Posts by JamesThomas

18

Native American Wisdom

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

i wanted to share some pearls of wisdom from a book of native american proverbs.

btw: anyone here from a native american background?.

when we show our respect for other livings things, they respond with respect for us - arapaho proverb.

JamesThomas

Purps:

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply smiled and replied, "The one you feed."

This so true, and one of the reasons it is so extremely important to learn to be present and watch the mind. It's not about judging or condemning thoughts; it's about consciously choosing to empower certain thoughts over others. That said, thoughts are not what we are. Our true Being is the vast indescribable depths which silently views it all. This, we all have in common. This, is what unites us all. j

18

Native American Wisdom

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

i wanted to share some pearls of wisdom from a book of native american proverbs.

btw: anyone here from a native american background?.

when we show our respect for other livings things, they respond with respect for us - arapaho proverb.

JamesThomas

The reason I chose to abandon all religious beliefs is that thoughts about a tree, are not a tree; beliefs about a god, are not God; and there can be realized an endless presence of the Divine in simple and silent being.

j

18

Native American Wisdom

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

i wanted to share some pearls of wisdom from a book of native american proverbs.

btw: anyone here from a native american background?.

when we show our respect for other livings things, they respond with respect for us - arapaho proverb.

JamesThomas

Lovelylil:

One way of finding God is in reading what is written by believers in him but another just as valid way is to look around us and appreciate all the things he created! I often find God in this very way.

The difference is much like the contrast between reading about skydiving, and actually doing it. One is a mental exercise in juggling thoughts and words, and the other is meeting with reality.

j

18

Native American Wisdom

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

i wanted to share some pearls of wisdom from a book of native american proverbs.

btw: anyone here from a native american background?.

when we show our respect for other livings things, they respond with respect for us - arapaho proverb.

JamesThomas

My grandmother was Blackfoot.

Generally the American Indians have a far vaster sense of the Divine compared to the narrow and diminutive beliefs of Christians.

I heard once that when confronted with a Christian missionary trying to convert her, an Indian matriarch said: "You find your god within ink and paper which come to nothing in the wind and rain. We find God within the wind and rain".

j

15

What is Truth?

by onacruse in

this has been posted elsewhere, but perhaps it is worthy of a revisit:.

this question is one which every sincere christian should ask and seek to answer.

we should learn to love and value truth for its own sake; to respect and honor it by owning and acknowledging it wherever we find it and by whomsoever presented.

JamesThomas

Poppers, that was a beautifully worded post.

Are you using an Apple computer or a browser other than Explorer? If so there are things you can do to display spacing for paragraphs and such. There are posts here on the forum about how that is accomplished. I would tell you how but I don't remember.

j

44

Faith in God and the Church - Part 1 of 2

by Amazing in

jw
friends

palmer: i don't know.

i mean, for me... i need proof.. palmer: proof.

ellie: yes, very much.. palmer: prove it.. [source: http://www.turning-pages.com/contact/machine.htm].

JamesThomas

Very, very nice post, Jim.

not the kind of false spirituality that drives JWs to go door-to-door ... but the kind that knows God exist, is real, and allows us to become part of the Divine world.

Could it be that all already is "of the Divine world"? and that it is in fact impossible to be separate or absent from It? Could it be that rather than being in some ways limited and circumscribable -- as your beliefs imply -- that in reality what the word G-O-D points to has absolutely no beginning and no end?

Is the true God so small that we need to believe and have faith in order to become part of a "Divine world" where those who do not believe are coldly absent? Or is it all a delusional ego trip?

Is God less, or more?

j

29

Musing over What is Karma, Rebirths, and the Illusions of the Senses

by frankiespeakin in

i have finally had a little time to pause for some reflection, lately been either sick(flu) or fighting fatigue to get work done while sick with the flu.. one of my favorite pastimes is to tune into jwd and read all your arguements for and against things of the paranormal nature, mysticism, evolution, and things like these.

i do enjoy those that are of a scientific shaped logic and lean more heavily towards some of their well thought out replies, i see them as open minded for the most part, and know i would never be able to research to the degree they do the subject of evolution and patiently try to deal with some rather set in their ways creationist.

they have brought a wealth of information to our board, that no doubt help many rid themsevles of the god(of the bible) delusion, a rather mean and nasty delusion that many jws need to shake to make thier coming out of mind control more complete.. while i have given up on the god delusion pretty completely, i have not become a complete materialist.

JamesThomas

Narkissos:

I believe we are all writing on the sand.
Knowing is cutting out pieces of "something" (being, reality, whatever) into separate "things" (of different categories like space and time, objects and events, etc.). Any "light" this process sheds on "anything" invariably results in obscuring "something else".
And the (non-)essence of this "light" is negation. We cast it wherever we look. Only against the negation of language do "things" appear -- offer an appearance or (sur)face -- as they seem to be.
Sometimes I think of languages and minds as beingworms: an army of "nos" splitting and breaking the unnamed like the worm does the earth; making it looser, smoother, more mobile or fluid perhaps; how our language-based technique does alter the so-called "material world" may be just an "aspect" of this process.
Or bubbles of "I am not" in the ocean of "being" -- the "outside of language" which we may never know better than the negation of a negation.

This is beautiful and insightful writing.

It seems the mind is continually cutting peaces out of the already whole-cloth of existence; and then wraps itself in its patchwork me-and-my-relationship-to-the-outside-universe. So, in the end, nothing the mind offers as "true" is the reality and actuality we seek; rather just more patchwork to reinforce the illusion of "self" and fragmented isolation.

Am "I" this shard of existence that seems separate and apart from all else? Can the minds frantic weaving be seen as it attempts to protect its patchwork creation with the thread of beliefs and thoughts of reincarnation and past lives? Am "I" what is believed to be? What is true? Who/what am I, really?

Perhaps sincere and earnest questions like these will bring an end to the dramatic story called "me". What remains, what IS, when there is no story???

You are That.

j

10

On Finding the "Truth"

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

on finding the "truth" a former jehovah's witness asks: .

what troubled me most as a jw was that how i could be sure i had the truth.

if you choose a religion and claim it as the truth, it's like saying you are smarter than anyone who believe other religions... imho.

JamesThomas

Randy:

I guess things haven't really changed much in 24 years, except that I guess I don't NEED it to be true, but still choose to believe it. It's "my" story, though someday I might be able to see it from a superior vantage point. If that ever happens, it won't be from deferring to someone's book, or story, or any other outside "proof." Truth for the individual should be internally intuitive. If you can't trust your own court of law, don't go seeking someone else's. Better work on your own and improve it.

Well said; and you pointed out an important key: recognizing "my story" is just a story.

Which begs the questions: What remains when there is no story? Is there an ultimate truth which unites everything when the divisive nature of my-story is seen through? How deep does the most real, intimate and immediate sense of being and existing go? What truly IS when all stories and beliefs are absent? What is true? Who/what am I, really?

As you implied, Randy; here is a path so narrow it's traveled alone. Others can not undertake the investigation for us, or give us what we truly are. At best they can only point the way.

I suggest that you will discover the superior vantage point to be right here, right now. Look into what is looking.

j

75

Believer, Agnostic or Atheist?

by lfcviking in

jw
friends

i am curious, what amount people on this board from their experiences of being a baptised & active jw and their subsequent exit from the jw org (for whatever reason or reasons) are now either agnostic, atheist or do some actually still believe in god?.

your honest answers please.. lfcv.

JamesThomas

Terry:

If we dismiss this identification we open up the possibility of being able to self-create by discovering our true identity. It is self-discovery and not an apology of misery.

Well said. Self-discovery rather than an apology of misery. I love it. It's right on the mark.

I just might have to pilfer that one.

j

104

Further incite on Dawkin's The God Delusion

by Abandoned in

jw
friends

i started a thread after i finished the first chapter of this book entitled something like, i'm an atheist.

i finished chapter three and i have to backtrack a bit, but i also feel the need to explain why since i was so vocal.. first, let me say that i think everyon should read the first two chapters of the god delusion by richard dawkins.

he brings up some very important points about religion and about science's place in our world.

JamesThomas

Blueblades:

Could you elaborate, if it's not too much that I am asking of you, how you have come to know that it was a "Glorious intelligence" That brought the entire universe into being? Thanks.

Good question.

I didn't come to know in the way that one intellectually gathers information and then coalesces that information into a conclusion. It was not a mental process. Rather a moment came when -- without effort -- it was clearly seen that the universe of phenominal existence is not separate from, or different than, the conscious beingness and Life which views it. Where the mind interprets fragmentation, there is actually Unity, a Oneness. When you see it, it's as if you always knew, because it's what you truly are. You are the Oneness. All is the Oneness.

There are no words or thoughts I can offer to convince you or anyone of this. I can not give you what you already are. It has to be seen first hand.

I suggest being present and silently watch the mind's thoughts and the connected emotional responses. Clearly see what is mental illusion. Also be aware of what it really feels like to breath and exist. In other words: shift your precious conscious attention out of the story generated by the mind, and more into the actual reality of the present moment. Become more conscious and aware of the actuality and reality of being. You are simply seeking what IS already true; so diving into reality is the door. A moment will arise when what is seeing everything, sees itself, and then, you know....and not until.

Honestly and sincerely question everything the mind believes about "self", God, and universe. Let the desire to know what is true, be your light. Trust that the glorious and wondrous Source and Sustenance of all life and things is not separate from what you truly are.

j