I’d argue it’s not religion
It’s lust for certainty where problems begin.
Faith is belief in something unknown. Something you choose to believe. Denying you don’t really know, and surrounding yourself only with like-minded people, doesn’t make something known. Why should it? How can it? That self-deception may be cosy for a while. But it easily leads to demonising of anyone does not embrace the party line. …
Continue readingGiven the context that an individual has already freely chosen to embark on the spiritual quest to understand self and God, it may be in the initial stages that their motivation for perseverance comes mainly from fear of failure. And therefore enlightened teachers may speak that language for the sake of helping such neophyte practitioners stay with the plan. And that such preaching may justify the use of white lies because it serves the neophyte in relation to their chosen objective. …
Continue readingThe Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix documentary)
… Continue readingWhen Norwegian gamer Mats Steen died at age 25, his parents mourned what they thought was an isolated life. It was only once they had access to his blog that they discovered the deep friendships he created virtually before passing away from a degenerative muscular disease. They were unaware that Mats had long been leading a vibrant digital life that had left a profound impact on a community of fellow gamers.
Regardless of how spiritually aware my guru might be, their reality is not my reality. Therefore, for me to accept what they tell me of their reality in place of my own is necessarily a faith thing. There may be a variety of reasons I have that faith … gut feeling, philosophical resonance, reasoning, the experience of being in the presence of such a person etc, etc. …
Continue readingWithin the Vaishnava tradition, the conditioning of the souls in the material world is said to be anādi – beginningless. If English speakers wish to understand the finer points of the Sanskrit word anādi, there are probably a number of English words they should steer clear of, for example …
Why might clear understanding of anādi be important? …
Continue readingTo tell someone who strongly feels they are suffering, and/or this world is very much a place of misery, that they are not in fact suffering at all, and not a fallen soul being punished for their sins, but a divine part of God eternally engaged in the beautiful divine lila (pastimes) of God is unlikely to resonate positively. Reality of suffering is so proven and real that such a idea is more likely lead to negative judgement about God. …
Continue readingPET THEORY: Notwithstanding our difference, by dint of our simultaneous oneness we are God/Krishna (albeit with a small g/k) exploring/experiencing/expressing self with blinkers on. In so doing we all contribute our focused fascinations to the ever expanding completeness of God’s self-knowing. Consciously or unconsciously, believer or atheist, no matter. Being conscious, however, opens the door for love. In the Bhagavad-gita (9:27) Krishna encourages ‘everything you do, do as an offering to me’ as the means to awaken ones deeper self-awareness. …
Continue readingSiddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha.
… Continue readingHermann Hesse’s Siddhartha follows the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, a young man seeking enlightenment. Rejecting wealth, status, and rigid teachings, he explores various paths, ultimately finding wisdom in life’s experiences and the unity of all things.
From the point of view of us not being God the world may appear to be mainly a place of suffering and ignorance. After all, it is a place of birth, death, old age, and disease. And we don’t really know with certainty who we are, or the limits of our power, or the connection between desire and realisation of dreams etc. …
Continue reading… Continue readingMinako waking up on a rubble-strewn beach. As she searches for her son, Ryo, she stumbles upon an assorted group, including a young man named Akira, former yakuza Shori, and ex-film producer Michael. She soon realizes the shocking truth that she has died. Her new companions are also stuck between worlds, unable to move on due to unfinished business with the living.
