Karma and Oneness Posted in: Belief and Truth, Divinity, One And Different

Karma, understood as reward/punishment, is a concept that seems to fly in the face of the oneness aspect of the jiva (individual soul) and God (the source). In other words, why would God punish Himself? Perhaps if it is understood more in terms of our creation of a backdrop for us to perfectly experience a specific chosen emotion, then that would fit much better with the idea of our emotional experience being part of the completeness of God. …

It is not so much that God is getting something that He wants … Posted in: Divinity, One And Different, The Self Divine

It is not so much that God is getting something that He wants from what is going on here in the material world, but more that He is simply manifesting something He is: the Supreme Enjoyer. His supreme enjoyment includes ‘enjoyment’ of the myriad of pleasures, including those ghastly and horrific, facilitated by self-ignorance in the material world. Without them His enjoyment would not be complete! …

Best Understood in Terms of Our Oneness with God Posted in: Divinity, One And Different

The seeming horror of what goes on in the material world, for example birth and death/one species needing to eat the body of another simply to survive, is best understood in terms of our oneness with God, rather than from the standpoint of our separateness from God. Otherwise, no amount of philosophical rangling can produce and explanation that believably preserves the notion that God is both benevolent and in control. …

Death is a Fatal Car Crash Posted in: Belief and Truth

Death is a fatal car crash, but we walk away without a scratch. Imagine our surprise as we view the wreck – the mangled remains – how did we survive?

I propose that our body is like our car. A vehicle for the soul if you will.

Bhagavad-gītā chapter 2 verse 23 states

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

Life is a Good Read Posted in: Belief and Truth, Divine Expression, The Role-play Game, The Self Divine

We all enjoy reading a good book. A book with a well-conceived plot, rounded characters that we can relate to and empathise with, an eventual triumph againts all odds of the protagonist, and so on. And with a good book we get to enjoy a huge range of emotions from the comfort and safety of our living room. And those emotions can seem every bit as instense and vital as their real-life counterparts. …

Real Life Posted in: Divine Expression, The Role-play Game, What are we doing here?

What I mean by ‘real life’ is our living in ways fully consistent with who we are at the most fundemental level.

Consider a life experienced in a dream: It seems very real while asleep, but upon waking we realise it is not our real life. Even though the range of emotions experienced while sleeping are tangible, perhaps just as tangible as those experienced in our waking life (for example, we may cry and feel sorrow intensely, or feel the ecstasy of being in love), still we readily step back from our dream … which, after all, is only a dream. …

The Material World is a Believable Backdrop Posted in: Belief and Truth, Divine Expression, The Role-play Game

In a theatre the stage is often decorated with props and screens. At least enough to create a context for the drama, a believable backdrop, so that the audience can easily enter into, and enjoy the performance.

I propose that this is exactly what the material world is to us. Something we can readily accept as real, so we can get on with exploring the variety of sensual and emotional enjoyments facilitated by our existence in this world. …

The Food Chain … Where is God’s Love? Posted in: Suffering and an all-powerful benevolent God

Beautiful and wonderful as nature undoubtedly is, it has a very dark side as well: The body of one species is always food for another. We call this the food chain.

For most species, their choice of food seems to happen instinctively. By design you could say.

The body of one species being food for another … where is God’s love in this design? …

Suspension of Disbelief Posted in: The Role-play Game, What are we doing here?

We human beings seem to have an extraordinary ability to suspend disbelief. Especially when it serves our enjoyment.

For example, whenever we watch a film we suspend our awareness that the film is not real … that we are in fact watching actors represented by coloured pixels on a screen. We suspend disbelief in order to enter into and identify with what’s going on. …

Yesterday’s Absolute Truth … Today’s Embarrassing Episode? Posted in: Belief and Truth

At least some of yesterday’s definate truths I now regard more as part of growing up … with a few slightly embarrassing periods thrown in t’boot.

Ironically, I think it is through our growing out of the need for everything to be black or white, and willingness to embrace uncertainty, that real progress on the ‘path of enlightenment’ begins.

We may not know, but a least we now know we don’t know. …

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