Why are the New Age movement and other exotic ideas so attractive?

[Lost_Wanderer]

I used to work with a women and she swore she could read people’s future. I was like yeah okay. Tell me something thats going to happen. This is what she said, A true fortune teller will not be able to read or tell you your fortune because you do not believe and she knows she cannot get through you. Its like a wall or something.

Sham artists always say that to people the know they will fail to fool.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

In many ways the metaphysical and mystic components of the New Age movement are very similar to the Gnostic heresy. At the heart of Gnosticism and the New Age movement is the belief that a person can gain special knowledge that will allow them to become god-like.

Ran

Absolutely. In Christianity we are to humble ourselves before the almighty God, and realize that without God we are nothing. In New Age practices, people supposedly get special powers from crystals, tarot cards, witchcraft, etc. They do not acknowledge God at all.

 

[Sufjon]

This is usually a result of give a Human being 2 things. Power and Money. It seems to be true that when People get both they seem to feel that they no longer need God.

Then they seem to feel that in a way they are god and the next thing you know they begin to destroy the lives of others and then themselves.

I think thats when God said that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle. When People have material things they seem to forget about the most important needs which are spiritual.

That must be how a person looks well on the outside but is sick on the inside. And you can see someone sick on the outside (cancer or something) but well on the inside.

You have to wonder which is better, then you know there is nothing more important then being well on the inside. Like Christ said you can kill the body but never the soul. You can beat a person physically up all you want, but never break their Spirit.

Great pints Rinnie. BTW - I hope your house project went well!

Your friend
Sufjon

 

[Sufjon]

Whose gift? God’s or the devil’s?

Your gifts are your gifts. Whether or not they are agents of good or of evil is up to how you use them. The trick is to put God at the helm of your chariot while you fight the battle. Otherwise the sense horses will pull you this way and that. I trust God and have no paranoia about the devil. This is mainly because I am not under the sway of a well oiled multi-national machine that manages my psyche through manipulation and fear of things that were created by that same machine for the sake of managing your head for you.

They are drawn to the New Age because it allows them to let them be god. It panders to their ego while pretending to be getting rid of it

.

I have heard this sort of thing on this website many times. It is not a matter of thinking that you are God. It is a matter of seeing the unitive nature in things rather than seeing the separation in things. The problem is that people are fooled into confusing these temporary bodies we are wearing with being what we are. It makes you think you are separate from the whole. Science has proven that nothing is further from the truth. These bodies are only an epiphenomenon of what we are. The separateness you perceive, as well as everything you think you have experienced in life are just your nervous system experiencing your nervous system. That’s right – just your nervous system (brain) experiencing your nervous system (senses). When you eat an orange, you are not experiencing an orange. You are experiencing your nervous system’s reaction to itself in relation to an object it has named an orange. Light reflected off an object that is in turn reflected off a retina, fed to the brain (which is also part of the nervous system) and processed as an orange. Citric acid and other compounds touching the tongue and processed by the brain as the taste of an orange, and so on. But is that what an orange is? In it’s very limited capacity to do so, it is how our nervous system is defining an orange. Unless you practice meditative practices that connect you with God and the whole, all you will ever experience in your life is your nervous system jacking you around. And you won’t find God through rituals, incantations , blessing and rites performed on you by an authorized agent of some organization. YOU have to find Him on your own. If you fall for that other stuff, you have to do it all again. God doesn’t care about what organization you are sponsored by or approved by. It’s your job to connect with Him and comprehend what you are, and He showed you how to do it.

Not quite. Without God we cannot eat, breath or survive. Mother earth is still here but meany are not surviving, not eating. Just cast your mind back to the victims of the natural disasters.

The earth, planets, solar systems, galaxies and all things living on them and in them are all expressions of God. Nothing exists independently of the whole.

They are not scientifically proven. It is pseudo science.

You said this in regard to stones and the like. I don’t know anything about that. But I know that you said that none of it is scientifically proven. I would venture to say that neither are the Resurrection, Ascension, the Assumption, the Eucharist and a number of other critical things in the faiths of many people. It’s a matter of faith, and one’s own path to God. We should remember that when we denigrate or speak dismissively about what is sacred to others, we only diminish ourselves.

Let me put a challenge to you.

Completely renounce the New Age. I mean completely, get rid of every single New Age item, start going to Mass regularly. Go to confession, stop doing every single new age practice (even mentally).

Do this for a year and tell us your experience after that.

I did that for 19 years. I married a Catholic woman. Because of the demands that institution placed on her, I went ahead and married her in the Catholic Church, received every sacrament (except Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick), taught CCD, raised both of my sons in that church, made sure they got all their sacraments and attended mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Because I am Hindu, my faith allows me to do that with no problem. During that time, I never kept a single Hindu item or book in the house, nor ever mentioned Hinduism to anyone. I took it very seriously and put forth a good deal of effort. However, after having been a Hindu, the experience of doing what you suggested felt about as spiritual to me as dropping a rock on a sidewalk, except for saying the rosary. I still say them from time to time. And I am still learning about Christianity and my own religion as well.

Dabbling in the diabolic I think is the more apt term.

Thanks for the warning, but the diabolical is all around you wherever you may be. So is the divine. You can’t control that, but you can control what is inside of you. If you have fallen prey to people who have convinced you that if you don’t follow their program you’ll run into something diabolical, then you should decide for yourself whether someone might want you to think that in order to make you weak and dependent. In that case, these people have done a head job on you, and that is indeed diabolical.

And some are seeking it in the wrong places because the devil is the father of lies and masquerades as the angel of light.

Yes, and the question is in what guise he is lying to you from. Perhaps he is lying to you in the form of someone who has taught you to beware of the father of lies. Crafty thing, that devil. The devil may be the father of all lies, I don’t know about all that, but I know that God is the father of all things, and all things includes the devil, so what should I fear if I trust in God?

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[Beautiful_Epona]

.

You said this in regard to stones and the like. I don’t know anything about that. But I know that you said that none of it is scientifically proven. I would venture to say that neither are the Resurrection, Ascension, the Assumption, the Eucharist and a number of other critical things in the faiths of many people. It’s a matter of faith, and one’s own path to God. We should remember that when we denigrate or speak dismissively about what is sacred to others, we only diminish ourselves.

I took it very seriously and put forth a good deal of effort. However, after having been a Hindu, the experience of doing what you suggested felt about as spiritual to me as dropping a rock on a sidewalk, except for saying the rosary. I still say them from time to time. And I am still learning about Christianity and my own religion as well.

Your friend,
Sufjon

Hello Sufjon,
What a wise and deeply spiritual man you are.:hug1:
Very true what you said about the stones/crystals. I believe it is not proven, (the benefits and healing qualities of them) but they were used by the egyptians, mayans and so many other ancient civilizations and yes it was faith. Just as you said ‘Sufjon’ the faith they had eons ago and the faith people have today is no different. And I totally agree with you in saying we should not speak badly of the beliefs or sacred words of others, this is how we end up in wars after all, something we all want to avoid I am sure. I think it is wonderful to have your own belief, but who are you to knock anyone else for having their ‘variety’ of belief systems? Sometimes the world and people really disappoint me.

I found returning to the Catholic Church not as ‘meaniful’ as I had hoped. It had no meaning to me. I was thrilled to be receiving the Eucharist and to feel closer to God again, but that was it. I feel God when I am at home. I light a candle and say a prayer to him at home, and I believe this is ok, and God would not be unhappy with me and my efforts.

God loves ALL of his children. I think if you are a good person, you go to the good place, that’s it. Most of us have that to look forward to. We all need to start being more accepting of others and stop judging people for the clothes they might be wearing and the beliefs they have. God would NOT be happy with that.

Blessings Sufjon on your journey. You are a beautiful soul.

 

[Sufjon]

Hello Sufjon,
What a wise and deeply spiritual man you are.:hug1:
Very true what you said about the stones/crystals. I believe it is not proven, (the benefits and healing qualities of them) but they were used by the egyptians, mayans and so many other ancient civilizations and yes it was faith. Just as you said ‘Sufjon’ the faith they had eons ago and the faith people have today is no different. And I totally agree with you in saying we should not speak badly of the beliefs or sacred words of others, this is how we end up in wars after all, something we all want to avoid I am sure. I think it is wonderful to have your own belief, but who are you to knock anyone else for having their ‘variety’ of belief systems? Sometimes the world and people really disappoint me.

I found returning to the Catholic Church not as ‘meaniful’ as I had hoped. It had no meaning to me. I was thrilled to be receiving the Eucharist and to feel closer to God again, but that was it. I feel God when I am at home. I light a candle and say a prayer to him at home, and I believe this is ok, and God would not be unhappy with me and my efforts.

God loves ALL of his children. I think if you are a good person, you go to the good place, that’s it. Most of us have that to look forward to. We all need to start being more accepting of others and stop judging people for the clothes they might be wearing and the beliefs they have. God would NOT be happy with that.

Blessings Sufjon on your journey. You are a beautiful soul.

Thank you for the very kind words Epona. I am certain that you will find find God just fine. It may be as a Catholic or something else, or a mix of a number of things, but in my faith the Lord says that no effort in finding Him is ever wasted. All the people on this website are trying really hard to find God (that’s why they’re here), and I know that each of them will find Him. All paths can work as long as it’s done from the heart. If I sound a but judgmental at times, it’s not because of a particular religion. It’s because of the sense of exclusivity I sometimes find in people in regards to their faiths having the right of way on the road to God when there are so many ways to get there. Moreover, seeing people live in fear gives me a profound feeling of loss.

Thanks again for the lovely words, and I sincerely believe that I don’t have to wish you luck because I know you’re gonna get there.

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[GEddie]

We are connected to Mother Earth, without her, we cannot eat, breath or survive.

The earth is not a mother. Or, if it is, it systematically brutalizes and consumes its ‘children.’

Your breath does not come from the earth, it comes from the Spirit of God. When the Spirit is withdrawn, your breathing will end, and it won’t matter then how well you’ve treated nature. Nature doesn’t know you and it won’t care when your eyes roll back, but our LORD does.

Putting your trust in nature or the earth, is like the man in our LORD’s parable who built new silos to hold his grain harvest, but couldn’t hold the life in in his body. He never benefited from those silos.

But “the one who does the will of God abides for ever” (St. John).

ICXC NIKA

 

[Sufjon]

The earth is not a mother. Or, if it is, it systematically brutalizes and consumes its ‘children.’

Your breath does not come from the earth, it comes from the Spirit of God. When the Spirit is withdrawn, your breathing will end, and it won’t matter then how well you’ve treated nature. Nature doesn’t know you and it won’t care when your eyes roll back, but our LORD does.

Putting your trust in nature or the earth, is like the man in our LORD’s parable who built new silos to hold his grain harvest, but couldn’t hold the life in in his body. He never benefited from those silos.

But “the one who does the will of God abides for ever” (St. John).

ICXC NIKA

God made the universe and the particles that came together to make the earth. And He formed you from the earth. If the earth has the potential to brutalize it’s children, it’s only because God gave it that potential. Having done so, He would also know the probability for the occurrence of each type of disaster that could befall the children He placed on it in general, and in their particulars, but does that make God evil or uncaring? Or does it simply mean that we are forming judgements based on our limited capability to perceive and comprehend how good and bad fit into the whole? Nature, (or Prakriti as we would call it) is also an expression of God. As you said, it doesn’t care when you roll your eyes back, but perhaps neither does it’s creator. Not because the creator is uncaring or unkind, but because we are assigning an inappropriate level of importance to a natural event in an ever-changing cosmos. Why would we do that? We would do t hat because we are identifying ourselves with a body, when we are actually part of the whole. Your body is not you. It only seems like it because of our limited sense capabilities.

If you were to sit down with a physicist and ask him or her where your body begins and the elements around it end, he or she would be hard pressed to tell you. Your body is only an expression of energy in a huge mass of energy. You can no more separate your body from the earth and the cosmos around it than you can extricate your body from the particles that make up your body. These particles make up your body and your body in turn is part of the whole, and it is constantly exchanging elements with the world around it. No particle that makes up your body is yours. Every molecule you have today will be used by something else in less than 18 months, at which time your body will be made up of particles that were being used by something else today. It is all matter and energy in flux. And most of all - this is not what you are. You are part of the consciousness that makes it all happen. Not you personally, because there is no you personally. There is only one, expressed as many and the many are expressed as the whole. Perhaps that is what the Lord said whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers you have also done to me. Perhaps that is why He said love your neighbor as yourself. Perhaps because they are. Perhaps that’s why He said this bread is my body and told you to eat it - to demonstrate that everything in all of creation is an expression of Him and by eating it you might see that you are too. I think He was trying to tell you something, but the people who heard Him were thick and ordinary by modern standards. You are not. They had an excuse to be primitive in their interpretations. We do not, and those of us who don;t keep up will watch our faith traditions fade among educated populations as the word gets smaller and information becomes better disseminated. It’s happening in Europe already. That is a huge loss to humanity, because the message of Jesus was the truth. Only it’s not likely the truth perceived by people who heard it, because they were closer to Neanderthals than they were to us in terms of the information available to them. I think Jesus fully expected that we would eventually see what He was saying. His body is the fabric of space-time into which the tapestry of individual experiences are woven. Where does He end and where do you begin? How is the experiencer separated from the experience? Are they not mutually interdependent? There is not one without the other.

The earth is your mother. Also it is your sister and anyone you ever knew. And they in turn are the earth. All things in the cosmos are one giant organism functioning as parts and a whole. You though, are infinitely more than that.

Your friend
Sufjon

 

[Ahimsa]

I did that for 19 years. I married a Catholic woman. Because of the demands that institution placed on her, I went ahead and married her in the Catholic Church, received every sacrament (except Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick), taught CCD, raised both of my sons in that church, made sure they got all their sacraments and attended mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Because I am Hindu, my faith allows me to do that with no problem. During that time, I never kept a single Hindu item or book in the house, nor ever mentioned Hinduism to anyone. I took it very seriously and put forth a good deal of effort. However, after having been a Hindu, the experience of doing what you suggested felt about as spiritual to me as dropping a rock on a sidewalk, except for saying the rosary. I still say them from time to time. And I am still learning about Christianity and my own religion as well.

Were you Catholic when you married her? Are you still married to her, she being Catholic and you being Hindu?

 

[Sufjon]

Were you Catholic when you married her? Are you still married to her, she being Catholic and you being Hindu?

Hi Ahisma: I was not Catholic when met her. I became one in order to accommodate her desire to be married in the Catholic Church. In accordance with her beliefs, I attended a Catholic Marriage Encounter program with her. My understanding was that at the time, in order to be married in her church, we would have to vow to raise our children Catholic. My religion doesn’t prohibit me from participating in Christian worship, and I didn’t want to disrupt her spiritual path. We are still married. The vows I took were until death, and being truthful in our intents is important in my faith as it is of course in most any faith. I attend mass with her when she asks me to. She does get quite annoyed with my faith because she wants me to do things like eat meat with her and doesn’t like the amount of time set aside for prayer each day. Now I do that very early in the morning while she’s asleep.

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[benedictus2]

Your gifts are your gifts. Whether or not they are agents of good or of evil is up to how you use them.

Not quite. There are some gifts that the devil does give to further his end. But then I don’t think you believe in the devil. But you believe or not he does.

The trick is to put God at the helm of your chariot while you fight the battle. Otherwise the sense horses will pull you this way and that. I trust God and have no paranoia about the devil. This is mainly because I am not under the sway of a well oiled multi-national machine that manages my psyche through manipulation and fear of things that were created by that same machine for the sake of managing your head for you.

This has nothing to do with the gifts I was talking about. The devil gives gits of being able to tell the past, and these the New Agers use.

I am not talking about gifts such as talents at music, art, etc. I am talking about so called “supernatural” gifts. Some are from the devil, some are from God. Discernment is needed.

I have heard this sort of thing on this website many times. It is not a matter of thinking that you are God. It is a matter of seeing the unitive nature in things rather than seeing the separation in things. The problem is that people are fooled into confusing these temporary bodies we are wearing with being what we are. It makes you think you are separate from the whole. Science has proven that nothing is further from the truth. These bodies are only an epiphenomenon of what we are. The separateness you perceive, as well as everything you think you have experienced in life are just your nervous system experiencing your nervous system. That’s right – just your nervous system (brain) experiencing your nervous system (senses). When you eat an orange, you are not experiencing an orange. You are experiencing your nervous system’s reaction to itself in relation to an object it has named an orange. Light reflected off an object that is in turn reflected off a retina, fed to the brain (which is also part of the nervous system) and processed as an orange. Citric acid and other compounds touching the tongue and processed by the brain as the taste of an orange, and so on. But is that what an orange is? In it’s very limited capacity to do so, it is how our nervous system is defining an orange. Unless you practice meditative practices that connect you with God and the whole, all you will ever experience in your life is your nervous system jacking you around. And you won’t find God through rituals, incantations , blessing and rites performed on you by an authorized agent of some organization. YOU have to find Him on your own. If you fall for that other stuff, you have to do it all again. God doesn’t care about what organization you are sponsored by or approved by. It’s your job to connect with Him and comprehend what you are, and He showed you how to do it.

So what has this got to do with whether the gift is of God’s or the devils?

The earth, planets, solar systems, galaxies and all things living on them and in them are all expressions of God. Nothing exists independently of the whole.

Sorry but we don’t say they are expressions of God but rather they are creations of God. God is not part of His creation. He exists independent of creation. That is one of the major difference between Hindu and Christian belief.

You said this in regard to stones and the like. I don’t know anything about that. But I know that you said that none of it is scientifically proven. I would venture to say that neither are the Resurrection, Ascension, the Assumption, the Eucharist and a number of other critical things in the faiths of many people. It’s a matter of faith, and one’s own path to God. We should remember that when we denigrate or speak dismissively about what is sacred to others, we only diminish ourselves.

While they are not scientifically proven, there is a certain level of proof for them in the miracles. It is a little bit involved to go through them here but I will look up articles that I give a link to.

 

[benedictus2]

Hi Ahisma: I was not Catholic when met her. I became one in order to accommodate her desire to be married in the Catholic Church. In accordance with her beliefs, I attended a Catholic Marriage Encounter program with her. My understanding was that at the time, in order to be married in her church, we would have to vow to raise our children Catholic. My religion doesn’t prohibit me from participating in Christian worship, and I didn’t want to disrupt her spiritual path. We are still married. The vows I took were until death, and being truthful in our intents is important in my faith as it is of course in most any faith. I attend mass with her when she asks me to. She does get quite annoyed with my faith because she wants me to do things like eat meat with her and doesn’t like the amount of time set aside for prayer each day. Now I do that very early in the morning while she’s asleep.

Your friend,
Sufjon

I don’t know about her but I think it is great that the husband finds so much time for prayer. Perhaps it is the Hinduness of the prayers and not so much the the fact of praying that she objects to.

I would find that a problem too but then, since she married a Hindu she should have thought about that before.

I went to a retreat house once where they are very ecclectic in their spirituality doing a mish mash of Catholic and Hindu spirituality. The first time, I attended the prayer because I did not know what it would be like. The next time I refused. The nun who was running the retreat house got angry with me because I told them that the reason I didn’t want to pray with them is because what they are practicing is not Catholic. It wasn’t and the only defense she could make was that “the prayers are longer” as if that makes up for the fact that it was not Christian,

I must say though, kudos to you for keeping to your prayer life in spite of the opposition.

 

[benedictus2]

I did that for 19 years. I married a Catholic woman. Because of the demands that institution placed on her, I went ahead and married her in the Catholic Church, received every sacrament (except Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick), taught CCD, raised both of my sons in that church, made sure they got all their sacraments and attended mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Because I am Hindu, my faith allows me to do that with no problem. During that time, I never kept a single Hindu item or book in the house, nor ever mentioned Hinduism to anyone. I took it very seriously and put forth a good deal of effort. However, after having been a Hindu, the experience of doing what you suggested** felt about as spiritual to me as dropping a rock on a sidewalk,** except for saying the rosary. I still say them from time to time. And I am still learning about Christianity and my own religion as well.

I got rather confused there because I was sure that I did not ask you that.

The recommendation I don’t think would apply to you since you are formerly a Hindu. I think it is different for Catholic who dabble in New Age stuff and the occult.

Unless you completely understand the Eucharist, then you will not have any idea how spiritual it is. People these days put so much emphasis on so called “Spirituality” but all that boils down to most of the time is encountering themselves.

Some say I am spiritual but not religious and that to me means nothing at all. To me that only says that the ego and feelings is what control the person.

Thanks for the warning, but the diabolical is all around you wherever you may be. So is the divine.

But you can decide who to give assent to. And one needs good discernment to distinguish between the two.

You can’t control that, but you can control what is inside of you. If you have fallen prey to people who have convinced you that if you don’t follow their program you’ll run into something diabolical, then you should decide for yourself whether someone might want you to think that in order to make you weak and dependent. In that case, these people have done a head job on you, and that is indeed diabolical.

Discernment. That is how you tell. St Ignatius has a wonderful exercise to help one determine that.

Yes, and the question is in what guise he is lying to you from. Perhaps he is lying to you in the form of someone who has taught you to beware of the father of lies. Crafty thing, that devil. The devil may be the father of all lies, I don’t know about all that, but I know that God is the father of all things, and all things includes the devil, so what should I fear if I trust in God?

Your friend,
Sufjon

The devil is real and his craftiness is real. And yes you are right one must trust God and if one believes in Christ, one has no need of any other. He is enough.

PS. If I don’t get to reply to any of your future posts (including the other thread), I am caught up with year end stuff. Will try to do short replies when I get some free time. In the meantime this might be it for me for the next month or so.

 

[rinnie]

Sham artists always say that to people the know they will fail to fool.

I always felt that also. Because I think that they know. that as you stated they cannot fool me because my belief is in one person and that is Christ.

I believe that they are very smart people and watch our eyes, hands clothes, jewerly anything that they can for clues.

Like they can say I see a baby, Now if there was a certain baby in my life that lets say I wanted to know about my eyes would light up. Then they would watch my moves and say is it a girl or a boy. Then somehow I would show a response to either. Then if I somehow twitched or something at a boy they would say its a boy!!! Thing’s like that.

But don’t get me wrong I do believe some do have certain powers. But it does not come from God it comes from the devil.

The devil can work through people just like God can. ITs all about our free will.

If someone wants to let the devil take over their soul he will be glad to. Thats how people become full of evil.

The same as we beg Jesus to take over our souls.

The weird thing about this lady she told me after she did a so called READING she would get these horrible headaches for days. So maybe there was a part of the devil that did have a kind of power over her:shrug: ANd maybe she was actually fighting him also.

 

[rinnie]

Hi Ahisma: I was not Catholic when met her. I became one in order to accommodate her desire to be married in the Catholic Church. In accordance with her beliefs, I attended a Catholic Marriage Encounter program with her. My understanding was that at the time, in order to be married in her church, we would have to vow to raise our children Catholic. My religion doesn’t prohibit me from participating in Christian worship, and I didn’t want to disrupt her spiritual path. We are still married. The vows I took were until death, and being truthful in our intents is important in my faith as it is of course in most any faith. I attend mass with her when she asks me to. She does get quite annoyed with my faith because she wants me to do things like eat meat with her and doesn’t like the amount of time set aside for prayer each day. Now I do that very early in the morning while she’s asleep.

Your friend,
Sufjon

Wow. I knew there was something I really liked about you. Actually much. Looks like you need to give that Catholic some lessons about prayer.

Sufjon please continue to go to mass as much as you can.

The more time you spend there and the more you receive the Eucharist the more God will extend you his Grace and become apart of you.

And thank-you for the Prayers you are praying. It is people like you that keep the good in the world with your prayers. Maybe throw one for your ole friend Rinne once in awhile also

 

[tqualey]

Hi, Sufjon,

Let me encourage you to continue saying the rosary and maintain a devotion to Our Lady.

God bless

Your gifts are your gifts. Whether or not they are agents of good or of evil is up to how you use them. The trick is to put God at the helm of your chariot while you fight the battle. Otherwise the sense horses will pull you this way and that. I trust God and have no paranoia about the devil. This is mainly because I am not under the sway of a well oiled multi-national machine that manages my psyche through manipulation and fear of things that were created by that same machine for the sake of managing your head for you.

.

I have heard this sort of thing on this website many times. It is not a matter of thinking that you are God. It is a matter of seeing the unitive nature in things rather than seeing the separation in things. The problem is that people are fooled into confusing these temporary bodies we are wearing with being what we are. It makes you think you are separate from the whole. Science has proven that nothing is further from the truth. These bodies are only an epiphenomenon of what we are. The separateness you perceive, as well as everything you think you have experienced in life are just your nervous system experiencing your nervous system. That’s right – just your nervous system (brain) experiencing your nervous system (senses). When you eat an orange, you are not experiencing an orange. You are experiencing your nervous system’s reaction to itself in relation to an object it has named an orange. Light reflected off an object that is in turn reflected off a retina, fed to the brain (which is also part of the nervous system) and processed as an orange. Citric acid and other compounds touching the tongue and processed by the brain as the taste of an orange, and so on. But is that what an orange is? In it’s very limited capacity to do so, it is how our nervous system is defining an orange. Unless you practice meditative practices that connect you with God and the whole, all you will ever experience in your life is your nervous system jacking you around. And you won’t find God through rituals, incantations , blessing and rites performed on you by an authorized agent of some organization. YOU have to find Him on your own. If you fall for that other stuff, you have to do it all again. God doesn’t care about what organization you are sponsored by or approved by. It’s your job to connect with Him and comprehend what you are, and He showed you how to do it.

The earth, planets, solar systems, galaxies and all things living on them and in them are all expressions of God. Nothing exists independently of the whole.

You said this in regard to stones and the like. I don’t know anything about that. But I know that you said that none of it is scientifically proven. I would venture to say that neither are the Resurrection, Ascension, the Assumption, the Eucharist and a number of other critical things in the faiths of many people. It’s a matter of faith, and one’s own path to God. We should remember that when we denigrate or speak dismissively about what is sacred to others, we only diminish ourselves.

I did that for 19 years. I married a Catholic woman. Because of the demands that institution placed on her, I went ahead and married her in the Catholic Church, received every sacrament (except Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick), taught CCD, raised both of my sons in that church, made sure they got all their sacraments and attended mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Because I am Hindu, my faith allows me to do that with no problem. During that time, I never kept a single Hindu item or book in the house, nor ever mentioned Hinduism to anyone. I took it very seriously and put forth a good deal of effort. However, after having been a Hindu, the experience of doing what you suggested felt about as spiritual to me as dropping a rock on a sidewalk, except for saying the rosary. I still say them from time to time. And I am still learning about Christianity and my own religion as well.

Thanks for the warning, but the diabolical is all around you wherever you may be. So is the divine. You can’t control that, but you can control what is inside of you. If you have fallen prey to people who have convinced you that if you don’t follow their program you’ll run into something diabolical, then you should decide for yourself whether someone might want you to think that in order to make you weak and dependent. In that case, these people have done a head job on you, and that is indeed diabolical.

Yes, and the question is in what guise he is lying to you from. Perhaps he is lying to you in the form of someone who has taught you to beware of the father of lies. Crafty thing, that devil. The devil may be the father of all lies, I don’t know about all that, but I know that God is the father of all things, and all things includes the devil, so what should I fear if I trust in God?

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[Sufjon]

And thank-you for the Prayers you are praying. It is people like you that keep the good in the world with your prayers. Maybe throw one for your ole friend Rinne once in awhile also

I sure will Rinnie! Say one for me too if you will.

Your friend,
Sufjon

 

[Sufjon]

Hi, Sufjon,

Let me encourage you to continue saying the rosary and maintain a devotion to Our Lady.

God bless

Yes, and the question is in what guise he is lying to you from. Perhaps he is lying to you in the form of someone who has taught you to beware of the father of lies. Crafty thing, that devil. The devil may be the father of all lies, I don’t know about all that, but I know that God is the father of all things, and all things includes the devil, so what should I fear if I trust in God?

Your friend,
Sufjon

I will: I actually like the rosary. I had an encounter with Mary at the deathbed of one of her devotees. When it got as bad as it could get, she came for her. She was right there and the whole bed was bathed in an incredible warm light. There was no mistake who it was.

your friend
Sufjon

 

[janszki]

So the litmus test for truth in religion is that in order to be true, it must be unattractive, unfriendly and cold?

Thanks for bringing up Adolf Hitler. Yes, it was rather clever how we Hindus, Buddhists and New-Agers tricked all those Christians in Germany into running those death camps for us. We pulled it off so well, that no Hindus, Buddhists or New-Agers had show up to run any of them. We made it look like the handiwork of Christians. And you have GOT to be kidding - blaming the Second World War on a bunch of hippie chicks with incense, stones and exercise mats.

Anyway, I have to go polish my jackboots now and go to bed.

Your friend,
Sufjon

Hi Sufjon,
Generally to choose Christ, yes, in this world his way is the narrow gate…his cross and his suffering…which is usually unattractive (suffering hurts us and makes us look poor and alone), unfriendly (generally proclaiming Christ and his message results in the loss of friends and acquaintances) and cold (generally it is not supoposed to be a feel good emotion as most worldly pleasures are).

I am not in anyway implying how YOU Hindus, Buddhists and New-Agers tricked anyone as my post was not in a reply to any of your previous posts. Besides, Blavatsky’s doctrine is not 100% Buddhist or Hindu. It is a mixture of the two along with newer revelations (Satanic). Purely our label of faith, regardless of Christian, Buddhist or Hindu etc. doesn’t stop the devil from acting through us…hence the crimes and attrocities of the NAZIS, can easily be replicated by any group of people at any time in this world’s history.

God Bless

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

I always felt that also. Because I think that they know. that as you stated they cannot fool me because my belief is in one person and that is Christ.

Actually, seeing as how Catholics are called to value reason and science in discerning truth, I don’t even think we need to go so far as an expression of faith to highlight our disbelief.

Like they can say I see a baby, Now if there was a certain baby in my life that lets say I wanted to know about my eyes would light up. Then they would watch my moves and say is it a girl or a boy. Then somehow I would show a response to either. Then if I somehow twitched or something at a boy they would say its a boy!!! Thing’s like that.

Haha, I can already see a ‘psychic’ saying this about me.

Psychic: in old gypsy woman voice Yoooouuu have a da-a-a-a-rk secre-e-e-e-et.

Me: Who-o-o-o-o hasn’t lady?

Psychic: Well it’s a carnal dark secret.

Me: I’m a guy. That much is obvious. Anythin’ else?

Psychic: E-erm…