Posts by JamesThomas

40

Buddhism, Taoism, Meditation, and any other Non-Christian Journeys...

by exjdub in

jw
friends

there have been a lot of christian threads lately, so i thought that i would open a topic for other journeys.

because there is no way i will ever be a christian again because the curtain has been opened and i can see behind it, however i have an open mind and have started some meditation practices.

i have been thinking about visiting a buddhist temple out of curiosity.

JamesThomas

What are your Non-Christian journeys?

Why journey at all? What truth is not already present, that we feel we must travel to? It is truth, which we are after, is it not?

So what is true? First it may help to watch the mind and see that ALL of it's interpritations, labels, beliefs, ideas and concepts are only mental abstracts, and not the actual reality we seek. In other words: if it can be thought or spoken, it's not it. Not the absolute truth and actuality we seek. So, what is?

Right here, right now, there is at our most immediate and intimate center an indefinable, unthinkable and unspeakable conscious beingness and aliveness. It is here, this pool of truth, that all sense of existence, self and universe revolve around. Leave the mind and all its interpritations and go deeper here. Right here. Right now. No need to journey afar. No need for beliefs. No need for religion. No need to learn or earn anything. No need for anything other than what you already are at the core...already. It's about seeing. Consciousness realizing the pristine purity and untouchable vastness of Itself. Who/what, are you, really?

Be still, and know...

j

4

Check out this awesome guitarist!

by Hellrider in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qja5fazf1a8.

it`s a classical piece arranged for electric guitar (pachelbels canon).

it`s one of the best guitar-performances i`ve ever seen.

JamesThomas

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/108725/1.ashx

38

Question for ex-JWs who are Christians

by whyizit in

jw
friends

i noticed that many who post here have kind of thrown the "baby out with the bathwater", when it comes to the bible and god.. i understand that there is a fine line between love and hate.

maybe they blame god for the deception.

maybe they don't trust anything to do with god any more.

JamesThomas

I noticed that many who post here have kind of thrown the "baby out with the bathwater", when it comes to the Bible and God.... I know that there are many former JWs who love God and have embraced Christianity.

This self righteous attitude that only Christians own God is nauseating.

What has no beginning and no end can not be owned or shrunk to fit into a dogma. If you think you have some special ownership which makes you special, you have done nothing but engrave a tiny mental image and placed it on a nonexistent throne within your feeble imagination.

It's one thing to cherish and relish certain beliefs; it's quite another to fool yourself into thinking your beliefs have the power to shrink and circumscribe God.

j

16

Jesus? this is way too fun can you see him?

by skyking in

can you see jesus in this photo?

JamesThomas

He has a nice tan.

j

82

Trade Centers/Pentagon

by Butters in

jw
friends

i was wonderin' how you guys see the conspiracy of the trade center demolition and the attack on the pentagon?

it has been well established now some years later that there must have been detonation devices lining the elevator shafts of the three trade towers that collapsed.

after 1 and 2 fell, no one really ever questioned the way that 3rd one fell in the same manner (pancake collapse style, as a controlled demolition goes).

JamesThomas

Freetosee:

Personally I have not made up my mind and am not in a hurry to do so.

Good for you. To open minded people like yourself, Free, I would say that what people call "9/11 conspiracy theorists" are really just people questioning the official conspiracy theory of 19 Arab men performing alone. You may find evidence that requires a far more thorough and unhindered investigation than we have had so far. Actually the lies and omissions within the official investigations as it has been presented is evidence in itself for a real, honest and complete investigation.

I have found that, generally, If we look at individual aspects we can naturally come up with different reason for them, and before long find our self in a confusing mess. It may help to step back and attempt to get a bigger picture of things. A coherency which may give new understanding and meaning to what seemed before as merely chaotic and unrelated events. Connecting the dots may be more rewarding than studying one or two dots. Or not.

The documentary which is free on Google and has been posted in this thread already: 9/11: Press For Truth, may be a pretty good place to start. Also study of Paul Thompson's Cooperative research website which lays-out the complete 9/11 time-line: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/project.jsp?project=911_project

Also the 29 page PDF document: Intersecting Facts and Theories on 9/11 (click on it), has a many year span of things and reveals a big picture which gives new meaning to many of the before confusing events.

Good luck. I feel that there are many more like you here who are open to investigation, but do not post as they have little desire to be insulted. It's understandably more comfortable to accept the official story and retain a sense of status quo, than to have your rug of reality pulled out from under you. My heart goes out to those who allow themselves an open and honest investigation of all the information; because it can be extremely saddening and emotionally trying.

I just want to see open, honest and thorough investigations of all evidence.

j

16

Is God Self-Sufficient

by Undecided in

jw
friends

does god need worship and love from other entities?

it seems so by the way he made intelligent creatures.

if they are to be accepted as his children they must conform to his designated way of life and thinking.

JamesThomas

The mind creates ideas of what the word G-O-D points to; and along with that comes a huge amount of beliefs, questions and dilemmas.

Notice how these god-ideas present themselves as some thing or object separate from the foundational and intimate sense of being and existing. Notice how these god-ideas are but a small foggy fragment compared to the crystalline vibrancy of life and being's infinite expression. Why create gods so small or any at all? Why do we so easily accept ancient and archaic myths of tiny deities as having something to do with reality? Perhaps we have forgotten how to be actually present with Life, and so make up things to take it's place.

There is the shallow mental-interpretation of reality, which is a huge step removed from actual-reality: Reality as it actually IS. Perhaps what really IS, is what the word G-O-D points to. That, which has no beginning and no end. That, which all existence and universes reside as and in.

This begs the question, what does this make us? Are we the shallow mental stories and mental interpretations we believe "ourselves" to be? Or is our foundational reality and Identity -- endless. Who/what are we, really? What is it that actually sees all that is believed to be?

Perhaps when this one question is answered, there will be no more questions about God. Perhaps the purity, peace and wholeness we so desperately seek, is what we really are.

What really looks out our eyes?

alt

j

65

POLL: Do You Believe In The Bible or God At All???

by minimus in

jw
friends

at this point in your life, do you believe in god or any parts of the bible as being god's word???.

.

JamesThomas

Who is it that believes or does not believe?

Images are formed within the cloudy liquid of thought that capture so much attention that they are labeled: "God".

It's all a mirage. Smoke and mirrors: Thoughts thought to be God. Thoughts on a page (the Bible) thought to be from thoughts thought to be God. It's a closed loop of idea that never makes it outside of itself to reality.

When all thought is still and quiescent, what is here then? What is real? Who/what are we, really?

j

6

First Contact with Jehovah's witnesses and UFOs

by georgian.paduraru in

i have recently had the first contact with the watch tower and jehovah's witnesses.

i like the way of thinking, and of interpreting the bible.

i always thought it should not be taken literally, and indeed some dilemmas in my head were solved after reading some publications and talking.

JamesThomas

Welcome, Georgian.

Perhaps your dilemma is not caused by whether or not the universe is abundant with life - which if our planet is a relatively common example, it is rich with life -- but rather your giving credence to archaic tribal myth.

Why would we expect the Source and Sustenance of all life and universes to be so mundane and small as that presented within the pages of some desert tribes mumblings? Certainly the actual origin of an infinite universe ( and there may be countless universes) must be greater still.

When it comes to what the word G-O-D points to, it may be wise to forgo all limitations and foolish mind generated concepts that have been passed down to us from people who had no clue as to how vast things really are; and instead step into the silent vibrancy of life and existence right here and now to see what can be found here.

j

20

Listen Up Dalai Lama! Your Days Are Numbered!

by Arthur in

the end of false religion is near - kingdom news campaign.

every once in a while, i get a stomach-churning glimpse into the the bizarre mindset of jwism.

what strikes me is how the jws believe that this tract is going to "shake people up", and stir up a firestorm of controversy that will shake the entire earth to it's core.

JamesThomas

Funny and poignant post, Arthur.

I think it's called: the frog in the well syndrome; and we all suffer from it to some degree.

j

4

..Pearls of Wisdom..

by OUTLAW in

jw
friends

we learn a great deal from fellow posters.....soothsayers,naysayers and the occasional goof..sages on pages,with a passion for truth..speak truthfully and the truth will become clear..what pearls of wisdom,have you gathered from here?

...outlaw

JamesThomas

For the last half an hour I have been staring hypnotically at the spinning question mark.

What was the question? Was there a question? Where am I?

j