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Post by Bill on Mar 6, 2006 13:53:27 GMT -5
I feel like we should have a new section on this forum for religion talk.
Or perhaps it should be put with the politics section.
What do you guys think?
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Post by DrCank on Mar 6, 2006 13:56:00 GMT -5
I agree with placing it in the politics section. After all religion and politics are so simular that they could be called one in the same.
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Post by unoclay on Mar 6, 2006 15:34:45 GMT -5
I tend to think less subcategories, the better. The more the site becomes subdivided, the less likely some users are to click through all the sections to see 'whats going on'. But i am a relatively low-degi poster, so i may not have my finger "on the pulse". You guys, see, you guys have a pulse. I am only trying to find it. Two fingers on the neck, thats my policy.
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Post by Bill on Mar 6, 2006 18:03:15 GMT -5
Well we have 2 votes here, any others?
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Post by chriscank on Mar 6, 2006 18:57:22 GMT -5
Sounds good to me!
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Post by Joe on Mar 6, 2006 23:28:16 GMT -5
I don't think a new section is needed at this point, our main philosophers incorporate spirituality into everyday life, healing and music.
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Post by 119933ben on Mar 7, 2006 1:06:21 GMT -5
"I don't think a new section is needed at this point, our main philosophers incorporate spirituality into everyday life, healing and music." - Joe Speers
Ditto on that one.
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Post by 119933bencdubois on Mar 7, 2006 4:02:17 GMT -5
ChrisCank's last post on this thread brings to mind a great question: Just how do we hold religion?
Experiment: Write religion on a piece of paper. Hold it up in front of your face. With your spare hand, make sure not to masterbate, because that would be unlawful according to the holy books and we would have to whip you... with your spare hand write down all the thoughts, images, and feelings that pop into your mind as you gaze at the word.
Do this for a few minutes and after review what you wrote. Chances are you will gain a decent idea about the way you hold religion based on what you wrote.
Step 2: Write Peace, Love, and Freedom on a piece of paper. Hold it up for a few minutes, take your notes, review, etc. Chances are you will gain a decent idea about the way you hold those three based on what you wrote.
Step 3: Put the two lists, the one on religion and the one on peace, love, and freedom side by side and see how they differ. Do a quick analysis paragraph on what you find. Differences or similarities? How do the overall qualities of content differ between the two?
Explanation 1: The above exersise for both helps one understand the images, feelings, emotions, words, etc. one associates with different things. Not everyone reflects too often so try a few different ones like: Women, Mom, Dad, Money, Success. You may be surprised to find out just how your being associates things i.e. looking at the word women: difficult, mother, attacking, cold, etc. Now we all have our politeness to keep us in check in conversation, etc. but with the above example you have to ask yourself: do I really want to have this internal view on women? How is this working out for me in my life to have this view? You better believe these internal points of view affect the way you interact with things.
These things that you wrote down are what I like to call "pictures". It doesn't matter if the things you wrote down hold truth or not, internally it is what you generally believe about whatever you examined. You may ask, "well how do these formulations get there?". The answer is mostly through life experience, more the negative ones than the positive ones. A newborn child for example would have no pre-concieved notions about anything. If you watch them they are simply annihilated in unity and love (the human being is hardwired for love as seen through this example). There is the case however with newborns that some of these pre-concieved notions could be in place at a young age as these "pictures" , which utimately translate into electro magnetic energies, can be held and transferred through the DNA of the parents. However, mostly through life experience. So for example: you have a tough relationship with your lady, your Mom treats you in the wrong way when you are young...and...Pop! in goes one of these pictures. Now starts the process of leaving that unity we spoke of in the example of the child. No longer is everything love, everything is love and sometimes anger then it turns into everything is love and anger and sadness then everything is love and anger and sadness and fear and the pictures just stack and stack up. So by the time you are about thirty that freedom and that love you experienced as a child is ever so long gone from your day to day life. That unity is covered with "pictures" of separation. Some of these notions or beliefs or "pictures" can even cause disease in the body. Check out the hierarchy of levels in "music philosophy" (body, heart, soul, spirit). These "pictures" actually exist as subtle energies in the heart and even the soul. If one of these pictures is contrary to the natural disposition of the heart or the soul often times we get a reminder or a sign showing up in our bodies because of the sqelched flow of decending light through these levels. The picture can actually act like a dam. I am not saying every time it shows up as disease. My guide Sidi says, "If the heart is clean, the body and desires are clean". So one might find a picture is the root of an unwanted attitude. Say you find yourself getting angry or impatient. Often times we have belief or a picture that feels something should not be the way it is and again the symptom shows as anger, etc. This is why spiritual healing can be so valuable and seemingly miraculous. Many methods of spiritual healing involve removing or changing those pictures. Even psychiatry, although psychiatry seems to only be able to go so deep. Say a picture is held in the mental field and a psychiatrist helps to change that picture through suggestions and attitude adjustment, you may find healing. The important thing is that many of these pictures are actually illusion meaning they are contrary to that unity we had when we were children which in short is the real reality of existance. Real peace, real love, real mercy, real freedom.
Religion is a great example for pictures being such a hot topic. We had a bad experience when Mom forced us to go to church. At church everything seemed so hard and sterile, scary. We saw some fanatics on TV blowing up innocent people saying, "this is religion". We read in this place or that place that religion is this or that. Oh, the pictures just pile high. Now here comes the interesting part. Please refer to the "music philosophy" post on the story of Lucifer, Iblis, the devil, etc. Since it is the very nature of the darkness to lead one astray, when we have illusory pictures the darkness is always seeking to stoke the fire, pour gas on the flames per say. For example if you have a picture that women are difficult the Iblis that lives inside of us will speak, "yes, women are bad, remember when this woman did this to you, look at this newspaper article, another woman being difficult, etc.". To make matters in one way worse if you are hot on the trail of reality and that unity we spoke of and Iblis can no longer stoke those flames from within, the darkness will actually begin to manifest itself on the outside. Using the same example of the picture being "women are difficult" if the darkness can no longer effect you internally you will find that it will come through maybe your friends saying, "oh, you know women really are difficult" or your family, "oh, its just those women acting difficult again". It makes it easier in the sense that when you begin to see this type of manifestation of the darkness it means you are doing good and have passed the beginning level of ridding yourself of some illusion. If the darkness cannot effect you from within it tries to effect you from the outside and if it cannot effect you from the outside it eventually dies in your reality because there is no room for it either within you or on your outside reality. If "women are bad" isn't a good example for you, try plugging in any of the negative pictures you find doing the exersise.
Returning to that unity: So now we've gotten all covered up. Like Bob Marley said, "once a man and twice a child, everything is just for awhile (Song: Total Destuction, "Uprising")". The real journey in this life is about returning to that unity, that oneness, that peace. And it is a struggle between the light and the darkness. It is set up in this way because as a child, although you are in the unity, this quality is like a flower bud. When it gets covered up and you really have to strive, to understand just what makes life tick, you come to return, but this time full like a flower in bloom. Not only bloomed but with the knowledge to be a conduit of peace, love, and freedom in this life with the understanding to help others return to this unity. Notice how when you learn to function in a peaceful or loving way your life gets better. Notice how when you function in a negative, angry, or hateful way (ways of the darkness) that your life tends to be more difficult. Signs?
I hate to say it but this unity that we are speaking of is the unity of God. You might say, "wait! Not God! From what I have here on my piece of paper religion or the way of God is hateful and blows up innocent children!". There is a good reason why we call them "pictures" or "illusory pictures". They are just images, illusions, and not reality. Maybe our internal definition has gotten out of whack.
I said to Bill a few times when we met the other day, "the Islam I know is not like the Islam many people think of. If it is not peace, love, and mercy it is not the real religion". But you say, "but the Arab from Mecca on TV and in the paper said Islam is this and that, killing, and fighting, and deception..." nope, sorry, again pictures, even with that big turban and beard, the dark is still the dark and the light is still the light. Where do those darned pictures come from? God sets it up special for each one of us in this life so we can make that struggle with light and darkness and really know what He is all about. Bob Marley seems to think so. Interesting, Bob presents songs like "One Love" or "Exodus" or one of his many others chalk full of normally triggering statements. "One Love, one heart, give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright..let's get together to fight this holy armageddeon...is there a place for the hopeless sinners...there ain't no hiding place from the father of creation". Well let's see: Lord, fighting a holy armageddeon, the idea of sinners, father (is God a man!?) of creation, etc. Not too many people in this circle seem to want to bash Bob Marley. Could it be that you get some context on real religion from his peaceful, loving, and free music? Maybe.
So if you want to know all you have to do is ask. If you look at your results from the exersise for the religion word and you find many negative things ask yourself this, "is there a chance that I may be caught up in my pictures and missing the truth about this? There seems to be quite a fuss about this religion stuff and people are willing to die for it. People have waged great wars for this. Might there be something worth all this fuss in the reality of religion". If you want to be resolved and stay with your self, you wind up being left with your self driving the bus. It can be tough sometimes with your self as your guide in life. But if religion or God or Allah is really about peace, love, mercy, and freedom, that unity we keep mentioning as a child, wouldn't it be worth at least a double check? Again check the pictures because in the end, if you really looked, and opened your heart, you wouldn't be winding up with your picture, you would be winding up with that unity, that freedom, etc. Just ask, "OK. If there is really a God. God please show me in a way I can understand" or set your intention on finding out the truth of religion and WATCH what happens in your life, look for the signs, use your intelligence. First hand experience again here. Your the one who is going in the ground when you die, not the one next to you. You have to experience and watch and know for yourself. There are many times when you are persuing peace and love and freedom that you find yourself alone surrounded with people and things telling you it is not the right way to go. Iblis doing his job.
So just for starters take your paper with the notes on peace, love, and freedom and write at the top, "God". Again if you have the pictures it will surely twist your stomach. But I am sure if you proceed in a way where you are willing to put the pictures aside, the things other people say, the images you see in the media, and make your word for God mean peace, love, and freedom you will be amazed at what you find. You don't have to listen to what this religious man says or what that "holy" book says, if it is contrary to peace, love, and freedom...Gooooong!...nope not going to hear it. Try it and go only from what you experience first hand ever being aware of that ever decieving darkness out there that is ready to shake and trick you at every point of the way. Try it, and report back, make sure to ask for the truth. Who knows, maybe you'll be the next one of us to say hi to Jesus.
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Post by Joe on Mar 7, 2006 13:24:22 GMT -5
"These are the words, of my master..." B. Marley
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