How to search for truth when there are *so many* belief systems

[Volaju]

It depends on your path really. Keep yourself open to possibilities. Question everything as someone said. Just like the supposed randomness of dice, you'll find something you can believe in.

[shivatar]

Yes I know it seems unfair what I did, perhaps the wrong move to make but I don't feel you are channeling Shiva correctly and I am. What you cannot control from Shiva essence, I can, and have been granted his boon for as long as I choose it. That is why I say I am Shiva, I am both my mortal self, and his incarnation, and many other things, but earlier I felt the best thing to say for that moment was, I am Shiva, so I said it.

All is not illusion, although to some extent it does feel like the only things real are what happens to you, what you think, what you believe. What's expressed here is no less real or more real than the etheral form it springs from.

Only God can say what is real or not, until you fully and permanently posess that gift you are merely shooting darts in the dark about what is real or not (although you seem close to it and that's very promising!), a guru is better at shooting darts in the dark but very few have self-realization to a great degree.

Being where you are must be tough, all I can say is if you are deeply motivated you will go to where the teachers are. Or you will find a way, any way, to make it work and continue through the countless failures that will inevitably come.

If you still don't want to seek a physical teacher, you can be guided by spiritual teachers as well. Meher Baba choose to guide me and will guide you if you ask for his help (or google his name and read some of his literature!). Any spiritual teacher of your choice, any great teacher of the past, any one alive 1000 or thousands of years ago, they are but a thought away and will happily share there wisdom with you if you ask for it and are ready to become their devotee.

Yes it's true that I don't possess anything close to omnipotence in a mortal form, it's kind of the point of a mortal form, so it shouldn't surprise you that I don't know everything about your life.

You choose the life you want to live, not as your challenges, you want to know yourself as the one who overcomes these challenges.

I don't know how best to explain the difference between crossing over from broken and fragmented consciousness into continious, blissful, healed and full consciousness. All I know is that when you go from broken, to healed, you appreciate it much more. The wine is sweeter, the air more fresh, the sun more bright.

Sounds like you are in the **** right now, all I can say is in my opinion that is what makes the prize more beautiful and life more appreciated after the destination has been reached.

[Shivani Devi]

If you want to believe that you are more 'advanced' than I am and can 'channel Shiva' and I cannot, go ahead.

All I can tell you right now is that you are just wasting your time with me, sorry to say.

I know what I know and whether you choose to believe it or not is inconsequential to me, because like I said before, it's all subjective.

Only God can say what is real or not

So, I'm sorry I cannot entertain you any further in this. All the best to you.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[Shivani Devi]

Oh yeah...about that 1000 yr old Guru thing...

Does the name Adi Shankaracharya ring a bell?

Oh yeah...my 'Higher Self' also said 'just tell him what he wants to hear and he'll stop going on about it and just leave you the hell alone..'

[Robinski78]

Originally Posted by truthseeker1111

Hi all!
So I want to know which religion / belief system / world-view is true, if any. My natural instinct is to look into the various belief systems in the world. But Wikipedia tells me there are more than 4,000 religions in the world! And I'm guessing that doesn't necessarily include the non-theistic belief systems.

Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and (even more importantly) which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?

As you can see, I've only part quoted you above (from your initial post) because that used, contains the salient points as I see and understand it...

4000 + religions or faiths indeed, most likely all man made and/or/maybe generated for dubious purposes of some description... I doubt there's a strong element of truth in any of them: at first glance...

My method of selecting a pathway that I considered suitable for me (and I didn't check 'em all out) was to eliminate all those that fostered a do and don't attitude (of any description) or being some form of a 'more than tepid' - rule and regulative regime...

That quickly put Eastern type followings towards the top of the list, with Zen principled understandings as the main contender...
Even at that, I decided as a complete entity, it still didn't satisfy, or run parallel with my personal way of thought and action... So I separated what I considered to be the principle parts from the overall concept and used those, with my own personal philosophy, to contrive a working system, that seemed both logical and serviceable...

And that has been the foundation of/for all my undertakings, over the past twenty years... It has served me well: in all departments...

I don't expect others to follow in my footsteps, where this is concerned... I'm simply divulging a theory that has worked for me...

Best wishes...

Robbie....

[Shivani Devi]

Yes, so it's also been brought to my attention that my 'I am ME' thread in the Hindu section never got posted on...and maybe Shivatar needs to read all of my posts made on here before he says anything more about this!

Maybe Shivatar needs to know that I was raised in the Balinese Shaiva tradition...

Do you want Gurus?

Given Mantra Diksha by Swami Chidananda Saraswati back in 2001.

Followed Swami Sivananda...spent a few years at the Satyananda Ashram in Bihar...followed Swami Venkatesananda around for a while...

Joined the 'orange people' and followed Rajneesh/Osho...was a member of ISKCON for a while...Srila Prabhupada...

Not to mention, married for 17 years...husband = guru in Hindu Dharma.

In fact, if you want 'gurus'...there's a whole lineage of Balinese shamans laying in wait, my friend...if you only knew these things.

I'm not your average, run of the mill Shiva devotee...but you may now have some inkling of this.

[lancing]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

I think it comes from exactly the same place as what they say about humility.

I'm just at the end of it all now and I have even been thinking about exploring selective muteness as an option. If I act dumb and can convince people of it, maybe they'll make the effort to try and communicate with me through other means? I'll have to pretend to be totally illiterate as well for this to work.....

They'll end up feeling so sorry for me, they'll try and communicate in any way possible...it's worth a try anyway.

Maybe if I really become fully immersed in my own little universe without even making any attempt to try and communicate, it may make others curious? maybe...

Then again, I'm crazy and I don't know what I'm talking about anyway.

Hahahaha! I like questions, so...Have you ever heard that a crazy person is just a person who has discovered the truth? I never have, but I'll pretend that I have. It does not make sense to state my intentions, but it doesn't have to make sense.

Do you know what combats silence? Nothing! It is inevitable.

You know who knows what they're talking about? No one.

Does any of this make sense? I suppose it all depends how you look at it, and what you're looking for.

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by lancing

Hahahaha! I like questions, so...Have you ever heard that a crazy person is just a person who has discovered the truth? I never have, but I'll pretend that I have. It does not make sense to state my intentions, but it doesn't have to make sense.

Do you know what combats silence? Nothing! It is inevitable.

You know who knows what they're talking about? No one.

Does any of this make sense? I suppose it all depends how you look at it, and what you're looking for.

Yeah, it gets to the stage where only I know what I am talking about anyway, so why should I care if others do not? I am learning that lesson slowly...r6 and Hypertiger are teaching me that one.

It's just that...to be honest...there's just so much Shivatar doesn't know about me...and if he only did! *sigh*

There's just so much history and tradition here...and I'd prefer to PM Vinayaka if I need any help with this...Vinayaka is closer to it than either of us are!

The only 'Shiva avatars' I am aware of are Bhairava and Veerabhadra...yeah, so it gets like that...so I'll just indulge now because that's all I can do...

AUM BATUK BHAIRAVAYE NAMAH!!!

भूतसंघनायकं विशालकीर्तिदायकं
काशिवासलोकपुण्यपापशोधकं विभुम् ।
नीतिमार्गकोविदं पुरातनं जगत्पतिं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥८॥

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AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA!

[Jyotir]

Hello truthseeker1111,

All of those 4000 religions were themselves the result of a search for truth…the very same search awakening in you, or really, awakening in you with a new form and purpose. Still…

You do not have to ‘re-invent all of those wheels’ so-to-speak - - just discover the unique version of that same process in yourself - what is universal and even transcendent within you.

The key is in steadfastly employing that same desire to know truth which led to the revelation of it as exemplified by the various religions and systems of thought. All of them embody ‘some’ truth, but some may have more utility for your own purposes which will become clear by intuition once you begin to explore and examine what feels right for your own unique search.

It is the intuition that leads which is more significant than the ‘factual content’ of any tradition, because that intuition comes (more directly) from the truth itself - at first meager, confused and obscure, but gradually becoming clearer and more reliable over time. That is why patient, persistence, and sincerity is paramount.

The secret is that truth itself wants to know itself in and through you, in a universe where it is immanent but obscure.

Practice the intensification and continuity of ‘wanting to know’. It’s that simple.
That is an invocation of the very truth you seek, and is made possible by the truth you seek.
iow, The very desire to know truth comes from that Truth-Consciousness.

Seek only the Highest for the sake of the Highest, and the Highest will respond (in the appropriate form). That approach offers a good degree of protection.

Then be receptive, grateful, cheerful, patient…


~ J

[lancing]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

Yeah, it gets to the stage where only I know what I am talking about anyway, so why should I care if others do not? I am learning that lesson slowly...r6 and Hypertiger are teaching me that one.

It's just that...to be honest...there's just so much Shivatar doesn't know about me...and if he only did! *sigh*

There's just so much history and tradition here...and I'd prefer to PM Vinayaka if I need any help with this...Vinayaka is closer to it than either of us are!

The only 'Shiva avatars' I am aware of are Bhairava and Veerabhadra...yeah, so it gets like that...so I'll just indulge now because that's all I can do...

AUM BATUK BHAIRAVAYE NAMAH!!!

भूतसंघनायकं विशालकीर्तिदायकं
काशिवासलोकपुण्यपापशोधकं विभुम् ।
नीतिमार्गकोविदं पुरातनं जगत्पतिं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥८॥

http://static1.squarespace.com/stati...1/?format=750w

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA!

Nice! You know as I settle more into life I'm beginning to understand that like all pursuits, the pursuit to be understood is not a pursuit at all.