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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > Christianity

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  #641  
Old 25-01-2021, 05:54 PM
AbodhiSky
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simple empty awareness is a good exercise. when we interact in the world, with the world, there is this mental response to things, someone says something to us, our minds snap back with a meaning, a response in our heads. everything we encounter or are experiencing, boom, this mental response and reality. a comment in our heads. a mental reaction. (ego) which we follow like Lewis and Clarke showing us the way through the wilderness, (so we are lost) so we can be aware of this and choose to not let our attention go to any of our mental responses, so they cease to have an effect on us or our experience. so the exercise is just to remain empty, internally quiet or clear, the responses will come, we just keep our attention off of them, we choose the emptiness instead. then from that emptiness react and respond

Psalm 46:10
10 Be still, and know
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  #642  
Old 25-01-2021, 07:35 PM
Molearner Molearner is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AbodhiSky
simple empty awareness is a good exercise. when we interact in the world, with the world, there is this mental response to things, someone says something to us, our minds snap back with a meaning, a response in our heads. everything we encounter or are experiencing, boom, this mental response and reality. a comment in our heads. a mental reaction. (ego) which we follow like Lewis and Clarke showing us the way through the wilderness, (so we are lost) so we can be aware of this and choose to not let our attention go to any of our mental responses, so they cease to have an effect on us or our experience. so the exercise is just to remain empty, internally quiet or clear, the responses will come, we just keep our attention off of them, we choose the emptiness instead. then from that emptiness react and respond

Psalm 46:10
10 Be still, and know

AbodhiSky,

Reminds me of a Simone Weil quote: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”.....
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  #643  
Old 26-01-2021, 05:29 PM
Still_Waters Still_Waters is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
And you're asking me? Ok.
Let's start with understanding and knowing God personally.
Forget guessing, speculating, theorizing, trying to understand with the intellect, and instead turn to asking Him.

How does one get in touch with God?
He gave many clues - go to that Secret Place, Psalms -
Be still and know that I am God, Psalms...
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart, Psalms-
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jer 33:3)

Now, I have and I understand Him...but someone telling you the reason 'He, Who has no gender', does things
will mean little until you get out of the intellect.
You have to be shown His Heart - you have to be shown Him to really get this Creation and it's Brilliant System or Set up.

And lemme tellya ---it's a big Divine Romance. That much I will say.
(And, that He has given many signs dropping breadcrumbs throughout history -
knocking on the door of your heart leading back to Him.)

You just highlighted one of my favorite Biblical passages and one that has guided my own personal practice:

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10)

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  #644  
Old 26-01-2021, 05:31 PM
Still_Waters Still_Waters is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
ketzer - A short story for you.
2 travelers meet on the road walking.
One is obviously wealthy - the other a pretty ordinary stiff.
They stay at Inns.
Rich guy goes to dinner 3 nights while the ordinary bloke stays back for awhile.

Finally they are parting ways...where the guy fessus up and says,
"I'm a thief and each night you went to dinner I searched your room
for your gold...you've got to tell me where did you hide it?!!!!"
The rich guy: "Under your own pillow - the last place you would look."

Bada bing!

I love that story and its metaphorical implications.
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  #645  
Old 26-01-2021, 06:13 PM
Still_Waters Still_Waters is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ketzer
I have known many truths in my life that passed my testing, only to find they did not work as well for me as I though they were going to.

Can you tell us about how you "test" things?
What it means that it "works well for you"? and
What you do with the things that fail the test?

"Buddha's teachings stand on their own merits"
Are they an exception to this rule?
.

First of all, everyone is unique and a practice that works for one may not work for another. That is specifically why I differentiate between how I "test" things for validity and what it means when I say that it "works well for me" personally. That is what I love about the Bhagavad Gita --- it recognizes the fact that people are different and, while it specifically notes three broad classifications (jnana/self-inquiry, bhakti/devotional, and karma/service), it is clear that there are as many practices as there are individuals with certain general commonalities. While there may be some practices that pass my "validity test" but do NOT "work well for me", I have noticed that I often recommend those practices to others who have a suitable, appropriate temperament. This is consistent with your statement that "I have known many truths in my life that passed my testing, only to find they did not work as well for me as I though they were going to. " That is to be expected.

Since this thread is in a Christianity forum, I will try to focus on specific example of a Judaic-Christian nature that "tested"/resonated well with me and also "works well with me". Consider the following two Biblical passages which I consider similar in focus despite what others may say.

1- "Be still and KNOW that I AM God" (Psalms 46:10)
2- "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall SEE God" (Beatitudes)

(I noticed that Miss Hepburn also quoted the first of the above passages in another response to you on this same subject.)

First of all, those two passages resonated with me for a number of reasons or I might not even have tested them in the first place. Based strictly on the Judaic-Christian scriptures, there did not seem to be a methodology that "worked for me" for accomplishing the above. Hence, I turned to Buddhist methodology (Satipattana Sutra and other meditation-oriented sutras) for methodology. I also turned to complementary methodologies in Pantanjali's Yoga sutras from Hinduism.

Those methodologies "worked for me" in the sense that they facilitated my entering the "stillness"/"pure-of-heart" state albeit according to MY personal understanding of that state. (It should be obvious that others may interpret those words differently but I am writing here about what "worked for ME" personally since that is how I interpreted your question.)

In that state, I had direct experiences that went beyond the five traditional senses and --- through my own practices --- had revelations consistent with the teachings of masters of many wisdom traditions. When one realizes such things directly for one's self and VALIDATES the scriptural teaching(s) to one's complete satisfaction, one becomes firmly established in that understanding and it becomes unshakeable. That is what it means to me when I say that "it works for me".

In response to your question, the Buddha's methodology stands on its own merits FOR ME PERSONALLY. I have "tested" it and it "works for me". I do not say that this is an exception as there are clearly other scriptural passages and teachings that also work not necessarily for me but for others. Like a teacher in school, alternative approaches to teaching are often tried if one particular technique is not working well in accomplishing the teaching objective. When one finds something that "works", one sticks with it. Why "fix it" when it is "not broken"?

Having said that, it should be clear that the approach that "works for me" understandably may not work for others whose temperament, life experiences, tendencies, etc. are different from my own. Clearly, there is validity in the expression that "one shoe does not fit all". This is also in keeping with Ramana Maharshi's statement that "there can be no mass instruction" though many try endlessly to devise a "mass instruction".
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  #646  
Old 26-01-2021, 06:52 PM
AbodhiSky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Still_Waters
I love that story and its metaphorical implications.
in that story the rich person is wise and spiritual and the poor person ignorant, does not know where to look for riches or what those riches actually are. not a story jesus would ever tell as he took the side of the poor. also according the the bible and jesus, that rich person lecturing the poor person on where to look for riches is just arrogance. the rich person, if really spiritual, would give his gold to the poor. but we are expected in the story to assume the rich guy is somehow spiritual.... and rich.... and not willing to give to the poor?

Deuteronomy 15:11
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open handed toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

it's a good story to let the rich off the hook and it's inferred meaning is the poor deserve it or can be just as happy as the rich if they just look for riches in some spiritual thing. every study i have ever seen shows the rich are generally happier than the poor as a whole.
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  #647  
Old 26-01-2021, 07:03 PM
sky sky is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AbodhiSky
in that story the rich person is wise and spiritual and the poor person ignorant, does not know where to look for riches or what those riches actually are. not a story jesus would ever tell as he took the side of the poor. also according the the bible and jesus, that rich person lecturing the poor person on where to look for riches is just arrogance. the rich person, if really spiritual, would give his gold to the poor. but we are expected in the story to assume the rich guy is somehow spiritual.... and rich.... and not willing to give to the poor?

Deuteronomy 15:11
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

it's a good story to let the rich off the hook and it's inferred meaning is the poor deserve it or can be just as happy as the rich if they just look for riches in some spiritual thing. every study i have ever seen shows the rich are generally happier than the poor as a whole.



Oh!..........
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  #648  
Old 26-01-2021, 07:29 PM
AbodhiSky
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Quote:
One is obviously wealthy - the other a pretty ordinary stiff.

the wealthy person is not ordinary or a "stiff"
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  #649  
Old 26-01-2021, 07:30 PM
Miss Hepburn Miss Hepburn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Still_Waters
You just highlighted one of my favorite Biblical passages and one that has guided my own personal practice:

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10)

This is just between you and me - a verse that I was given
some huge realization about it's importance, like in the last year, is -
Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your way straight ...something like that...
Oh my goodness, is that true!!!! Wow.
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*I'll text in Navy Blue when I'm speaking as a Mod. :)


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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  #650  
Old 26-01-2021, 07:58 PM
sky sky is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
This is just between you and me - a verse that I was given
some huge realization about it's importance, like in the last year, is -
Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your way straight ...something like that...
Oh my goodness, is that true!!!! Wow.



There's some lovely versions from different bibles, I like this,

" With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way.
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