"A Course In Miracles"
Not to sound crazy but.......
by blueviceroy 25 Replies latest jw friends
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BabaYaga
A dear friend of mine is a bishop in the Gnostic tradition.
I love this quote she has on her website:
Who Are WeThis is a group of people with a sense of humor. Life is too serious for us to take ourselves seriously. We enjoy life and all it has to offer. We rejoice in the discoveries of science: the decoding of the DNA, the functioning of the brain, the wresting of the mysteries within the heart of the atom itself, the new physics, modern technology, and the computer age. We rejoice in poetry, music, and dance. We rejoice in nature.
We also remain aware of the past and its traditions. We do not follow the traditions themselves, nor do they bind us. Rather we acknowledge them as part of our cultural past and as a source from which much of our present civilization springs forth.
The same applies to all scriptures. The Hebrew Bible, the Gnostic Gospels, the Christian and Apocryphal Gospels, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita—we use them and others from more recent sources. We never take them literally. We do not consider any of them to be "the word of God" or a final authority. We do not see them as "God's laws," but as men's laws. They are many voices with varying degrees of consciousness expressing, with whatever they could, their vision of the universe and its source. Each the voice of its culture and times. Each colored by its political and social condition—often tainted with fear and the effort to demonize enemies or to justify actions and the establishment of new beliefs. Each a cry for hope. All longing for God. Much in them is of great beauty and wisdom. We recognize and acknowledge the value of these ancient mythologies. By mythology, we mean something that while not necessarily factual, is nevertheless true. They point not to one time and event in history but to the ever-recurrent realities of the soul. As we discover more about evolution and the universe, new meanings arise. The old mysteries, as they unravel, eternally disclose new ones to be unveiled. Therefore we can hold no beliefs—only hypotheses; open to be discarded or changed at all times.
We acknowledge and celebrate ritual—so deeply ingrained within our own primitive natures. Since primitive times and against all rationality we continue to search for the Unknown and Unknowable within and beyond perceived reality, the Great Mystery beyond birth and death. The rituals that we celebrate in our Sanctuary, with their flow of poetry, music and rich metaphor often lead us beyond ordinary reality. When consciously celebrating their mystery, a paean of joy often bursts from our souls that connects us to the root and totality of our beings—as well as with that which has been, is, and is yet to come.
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and her website is here
http://www.gnosticsanctuary.org/who_are_we.html
I love her rituals, they brought me greater peace than you can imagine. Unfortunately, Gnostic experience varies greatly, and even so, the gatherings are few and far between. If nothing else, I hope the quote inspires you. You might want to check out her reading list, lots of very cool spirit-searching books there.
Enjoy the journey!
Love,
Baba. -
Twitch
What sounds so crazy about knowing one's self?
"When the student is ready, the master will appear"
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blueviceroy
Thank you baba that was really nice to see . The gentle respect and love expressed was refreshing . Sometimes my own cynycism holds me back and I can't feel the love in our purpose. Reading that was good it reafirmed for me that people somewhere use the grey stuff like they should
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5go
But now I'm going nuts in my search for some real meat to sink my spiritual jaws into. I feel that aspect of me as growing and becomeing more insistent everyday for real "spiritual food" JWs gave me dysintary
The sooner you stop trying to find out the correct way to live! The sooner you start to live!
All religion does is pass on old ideas, and claim divine origin to give them some authority!
Stop trying to feed your spiritual being and trying to live your life. I find that the real problem wasn't the witnesses it was trying to please something that does not exist except in your head and the heads of others. Hence why gods does what ever we want him to do.
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blueviceroy
<5go> I feel your vehemence is misplaced . I do not seek a religion to belong to . I really seek new ways to understand my condition as a WHOLE being and where I might be in the scheme of things.
Most of my time is taken up by work family and play . I like to cook and eat lol . I want input from as many peolpe as possible about as many paths to enlightenment as possible because it brings me great pleasure to seek the divine nature of humanity.
I feel like a lost child in the midst of the unknown and it feels good for the most part. I seek for seekings sake not in the futile hope that I will find an answer LOL! The answer is the seeking not the finding . I just want other places to seek
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r.a.m.
As MadTiger said "Don't rule out anything because of some previous prejudice against it. Open yourself to find the truth." How about Jesus. Religion has not taught Jesus correctly because religion can't do it. Holy spirit is the only way to learn about Jesus. He is the whole bible. There is more to learn about the real Jesus than you could ever learn. It gets more complicated the more you learn, while at the same time, more simple.
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poppers
blueviceroy: you have a PM
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*summer*
"The Calling" by Rasha
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Hortensia
I think real spirituality is not easy, it's a constant struggle with yourself to grow, to be a more noble person, to carry your own burdens. When you realize no one is watching, keeping score, then the real test of who you are begins. Are you willing to keep an eye on yourself, criticize yourself, direct yourself in the right way? If no one is watching, but you, are you easy on yourself or tough? Are you selfish or generous? Self-centered or compassionate? And, as another person said, can you do it all with a sense of humor, lightness, joy? Can you do it without becoming superior and judgemental of others? At least, that's what I think is the path - become like god, even though there isn't a god, develop your higher mind, not your selfish nature. Oh well, I'm just babbling on, but that is what I think spirituality is.