Spirituality and Consciousness

James Brown, "Sex Machine" turned up to 11, and room to move.

Get UP! (get on up!)

Stop. Look. Listen.

Anytime. Anywhere.

Shhhhhh.

There it is (call it what you will - God, Love, Cosmic Force, Mantra, Karma, Jesus's Love, God's will...whatever)

Shhhhh.

There it is. Inside, outside, everywhere, in everything.

Tap in. Touch it. Feel it. Groove with it. Share it.

Stop. Look. Listen.

Why not now?

It's always there, waiting for your call 24-7. Operators are standing by!

WM, I don't understand a number of things from your post above. Do you mind clarifying, please?

When you ask to be shown solutions to your problems, who are you asking? How do you know when the answer comes?

You said the solutions to your problems come as long as you pay attention, then you said the answer can sometimes be quite harsh when you're not paying attention. Does this mean that answers do come when you're not paying attention, they're just harsh? What is a harsh answer? Thanks, Judi

as is often the case, white manitou and i are totally on the same page, paragraph and sentence.

one major thing that many people find argument with me is that spiritually, i believe that we create our reality and good and terrible things happen. most people blame God which for me makes no sense. i believe that horrific events occur for very specific reasons for those of us that remain in an incarnate state. how we deal with the grief and sorrow and how we choose to heal and find faith and hope within ourself and others is a part of why we are here on this planet. as a human being with a human heart, i am very sensitive to the pain and horror that happens every day in this world and yet my sorrow is not for the dead but for the families and loved ones left behind. my trust and belief system is so strong that i believe and know that passing back over to what we call the "afterlife" is not a punishment or an accident. it is part of a plan, however, free will always exists. my own sons have struggled with this and one still does. i strongly suggest to them to explore Buddhism and to study the i ching. to open themselves back up to what they already know but are denying in their lives. Throughout their lives, they've been exposed to many religions and philosophies but they just weren't ready to finally take the steps to learn and accept.

I learned active meditation in my early 20's and began to learn about metaphysics. it was like coming home for me. it was like i knew it but had forgotten it.

some religions generally scare me with their over-involvement in their parishioners' lives, use of guilt and threats. i try very hard not to be judgmental of some religions that make little sense to me, most of them in our country.

but everyone must find their way and truth. some take longer than others and some know it from childhood. knowing and practicing are two very different things however. giving and caring and loving has been my entire adult life and i know that i have set a good example for my kids. but anyone can do random acts of kindness and include their kids in it as well. i will never forget the time when my son was 10 and he went with me on Christmas Eve morning to a home of a very impoverished family who literally had nothing. I'd spent two months preparing for this family of 8 and my son and I took everything to this family from a gift certificate to a grocery store to Christmas presents for every child - and a tree!! not only was the family overwhelmed but more importantly to me, my son was in tears when we were done and back in the car. his tears were tears of understanding and knowing true kindness and it has thankfully stayed with him all these years since.

Mockingbird,

Very nicely stated!

True kindness without expectations of anything in return is priceless.

Thanks,

Amy

Spiritual practice is best defined as 'fighting inertia'. What is 'inertia?'

The part of ourselves that: 1. Does not wish to express our full potential or 2: Knows that our full potential is being restrained but denies that fact.

What about that scary dude in "The Da Vinci Code", with the freakin' leg iron (cilice?), whipping himself and all that? Kinda bends your brain a little to include that as a "spiritual practice", doesn't it? Or consider Voudon (voodoo) spiritualism.

I don't know that, in these cases, overcoming inertia could also be defined as realizing one's full potential. I suspect that there are many "spiritual practices" out there that have nothing to do with realizing one's full potential. As I think about it, probably most prayer, as it is practiced in the major religions, is more about entreating a deity to do something: bring rain, deliver so & so's soul into heaven, destroy The Great Satan, win the lottery, show the homosexuals the errors of their ways etc. etc. etc.

So, Mick, while I like your definition and can certainly apply it to my own spiritual practice (which primarily involves the ingestion of copious quantities of distilled spirits...:), I'm not sure it works for what most religions would define as "spirituality" or "spiritual practice". Your thoughts?

Nareeja,

Your overcoming inertia by the means you described IS NOT ignoring. It is actively pursuing advancement. The clarity you receive and the compassion you are able to maintain focus upon is one of the manifestations of your active pursuit of wisdom. You don't seem to be ignoring anything.

John WM

Don't go vague on me now neeraja,

You ask "what are we ignoring?"

Ask instead, what am I ignoring?

Am I ignoring inertia in my own life?

Mick, its a tradition in my family to respond by saying "we", so its just a natural response!

To tweedeldum,

It think you have the point there... so (when you are sober!) there can be some acknowledgement of interia and therefore the choice to do something about it. Freedom, afterall, is a choice.

Religion is a stepping stone to fighting interia, a phase its members must go through until they can accept responsibility for their own actions and stop looking to some old man in the sky to do it for them or some dude on a cross who took their sins away or to some reward in the afterlife. The reward is in fighting inertia now, no reward, just fighting...

neeraja,

We are all NOT "spiritually evolving whether we are all conscious of it or not", most certainly not.

Yes, maybe this epoch we find ourselves in is a tad more evolved than the dark ages, but... the evolution of your consciousness (or awareness or attention) is your choice. It does not and will not (ever) happen by itself.... please!

whiteman! I am honored, dude! :)))

Tweedle:

That is the difference between religion and "Spiritual practice". You kind of defined it.

:-)

Christians aren't "looking to be saved", we are already saved. Also, it would be extremely sad that we waited until after we died to have a relationship with God. Our spiritual practice should be a daily, moment-by-moment walk with God.

Christian purpose: glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ in time.

Christian objective: achieve spiritual maturity.

Christian policy: grace (what God does for us, not what we can do for God; gifts throughout time & eternity)

Result: making good decisions in life from a position of strength in the divine system, control of one's life, & a personal sense of destiny

As far as realizing our personal spiritual potential . . .

The function of the spiritual life for a Christian depends on the three spiritual skills:

1) The filling of the Holy Spirit (daily acknowledging of our sins & agreement with God to repent [change our mind about the acknowledged sin(s)]

2) The metabolization of bible doctrine (daily intake, belief, and utilization of doctrine).

3) The utilization of ten problem-solving devices.

1. Rebound

2. The Filling of the Holy Spirit

3. Faith-Rest

4. Grace Orientation

5. Doctrinal Orientation

6. A Personal Sense of Destiny

7. Personal Love for God the Father

8. Impersonal Unconditional Love for all Mankind

9. Contentment and Perfect Happiness with God

10. Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ

Well, that's just a very brief thumbnail sketch of Christianity.

Judi,

Being already saved is perfectly correct. Well stated there! I have a few questions for you on the rest of your post here.

Do you agree that salvation can be defined as being One with God.

Being saved, does this mean also that you, Judi, are as evolved as or more evolved than Jesus?

If so, why is there a need for a 'relationship' (which implies duality, the point opposite of being 'One with'?)

How do you, Judi, answer these four questions: (Yes or No answers only, I know you have a penchant for words)

1. I have implicit trust in myself and in the process of life.

2. I do not create any unnecessary personal suffering for others or myself.

3. All of my primary relationships are free from personal conflict.

4. I come together with others in relationships beyond all individual and collective conditioning into which I was born.

Tweedldum,

You are right. Spiritual practice defined as it is here as 'fighting inertia' is most certainly not the point of today's major religions (except Christianity 'cos that's not a religion ;) so let's all move on and get to your thoughts from your last paragraph.

Re-think your last paragraph that begins 'I dunno' and then (maybe after you tee up a nice round of golf) come back and start a new thread with your thoughts here, you've got something good!

After you die it the same old same old. Watch your dreams tonight. That's you sans body! Death in other words. What are we all affirming and seeking so?

tweedledum, I'm going to approach this differently . . .

What leads you to believe that today's major religions don't have any intention of realizing their personal spiritual potential?

Why are you interested in "spirituality as it's positioned by some of the major world religions"? Curiosity? Advancing toward Truth? . . . .?

If I can inter-act with you a little Mick. "One with God" means to me is, living and listenning to depth of inner small voices, which is(holy sprit in Christian term) dwelling in all of us. And its voice get louder for us decent people, thus as long I listen to that voice, I am free from conflict within, but I maybe a conflict with others or vice-versa. It is a life long precess to realize that we are spiritual being.

Often I heard that Christians said that they are saved, but my question is from what? And if they are saved, why they(some)are conducting themselves such way, which is not much different from so call "unsaved". Perhaps it is life long process to become a whole,="saved"

miokim7, I understand that society seems to hold Christians to a higher standard, expecting them to be perfect. Christians are human & make mistakes. Should Christians behave different than their unsaved counterparts? Absolutely! Sadly, though, many of them don't learn about God as they should after they are 'saved', and without the daily filling of the Holy Spirit and intake of bible doctrine, it is impossible to tell the difference between a believer and an unbeliever, but God does know the difference. Each person has to make their own choice in this matter.

Just like in salvation, God does not make us have positive volition toward bible doctrine, and we are disciplined when we don't, just like any parent would do for their children.

In answer to your question as to what are we saved from?: "For all have sinned & fallen short of the glory of God." So, anything short of God's perfection is referred to as "sin". "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

A perfect & just God cannot have fellowship with us when we are in a sinful state, so He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty or wages for all of our personal sins. When we believe in Jesus Christ & His work on the cross for these sins, we are "saved" from spending eternity in the Lake of Fire (hell), & from being separated from our Creator for eternity. We are given 40 gifts immediately at the point of salvation as God establishes a personal relationship with those who believe.

Judi...I'm with Moikim on this one. What exactly is it that we're going to be saved from? What does saved mean? Now is it possible to answer this question without reference to what someone else said it is in a very old book? At some point after much pondering about God, heavens, hells...I realized that the truth was I really don't know. From that point A new kind of learning (spirtual practice?) began. As for me I know I don't hold people who label themselves Christian human beings to a higher standard than I would any other human being.

warmly,

K

Okay Judi...if you don't come down from the pulpit soon I think I'm going to have to switch my spirituality to Tweedle dees copious consumption of spirits...

warmly,

K

Kenny, I was answering a question. Oops! It didn't agree with what you guys believe. Surprise!!

Yea, Kenny, I'll quit 'preaching'. I'll quit having an opinion that's different. I'll agree that we all ought to find our inner child, embrace the universe, and hope that the great human that we each are can solve their own problems & become united in the celestial dust that floats to our earth and bonds with our innermost being, resulting in peace for all.

We've done a great job thus far, as the news will bear this out. We certainly have 'evolved' . . .So, let's keep up the good work!! Yeah!!

How was that, Kenny? ;)

Hi Judi,

I have a question for you.

Above you mentioned...

"Do you agree that salvation can be defined as being One with God? NO. BEING ONE WITH GOD IS ONE OF THE 40 WONDERFUL GIFTS GIVEN AT THE MOMENT WE ARE SAVED."

What are the other 39 wonderful gifts from God? Or is the term "forty" an image of many gifts than exact quantity?

Thanks,

Amy