The questions ‘Do you believe in God?’ and ‘Do you have faith?’ are both often taken as ‘Do you believe God exists?’
I propose a more personalised way of understanding.
‘Do you believe in God?’… not so much about ‘Do you believe God exists?’ but more along the lines of one person saying to another ‘I believe in you’. Others may doubt you, defame you, misunderstand you, but I still believe in you. …
Continue readingBondage of karma, fallen soul etc., … this type of thinking can go unchallenged/sit comfortably with the idea that we are not God. That our being a separated part and parcel of God more or less minimises the fundamentals of our continued divinity. I feel this is a false argument … much in the vain of the passing of huge amounts of time makes the ideas of natural selection / random mutation / man from monkey / big bang / primordial soup / something-coming-from-nothing, seem plausible. …
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In pondering my own mortality, and in particular the temporary nature of life on Earth, I stumbled into a comparing of my life here with the taking of a vacation.
That a vacation is temporary is not normally perceived as a problem. And that a holiday is not forever is not actually thought of as an impediment to enjoyment of the holiday. …
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How strange it is that cultivation of the sense of ‘other’ is prominent in so many of the religions of the world? Surely understanding that everyone (and I’m not just talking about human beings) and everything comes from God is at the very ABC beginning of spiritual vision? That being the case, we are all family … brothers and sisters so to speak. …
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Just saying …
Many religions consider freedom from judgement of others a saintly quality. But how attainable is it for a person of faith? Especially when at the foundation of their existence are a number of huge personal judgements. For example
How is it possible to maintain such convictions, and at the same time whole heartedly celebrate the divinity and perfection of others – and especially when their life paths are opposed to your chiselled in stone truths? …
Continue readingSo we are faced with three different truths about the shape of an object seen by three separate people. The object is a either round, square or a strange shape … surely they cannot all be correct?
You say it’s round I say no, it’s a square, another says it’s a strange shape. But imagine our seeing ability is restricted to just one eye … i.e. …
Continue readingAnyone who embarks on an adventure with eastern thinking cannot help but come across the notion of the ‘Four Defects of the Conditioned Soul’.
… and the argument that these defects prevent determination of dependable truth, especially in the matter of the meaning and/or purpose of human life.
But the widely recommended solution – submission to infallible authority of guru-sastra-sadhu* – to my mind does not automatically remove one’s personal limitations from their truth-equation. …
Continue readingIf you accept the idea of reincarnation, then you can easily explain the natural flare and talent people have for certain things … this is simply not the beginning of their cultivation, they are picking up from where left off in previous life.
Rather than becoming disheartened … I’m just no good at such and such (i.e. compared to someone else) … instead think ‘anything is possible if I choose it’ … those who I look up to are not at the beginning. …
Continue readingA follower of religion might fear that by admitting any uncertainty they risk losing their faith. Easier and safer (and certainly more cosy) to just pretend I know rather than I choose to believe … and bury deep any doubting thought as the work of a devil. That somehow it is a fundamental to maintaining and cultivating faith that one never entertains any type of doubting. …
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