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That is why it’s called a learning experience. You reminded me of a story I heard of a Teacher who was complained to by his “advanced” students about the ignorance and bigotry they felt surrounded by. The Teacher laughed, and the persisted, “But why are they here? They clearly don’t understand what you are saying!” He told them that they were there so that they could both see themselves in and as others, for none of them were perfect, and second, so that by associating with so many different kinds they could “knock the corners off each other.”
You never know how you are effecting someone, as I’m sure you are aware. And check sometime in the index for this forum how many on average view a thread as distinct from participating in it. It is about ten to one on average. Discount that maybe half of those are just checking the first statement, and there are quite a few in the audience. Not that we are playing to anyone, mind you, but this is in fact a larger milieu than it appears to be. So it is important when a note of sanity such as you sound is heard on here. At some level it helps the people who we would rather not chat with. And there is more, but you are intelligent and likely see all this on your own.
But one thing is crucial, and it is why I am adamantly on here. The container is not the contents. The manipulation of the contents tells little about the container. But outside a direct experience of the container as Such, all there can be is the sincerity of faith and the experience of goodness. But even with faith there can be fear and ignorance, if the faith is objectified. This is precisely where the chief flaw of faith manifests.
Observing the general median of faithful people of every religion available in my experience, I have concluded that Good, a synonym for God in many languages, is on an entirely different axis of experience than religion. A good person might wish or need to adopt a faith to structure the intellectual component of their goodness, because it does indeed have a Source, which is The Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift.
But the actuality of that Source relative to oneself can be obscured in the arcanum of faith. It is fascinating in this regard to take such a fictitious example of a Revelation and apply a discipline such as General Semantics to its history as based on the median behavior of many religions and the fates of their original teaching. Catholicism is no exception. My sister and her family are LDS, and I can see some of the same phenomenon there. Ultimately it has to do with Self Knowledge, because unless you know the nature of the container, its contents can be wasted as it often refers to fictions, however well intentioned, and not to the vessel of of containment, or the structure of Soul.
It must be remembered that the container, our awareness, is made in the Image and Likeness of God. So we have, as our own self, a picture of what God is like. But I ask you, how many scrutinize the mirror, and in what light? There are ages old and powerful tools for doing this, and yet they are summarily rejected by the pious. And despite piety, ignorance, intelligence or the lack of it, culture, gender, health, whatever, Grace can and does occasionally descend. This is a joyful moment, if it can be sustained. Sustaining a glimpse of God in the original medium of perception and going about one’s daily business is a monumental task. It takes some years to stabilize their realization both in feeling and in intellect. Many don’t succeed. And yet, they are transformed. We all are thereby blessed.
But as sacramental as that transformation is, as an inner event of meaning it is distinct from an objective, observable, describable,or even readable event. It is far, far, easier to read a scripture and say “That makes sense, I believe it,” than to do actual work on oneself alone, or with guidance, and actually See.
This is another area where faith can be prophylactic and dangerous. If one has a genuine Experience, the Catholic will have it in Catholic terms, the Buddhist in Buddhist terms, the Shintoist in his terms, etc, etc. It is very rare that one can generalize a realization experience beyond the parameters of one’s faith. But it has been done. I have seen it, and it wears many colors, depending on the propensities of the one who discovers the Source of their goodness. From there on out, it is had to say what it is, or is like, because the veil becomes thin between this and THAT. And THAT is infinitely adaptable in its benefits and bestowals.
And yet I would not recommend such a search to anyone for any reason. As one man said “The search for Reality is the most dangerous undertaking; it will destroy your world.” And how is that? The world is here before and after, but what has changed?
You never know how you are effecting someone, as I’m sure you are aware. And check sometime in the index for this forum how many on average view a thread as distinct from participating in it. It is about ten to one on average. Discount that maybe half of those are just checking the first statement, and there are quite a few in the audience. Not that we are playing to anyone, mind you, but this is in fact a larger milieu than it appears to be. So it is important when a note of sanity such as you sound is heard on here. At some level it helps the people who we would rather not chat with. And there is more, but you are intelligent and likely see all this on your own.
But one thing is crucial, and it is why I am adamantly on here. The container is not the contents. The manipulation of the contents tells little about the container. But outside a direct experience of the container as Such, all there can be is the sincerity of faith and the experience of goodness. But even with faith there can be fear and ignorance, if the faith is objectified. This is precisely where the chief flaw of faith manifests.
Observing the general median of faithful people of every religion available in my experience, I have concluded that Good, a synonym for God in many languages, is on an entirely different axis of experience than religion. A good person might wish or need to adopt a faith to structure the intellectual component of their goodness, because it does indeed have a Source, which is The Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift.
But the actuality of that Source relative to oneself can be obscured in the arcanum of faith. It is fascinating in this regard to take such a fictitious example of a Revelation and apply a discipline such as General Semantics to its history as based on the median behavior of many religions and the fates of their original teaching. Catholicism is no exception. My sister and her family are LDS, and I can see some of the same phenomenon there. Ultimately it has to do with Self Knowledge, because unless you know the nature of the container, its contents can be wasted as it often refers to fictions, however well intentioned, and not to the vessel of of containment, or the structure of Soul.
It must be remembered that the container, our awareness, is made in the Image and Likeness of God. So we have, as our own self, a picture of what God is like. But I ask you, how many scrutinize the mirror, and in what light? There are ages old and powerful tools for doing this, and yet they are summarily rejected by the pious. And despite piety, ignorance, intelligence or the lack of it, culture, gender, health, whatever, Grace can and does occasionally descend. This is a joyful moment, if it can be sustained. Sustaining a glimpse of God in the original medium of perception and going about one’s daily business is a monumental task. It takes some years to stabilize their realization both in feeling and in intellect. Many don’t succeed. And yet, they are transformed. We all are thereby blessed.
But as sacramental as that transformation is, as an inner event of meaning it is distinct from an objective, observable, describable,or even readable event. It is far, far, easier to read a scripture and say “That makes sense, I believe it,” than to do actual work on oneself alone, or with guidance, and actually See.
This is another area where faith can be prophylactic and dangerous. If one has a genuine Experience, the Catholic will have it in Catholic terms, the Buddhist in Buddhist terms, the Shintoist in his terms, etc, etc. It is very rare that one can generalize a realization experience beyond the parameters of one’s faith. But it has been done. I have seen it, and it wears many colors, depending on the propensities of the one who discovers the Source of their goodness. From there on out, it is had to say what it is, or is like, because the veil becomes thin between this and THAT. And THAT is infinitely adaptable in its benefits and bestowals.
And yet I would not recommend such a search to anyone for any reason. As one man said “The search for Reality is the most dangerous undertaking; it will destroy your world.” And how is that? The world is here before and after, but what has changed?
LOL