Is man truly "made in the image of God"?

[Miss Hepburn]

So glad you are here Still Waters. :)

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

Simply saying "Be still and KNOW that I AM God" is generally not enough for most people. However, after the direct experience of stillness, people are drawn to it and want to do more than just read a scripture.They become drawn into the PRACTICE.

Still Waters,

You are drawn very much to that scripture…….to flesh it out somewhat I am drawn to the words of Jesus on how to pray….Matthew 6:6….’enter thy closet…shut the door…pray to Father…in secret’. ‘closet’ can be read both as space with no windows….nothing to permit outside senses…or more symbolically as your inner being or self. ‘shut the door’ can mean closing self to the 5 senses. ‘Father’ can be the Father / Spirit/ Self that is the divine spark within. Now to provide additional agreement in kind: the Bhagavad Gita 6:10….

The translation I read translated it as…..”Let the Yogi constantly engage with his self in yoga, remaining alone in a secret place, with thoughts and ego subdued, free from expectation and greed.” A lot of similarity between the two.

In conjunction my source also cited Bhagavad Gita 6:28…..this time understanding the ‘Father’ as described above as ‘Self’….
“The Yogi, who thus, yoking ‘self’ with ‘Self’ is freed from all sins, and enjoys the infinite bliss of contact with the Eternal.”

Sorry that I do not have the translation used for the B.G……this sharing came from the book, The Second Coming by Cyrene.

All of this just to amplify the whole idea of stillness and the value that multiple traditions see in it.

A caveat to the above: 2 Corinthians 3:6….”for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Paul was speaking of the letter of the Law…that which was literally written in stone. I read it as meaning the very literal way that people read scriptures without seeing the spiritual or symbolic meaning….thus depriving themselves of the depth and beauty of scripture.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

So glad you are here Still Waters. :)

I'm like the pandemic... hard to get rid of. P.S. Thanks for the kind words.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Molearner

…….to flesh it out somewhat I am drawn to the words of Jesus on how to pray….Matthew 6:6….’enter thy closet…shut the door…pray to Father…in secret’. ‘closet’ can be read both as space with no windows….nothing to permit outside senses…

Since administrative guidelines are that we limit the amount of sentences that we quote, I decided to limit myself to the above portion of your post referencing the Christian Bible. (The other quotes were equally applicable and very relevant.)

The Biblical passage that you quoted is particularly appropriate and also quite relevant to Ashtanga Yoga (Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras). The 5th limb in Asthanga Yoga which precedes concentration (Dharana), meditation (Dhyana), and Samadhi is PRATYAHARA. Pratyahara literally means "abstinence" (from the food of the senses). The Pratyahara practice is essentially to cut off thinking about objects of the five senses ... cutting off thoughts when one sees or smells or tastes or touches or hears things. (Obviously, there is a time and place for doing this practice but one can do it literally anywhere. ) The point is that, before going into meditation, one cuts off the objects of sense and thus one can go into the "closet" literally anywhere (at appropriate times, of course) before engaging in prayer/meditation. Once one shuts the door completely on objects of sense and externals, one can focus on the inner aspects of the self/Self.

As you can probably see, Pratyahara is a very powerful PRACTICE whereby one can enter the stillness of the "closet" whenever and wherever one chooses even in the midst of activity.

Hence the passage from Matthew is very applicable to "Be still" with the "closet" taking on various meanings all of which are related to shutting out the outside world in various ways.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Molearner

A caveat to the above: 2 Corinthians 3:6….”for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Paul was speaking of the letter of the Law…that which was literally written in stone. I read it as meaning the very literal way that people read scriptures without seeing the spiritual or symbolic meaning….thus depriving themselves of the depth and beauty of scripture.

Although I rarely quote the Apostle Paul, that is one particular passage of his that I do quote very very frequently.

I interpret that passage as ultimately focusing on the Spirit "within" and less on the written words ("the law"). That entails shutting out all externals, including words both written and spoken, and going into the "closet" to commune with the Spirit inherent in all. In that respect, Pratyahara (abstinence from food of the senses), as described previously, is an excellent preliminary practice for going into the "closet" as mentioned in the Matthew passage quoted earlier in this thread.

We seem to have a good foundation……:)

Man made in Gods image?
To keep it on a simple level, YES.
Let's take this definition of God.
God is Love, as am I a reflection of this Love.
God is Light, as am I a reflection of this Light.
God is Spirit, as am I a reflection of this Spirit.

The real question is how dirty is my reflecting mirror???

EDIT: And of course by dirty I mean how much self obstructs the reflective LOVE, SPIRIT and LIGHT of God.

[Still_Waters]

QUOTE 48 EXCERPT:

Originally Posted by ImthatIm

The real question is how dirty is my reflecting mirror???

I'm waiting with baited breath for the answer to that question.

How dirty is your reflecting mirror?

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Molearner

We seem to have a good foundation……:)

A foundation based on purification practices and direct experiences becomes unshakeable.

There are, however, many intellectuals who simply study the scriptural "map" forever without ever going
beyond that into the stillness/silence.