Sin, Guilt and Innocence

As a student of Spirit, little less as a teacher, I am often asked about the concept of sin. The more I think about it, the more I find the preoccupation with sin to be sadder and sadder.

One of my favorite films, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", has an amazing line in it where young Francesco has just explained to Pope Innocent III what he wants, to find the joy and peace he sees in the animals around him. Pope Innocent III replies that "In our obsession of original sin, we too often forget original innocence."

I often wonder if our apparent obsession with others sins is more an attempt to elevate ourselves, especially those in positions of celebrity and fame (this would explain all the tabloid journalism at the grocery checkout).

In "A Course in Miracles" there is the statement that there is only one sin, forgetting our true nature and relationship to God, Source (or Bob). All these other "sins" that we worry about are not even seen by Source since they do not actually exist, they are nothing more than the manifestations of that one sin, a mistaken idea that we have brought into manifestation.

The real problem with the world is not sin but guilt in that it is our guilt over past "sins" that we torment ourselves as well as energize the thoughts that the Law of Attraction cannot help but bring into manifestation.

So lighten up on yourself, the worst you have done is make an error, that will be forgiven by Spirit, reclaim your identity to Source and find yourself outside the realm of "original sin" and return to your natural state of "original innocence."

A tough answer to Why?

When I talk to many people that either do not believe in God, in any form, or are doubting their faith, I often get the questions of why the world is the $#@*-hole that it appears to be and why would a loving God allow it to happen?

The part of these questions that always strikes me as a touch funny is that they presume a responsibility of God and a complete lack of our own. God gives us freedom of choice and where we take it is our responsibility and our problem.

If you look through the history of the Spiritgeek blog, you will find an entry called "Judeo/Christian Paradigms: Karma vs Salvation" where I explain the idea that "original sin" is the forgetting of our spiritual nature and the illusion that we are our bodies. Reminiscent of the quote, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience."

Things in this world happen by OUR will and action.

If original sin is actually forgetting our true identity and relation to the Source, then that Source would not be concerned with the actions that occur within the delusion as it has no REAL reality from the ultimate perception.

So the name we call that which lives in this space is often God. From that perspective it is a given that all things will eventually return from where it originated and the in-between is just the show, a Saturday Matinee.

Now I know this sounds a bit harsh, but if we are going to blame a deity for a lack of action, maybe we need to switch our perspective and in the process start to regain the awareness that the world can become a #@*-hole only if we let it. It truly is up to us and God will just wait at the other end of the process.

Unless you wish to give up freedom of choice and self-determination, but I would not suggest holding your breath... But, it is your choice!

Perception & Happiness

I have been looking over my recent tweets and I noticed that I have been inspired to several about perception and happiness being a choice.

One of the basic tenets that I believe in is the idea that Man is indivisibly part and parcel of the Creator and that God is just as linked to us.

I remember a scene from a film I was watching recently, "Bless the Child", where a young child will grow up to bring many to God, according to the story.

The scene that I was thinking about is when Cody, our "special" child, is taken out to an alley by Eric Stark, the founder of a "Demonic" Youth Cult, to see what appears to be a schizophrenic homeless man who is sitting on the ground muttering to himself.

ERIC

Look at this man. He should be in an institution, but God abandoned him, didn't he, left him here to suffer. Death, would be a kinder fate, even a cruel death.

Through the power of the one I serve I can give him the strength to end his pain.

ERIC places a small gas can and a box of matches on the ground near the HOMELESS MAN. Eric then begins to perform a ritual. The man starts to show signs of understanding and begins to reach for the gas can and pour the contents over himself as CODY watches in horror.

ERIC (CONT'D.)

Watch. If God loves his children so much, maybe he'll stop this. Redeem him, somehow. Or maybe the release I've offered him is his only true salvation.

CODY starts to walk up to the HOMELESS MAN while he pulls out a match and strikes it, Cody blows out match and hands him something.

CODY
(hugs homeless man and whispers into his ear)

He hasn't forgotten you.

One of the simple truths in this is that we are all the manifestation of a thought of the Creator who cannot forget us and if he ever did, we would blink out of existence, it is the thought that gives us form/creation.

This is the basic premise upon which the Law of Attraction functions.

Creation is not something we do, but something we are. We ARE creators, just like our parent, the difficulty comes in remembering that and creating by deliberate intention and not by accidental default.

Our moods and thoughts are the gauge by which we can determine what it is we are creating and if it is something that will bring joy as a result. Most of us create in anger and jealousy and the fruits just magnify that initial seed that we planted.

Start by becoming aware of your "states of mind" and then watch for the results. When you get to where you are immediately aware, change the program intentionally and see what new fruits you create.

Happy creating!

Imagining is not just for John Lennon

-- Imagine --

I have been a fan of this song for most of my life, but it wasn't until much later that I actually sat down and listened to the lyrics.

I think the first time was probably when it was the closing credits of "The Killing Fields" which really struck me hard. The movie exposed me to a visual representation of just how vile mankind can be to others.

The great teachers through history have all addressed this from one perspective or another, but the simple fact is that when you view yourself as a separate entity, cut off from everyone and everything else, it becomes second nature to dehumanize the "others."

I have Christian Fundamentalist friends who call me a "New Ager" for discussing the union of all living souls, but if they would actually look at their scripture, they would find out that Jesus used it as a fundamental paradigm in his teachings, in other words, there is nothing new about it.

One example that comes to mind is when Jesus addresses the disciples in Matthew 25:40, telling them:

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Now to many this is not going to prove anything to them as far as unity of all creatures, but if nothing else it points to the idea that dehumanizing ANYONE, especially the least of these, is in opposition to what Jesus was teaching.

I sometimes wonder about what it is going to take to waken the vast majority to its actual in-humanness in its actions toward the rest of the people in this world. We seem to be pre-programmed to separate and tag anything and everything into groups and those other than ours are to be invalidated. We have a cultural perspective that says Hitler was terrible, but other than the numbers game, are the majority of us really any better?

Be it gender, race, religion, orientation, nationality, et al the simple fact is that there is only one race of (semi) intelligent beings on this planet and that race is human, aka homo sapiens.

Those who have read the mini biography on my website are aware of the "Great Experiment" and some of the interesting things that became apparent.

Start with being aware that whenever you judge someone else, what you are really doing is judging some aspect of yourself that you may or may not like, depends on the judgement.

Start relating to the world around you as if there was no difference between "them" and "you."

Become aware of the eternal part of yourself and start relating to things from it's perspective and you will no longer have to imagine a better reality, you will have taken the first steps at creating it.

Miscellaneous Thoughts for Today...

I recently took a "normal" job, whatever that may actually be, I think of it as a place that pays me on a regular basis for some function that they have need of. I am still in training on the job and am feeling pretty good about it, but the one part of it that is going to take a while to get used to is getting up so early.

As an independent contractor, I could get up whenever I wanted, usually around 7 and take my time getting myself together. With the hours that I am doing during training and likely to continue doing on a regular basis, I could sleep as late as 6, but that leaves me little time for the more important aspects of my morning, meditation.

That's actually what this entry is going to be about I think.


I really enjoy the time I get to meditate and have really enjoyed sharing that time with my roomie, but that is a touch difficult since the roomie doesn't have to get up and I would never ask her to.

Lately, my meditations have been very interesting, not so much for what has been happening, but for what has not.

I tend to start my meditations with a creation of some sacred space and then do a breath channeling through my chakras. It helps me to relax and to place myself into an alternate state of mind.

One of the things that I have noticed about myself is that I get to a certain point and because of previous experiences, I try to "force" myself into a certain state. I'm not real sure how to describe it, but I get to a point where I feel as if I am leaving the body through the crown chakra and from there I can go anywhere.

I guess the part that has been interesting to me has been the recent experiences where I get to the threshold of "stepping out" and basically get stuck. I have found that meditation is a lot like my life in that it works best when I just let it happen and don't attempt to force things.

When I just relax and let my meditation happen, I get deeper than when I do otherwise. I know this is a pretty "duh" statement for many people and to be honest, it is for me as well. But we all sometimes get so far from where we started that it is sometimes helpful to remember those early lessons and see what other interesting and new insights we can glean from them.

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The image above is one that I use to remind me of the images and colors of the chakras. The base or root chakra is associated with the color red and so forth through the colors and chakras till you reach the third eye which is purple. The crown merges all the colors together for a brilliant white.

Beyond those basics of chakra work, the image also incorporates the traditional lotus designs as well as the Sanskrit characters for more advanced students. I am trying to find an old graphic editing program I had that will allow me to slow the rate of the animation changes.

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I recently had a discussion with someone and the ideas of meditation vs prayer came up. Those who know me know that I don't use the term "prayer" very often. The reason is that when I was young, prayer always seemed like a negotiation with God for what we felt was some blessing that we deserved.

Now days I usually phrase it more along the lines of "prayer is when I talk to God or my Higher Power, meditation is when I shut up and listen for the response."

After years of study of teachers and saints from religions spanning time and this planet, I can tell you that the teachers all tell us that the answers are not outside of ourselves, but within. This is because we are all small sparks of the Creator and can not be separated from that Source.

As the "Course in Miracles" puts so eloquently, God does not judge the minutia of our day-to-day lives but only that which is deserving of judgment, the mistake that we fell into of believing that we were separate from Him and could fall. Everything else is just that delusion playing itself out.

The law of Karma and Newton's Second Law of Motion state, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. All these "sins" we worry so much about are nothing because they only exist in a state of illusion, they are not real. Only that which is real matters and you would be amazed at how much is not real. Like that book titled, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: it's all small stuff," when we put things into perspective we can let go of that load we carry around in the name of guilt.

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OK, I will quit rattling about and go get some sleep. I have a busy day at work and I have more than enough here for you to think about.

Goodnight.

What are we and Why?

There is an old question that I got asked in philosophy class that is reasonably close to a koan from the world of Zen, "Can God make a stone so large that He cannot move it?"

What if this is the wrong question? What if the right question is, "Can God create a puzzle and/or riddle that is so complex that, as of yet, He has not solved?" And if that is not enough heresy for one day, I would add, "What if we, people as well as creation, are the attempt to solve that puzzle/riddle?"

Generally, I tend to think of the relationship between God and His creation in less than philosophical Gordian knots, along the lines of, as explained so eloquently by Neale Donald Walsch, God knew Himself to be the totality of all that was, is and ever would be, but the knowing of something and experiencing it are completely different. Creation is the attempt of God to turn datum into experience.

Now, to some, this is absolute heresy, I tend to feel sorry for these people since they usually have a view of the relationship of man and God as being nearly diametrically opposed. The view of separation between creator and created seems to manifest in forms of societies that end up bullish and uncaring in their assumed relationship to the creator as "the chosen."

Why is it that we cannot look beyond our little egos (OK, not so little in many cases)? If we take this view of God as a diamond and all the differing ideas about God are just different facets of the same stone, we are left with all our descriptions of God being like the story of the blind men who start fighting over what an elephant is since they all have experienced different pieces and not the whole.

Imagine the joy that would come from the acknowledgement that not only is our view and belief right, but also the plethora of views from the Haitian Vodoun Mambos and Houngans, to the Islamic Imams, through the Hindu Brahmans, to the Buddhist Lamas and Arhats to the Christian Popes and assorted ministers and preachers, wouldn't that just be amazing to experience?

Note:
Thanks to J. Michael Straczynski for reminding me of this with Dr. Franklin in Babylon 5.

"Who Are You?" and "What Do You Want?"

There have been a few posts as of late where I have been whining a bit about my life and certain things within it. I got a good smacking today from Richard Bach. I am just finishing re-reading his "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" when I came to pages 110 and 130 which say the following as excerpts from the "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul"

Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there.
What you choose to do with them is up to you.

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In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom.
It is not always an easy sacrifice.

There is a person with whom I currently do business that has truly become completely toxic for me. I really needed this slap in the face to remind me that I am the creator of my reality and if I want it to change, that's up to me to decide as well as put into action and whining about it is a complete waste of time and energy.

A few years ago, J. Michael Straczynski created a 5 year epic television series called "Babylon 5" that I have been a fan of since the original pilot was shown on TV. Personally, I found the idea of a series that had a long term story in mind from its inception to be a great one.

One of the ongoing story arcs involved two of the ancient races called the Vorlons and the Shadows. The Vorlons seemed to be about a strongly spiritual path and they appeared as beings of light when we finally get to see one without their encounter suits (though someone really needs to tell them that even Krystle Carrington wouldn't wear that much shoulder padding during the early 80's). The Shadows on the other hand were not as pleasant and the conflict between the two races was basically our religious idea of the battle between good and evil. As many of our religions would agree with, the Vorlons are always asking "Who are you?" while the Shadows ask "What do you want?"

As simple as these questions appear to be, they are actually quite profound in their scope and complexity. Depending on how you view and relate to them, they could be as simple as "I am Robert and I want a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich." My life has NEVER been that straightforward and I suspect it would be pretty boring if it were.

As to the Vorlon's question of "Who are You?" I would answer:

• I am an eternal spiritual entity that is currently referenced as Robert and am currently manifesting in this world to learn from and help those around me as a part and parcel of the totality that many refer to as God.

As to the Shadow's question of "What do you want?":

• I want many things depending on how the question is meant:
  
  1. I want to spend my life doing what brings me joy and that seems to be passing on what knowledge I have while learning from others both directly and indirectly.
  2. I want to be the joyful entity that God keeps dropping me glimpses of.
  3. As far as what I want from this world, since I am inclined to believe that it is all an illusion of perception, the majority of "things" that those around me think will give them joy I find to be entertaining but not a "want." The only thing in this world that I would say that I honestly want would be to have someone to share it all with. Someone to share my life with, have companionship and love.

Money and fame are tools that can be interesting diversions, but they can also be a major pain in the backside. I grew up in an middle-class family that was fairly miserable, especially where money was concerned. I have had friends who had more cash than God would know what to do with and yet they were always so busy acquiring more that they usually didn't seem to be very happy. I can honestly say that the happiest times of my life have usually been when I either had nothing or was barely squeaking by. Not that money unto itself is bad, but their are so many more important things to pursue and enjoy in life. Personally, I'll take happiness and joy over wealth any day.

"The Secret" and "What God Wants" from me...

A friend of mine, whose opinions I have found to be quite worthy of my respect, was telling me about how much she really enjoyed reading the book for "The Secret". I had previously been told by others that it was basically a written version of the film and that there was not much more to it, hence I was not planning to purchase it. She was right and I am so glad to have listened.

I could go through several parts of the book and discuss how wonderfully it expands upon the the themes of the film and in some places goes into things that didn't make it in, beyond a cursory mention. One that really spoke (read yelled, screamed and made a general nuisance of itself) was the final chapter.

On many occasions, I have tried to find the will of God for my life. In the Southern Baptist world we are told that God has a plan and it is our job to fulfill whatever role He put us here for. Now this works really well as a philosophy for people who don't wish to take any particular responsibility for their lives and pass it all off on God. Now don't get me wrong, I understand completely why the majority of peoples would prefer to be at the whim of a distant and all powerful deity, but when I look around me and see what that mindset has created in the majority of mankind, I just find it questionable at best and obviously misguided at most. The first section of Neale Donald Walsch's book "What God Wants" goes into this with amazing clarity and brutal honesty.

I have never found a difficulty in asking God if something is right or wrong, guidance has never been lacking when I'm willing to hear it. But when I have asked what it is that God wishes of me, there has always been a distinct silence. I have been known to become a bit annoyed and sometimes testy with God over this lack of communication. If He has some wish for me, I would think it only polite to make me aware of it... How can I be help responsible on the day of Judgment if He won't speak up, especially when asked?

My parents and the common logic is that we are to race on this treadmill of sleep, work and television with the weekly visits on Sunday and Wednesday to Church to give my soul it's injection of Salvation. Now I am the first to admit that maybe I am just pig-headed about this, but I cannot imagine a more depressing. You might as well pull out the gun and blow my head off, talk about a hellish existence.

Others say that I should lock myself into an ascetic community or cloister of monks and like-minded individuals. Now maybe I am just a touch cynical, but somehow I suspect that is more for their satisfaction than mine. I have thought about it and would be open to it. My biggest stumbling block to date on this score has to do with where the previous is so far to one extreme of the spectrum, most ascetic communities are just as extreme on the other. Like the Buddha, I seek a balanced path down the center, the path between all extremes.

While there are many variants to the above paths, about the only true alternative is the "Follow you Bliss" path. Misery may satisfy the "original sin" crowd, but I just can't get my heart to believe in a deity that has nothing but spite for his creation and wishes them to live in eternal dread and toil.

Some say that to follow your bliss is to seek a hedonistic lifestyle, thinking only of oneself and taking little interest in the repercussions of those actions. Taken in a selfish way, it can be a slippery slope but through inspiration and perseverance we can keep our perspectives and hearts clear and true.

The simple fact is that all ideas, philosophies and theologies taken one way can bring true joy and just as easily taken the other direction tends to bring pain and suffering in the long run. St. Francis showed a path of simplicity and poverty and yet many found such things to be the source of pride and vanity in their personal experiences. This is also shown in some of the ascetic paths in the Indian traditions. We tend to feel raised by "our" sacrifices "for" God, how our ego's love to stroke themselves.

So what does God want from you? Listen to your heart and find the answer, if you truly listen it cannot be missed.

What does God want from me? The things that make me happiest are finishing pieces like this and sharing with others the joy I get from a view of life on this planet that I once thought was only allowed for greater people than I would ever be. My friends have giggled at me at times when I talk about my teeth humming. When I am "in the groove" I get the sensation that my teeth are humming along and a warmth runs up and down my spine and eventually explodes out from the sack of skin that I think of as "me".

Do I ever doubt myself and this whole thing? Of course I do at times and that is when I ask for guidance all the more fervently. We tend, in Western Christianity, to deify Jesus and put him completely outside our frame of reference, but as the Gospels tell us, even he doubted himself at times and the things he was called to do. We all have our moments where we are in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Since I know someone will ask, no, I have no delusions of such things, but use it as an example that if even the greatest of us can have doubts about what we are doing, then the least of us can't really be condemned as long as we are listening to that voice of inspiration that brought us here in the first place.

By Their Fruits...

This has been an interesting few days while I contemplate writing this piece or not. I want to since it really pulls into the light how what I (as well as many others) have found to be true the things I have come to believe, but it is quite likely to be taken by many as a direct attack, which in some ways it probably is.

I go to a video store called Record Surplus that has a habit of getting videos before they are released. The other day, I picked up "The Celestine Prophecy" which is expected to be released on December 19. For those who are not familiar with it, it is based on the book of the same title by James Redfield.

One of the central themes of the book, in it's "Insights," is to become aware of the apparent coincidences that occur in our everyday life. Because of this and the other book that I just finished reading, I felt that I was getting a definitive answer to my question as to writing this.

The book that I just finished is Neale Donald Walsch's "What God Wants : A Compelling Answer to Humanity's Biggest Question" which I think is fantastic. A quick read that will definitely make some ideas rattle around in your brain. The book is basically divided into three parts;

1. How our previous views of what God wants have affected our cultures and manifest in the day-to-day world.
2. What God wants, it's quite direct and to the point! ( ;-P )
3. How this new view of God's wants will manifest in the future world.
   

This piece is in the same vein as part one.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we find the following as part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount":

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matthew 7:15-20 (KJV)

My thoughts lately have been to look around me and see what "fruits" are going on around me, both personally and otherwise.

They say that the definition of insanity is to do the same things as you have done in the past and expect a different outcome. It's funny in a way, we as a race will do some of the most innovative things ins the name of progress, but in our personal lives, we can be completely "insane."

On a personal level, for example, is my current job as a town car driver. Now, I love my job actually, I meet some fascinating people and most of the time I make decent cash, but I am quite aware that it is a dead end where advancement will require the death of another. The fact is that, though I enjoy it a lot, it will never take me where my life seems to be pointing me. I could very easily play it safe and stay right where I am but how long will it take for that path to become a rut and then a grave, once it is deep enough?

We tend to follow the rules, a good thing usually, but when we intuitively know that there is something missing and we need to change our direction, we find it difficult to outright terrifying. I have been thinking about changing careers and going into what is called "Life Counseling" and nearly everyone who knows me thinks I would be very successful at it. When I looked into it and found out what it actually was, I realized that this is what I've been doing for my friends for years, but for free (can I send out bills for previous years? Hmmm).

The predominant world view that we really need to look into is how we view God and our relationship to Him/Her, the idea that we are separate entities. Our religions tell us that God is away in His/Her heaven, passing judgement on our every action and, depending on which one(s) you follow, how to get to heaven or out of the wheel of life.

What are the fruits of these beliefs? Jihads, crusades, feuding factions, the destruction of lives and our planet.

A really good example is Bill Moyer's "Is God Green" piece. It is about a schism in the Evangelical Christian denominations about how the future of the planet and our involvement in ecology should be. Some believe that God's gift of dominion of the planet to man is justification for the wholesale rape of the planet's resources and environment. Others believe that stewardship requires man to be more considerate of the repercussions to planet and the future of mankind.

In Iraq, while there is more than this going on, the fact is that unless the Shia and Sunni learn to co-exist, little less both get along with the Kurds, the chances of a valid nation ever coming together and surviving is about as likely as the moon being changed into green cheese. Most people don't realize that a fair number of the Middle-Eastern nations were created by the European world after the collapse of the Persian Empire and that solidarity of the individual groups is next to nil.

On a personal level, our belief in separation places us in the position of making ourselves into hypocrites on a fairly regular basis. We claim to believe in this Supreme Being who will care for us, once we've made peace and the proper atonement's, but since we are "alone" in our daily existences, we don't live it and actually spend a fair amount of our existence living in exactly the antithesis to our "claimed" ideals.

Our religions believe in the supremacy of their preferential manifestation of God or teacher and declare all the others as liars and charlatans. This leads to warring and hatred and is not doing anything to bring the followers closer to any Godliness. I've always found it of interest that the only religion that has never fought a war of aggression in the name of it's teacher/founder is Buddhism.

To wrap this all up, the point is that we need to become initially aware that we are eternally linked to God and that our separation is an illusion of OUR creation, not his. After we know this, then we start to live our lives based on this premise and that starts to make changes in every other aspect of our lives. Guilt and fear fall away and freedom in the knowledge that all can be right in the world if we will just start to be aware of our interwoveness (is that a word?).

There will be those who say that this is dangerous because it is different from the current norms. The current norms are doing such great things for the masses of hungry, hateful, judgemental people?

Others will say that this would be anarchy, it is possible. Any good thing can be misused to the detriment of those around. The fact is that those who would misuse it to justify selfish behaviors would do so no matter what is taught or thought. As long as spiritual children are needing lessons to grow from, they will get them and deal with the messes they create. There seems to be a growing number of people out there that want more from their lives than shat they were taught as youngsters and these are methods to explore and experience.

I have a challenge for you...

Try putting some of these ideas into practice in your everyday existence and see what happens. When you walk down the street and see a homeless person, instead of passing a derogatory judgement on them, say to yourself; "There I am living outside the norm." When you see someone who has been abusing drugs and is paying for it, say something like "There I am exploring chemical substances." Pass no judgement, for to judge others doesn't just open us to judgement as Jesus said, it IS to judge ourselves since we are all part of the whole and there is no separation but what we make in our minds. From there do most our problems spring. See what fruits you develop...

The Primer pt 1

To understand some of the view and expressions made here, I guess it would be helpful to give an introduction to a variant world view and express some basic ideas that I don't really want to have to explain every time that I use them (I probably will to some degree, but here is the best place to find the bare-bones basics of the view expressed here).

This is a general summary only, details will be given in later pieces that I have to sit down and write. Most of the examples used here are Christian unless otherwise stated. Not that I have anything against Christianity, but I live in a nation that claims to be a Christian one. Since that is the majority of my audience, I'll address them in particular. My friends of other religions though, find me just as pointed at them when we discuss them. Remember, all the paths lead to the same destination, God and Truth.

Table of Contents

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Religious Foundation
God and Man
What is Sin?
Scripture References

Religious Foundation

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I seem to get accused of being a Secular Humanist by many religious adherents (particularly by more fundamentalist individuals) but as I understand the term, it is definitely not an accurate term for myself in that as a "Secularist" I would deny the existence of God or a Higher Power as well as anything supernatural, which is completely incorrect. I guess you could say that I might be a Religious Humanist in that I do believe in God and that which is beyond the physical (super/supra natural) but have become disillusioned by traditional "organized" religions.

There is truth in ALL scripture and religions and to exclude any one of them would be a mistake. The problem comes from the codifying of theologies and dogmas that exclude anything outside of their positions. For example, I was brought up a Southern Baptist (Christian) and those beliefs do not accept the Pentecostal (Christian) idea of "Speaking in Tongues" though the Pentecostals find it to be a "Gift of the Spirit". If found "Speaking in Tongues" in my house, I would have likely found myself in the office of either an exorcist (or the Southern Baptist equivalent) or a psychiatrist's office. Imagine what the response would be if I found Nirvana or found spiritual bliss through the Hari-Krishna Maha-Mantram...

When you get past the inserted egos of the followers and later teachers, strip out the cultural contexts and actually look at the subject of what teachers like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and many others were teaching, you find they are all talking about the same things from different perspectives or angles. Jesus and Krishna are so similar in many of their teachings, that I wouldn't be surprised to find Jesus had read the Bhagavad-gita (Jesus did grow up near major trading routes coming to and from India). Buddha doesn't worry about teaching about afterlives and heavens or hells, he just concerns himself with finding our true natures and experiencing life from that place.

Now with the above stated, do I deny the "deity" of Jesus or Krishna (some of the followers of Vishnu believe Krishna to be the incarnation of God's highest self) or were they just good to great men and teachers? That question is a lot more difficult to answer because of how we use language. To Christians, Jesus is the human incarnation (they don't call it that) of one aspect of the triune of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). In the way most Christians would mean the previous question, my answer would be "No" in that I don't see Jesus and his teachings as out of the grasp of the day to day person. Mainly because I see all people as part of God, just some are more aware of it than others, hence Jesus. So, from my perspective, the answers are Yes (because we all are aspects of deity) and Yes (since they spent their lives passing on knowledge).

I have several friends who have coined the term "Hindu-Buddhi-Christ" to describe my personal path as I see amazing harmony in their namesakes: Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma), Buddhism and Christianity. My personal view of my religious path could be called jnana-yoga after the idea of searching for knowledge.

God and Man

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We are told by our elders that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. If this is correct, then the idea of separation that prevails through the majority of our religions, that God is outside our experience and reach, cannot be accurate and the idea that many people hold that God cannot be in the presence of sin is either wrong or our view of sin must be.

God is that which permeates and activates God's creation of thought that appears as the world around us. Paramahansa Yogananda put it beautifully when he said that creation is like a movie in a theatre, the illusion of light and form are projected upon the "screen" which is God. The screen can exist without the projection, but the projection would cease to be coherent without the screen and it would not be a movie without both.

The idea that God cannot be in the presence of wrongness is not supported in scripture. After Adam and Eve "sin" by eating of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", God speaks to them as if He were unaware they had sinned. In Job, there are scenes with the Devil in Heaven, apparently at the Throne of God, talking with God about Job. God speaks to Cain (a murderer), Noah (a drunkard), Moses (a murderer) and a whole host of prophets; their sins never seems to get in the way.

Mankind is the child of an eternal entity that can be seen in everyday events, if we are willing, and heard from in every moment if we will just open our ears and hearts to listen. As the children of God, we are part of him, inseparable.

What is Sin?

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When asked, most Christians will tell you that Sin is either an old archery term that means to miss the point (accurate, but not for the reasons they think) or to go against the will of God (like that could be possible).

The first definition is correct but not because God said not to eat of the tree, but in what happens immediately afterwards. When you read Genesis, you find that the very first thing that happens after Adam and Eve eat, is that they become body conscious, they know they are naked. God even plays along and asks who told them about their nakedness. It is in this that true sin is shown. Not the eating of forbidden fruit (I suspect God set that up for other reasons) but in the forgetting of our true natures and our delusional fixation of the physical and corporeal. It is in forgetting our souls and living for our bodies that we are born into sin, not some pending judgment from on high.

The predominant world view that we are all under the watchful eye of a most high deity that watches and assesses the goodness or badness of every thought and deed comes from an idea that says we are separate from God. Because we believe that we are separate, we do God a disservice by bringing him down to our level of petty judgments, conditional love and general vindictiveness fit more for a bad Hollywood movie than an all powerful deity.

Scripture References

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How does one choose from the plethora of Sacred Writings out there? The nice thing is that unless you want to, you don't have to. The secret is in the understanding of how it's particular representation of the truth is expressed. The Bible's Old testament (Tanakh: Torah, Prophets and Writings) is written from the perspective and culture of early Semitic nomadic tribes and there descendents. The Qur'an, the specific culture of the 7th century world of Arabia. The Bhagavad-gita is placed in the region of India and Buddha around the 5th century BCE.

Where I look everywhere for knowledge, the scripture I use most often are the Bible (KJV), The Bhagavad-gita, Upanishads and Bhagavata-Purana (Srimad-Bhagavatam) and the discourses of the Buddha (mainly the Sutta-Pitaka, for it's antiquity, and the Vinaya
for it's age as well in the early pre-differentiated status of its creation).

If I were to be dropped on a deserted island, I would take the Gospels of Matthew and John, the Yoga Sutras & the Bhagavad-gita. With those, I could still find the truth.

Talking During A Run This Morning

It's early and already today has shown itself to be another clue in the change of employment. I picked up a passenger who was absolutely sweet and we had a lovely conversation about the purpose of creation en-route to LAX.

Some of the topics were (most of these will eventually make it into later entries and the website, when I get a chance to put it all together...).

The Purpose of Creation

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Neale Donald Walsch, in his "Conversations with God" series puts it better than anyone I know when he says, God knew himself to be the totality of all there is, creation is God experiencing himself as everything. To which I add, knowing something and experiencing it are two completely different things; for example, when you were a child, your mother told you not to touch the stove, it's hot and will burn you. Now you had that piece of data, but after the first time you actually touched it and had the experience of being burned, it was quite a bit more than a piece of datum.

Speaking In The First Person for God

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In the Gospel of John and in several other scripture, we find teachers speaking for God in the first person. In John, we have "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) and in the Bhagavad-Gita, we have Krishna saying "If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will be lost." (Bg 18:58). Both are claiming to be capable of saving others themselves.

Traditionally (on both sides) we tend to inject our own egos and pride and claim ours as THE one and only truth and the other as a lie or falsehood. What if, instead, both are true? How could that be? Maybe we all have the ability to save each other, possible but questionable, or (my personal belief) they are speaking on behalf of something greater than their physical appearance. In Christianity, we call it the Holy Spirit and in Hinduism, param-atma (the great soul (literally) the aspect of God which permeated His creation).

Omnipotence and Omnipresence

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If God is omnipotent and omnipresent, then he can't separate himself from His creation, to do so would cause it to cease existence. We are given freedom of choice to make our choice and part of that allows us to deny the existence of God. If God were to do likewise, deny the existence of, say, me, I would cease to exist and no one would likely remember that I was ever here, uncreated (I know a few people who might consider petitioning God on this one).

I'l come back to all this later. I need to go back to work...