Do you ever wonder if God is actually unwell?

[davidsun]

Originally Posted by sky123
Me neither, but maybe the writers of the Scriptures who perceive God as a violent,murdering dictator, were.

Originally Posted by lemex

... and yet no one corrects them to this day. ...

What do you mean "no one", lem? Looks like I AM invisible to you.

From my treatise, titled "What Did Jesus REALLY Mean?" (the third para below highlights and explains the 'reasons' behind the distorted-truth conceptions of 'God' you say "no one corrects":):

... let me first emphasize the significance of something which tends to be underappreciated by still psychospiritually immature Love and Joy seekers, sharers and bequeathers as a result of their continuing to be susceptible to being ‘tempted’ by and (so) over‑subscribing to a ‘carnal’, i.e, body based, pleasure-desirous and pain‑aversive calculus. ‘Succeeding’ (in the sense of experiencing what one ‘likes’ and not experiencing what one ‘dislikes’) in said regard does not (not in and of itself at least) lead to folks becoming unselfishly (and hence holistically, or Cosmically) loving and joyful or incline them to synergically engage with and creatively augment such sort of soul development in others. I’m sure you see this to be true in the cases of many ‘successful’ (in ‘worldly’ terms, that is) people around you. What’s more – and this is something that merits even greater concern because of the ‘negative’ consequences that stem from people enmasse aiming to ‘succeed’ so – those who primarily seek and support others’ seeking to maximize personal pleasure‑n-gain and corollarily minimize personal pain-and-loss experience(s) actually end up diminishing the chances that they and those they thus support will develop in a communion‑with-Life actualizing direction. Why? Because such ‘focus’ leads to them and such others being ‘blindly’ negligent and unconscionably usurpatory in relation to other co-related aspects of The Flow of Life which are therefore not appropriately recognized as also being important and so not befittingly (in terms of what is necessary and desirable for said other concomitants to be co-functional) related to.

There have been countless major and minor instances of such negligence and usurpation by temperospatially oriented, immediate-local pleasure and pain ‘geared’ folks (believers in ‘eternal life’ included!) over the course of history which you have probably heard and read about, as well as many I’m sure you’ve personally experienced or at least witnessed in the context of your present lifetime, some (because of your own psychospiritual immaturities) undoubtedly even perpetrated by yourself. In macroscopic consequence, as a result of large and increasing numbers of people and the organizations they subscribe to basically being pleasure-pain principle driven to feed off of and serve to amplify the growth of unsustainable (because conglomerately selfish!) socioeconomic pyramid schemes which consume and pollute more than they contribute to and nurture, they cumulatively end up drastically degrading and disrupting, the systemic health and well‑functioning of the Living Matrix, which they for the most part just give ‘lip service’ to, that is our physiosocial ‘home’. As is clearly the case confronting us here now, notwithstanding the inherent munificence of Life’s Flow and the generous contributions and services which have historically been made and provided and continue to be made and provided by a growing number of holistically Love and Joy oriented people in It, waves of social and ecosystemic decay and destruction then metastatically ripple and richochet around our planet and climax in devastating catastrophes as the ‘negative’ effects of such mainly pleasure-desirous-n-pain-aversive choices repercussively reinforce one another in exponential escalation.

Such denouements, which periodically decimate the ranks of a dominant but still mostly selfishly motivated species, have historically often been projected to be expressions of the ‘wrath’ of a 'God' who ‘judges’ the bulk of humanity to be inexcusably ‘sinful’ and ‘deserving’ of severe ‘punishment’ because of its, for the most part, not appropriately ‘heeding’ and ‘obeying’ His ‘edicts’ and ‘commandments’, not ‘paying’ sufficient ‘homage’ to Him, etc. But, as what I’ve said in this chapter should make clear, such devastation is just the cumulative result of many souls collectively ‘losing their balance’ and so ‘stumbling’ and ‘falling’, and (so) ‘hurting’ themselves and others around them as a group, because they haven’t yet developed to the point where they holistically understand and embrace, and so don’t conscientiously act ‘in accord’ with, the fact that they and others, including every aspect of their planetary environment, are not really ‘individually’ separate aspects of Life, but integral part-expressions of The Life of a Cosmically Unitary, self‑and-other inclusive Being!

Originally Posted by sky123

Me neither, but maybe the writers of the Scriptures who perceive God as a violent,murdering dictator, were.

Which scriptures?

I hold all scripture written in pretty much the same light.
The same with all books. Writings probably mean a whole bunch to those that write, scratch and scribble. My experience and innermost being are going
to lead me in the way or path.
In order for me to truly understand someone's scribblings I would need to
have walked in their time and location and see through their experience.

Though at times certain writings do resonate and that is fine but I don't make a religion out of it.

As far as God being unwell. I see a sunset and I'm in AWE.
Look up at the night stars and AWE again.
Sit by a river and breathe and feel any worries get carried away.
Step into the forest and automatically I feel peace with all life.
So from my perspective God is well.

[inavalan]

I believe it is a very good advice to focus on your sphere of concern / influence, and not worry about what's beyond it:

God (Universe, whatever higher force you trust, and pray to),

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

[Honza]

Originally Posted by inavalan

I believe it is a very good advice to focus on your sphere of concern / influence, and not worry about what's beyond it:

This strikes me as being sound advice. I am learning this....

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by Honza

This strikes me as being sound advice. I am learning this....

It's called The Serenity Prayer.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Busby

Not living in an English-speaking country and having read a few times about 'Journey of Souls', I ordered it about five weeks ago through a local bookshop, it took three weeks to arrive and I very keenly settled down to read it - expecting something other than a fantasy.

The first thing I saw was, on the cover, 'Over 600,00 sold', I should have been warned.

There are apparently those who find it uplifting, enlightening, instructive, informative - and so on. I've had this sort of stuff in my hands a thousand times over the last seven decades or so, I have yet to benefit.

I found the "Journey of Souls" to be interesting. I hope that you enjoy it.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by ImthatIm

Which scriptures?

I hold all scripture written in pretty much the same light.
The same with all books. Writings probably mean a whole bunch to those that write, scratch and scribble. My experience and innermost being are going
to lead me in the way or path.
In order for me to truly understand someone's scribblings I would need to
have walked in their time and location and see through their experience.

Though at times certain writings do resonate and that is fine but I don't make a religion out of it.

As far as God being unwell. I see a sunset and I'm in AWE.
Look up at the night stars and AWE again.
Sit by a river and breathe and feel any worries get carried away.
Step into the forest and automatically I feel peace with all life.
So from my perspective God is well.

Your words, "Though at times certain writings do resonate and that is fine but I don't make a religion out of it", resonated with me.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

I know, right? They thought a comet was a chariot in the sky..but now let's believe every word and
brow beat other people that don't believe it...as if it's written in stone -right.
Gosh I'm glad I woke up!
Doesn't mean I love God less - it means I love and understand His True Nature more!!!
Cuz, 'Bible believers' will then say, I'm going against 'the Word' and say I'm going to hell,
Oh my goodness. But, then again, oh well....

So to keep on topic - no, God is not unwell
...but someone is.

I love your concluding statement: "...no, God is not unwell....but someone is."

[Honza]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

I love your concluding statement: "...no, God is not unwell....but someone is."

Who? Humanity?

[Molearner]

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.

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.