"Abandon belief for direct experience."
Exactly.
However, we often mistake beliefs and mind generated concepts and interpretations as a "direct experience".
It takes some deep and rare awareness to see the difference.
JamesThomas
JoinedPosts by JamesThomas
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31
Is it WHAT you believe that is important...or...is it HOW?
by Terry inoverheard:.
"is your cup half full or half empty?".
"well, depends on whether you just poured something out or poured something in.".
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31
Is it WHAT you believe that is important...or...is it HOW?
by Terry inoverheard:.
"is your cup half full or half empty?".
"well, depends on whether you just poured something out or poured something in.".
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JamesThomas
"I'm in the last stage of human development when I am compelled to discard everything (well, not every-thing) I have previously held to be unassailable truth."
There is a “path” (called: the pathless path) to opening to a conscious awareness of our foundational truth, that suggests this same process of discarding.
The preface is that the paramount truth, the wisdom and knowing that we seek -- is present, here, now. What good is a “truth”, if it is absent?
For truth to be truth it must be valid, alive and undeniable when embraced and beheld.
So then, the instruction is to be still, in mind and body, and too deeply and sincerely ask:
Who am I/What is True???
Second preface of this, is exactly what Terry expressed as I posted above...but one tiny step further with no holding back and that is an understanding that EVERYTHING we hold to be “true” about self and universe is a lie....and so discarded. Completely let go of. Gone.
We then enter into the deep unspeakable sense of the question of “Who am I”; totally naked and bare of everything. We are a blank slate. A void. Empty. Nothing to hinder, nothing to filter, nothing to taint, the pure light of Truth to enter and so be seen and known.
Take away everything the mind has ever pronounced to be fact, take away every memory, every thought, every spoken or heard word, every sense sensation, and step into nothingness, and what remains? What is TRUE? How deep does it go?
The only thing that stops our seeing, is thoughts and beliefs.
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31
Is it WHAT you believe that is important...or...is it HOW?
by Terry inoverheard:.
"is your cup half full or half empty?".
"well, depends on whether you just poured something out or poured something in.".
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JamesThomas
" God cannot be anything understood by people who actually think they DO."
Jesus, or any truly enlighten mystic, could not have said it any better.
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12
The Swallows are here - nature is AMAAAAAAZING !!
by *lost* inthis is probable my most favourite time of the year.
may.woop woop.
grass is growing, life is coming back after the death and greyness of winter.. them swallows are such amazing little birds.
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JamesThomas
Perhaps, what I am attempting to convey, is that when we feel in awe of beauty, no matter the form or sense, there is an opportunity to silently appreciate the intimate embrace of consciously Being.
In other words: the sense of appreciation, wonder and beauty without...echoes back to an appreciation to the most intimate sense of our being and soul: conscious existence. Because without it, nothing would be.
So, in a very special way, to appreciate a swallow, or a spider, or music, or the smell of a flower is to embrace our own true self.
Sorry, I am trying to put in to words what is deeply and wordlessly felt. What is typed can not convey it.
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12
The Swallows are here - nature is AMAAAAAAZING !!
by *lost* inthis is probable my most favourite time of the year.
may.woop woop.
grass is growing, life is coming back after the death and greyness of winter.. them swallows are such amazing little birds.
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JamesThomas
Dear Lost,
You were reflecting on Swallows, a manifestation of consciousness that our eyes see as a beautiful movement of form. Music in motion. Sweet taste in motion.
Yet, what is it that gives us the wondrous ability to experience and appreciate such elegance?
That, is what I was feebly attempting to point to.
Loved your thoughts that motivated this thread.
jt
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12
The Swallows are here - nature is AMAAAAAAZING !!
by *lost* inthis is probable my most favourite time of the year.
may.woop woop.
grass is growing, life is coming back after the death and greyness of winter.. them swallows are such amazing little birds.
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JamesThomas
Nature, is an endless pool of exquisite, beauty and intelligence. It surrounds us from the farthest star, as well as inhabits every cell of our body. Yet, as wondrous as it all is, it all exists in, and is dependent upon the most intimate gift we naturally embrace: CONSCIOUNESS. The untouchable and indefinable magic that makes it all happen.
If there is a God, a Source of all, it is CONSCIOUSNESS.
The ONLY thing we can undeniably know: is that consciousness IS.
Everything else may be a dream, and illusion.
That said. Swallows, are amazing.
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31
Is it WHAT you believe that is important...or...is it HOW?
by Terry inoverheard:.
"is your cup half full or half empty?".
"well, depends on whether you just poured something out or poured something in.".
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JamesThomas
Terry, you certainly have a way with words. Your posts are often exquisitely insightful and poetic. Sometimes I wonder if you get any sleep at night with the wheels of your mind churning so.
I think that what you are getting to is similar to what I have always felt. Basically, that beliefs and dogma are just a scrapes of weaved together counterfeit thoughts and ideas, that have no validity in regards Reality (what you expressed as: “a kaleidoscope of opinions and practices...a fetish..made out of arguments”).
What does matter, amounts to one thing: how we treat each-other and all life and planet.
Our minds can create grand beliefs and religions, but it all comes down to the genuine love, caring and kindness that we actively give to each-other, nature and our beloved earth.
Beliefs are false. Actions are real.
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Top Secret America
by mind blown in.
"top secret america 911 to the boston bomb" .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswsqb9rszy.
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JamesThomas
Mind blown,
It may be best you don't go down this path, as this documentary only slightly begins to touch on something far deeper.
Already one half of the magic phrase: conspiracy theory, has come up (yellow light). Two words, with the power to stop you (red light) from looking further. Let's face it, a conspiracy theorist is bordering on the insanity of a chronic masturbator who exposes himself in public. Don't want to be associated with that crowd, do you.
Best just adhere to what the majority of main-stream media and government tells you.
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71
MIL letter to my wife
by AggieNostic inbackground: my wife and i are inactive, we stopped attending in 2005. raised as jws, were pioneers, i was elder etc... .
our kids are in college, also inactive but are baptised.
my wife went back to college, getting her degree this month at age 48!
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JamesThomas
Not responding can be seen as shunning; like begetting like.
MrsJones, said to sit on it awhile. I agree.
And in the mean time I would be pondering on a return letter that centered on the subject of love; and how you are attempting to cultivate an unconditional love for all life.
Here, are, perhaps, a few little seeds to start the process:
Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
Throughout history humans have been drastically short on love, and have limited it to only close family, friends and tribe. A “love” that is the root cause of all conflict, war and mans inhumanity to man and nature.
Yet, there is a very important dynamics alive in our hearts, the desire to do better and be as genuinely loving, caring and compassionate as we can possibly be to all. In a sense, to be more Christ-like.
Tell her you understand her views. Embrace her, rather than push away or ignore her as insignificant and unimportant (let her do that to you, but in no way return it). Make every word expressed show true caring and love for her. (Note: this has to come from your heart, or it is all BS and lies that will serve no one.)
Make it as clear as you can how, in your eyes, shunning and cutting people off, only adds to the pain, stress and despair that the world is already too full of. Pushing people out of our lives only exposes the limitations of our love and caring....and in no way expresses the genuine love and empathy that wants to come forth from within our deepest heart.
Don't try to convince her of anything. Just make it clear how you feel and desire to improve. If she is open at all. She will see, she will feel an agreement to your words and feeling within her own heart that echoes yours.
Use her language when you can...to help her be open to your message.
Certainly, my heart tells me, that Jehovah's love, the Creator of an infinite universe, must have a love infinitely greater than our own. I use Him, and the beauty he has given us within nature, as a guide.
Or whatever. Speak only your heartfelt words. These are just a crude and feeble example.
Take your time on it. Take this opportunity to become clear in your own heart and mind on what love means to you. Take it to the depths of your soul, and discover.
Be still, and know.
Does this make any sense?
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How to Recognize Counterfeit Christian Religions
by smartwater inby their fruits you will know them.
a good tree (religion) does not bear bad fruit, neither can a rotten tree bear good fruits.
true faith is followed by good fruits/works.. dead faith is followed by bad works or no works at all.. 30 bad fruits/works of counterfeit christian religions.
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JamesThomas
Every religion is counterfeit. As is every thought and belief about Reality.
Our sensations and insignificant thoughts regarding a tree, are in no way the reality of the vibrant life we call: “tree”.
How much more so then – in regards That (God) which is infinitely beyond all phenomena?
Religion is mental masturbation, at best.