully opened up to the Inner Light, as Joan of Arc did when she challenged church and state and persisted that she had intuited God within -even while being fried.

Stage two souls have not yet been set fully free and prefer the security of a higher human authority than themselves for guidance. They submit to institutions, scripture, dogma, ritual, ministers, or gurus. This is the most appropriate stage for older children and most adults who live busy lives just trying to keep bread on the table and a dry roof above.

The difference between a stage one and stage two soul, is that a one wouldn't even notice a neighbor in need, while the two has awoken to the fact that we are to be our neighbor's keepers and they will respond to a friend-and like the good Samaritan, even to a total stranger in need.

Most theologians would agree that the opposite of faith is not disbelief: the opposite of faith is fear. Stage three souls have not just fearlessly awoken, they have evolved! This evolution has led them to the realization of what Christ was really talking about in the Sermon of the Mount AKA:The Beatitudes which sound like crazy promises, but is the litmus test of how we will be judged, if we claim to be a Christian.

About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them in spite of themselves who already live in the Kingdom of God.

How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe. God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not yours." -Isaiah 55:8

Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

The essence of meek is to be patient with ignorance, slow to anger and never hold a grudge. In other words: how happy you will be when you also know humility; when you know yourself, the good and the bad, for both cut through every human heart.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled."

In other words: how happy you will be when your greatest desire is to do what "God requires, and he has already told you what that is; BE JUST, BE MERCIFUL and walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8

"Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy." In other words: how happy you will all be when you choose to return only kindness to your 'enemy.'

"For with the measure you measure against another, it will be measured back to you." Christ warns his disciples as he explains the law of karma in Luke 6:27-38.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God."

In other words: how happy you will be when you WAKE UP and see God is already within you, within every man, every woman and every child. The Supreme Being is everywhere, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Beyond The Universe -and yet so small; within the heart of every atom.

"Blessed are The Peacemakers: THEY shall be called the children of God."

Oh how happy the WORLD will be when we all seek justice and pursue it, for there can be none without the other.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires, theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven." And one fine day the lion will lie down with The Lamb and man will make war no more and that is the Kingdom of God.

Now, a stage three soul may well reject Christ as God, but often agree with the philosophy of Jesus, which Thomas Jefferson laid out when he weeded out the miracle stories from the gospels and clarified the teachings and ethics of Christ in:

THE LIFE AND MORALS of JESUS of NAZARETH

1. Be just: justice comes from virtue which comes from the heart.
2. Treat people the way we want to be treated.
3. Always work for PEACEFUL resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with COMPASSION.
4. Consider valuable the things that have no material value.
5. Do not judge others.
6. Do not bear grudges.
7. Be modest and unpretentious.
8. Give out of true generosity, not because we expect to be repaid.
9. Being true to one's self in more important than being loyal to one's family...those who think they know the most are the most ignorant...

A stage three soul will see that a neighbor is everyone on the planet and not just those who think and look the same.

Stage three's are seekers, doubters, skeptics, atheists, agnostics and frequently adults who grew up disenchanted with institutionalized religion. Their inherent intellectual curiosity leads them to seek their own way towards the Mystery of the Divine through philosophy and the study of multiple faith paths choosing and discarding according to their "inner light" and often become activists for social justice and reform.

It has been said we are all called to be mystics in the market place and a stage four, such as Thomas Merton and Rumi give voice to that experience of the curtain being lifted and seeing through the glass a bit less darkly.

A mystic can best be understood as one who is in love with the divine mystery and is viscerally connected to the unity of all creation.

Mystics are not navel gazers, they feel the pain of the world within their hearts and grieve at what humans do to the other when they have no clue that The Divine is within the other as much as within themselves.

Mystics have detached from their concepts of God-not by their own efforts, but by the invitation and action of God upon a willing and simple soul in love with Pure Being, AKA:God.

The mystic fool, Saint Francis, the leper kisser of Assisi, was so head over heels in love with God in everyone and all of creation that most people of his time considered him crazed, or at least, extremely eccentric.

One needn't be a mystic or move beyond stage two on the spiritual journey to do what is good and right just because it is good and right.

On that foundation alone people of faith, atheists and agnostics can surely find something to agree upon.

Or would only a mystic see that?

Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

Hmmm, the poll did not address belief in "pretty/ugly, wingie, talking thingies. Tis strange since one would assume they would be considered in the realm of the paranormal (definition- Beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation).

Some background on these "beyond the range of normal experience" thingies:

Joe Smith had his Moroni.

Jehovah Witnesses have their Jesus /Michael the archangel, the first angelic being created by God;

Mohammed had his Gabriel (this "tinkerbell" got around).

Jesus and his family had Michael, Gabriel, and Satan, the latter being a modern day demon of the demented.

The Abraham-Moses myths had their Angel of Death and other "no-namers" to do their dirty work or other assorted duties.

Contemporary biblical and religious scholars have relegated these "pretty/ugly wingie thingies" to the myth pile. We should do the same to include deleting all references to them in our religious operating manuals. Doing this will eliminate the prophet/profit/prophecy status of these founders and put them where they belong as simple humans just like the rest of us.

Some added references to "tinker bells".

"Latter-day Saints also believe that Michael the Archangel was Adam (the first man) when he was mortal, and Gabriel lived on the earth as Noah."

Apparently hallucinations did not stop with Joe Smith.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07049c.htm
"This belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity; pagans, like Menander and Plutarch (cf. Euseb., "Praep. Evang.", xii), and Neo-Platonists, like Plotinus, held it. It was also the belief of the Babylonians and Assyrians, as their monuments testify, for a figure of a guardian angel now in the British Museum once decorated an Assyrian palace, and might well serve for a modern representation; while Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, says: "He (Marduk) sent a tutelary deity (cherub) of grace to go at my side; in everything that I did, he made my work to succeed."

Catholic monks and Dark Age theologians also did their share of hallucinating:

"TUBUAS-A member of the group of angels who were removed from the ranks of officially recognized celestial hierarchy in 745 by a council in Rome under Pope Zachary. He was joined by Uriel, Adimus, Sabaoth, Simiel, and Raguel."

And tinkerbells go way, way back:

"In Zoroastrianism there are different angel like creatures. For example each person has a guardian angel caled Fravashi. They patronize human being and other creatures and also manifest god’s energy. Also, the Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, but they don't convey messages, but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord", God); they appear in an abstract fashion in the religious thought of Zarathustra and then later (during the Achaemenid period of Zoroastrianism) became personalized, associated with an aspect of the divine creation (fire, plants, water...)."

"The beginnings of the biblical belief in angels must be sought in very early folklore. The gods of the Hittites and Canaanites had their supernatural messengers, and parallels to the Old Testament stories of angels are found in Near Eastern literature. "

"The 'Magic Papyri' contain many spells to secure just such help and protection of angels. From magic traditions arose the concept of the guardian angel. "

For added information see the review at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel

Most of the people of the globe once believed the Earth was flat, that Earth was the center of the Universe, that Eucharistic wafers were "god hosts", that black cats were unlucky, that breaking a mirror would bring seven years of bad luck etc. Throw in all the horror movies, hallucinogenic drugs, alcohol binges, Gypsy con artists, the mumbo jumbo of religion, voodoo and other pagan rituals and "pretty/ugly wingie thingies aka angels, fairies and tinkerbells and it is no wonder that people still believe in: (from the referenced poll)

Extrasensory perception, or ESP
41 %

That houses can be haunted
37 %

Ghosts/that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations
32

Telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses
31

Clairvoyance/the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future
26

Astrology, or that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives
25

That people can communicate mentally with someone who has died
21

Witches
21

Reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death
20

Channeling/allowing a 'spirit-being' to temporarily assume control of body

9

Conclusion: Such beliefs separate us from the non-human elements of life and gives credence to some sort of life after death.

every one has a music, or an equation till solved or till instruments change, instruments are human parameters.

we have better study differential equations , integral, differentiation and exponential equations, to learn about human parameters,

to be able to write our music onto paper, to listen to our music, and to be able to add and change the instruments, Mrs Smith, Under the God the Heavenly FAther in the Skies, or below the oceanery consciousness.

how am i, where am i? how is the music around? how is the equation? what do i see? how shall i learn?

I agree that there is more to life than what we see. I used to believe I was agnostic, now I am not so sure - but I cannot believe in the literal interpretation of the bible and am glad to see the nation able to discuss literal vs allegorical interpretations of faith

Well, Interpreter, all I was saying is that you realize Western astrology is not based on the actual positions of the *stars and planets,* but rather, by our reckoning, an astronomical *clock* based on the positions of the fixed stars a *long time ago?*

If you ever cast a chart by hand, you've got to make that sidereal correction to match up with the old lore, say, what 'Taurus' meant.

so candidates for parentage have better take notes for their "parental" relations. in Chicken Soups for Pregnants, the parents were preparing for pregnancy in proper language.

latter-day, the vital case, after this once life-time, there shall be consultation. good, we would ask more, would we not? if once, then may be several times, and have been several times. so lovely and easy. it melts in light.

yes my english i awful tonight. i am tired. i am not able to re-member "have" clauses in the "sentences", is it past participle in grammar "have come, have gone"?

Peg&Place,

the date that "your mother and father" come together is the time that should be taken into account, because it is the time and position of the planets that gives their energies onto the "body structure".

12x12x2=288 days, it is about 9 months and 14 days, in normal pregnancy. so if i have the characteristics of taurus then i have lion's also. we have two doors and two legs for the third, this gives us the bias.

it is like a shoe best fits when it gets soft with your warmth and shapes according to your foot. but it must be your foot's size and tailored proper.

for this case, vital is that "we may come any time", "we ask for body from our in-body friends, and come". it is not as in Buddhism "karma clearing" but any time we may come, as doctors and teachers. would you not come in this century? you have.

"In the same way, if we believe in ghosts or astrology "

I'll note that what people think of as 'ghosts' these days and mixing up the spirit world with the notion of 'just dead people' is kind of a remnant of ways of seeing the whole world as alive and regenerative, not a linear and permanent system that occasionally glitches and leaves a 'dead soul' in a noisy pickle now and again.

As for astrology, it's actually the debunkers who claim astrologers believe some mystic force from the stars rules human actions.

This is not actually the case: astrology is not some poor substitute for astronomy: in fact, the placement of the signs as used in Western astrology are not the current ones: ie: if you're an Aquarius right now, the Sun was likely actually in Capricorn when you were born. Astrology is an anecdotal quasi-science based on observing people and using the sky as of a long-time ago as a sort of virtual 'clock.' (Debunkers love to point this out as though it 'proved' there are no 'stellar forces' acting on people in the way they imagine the superstitious believe. But they've missed the point. :) )

It's more like a language or a soft-science like psychology than it is an observational pseudo science. It's *useful,* if approached carefully.

It's not a substitute for science. The sidereal corrections were left out in the West for a reason. (Probably because the Egyptian calendar did this, too.) When early astronomers had the full-time job of managing the planting, ...a vital job, but not exactly one that fills out a life, they ended up with some other observations to use. It's a way to chart human wisdom about human experience, not something based on some notion the stars and planets actually exert influence on people based on what background stars are there.

spirituality is not "what you think". yes for you, it is what you think. but it is not what you think. you learn wider and gifted and educated and in together we share and live. we do. we let together.

all are keys, all are verbalization as presice and acurate as possible, to be able to guide some other one, to be a key, medicine or step.

these are all in Anadolu. we study these in daily life, or i did at least.

how can i say, "every one has soul" and "the doors of the body shall open", the heaven, being in the hall and the ocean, or athmosphere.

" ... Why did God appear to Moses on fire with the kind of fire found only in hell?... "

"hell" is a word for His daily presence. "Bush on Fire" is His presence on the "Top of the Mountain", of His Body.

Ahmet prophet had seen Golden One "His Presence" or MAturity, after a Line before a Curtain, for this reason He is known with Buddha, by some authorities in EAst.

some say "i climbed a ladder" his spine, some say "someone took me over a short wall", and i did see as "i climbed a tree on top of a mountain, all was clear shining navy blue there were stars and the white silver sun all were cheerful"

Does it have anything at all to do with money?

Have you done what Jesus said, "sell all your earthly possessions and give to the poor"? You're not squeezing the nickles out of the poor with threats of hell and making yourself richer are you?

The big money comes to those willing to work for the being in the burning bush and lead the multitudes to His kingdom. Why did God appear to Moses on fire with the kind of fire found only in hell? If you truly believe in God you will stop what you are doing immediately and pray God forgive you. Those who lather you in money are innocent but you are not. And they can only plead ignorance.

("Jesus Christ" is "Muhammed", Ahmet prophet is a person. here "Jesus Christ" is "Muhammed". person "Muhammed" is Ahmet prophet)

this is how we knew in childhood but had forgotten and had confused.

www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9d8ec0331f19cdf2b3d9

www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=557918e5a1c5cb19399e

Lord + Masculine + Feminine = Laminin + E

duration 02:20, there come words on a human, and human just takes them to his mouth and speaks. it flows.

did Mary appear in Portugal, did Apostels see the flesh of Jesus Christ?

either physical or spiritual, the words of physics and spirituality should be learned and be matching onto each other. this is the education of child, and united unique common future.

this is the first rule of circles and functions.
if Apollon HAps the Host El-Ones, and then later if Apollon Haps All On?

"Por" is "for" and El-Ones were in Anadolu then. like "fish on the surface, in all ranks and sizes"

talking after Didim, Apostels and Aphrodite, if women have holy breath in the golden ratio shell body, then what is a cloth? education and other handcrafts and virtues, corporal training and sports, also music.

or better say, it is men with compassion and in magnetics on Earth, on Mother Earth, being open and present.

this morning i was on a bus to the university campus of this city, Bursa. i was looking at the students and heard without spoken words "brother, do you know all of your inside is visible?", i realized that some others have been aware of what i have been keeping on.

then i made up my mind to a daily employment. a structure, a daily business or study is a cloth on a person, as the sons of Noah had changed the daily employment, emotions and thoughts, for Him to have a rest, with wine (changed rested new view, fermented juice of fruit, consultation and support) and fresh cloths, new approach and fresh presence, after the suffering dispute.

www.stellarium.org

VEnus and Mercury are around the Sun with Ceres and Scorpion. Arcturus of language and literature is with Shepherd and Spica, Saturn and MArs are above the Secstant and under the Lion.

allright.

for this poem, may i learn how the planets have been positioned at the moment?

red and white, all in golden brown
i love Queen and King all in Crown
in the journey agriculturists have
cheer and laughter in honour grown

L.A, in Courier New, on Earth

thank You Washington, it is a lovely rainy day here and as you see there is life here also.

it is quite good to have internet and a computer to be able to write to you. as far as i have learned, elders have imported internet from Planetusa, and they have worked hard really hard to adjust with what planned Medusa for here. we have a carbon infrastructure and carbon dress called "me-at" or i am "in".

Thor with Shining Shield as a Left Foot loves Medusa so much. and i see HAthor is driving Hammer after Hammer. so i can say, Hathor Seth Thor are in, Enoch is "out" : ) because all the ice caps on the mountains and poles have melt completely as of 2008 July.

Thor has put another coin into the porkey, on the coin is "masochist" is the "MAss of Christ and riving of masses as Moses did" and "sadoism" is "after the Seth and Deserts"

here are what is in and what is out, this is Jazz Intext, speaking of what Planned Medusa, Bursa, there you are Washington.