JamesThomas

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Posts by JamesThomas

• 
  450

  Isn't God Awesome?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://wonderofitall.com/

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  JamesThomas

  Perry:

  I was talking about you and the problem of sin that the god you describe does not address. It leads me to believe that either he does not care about justice or he does not care about you and me. ThiBut,s subject is simply ignored in your view of god. I belive it to be very dangerous to ignore this.

  Yes, I understand how you are viewing this and how it seems I am ignoring the dichotomy of "evil".

  Though the mind which dwells in dualities can not comprehend it, there is That which exists before all definable differences, as pure non-duality and complete perfection and wholeness.

  It is the foundational Reality of all existence, and as such can be realized as our own true Self when there is a thorough investigation in and through all senses of duality and fragmentation.

  It can not be captured in a religion or belief system, or in a personal god. It's too big. Too immediate. Too all encompassing. It is what we all are just beneath all the fragmented thingness we believe ourselves and others to be. We are the very perfection and wholeness we seek. It requires sincere and earnest, ruthlessly honest and open investigation into our most intimate and vibrant senses of being and existing. It requires a looking past everything ever believed to be. ...(especially our "sinfulness").

  The greatest journey ever, is to here.....where you are already.

  j
• 
  450

  Isn't God Awesome?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://wonderofitall.com/

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  JamesThomas

  Perry, I have told you before that I have -- with acute awareness -- seen within this body and mind the ability to commit the most vile of atrocities. it happened because radical honesty and openness is a requisite of authentic inner investigation, which I feel is important in coming to know what is true, and what is not; and chances are good that if you had breasts, a vagina and a nice curvy ass I'd be lusting after you as well. So what! We're not talking about me, we were discussing the sense of awe at such a wondrous and vast expression of life and nature, and whether we are motivated to attribute such beauty to something finite and small....such as an anthropomorphic deity, or something more.

  The basic difference between our approach is that my sense of what the word G-O-D points to is unconditionally without beginning and end. It is what all existence: universes, things and gods exist within. On the other hand you and many others seem to tenaciously champion one of these little gods. You are free to do that. Just don't think i'm a fool for not.

  j

  An extraordinary claim, but you do provide some extraordinary evidence...
• 
  55

  Nothing.

  by Narkissos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  perhaps this paradoxical "topic" is one with which we here have dealt a little more, or a little more consciously, than the average population.. we used to have our heads full of beliefs (which we called "truth") in every direction: on theology, on cosmology, on paleontology, on past history, on so-called prophetic future, on heaven above, on earth, on she'ol beneath.

  on many things -- current events, traditions, other peoples' beliefs and behaviours -- we had strong opinions which were directly or indirectly (the famous "conscience" matters) part of the same deal.

  and of course our life was filled with activities and relationships, a community of "friends," people to "help" or "teach," etc.. then, gradually or suddenly, we came to suspect, often with a measure of terror, that all of this was not what we had thought and might sooner or later turn into... nothing.. this "nothing" is perhaps one of the most scary thoughts to people contemplating leaving the org one way or another.

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  JamesThomas

  freedomlover:

  ***the fear of nothing many of us find on their way -- a fear that often scares us into additional, unnecessary painful and vain experiences****

  My teacher once told me: "The only thing which inhibits awakening to our true Self is the fear of being nothing. You are no thing! but not the barren 'nothing' that the mind imagines."

  j
• 
  450

  Isn't God Awesome?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://wonderofitall.com/

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  JamesThomas

  Perry:

  Whom do they see and whom do they hear? Jesus of course...Whether we see or do not see, it is irrelevant as to our individual identities. While all are sick, only some are blind.

  That I do not see your little Jesus, does not mean I am "blind"; in fact, perhaps, just the contrary. What I see is so vast as to not be circumscribed, or defined, and so is unnameable as tiny individual things and objects are named.

  That what you see has a name, may mean your vision is astigmatic, at best. Blind to the true treasure you have, you cherish trinkets and mentally engraved images gleemed from a book and which you can hold in your hand.

  IMO

  j
• 
  450

  Isn't God Awesome?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://wonderofitall.com/

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  2. 
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  JamesThomas

  Perry, thank you for sharing. The little video was well done; and yes I do wonder and stand in awe of the infinite expression of life and existence; all without harboring any imaginary beliefs of little maker-deities that would take the awe and attention away from the vibrant and immediate reality of life in and around me.

  To place ultimate significance in one thing, a deity, is to subtract it from all the rest of the universe. In order to have our little deity shine as the brightest star, everything else must be more dim. A very high price to pay for a personal little god. We are certainly free to do that if we want. Millions do.

  j
• 
  7

  to hell with god... (letter number three)

  by theinfamousone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah,.

  it has been quite some time since i have written you a letter.

  the reason is complicated, and is much more than just one.

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  JamesThomas

  Your hatred towards an absent deity is quite understandable. I too had -- for some time -- an extremely venomous hatred towards such an imaginary character.

  A time came when it could be seen that a god-separate existed only in imagination, so the hatred was actually for creations of my mind. That didn't take away the pain of all the suffering seen and experienced. It did though put the focus on my own sense of self and the dynamics of the mind.

  I suggest investigating within one's own immediate and intimate sense of self and existence. Here, what is real and genuine is found.

  God speed.

  j
• 
  22

  UNDERSTANDING how RELIGION and RITUAL and SUPERSTITION works

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (let's say "tails").

  because, the number of tails you get is statistically how many times the ritual you just performed really works!.

  45 tails is 45%, etc.

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  JamesThomas

  make up a really silly ritual such as rubbing an egg on your crotch and belching three times while saying aloud: TAILS, TAILS, TAILS.....

  If i didn't know better, I would be extremely concerned that you have been looking through my window. You forgot to mention that this very special ritual must be performed nude....except for the douche-bag tied around your head. A Foster farms, chicken droppings colored bag is best...which can be acquired on Terry's website. Sadly, he over charges. The pink ones are cheep though, but they don't conjure up the same exquisite results when wishing for tails. Pink may be good for other things though. I haven't investigated too deeply as this is all pretty new to me. I'm hoping to find a website devoted only to douche-bag color experimentation. Perhaps I should start one.

  j

  douchebagresearch.com
• 
  55

  Can God see the future?

  by Adolfius in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been out a while, but i remember thinking about this as a teenager and being confused, (my mother told me i must be posessed by demons to think such things and so never offered me an explanation).

  what do the jws say about it.

  if jehovah can see into the future, he would've known what a mess he was going to make of creation so he would've decided against it before he even thought of it.. based on the theory that he went ahead and created everything anyway, that must mean he can't see into the future.. i also seem to remember that god doesn't interfere with man, because we have free will, so all our actions are down to us and in no way "steered" or "influenced" by god.. so how can he make predictions about the future, i.e.

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  JamesThomas

  Questions regarding characters we have chiseled within the dark corners of the mind, can be interesting and gobble up great gobs of attention. A more pertinent question than "Can God see the future?", may be: Can we see the present?

  I apologize, Adolfius, if i went off your topic, or seemed to discount your question. Your question is interesting.

  j
• 
  15

  "Religions tell us we have to give up this life for another ...

  by serenitynow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  give up our desire, passions, pleasures ... what type of comfort is that?

  'die while you are alive so you can be alive when you are dead?'".

  this was a thought-provoking quote i read on the weekend from a french philosopher michael onfray, particularly when we know how much one gives up for life as a dub.

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  JamesThomas

  Yes, sadly, this is often the case.

  There is no reality, no genuine significance outside the present moment. Religion compels it's followers to mentally reach past the authentic richness of reality, out towards a lifeless imagined fantasy in some other place and time. When absent and numb to Reality, we are as the walking dead. (I would add that I don't feel that this is how religion was originally meant to be; perhaps the very opposite)

  However, religion is not the only door to such a death-walk. Often we unquestionably accept the beliefs and interpretations of the mind -- religious or not -- for genuine reality; and so die, never knowing what it is to really live.

  There is a beautiful and endlessly vast Reality of which we are truly so wonderfully connected as to be it! Realization of our true identity and unity requires a radical looking past everything we have so far believed "self" and "other" (or universe) to be.

  j
• 
  55

  Nothing.

  by Narkissos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  perhaps this paradoxical "topic" is one with which we here have dealt a little more, or a little more consciously, than the average population.. we used to have our heads full of beliefs (which we called "truth") in every direction: on theology, on cosmology, on paleontology, on past history, on so-called prophetic future, on heaven above, on earth, on she'ol beneath.

  on many things -- current events, traditions, other peoples' beliefs and behaviours -- we had strong opinions which were directly or indirectly (the famous "conscience" matters) part of the same deal.

  and of course our life was filled with activities and relationships, a community of "friends," people to "help" or "teach," etc.. then, gradually or suddenly, we came to suspect, often with a measure of terror, that all of this was not what we had thought and might sooner or later turn into... nothing.. this "nothing" is perhaps one of the most scary thoughts to people contemplating leaving the org one way or another.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  JamesThomas