Do you ever wonder if God is actually unwell?

[davidsun]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Honza- ... the spilling of ... blood to be given to the world and that is what allows mankind to be born again.

Believe it ... OR NOT , Honza!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Honza,

You are encountering a paradox. Namely, how can God be immanent(with us) and also transcendent(above us and removed from us). There is a theory provided by the Lurian cabala that seems quite plausible to me. It is that of TZIMTZUM...…..please Google its entry on Wikipedia. Basically it is this: nothing can exist outside of God so God found it necessary to create a void within Himself to create the world. This is the origin of freedom.....it provided a place that man could experience true freedom....i.e. a world where man could live without interference from God. The immanent aspect of God in this void is that He provided the spark of life. Without this there could be no form of life in this world. Christians would believe that these sparks of life became a fire as witnessed by the events of Pentecost. That was the outpouring of God's Spirit on mankind. It is still up to man to bring this Spirit alive within themselves.....ergo Ye must be born again. The ultimate act of God's transcendence was to allow the crucifixion of Jesus. He could have easily prevented this. There was a greater purpose in the crucifixion that was fulfilled by the spilling of Christ's blood to be given to the world and that is what allows mankind to be born again. Obviously, tzimtzum is a Jewish interpretation and would not include the Christian extension of being explanatory of the crucifixion. For me this way of understanding answers many of the questions that people ponder about the existence of evil in this world and the accusations that God is indifferent to the travails of mankind. The journey that man must make must conclude with man openly and completely recognizing the authority of God and not allowing the ego to maintain its separation from God.

It took me years of meditation to discover "how can God be immanent(with us) and also transcendent(above us and removed from us)". The immanent aspect of God is not well understood, as you duly noted.

[zastrakoza]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Honza,

You are encountering a paradox. Namely, how can God be immanent(with us) and also transcendent(above us and removed from us). There is a theory provided by the Lurian cabala that seems quite plausible to me. It is that of TZIMTZUM...…..please Google its entry on Wikipedia. Basically it is this: nothing can exist outside of God so God found it necessary to create a void within Himself to create the world. This is the origin of freedom.....it provided a place that man could experience true freedom....i.e. a world where man could live without interference from God. The immanent aspect of God in this void is that He provided the spark of life. Without this there could be no form of life in this world. Christians would believe that these sparks of life became a fire as witnessed by the events of Pentecost. That was the outpouring of God's Spirit on mankind. It is still up to man to bring this Spirit alive within themselves.....ergo Ye must be born again. The ultimate act of God's transcendence was to allow the crucifixion of Jesus. He could have easily prevented this. There was a greater purpose in the crucifixion that was fulfilled by the spilling of Christ's blood to be given to the world and that is what allows mankind to be born again. Obviously, tzimtzum is a Jewish interpretation and would not include the Christian extension of being explanatory of the crucifixion. For me this way of understanding answers many of the questions that people ponder about the existence of evil in this world and the accusations that God is indifferent to the travails of mankind. The journey that man must make must conclude with man openly and completely recognizing the authority of God and not allowing the ego to maintain its separation from God.

Molearner,
Wow, this is an interesting commentary! I have never heard of tzimtzum. I will look it up as you suggest and perhaps provide a follow up. So far, I have spent maybe 20 hours on Kabbalah and have found many fascinating concepts that ring true. (I also have read of the Kaballah leader David Laitman some physical expectations for the Jewish nation I find incongruous with such wisdom.) The most impressive wisdom I have received is the facets of “will to bestow” and “will to receive”, which have embedded themselves deeply into my heart. These concepts come as a layer on top of another revelation I received many years ago (and I regret not remembering the author’s name). This other revelation had little to do with religion and more to do with high level abstract conditions (not the right word here), such as love and honor. I vaguely remember the idea associated with the military, but then I have a strong association with that.

I wish I could express it the way I see it, but I will try again. The idea is that honor cannot exist without two beings. If you have one being, how can honor (or love for that matter) exist? Can one HONOR himself? One may feel like she did a good job or proud of the work accomplished, but that is not honor. Because honor or love requires one being to be honorable and another to give the honor. So love cannot exist without a giver and a receiver. I struggle to impress a particular point here. It is easy to get distracted by other abstract concepts, but the word honor really struck me. Because it is a particular very fine condition that not many probably understand, except for those who deserve it and have not received it. They don’t receive it because it is very rare and intimate to have a great sacrifice and a deep appreciation come together as honor.

Anyway, I got it. You have to have more than one being to have honor and many other very high feeling states. And when I read God created a void within himself, I immediately made the connection to the story of adam and eve. (IDK?) I can see the story of Adam’s rib as God creating a womb. And therefore, I am not inclined to see creation as accidental in any way. I believe God desired to express his nature as the giver and he wanted to create a creature worthy of receiving his generosity. He found his first creation unworthy and therefore he destroyed it and recreated it in the second, which was worthy.

Z

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by zastrakoza

Anyway, I got it. You have to have more than one being to have honor and many other very high feeling states. And when I read God created a void within himself, I immediately made the connection to the story of adam and eve. (IDK?) I can see the story of Adam’s rib as God creating a womb. And therefore, I am not inclined to see creation as accidental in any way. I believe God desired to express his nature as the giver and he wanted to create a creature worthy of receiving his generosity. He found his first creation unworthy and therefore he destroyed it and recreated it in the second, which was worthy.

Z

zastrakoza,

Yes, this is what I like.....anything that opens possibilities that compels us to think of things in a new way that goes beyond the literal. Nearly everyone acknowledges that in some way the creation story is mythical. The question is what is the myth attempting to tell us? What does it imply? I like the way that you jumped to thinking of the womb being symbolic as being a place of creation.....with its connotations of nourishing and protecting that which is new and being the environment or locale for bringing new life into existence. These, of course, are all speculations on our parts but we all seek to construct rationales for the way that mysteries unfold. We need to bring this attitude of open-mindedness to all scripture and attempt to visualize beyond the literal. Thanks for your contribution....:)

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by Honza

We all wonder how it all started. Why we are here and where we are going. Do you ever consider that the reason is unfortunate? Maybe God could not help Himself. Maybe life started because God broke down.

Maybe something happened which God couldn't help. I often wonder if things are as they should be or if an error slipped into the system and forced the issue.

As per the Prajapita Brahmakumaris, nature must go through a period of
phased degradation starting from sattva, rajas and finally to tamas.

Tamas is associated with inauspiciousness, breakdown of values, degradation of nature and human beings, destructive conficts and war.

Rajas is associated with egoism, activity, desires, passion.

The present kali yuga or Iron Age is predominant in tamas while the earlier Golden Ages, Silver Age were predominant in sattva, and the bronze age was predominant in rajas.

This is the reason why the present age seems to be anarchic and chaotic, due to the predominance of the inauspicious tamas. This cycle is a law of nature, and God is not responsible for it.

Through meditation and cultivation of divine virtues, we can increase the auspicious sattva around us, and reduce the inauspicious tamas.