Listen to the brilliant Alan Watts on this subject and on many other spiritual/philosophical matters.
Alan Watts - Jesus and his Religion
by yadda yadda 2 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Cold Steel
He's very entertaining to listen to, and he makes some very good points; however, ultimately it comes back to who Jesus really is. Is he merely someone who has attained a double whammy of cosmic consciousness, or is he God in the flesh? Is he merely another iteration of Buddha or is he the Savior of the World and man's intercessor with the Father? These are the questions that get lost in the philosophy. "God became man so that man could become God," the Orthodox church has always maintained. The Jehovah's Witnesses are at the other end, saying, "The Son of God became man so that man could become man; that is, Jehovah's son, Michael, became man so that man could become largely what he was before the fall.
Watts, eloquent as he is, seeks the divine in all religions and in all philosophies and tries to extract the commonality, or mutuality, of them all. But in this he is too quick to overemphasize the condescension of God (Jesus) in becoming human. Only Jesus, among all men, Christians teach, can bring us to God. And only the Holy Spirit -- not cosmic consciousness -- can lead man to all truth.
It's also correct, I think, that God isn't going to put a small pearl on the earth, then destroy everyone who fails to find it. Too many religions are too much into destroying or condemning the other guy, the one who doesn't agree with us. How can they sell such a God as kind, loving and merciful, then threaten people with either destruction or eternal flames?
Although the people of God are, throughout the scriptures, called the "sons of God," any attempt of anyone to say that we can become like God is instantly viewed as blasphemy. But isn't it the nature of sons to become like their fathers? Didn't John say, as Watts noted, "that when we see God, we shall be like him"? But this won't come through a variety of gurus. It will only come through one -- Jesus Christ.
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yadda yadda 2
You probably need to listen to more of Watts, Cold Steel. He didn't believe in a Christian God per se, although he did formally train as a priest as a young man but espoused the Chinese system.
He's just pointing out the absurdity of saying that one must follow either Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha or whatever, as its impossible to objectively say which one is right. Everyone reflects the bias derived from their own culture and religious milieu, as your very post demonstrates, no disrespect. It's impossible to say who Jesus really was or whether he or Mohammed performed real miracles or whatever.
So ultimately he's saying that what matters is the underlying message across all of them that we have a divine spark within us that we can tap into, but it can't be discovered through talking and dogma. 'God' can only be found from going inside oneself, in silence, which is the essence of all Eastern religious philosophy.
This makes sense Biblically when you consider that even the Bible teaches we are created in God's 'image'. That idea is common across all religions. So Eastern religion is basically just saying that 'God' can only be found by going inside oneself in meditative silence and understanding what that 'image' is, what that divine blueprint is that we all share, and conforming more closely to it.
That's what Watts means by anyone becoming like God and becoming one of God's 'sons'.
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Bangalore
Watts was an Anglican priest before he became a Buddhist.
Bangalore
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designs
One friend who was a Hippie-Buddhist before becoming a JW once joked while looking in a mirror after coming out of the shower- 'honey you ain't no goddess'.
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THE GLADIATOR
I have many cds and downloads by the brilliant Alan Watts. He calls himself a spiritual entertainer. He examines various persuations and disciplins and gives live lectures. He ended up living on a barge off the coast of San Francisco, smoking pot and drinking. He died happy a few years ago.