The Problem With Karma Posted in: God On Our Side, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God, The Self Divine

One often finds the sanskrit word karma translated as action or work. But sometimes, and especially in the western mind, people take it to mean reaction rather than action, or something subtle that binds one to the cycle of birth and death (samsara) — administered by some sort of unseen cosmic debt collecting task-force requiring balance in the universe be restored. …

The Fallacy of Perceived Truth Posted in: Belief and Truth, God On Our Side

We find it relatively easy to dismiss as false or deluded the truths of others … especially when they don’t tally with our own. We might consider them ridiculous, unbelievable, inconceivable, implausible, or even insane. No more thought required.

But what if the same processes apply to us that make such ‘wrong’ truths acceptable, or even absolute, to others? In other words, our finding something believable – real – true, no matter how implausible to another, is arrived at in fundamentally the same way as theirs is. …

Conditioned Soul – a good thing? Posted in: Divine Expression, God On Our Side

When something is conditioned that means it is made ready for something … conditioning is the process of making ready. Generally that is a good thing.

Perhaps a conditioned soul is therefore simply a soul prepared for their chosen objective. Let us consider this possibility without judgement. After all, if the soul is divine (of God, one and different), and choice of objective is divine prerogative … i.e. …

Weighted Words Posted in: Divine Expression, God On Our Side

Ignorance and ignorant are weighted words for me. To be ignorant, or to be absorbed in ignorance, … neither are things to be proud of :(. For me the weightedness of these words has gradually grown over my lifetime. Due, at least in part, to my being born in 20th century England, and growing up within Christian-esque culture.

Yet it seems to me our whole existence is permeated with ignorance. …

What If Posted in: Divine Expression, God On Our Side

What if the only thing that is going on here is simply that everything in this world is adjusting and aligning according to our individual desires? To facilitate an experience or emotion that we are after? That would certainly sit well with the notion of our divinity … compared, say, to the idea of us being required to first know/learn something, discover a secret, contrive a process, etc., …

Why Do We Suffer? Posted in: Aggressor-Victim, Divine Expression, God On Our Side, Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God

While sitting in the comfort of ones’ armchair it’s easy to philosophise that whatever comes to us we desire on some level or another. Indeed many ‘new-age’ programmes of self-empowerment revolve around this idea, and certainly it seems to sit very well with the notion of our divinity.

However, when faced with suffering, the idea that it is coming to us only because we want is less appealing. …