posted March 31, 2008 11:05 AM         

I also wanted to say that it is important to read the spirit, and not merely the letter, of the words. Spiritual writing in particular tends to be suggestive and not literal. From my perspective, what Simone has said and what Juni has said are not essentially distinct. The main thing here is not to be distracted by technical details which bear no significant relation to the development of the soul. Soul is inclusive, not exclusive. The words of Simone Weil and juniperb are both capable of raising our awareness of suffering and compassion, but a multi-dimensional harmony of great breadth and great depth of understanding is arrived at only by balancing symultaneously in the mind a precarious variety of perspectives on any given mystery. Truth is not in the teachings but in between them. In the confusion of competing perspectives the truthful rays of insight are piercing.

posted March 31, 2008 11:55 AM         

So I don't think we know for a fact whether he really died on the cross or was saved by a special plant he took beforehand to make him appear dead....or what.

Stephen, you said to ask myself- what is God?
Perhaps we are God, experiencing ourself in our finite forms to know ourselves better?

posted March 31, 2008 12:49 PM         

quote:

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Stephen, you said to ask myself- what is God?
Perhaps we are God, experiencing ourself in our finite forms to know ourselves better?

God is consciousness, God is love.
We are beings of light experiencing movement......
we have allowed for this to happen in the dream of our own consciousness.
Maybe there is no "empty space".

---

Perfect!

Dont stop there.

posted March 31, 2008 12:54 PM         

Ir really is not a matter what or who we believe Jesus to be. He is and always will BE no matter what we humble humans think of him.

The ideal is to Know he wasn`t a weary traveler seeking to know what consciousness or love is as you and I are .

As his Teachings show, he KNEW what Love and God Consciousness IS. He experienced it, lived it, and Tasted the Truth of it.

And so we continue questioning, seeking and crying out in the wilderness, what is Love and Truth. Show us the Way.

May we ask the trailblazers of the Way, Christ, Buddah, Mohammad and the Saints of all time, to Guide us in our Seeking.

------------------
~
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted March 31, 2008 01:37 PM         

The teachings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth show that their author, or authors, had an exceptional grasp of various, profound mystical matters, and an equally compelling talent for expressing those principles verbally. Many people have had similar insights, and some of these have expressed those insights with equal artistry, and, yet, the words of only a handful of people (Rumi, Shakespeare, possibly Homer) seem to carry the same immortal charm as the two dozen or so sayings and parables attributed to Jesus. He was truly a great teacher, and channel for the Word of God. Whether or not he had to be enlightened, or, exactly how enlightened he had to be, in order to speak these words, is ambiguous, and any answer to these questions must be, more or less, a matter of faith. The Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the official holy text of Sikhism, contains the teachings of the ten Sikh Gurus, but the book itself is considered by the Sikhs to be their chief Guru. If we consider that, not Jesus, but, The Word manifested in "his" prose, is actually the Christ, or the reflected image of God. The words may have come from an enlightened man, or, they may have been channeled from the Higher Self of a man who was not deeply enlightened himself, and yet bore the marks of spiritual genius, being so fitted by the Father as to serve, sporadically or reliably, as a clear channel for His Word. Miracles have been attributed to him, as well a single act of sacrifice worthy of martyrdom, yet both of these may be legends, historical blunders, or fibs. All we really have are words. Words of beauty and truth. And faith in those words. Perhaps Jesus, if he did speak those words, was as startled, inspired, enlightened, and awed by them when he heard himself speak, as we are to read them today. Havent we all been startled by our own insight at one time or another, as if it were some other Voice speaking through us?

When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
~ john 8:28

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
~ john 12:49

posted March 31, 2008 02:28 PM         

quote:

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the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

---

posted March 31, 2008 02:31 PM         

I haven't figured out whether I believe perfection as such is possible in this life.

Linda was amazing, but she was not perfect either- and in the end, did not achieve the immortality that she aspired to, as far as we know.....Life is so tough.

Let us all forgive ourselves, let us keep trying, growing, at our own pace.

Our mistakes are just things that we grow from along the way.

posted March 31, 2008 06:27 PM         

I know where you are coming from... it is Marianne 101. The step further is the trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit are 3 aspects of the One and Jesus is the Son as we are, all children of God, and at the same time an aspect of that Holy Trinity. Jesus was a more pure channel than the average person obviously, as Buddha, etc...

I think Juni is down with that... just uses a different terminology. We have to learn not to get caught up in terminology and simply ferret out the symbolic meaning and spiral up on it and maybe down from time to time in a slow, careful, conscious exploration.

I have more reading to do here but I didn't want to lose this thought.

I love moon in Aquarius.

posted March 31, 2008 06:37 PM         

"Zen teaches that enlightenment is generally experienced quite frequently, maybe every second or so, but we miss it, or try to hold onto it. It may be that enlightenment is comparable to the space between the atoms in the physical world, which, although we cannot see it, yet comprises the greatest proportion of our universe. "

atoms yes synapse electrical connection through the darkness, the medium, but still One