I am so repelled by religion that even the Tao that requires nothing of me often disturbs me. So many authors today call themselves Master Taoists or Grand Yogi or whatever. That smacks of organized religion and telling me how to "follow." These same ones tell me to kill the Buddha, but then tell me how to make them the Buddha. Just like WTS, they are mainly "selling literature." Buy it if it helps, but remember that and follow your own path.
Exactly! That's why the Tao says "once you've NAMED it you've lost it". I feel the same way. The Tao is a wonderful, enlightened writing just like many, many other enlightened writings out there, including IMHO, Jesus words. But when people make a religion out of them, the enlightenment gets lost and ruined. The ego has a chance to take over and run amuck. But making suggestions for reads and understanding is not the same to me as making a religion out of something. We have to pass on information with our language. Now if these "writings" become a "belief system" for us, then we aren't getting it. And if an author says "follow me" then you know they're not really living "it".
AWF, I started reading Dr. Dyer about 3 years ago and a close friend of mine told me to stop reading it because it was going to take me out of the "the truth". Guess he was right.
Your friend was right, "It" WILL take people away from ANY organized structure because when we realize who we are, we realize we don't need those things. You have everything you've ever needed right inside of you.
A dear friend recommended A New Earth, I'll have to get a copy. I'm still contemplating on one of Joseph Campbell's work's. The discovery that 'it' has always been within is a great Aha moment. Jesus talking about the kingdom of God is within us comes from an earlier time of great learning and advancement within Judiaism after they had a collective Aha moment.
A New Earth literally changed my life, not because I found a new way to believe, but because it repeated back to me what I already knew but couldn't put into words. I had been "awakening" (and that word is just a title) for a couple months before that, and this book put all the pieces together for me. Highly recommended. And I've realized as of late, that what Jesus was saying about the "Kingdom of God being within you" was just a different language for what the Tao teaches. And IMO, everything that Jesus did, was just a way of showing us that we could do the same things too once we realized we could, including heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, perform miraculous things. We already have the power to do it, it's who we are, and I think there is a definite shift taking place, where these types of things are being recognized and we will see these things happen, IMHO.
