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Sitaram I was just reading the last page, page 8 "Think on these things'... which is sort of a miscellaneous catch all>
Khala: Indeed.- It is rather ambiguous and vague.
Sitaram What... the last page?
Sitaram Yes, but... if you look at all the sacred scriptures of all the Religions , you will discover that there are only certain sentences or phrases in which is a WHOLE WORLD OF THEOLOGY. For example, Mother Theresa put Christs final words on the Cross, "I thirst." on her convent wall. So, hidden amidst all the other verses of the Gospels... seemingly "out of context", is something.. which opens up a whole world in the mind. In a certain way, the very nature of our thought processes, is a non-sequitur. So, structure, and form in writing is, in a sense,illusion or maya. But we come to think of that "structure" as the nature of reality.
Sitaram Regarding the "I Thirst."...jallaladin rumi once said:
"Do not seek water... for water is EVERYWHERE. Seek THIRST! For without the THIRST the water is of no value to you. And in the Psalms, "O Lord, I have thirsted after Thee like a deer in a waterless land." So, you see, Spirituality is very much like the parable about that man who found an entire field, but in that field was buried A TREASURE. So... he went and sold EVERYTHING THAT HE HAD... and bought that field.... but it was not the field that he wanted... only the one TREASURE,.. the one PEARL.. hidden in the field In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon said:
"A word to the Wise, fitly (properly) spoken, is like an apple of GOLD in a silver fitting (filagree case or screen).
In those ancient times, craftsmen, artisans, would make an apple out of gold... and then place it inside a very fine silver screen casing. From a distance it appears to be a SILVER apple. But, as one draws close and studies it intently, a hint, a spark of gold shows through... until finally one "comprehends" or "apprehends"... the true reality of the "thing"... namely... something GOLD, contained within something SILVER...
Sitaram SO when Jesus says "Search the Scriptures, for therein will ye find Eternal Life..." we are being told to search for the GOLD which is hidden, seemingly out of context, just like the "I thirst." which Mother Theresa found in the "field" of the Gospels... well... are those words not saying... in a sense.. that the "eternal life"... is not "explicitly stated" in some part of the "old testament".. but is... somehow.. in the process of "searching" itself...? Otherwise.. Jesus would have said... "Go and read this passage or that passage , or this book or that book..." ... right?
Khala: I have a saying: "All is one; one is all." This herby justifies polytheism. Polytheistics are yet monotheistic.
Sitaram Well.. one of the early pioneer Sanskrit scholars... Max mueller.. coined the term "ekanotheism".... which means worshiping different "forms" of the One God.. one at a time... but at any given time... giving that particular image worshiped at that moment (lets say Lord ganesh) the full honor as the ONE GOD
Sitaram So you see , our Moslem and Christian brothers and sisters.. do not realize how similar we are to them....
Khala: I love Jesus and Vishnu, yet I see them as two separate entities, that are part of a divine power on a larger scale.
Sitaram but... an old Zen Master once said.... "The difference between HEAVEN and HELL is but a single hair's breadth (width)"
Khala: I finally learned what Hell really is.
Sitaram But... you have heard the expression... "it does not make one iota of a difference"... yes???
Khala: Many times!
Sitaram Well.. the greek letter iota... is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet but... iota is the only letter which differs in the two words... Homo-ousios and HomoI-ousious. The first word means that the Father and the Son of the Trinity.. are of ONE substance.. essence. The second word... pronounced HO-MEE-OU-SEE-OS Means.. that the Father and Son are of SIMILAR substance, essence,.... but not the SAME
Khala: All manifestations of the Great Spirit are one yet separate. Who's winning? LOL!
Sitaram this is the one game where EVERYONE wins,.. who plays
It suddenly dawns on me that telling someone that their religion is evil... is sort of like telling someone that they smell bad whenever they make love....
#1 .. thats a subjective judgement... and
#2.. whatever do you expect them to do about it ?????
I mean, I am all that I have... if you go read my web page http://members.aol.com/sitaram/page001.htm
you will see all my beliefs... and if you think they are evil... or deluded... well...
just like Popeye who said "I am what I yam and thats all that I yam
I mean im 50 years old.. and that web page is where I am at this moment...
I cant just throw it in the garbage.. to become a 7th day adventist... or Mormon or Jehovah's witness... or Moslem or .. whatever YOUR subjective opinion of the ONE TRUE FAITH IS
and.. we all have free will,... we can always choose to ignore a comment.. just like all the LOL and lmao.. etc etc...
and.. you NEVER KNOW.. when something will strike someone a certain way.. and .. perhaps change their entire life... even perhaps.. something you didn't intend to convey in your words
and.. whenever someone says.. Im bored.. well... if they read my whole web page.. then wont be bored.. even if they are hating my guts, and e-mailing me to tell me what a demonically deluded heretic I am
yes... and... I like to try to give purpose to the lives of others... too ... if possible
even someone embarked on the path of a wrong purpose... is better than than NO purpose....
now someone will bring up hitler I suppose
but hey... if you liked the movie Schindler's List... well... that movies wouldn't exist without Hitler.... think about it?
even the Old Testament, wouldn't be what it was without the Pharaoh of egypt... God even says as much.. that he raised Pharaoh up for Gods own 'purposes'
interesting ... it reminds me... of the Book of esther.. when mordicai is pleading with Esther to help her people... Mordicai says...
"If you do not do this good word... God will find another way to accomplish it.. but you will not share in it" so.. Mordicai's point is that ... we have FREE-WILL to COOPERATE with God in the ONGOING process of creation
.but... because of Gods omnipotence.. and omniscience... His will shall be accomplished... whether or not a given individual chooses to cooperate
at least.. that is the classical rabinnical Talmudic "take" on the issue
What are we to make of it.. when we see something Good or Noble.. arising from something Hideous or Evil?
Can we not see something hideous or evil proceeding or resulting from something which appears inherently Good?
Without the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the ressurection.. there would be no Roman Catholic Church.. but without the Roman Catholic Church.. there would have been no Inquisition
It is very interesting.. this world of DUALITIES
Consider how marvellous, the Nexus of Causality. Because of Hitler, Holocaust.. Holocaust = Schindler's List. Because of wwii, and normandy, I was conceived... because I made comments in this Room,.. the conversation has turned towards movies ... and we pretend to understand about Good and Evil... and History
There are sufi teaching stories, published by idres shaw, which illustrate this aspect of Causality
and... has western civilization been a "disappointment" ?
Of course that brings us back to the Popeye factor.. "I yam what I yam" after all,.. its what we are.. its all we have...
o O (...thinking about the weak and strong anthropic theories of Physics.. that the universe MUST be as we perceive it. because, like Popeye,we only have OURSELVES, the "way we are" ... to do the "PERCEIVING" )
Which brings us to the question: how does Popeye's "I yam what I yam"... related to yaweh's "I AM WHO AM"
JUDAISM (happy New Year to my Jewish brethren)
Judaism is a religion that teaches [reverence for life as its highest
principle]. The God it worships does not desire the death of sinners,
but that they may turn and live. That God's word is 'Seek Me and live,'
and 'Choose life.' It is a religion that teaches that to destroy a
single life is to destroy an entire world, and to sustain a single life
is to sustain an entire world. It is a religion that yearns, above all
things, for the day when swords will be beaten into plowshares and
spears into pruning hooks; whose aim, in the words of a modern Jewish
writer, is 'the creation of a human being unable to shed blood;' whose
toast is Lechayim, 'To life!' It is a religion whose New Year is a
celebration of life and a plea for its continuance: 'Remember us unto
life, O King who delights in life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life,
for Your sake, O God of life.' --John D. Rayner
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