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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > General Religion

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  #11  
Old 26-02-2017, 08:54 AM
Baile Baile is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
I did not know this about you. I missed it somehow.
Out of curiosity, do you think of or consider or believe in some sort
of, I don't know how to put it...a consciousness or an intelligence that pervades all that is?
I don't know why I ask? I find people and their beliefs or experiences interesting, I guess. Thanks.
I should say I neither believe nor disbelieve because, as I said, I don't consider it a question that affects my spiritual path. I wake up each day on my spiritual journey and get on with my inner work. God, angels, devils... none of them matter; what matters is what is happening in the now of my immediate life experience.

Part of it for me is I don't feel an affinity to the logic-based concept that, because creation exists, something must have created it. Rather, I can imagine a state where everything simply exists, has always existed, and always will exist. This could very well be one of the mysteries of spirit; why it is unknowable. I certainly have that sense about my soul. I feel it has always existed, and I know it is eternal and can never be obliterated.

The Hermetic description of All Mind is a "God" concept I can at least relate to: The All Mind dreams, and we are the substance of the dream. But a critical aspect of that understanding, is knowledge of relative and absolute truth. Existence is not a dream at all, but quite real from a relative truth perspective.

Last edited by Baile : 26-02-2017 at 01:13 PM.
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  #12  
Old 26-02-2017, 08:56 AM
Baile Baile is offline
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Double post.
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  #13  
Old 26-02-2017, 04:31 PM
urbanzennist urbanzennist is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Honza
I have faith and am a firm believer in God's existence. I'm not talking pure consciousness here or I AM; but rather a living breathing God. Much like a 'super-person'.

I think this may be the reason why I struggle with Eastern mysticism and the New Age.

Many theists, both in the Abrahamic faiths and outside of them would take issue with your definition. Many say that "I AM" is beyond human conception and that His name shouldn't even be spoken because to define Him in human terms would not even begin to capture what He is. They may say that thinking of such a being as a super-person is making a "graven image" based on our flawed human conception.

There are many people who believe in a God, but think of it as something beyond our conception, something that permeates all of nature that we can all connect with. There are people in this category who neglect to refer to that as God at all, instead, opting for "Buddha Nature" or "The Tao" and feeling that assigning human concepts and emotions to define this force only cheapen this beautiful undercurrent that is far beyond our meager human conception. There are also those who just refer to it as "nature" and look at it through a materialistic lens, but still manage to find beauty in it.

I clipped the part of your quote that I did because ultimately what you are saying refers, more than anything else, to how YOU prefer to see things. That is perfectly fine, but instead of making your view the norm... it simply makes your view one among a sea of views on the divine. There is much to be learned from others' views and instead of shrinking from them, I find that we learn more about the nature of God, or whatever one may call it, through discussion with those of various viewpoints instead of clinging to our own simply because it was what we were taught to cling to.
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  #14  
Old 26-02-2017, 04:51 PM
sunofpeace sunofpeace is offline
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Spirituality is centered on the very fundamental question: Who am I?. It is NOT about existence of GOD. It is about existence of the SELF!

So its is about exploring yourself. It is a long journey. Now the experienced ones have said that the SELF is a form of all pervading formless CONSCIOUSNESS. If you call the CONSCIOUSNESS as GOD or any other names you like, it is perfectly OK if you identify it as something that is all pervading formless base. What is important is to remain in connection with THAT which is your true SELF.

Without knowing your true self, if you say you believe in GOD's existence, it will be a mere logical statement and makes no sense as you have no idea What/Who God is !!
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  #15  
Old 26-02-2017, 06:00 PM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baile
God, angels, devils... none of them matter; what matters is what is happening in the now..
I can imagine a state where everything simply exists,
has always existed,
and always will exist.

The Hermetic description of All Mind is a "God" concept I can at least relate to:
The All Mind dreams, and we are the substance of the dream..
Well said, thank you.
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Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
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  #16  
Old 26-02-2017, 06:28 PM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunofpeace
...if you say you believe in GOD's existence,
it will be a mere logical statement and makes no sense as you
have no idea What/Who God is !!
That is correct.
And that logical statement comes from the left brain...it is the right brain that
experiences the All...and your awareness in the center of "It All"....no boundaries...no
separations...All the One.
This 'One' must be directly, up-close and personally be experienced.
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Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru
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  #17  
Old 26-02-2017, 08:03 PM
Patisa90 Patisa90 is offline
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Very nice thread Honza..
I myself was thinking same about SF.. but yes it is true that everyone has their own path in life.
A couple of years back I used to be very interested in spirituality and was researching about it.. on the way in life I found God and now I feel whole....and very spiritual it opens your mind when you believe correctly
I do believe that God is an Universal power for me its for sure not a 'super human' or anything like that..

I do believe that this life is a deception. God gave us a test to test who sees the deception and will come back to Him and who fails...
But yes it all depends on someones life path and believes what they believe in..
I do hope to find beautiful answers to this thread because I myself have the same questions as honza :))
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  #18  
Old 26-02-2017, 08:14 PM
Amilius777 Amilius777 is offline
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I actually believe lets say for example- Buddhist monks are very old souls who have taken vows to live lifetimes a self-effort spirituality without the reliance of a higher power or Deity

The Dalai Lama is a very old and highly evolved soul but he is on a different spiritual path than lets say someone like Mother Teresa or a Sufi mystic.

It's obviously not for everyone since we all came from One Source who is closer to us than our own self within our souls.
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  #19  
Old 27-02-2017, 12:17 AM
Honza Honza is offline
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I AM may be beyond human conception in some ways but in other ways it simply is not beyond conception because it is a statement that people make every day to communicate their own existence.

If I was to say to you "hello I AM" it would be a statement whereby I was telling you "I exist". What is so beyond conception about that? People use the term "I Am" for two reasons, one to talk about their own self and the other to talk about God - to me that is confusing.
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  #20  
Old 27-02-2017, 05:52 AM
jimrich jimrich is offline
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Cat I am that

Quote:
Originally Posted by Honza
I AM may be beyond human conception in some ways but in other ways it simply is not beyond conception because it is a statement that people make every day to communicate their own existence.

If I was to say to you "hello I AM" it would be a statement whereby I was telling you "I exist". What is so beyond conception about that? People use the term "I Am" for two reasons, one to talk about their own self and the other to talk about God - to me that is confusing.
For me it's simple. When I say, "I am" (meaning that I exist)....the 'I' can be about a personal, egoic 'me' or the 'I' can be about the Real me or the Absolute or whatever I wish to label that which cannot be labeled or named. In conventional communications, my "I am." is in reference to an ego speaking with another ego. I once talked with an "enlightened" sage and, while I went on and on about: 'I', 'me', 'my', 'mine' and other personal stuff, the sage spoke in totally IMPERSONAL terms and not once referred to him self with any personal pronouns like: 'I', 'me', 'my', 'mine' ----it was ERIE!
So, yes, I exist - but which 'I' is being referred to there? I doubt that there are many folks who recognize the many DIFFERENT 'I's that are operating inside of them all through the day. Some have referred to these different 'I's as sub-personalities like: the Critic, the Parent, the Child, the Boss, the Pusher, the Workaholic, the Sexaholic, the Frightened Child, the Sadist, the Coward, the Saint, the Savior, the Martyr, etc. And there is One "self" that is NOT an ego or sub-personality that some call: God, the Absolute, the Source, Christ, etc.
The issue of one's identity is what started the matter of asking Who/what am I? to eventually find one's real identity, beyond or apart from the one they were GIVEN at birth. It's the most basic spiritual question once it's seen that I am not simply the ego, body, mind or any temporary form.
So, who are you?
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