Tuesday, July 31, 2012

A word of encouragement by Robert Rutherford

We are all faced with challenges. Loss.... Disease..... Death of loved ones....financial catastrophe.... Abuse..... Hurt..... Pain..... All of these things serve to strengthen us..... To make us better.....
To prepare us for the rest of the journey. In the middle of the trial... We must focus on the strength within... And, look to the finish line. We will make it. The challenge at hand is our friend. It will help us. Don't hate the pain.... Embrace it.
~ Robert Rutherford
Yes, we all face challenges in life, at different times and in varying degrees of hardship, and I also agree that these things serve to strengthen us - we will emerge not only better, but stronger and wiser. It reminds me of an athlete training for a marathon - each training exercise, each lap around the running track, serves to prepare us for the long journey ahead. As we progress further down the road, I believe we will be able to look back and marvel at how our past hurt and pain have bolstered us and given us the strength and endurance and wisdom that we have acquired which we would not have otherwise acquired without the initial hardship, and we will find ourselves coping or faring much better. Yes, embracing our pain and loss is the way to experience more freedom and peace in the long run.

Taking responsibility and ownership for our own actions and feelings

"Men have a tendency to claim that their own feelings are those of God. Because this phenomenon exists, I cannot logically use the 'evidence' of a man's testimony about God speaking to them. This has nothing to do the glory of man, but everything to do with the fallibility of man." ~ Josh Foreman
Yes, I become wary nowadays when people claim that god told them this and that, as if using God's name to give weight to their views. It is the same back in the ancient days when people wrote about god speaking to them, and they were only projecting their own imagination onto god.

Such testimonies of god speaking to them are as diverse as humanity itself, since each person's experience is subjective, hence theology itself is subjective. "One man's orthodoxy is another man's heresy", as the saying goes. It would be better then that people take responsibility and ownership for their own actions and feelings, instead of trying to convince others that god is speaking to them or telling them to do something. 

Thoughts on Devotionals

I usually don't read the devotionals nowadays, since much of it I have already read before about our original blueprint in the image and likeness of God, so at the most, it may serve only as a reminder, if we need reminders of our true identity.

Other than that, I have moved on beyond the separation mindset of mainstream christian theology, and the concept of "sin", which to me is an outdated religious concept that doesn't apply to any one of us at all, as it is only used in the context of the Jewish culture and mindset. As shared with you before, the bible may contain some spiritual truths I can learn from, but it is not the absolute truth.

The truth is within each of us, and we can learn from any other sources or books that dispel the illusion of separation, and point to our innate innocence, and our value and dignity as human beings (or spiritual beings on a human journey). Native American spirituality, and some aspects of Taoism, Buddhism, paganism and new age, etc, all convey a similar message that we are all one, and the divine is in us.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The self-aggrandisement in Modern Christianity

What do we make of people in the Christian circles claiming that they are having a good time dying to self? How about those who publicise their good deeds?

I think they basically love to pat themselves on their shoulders and displaying their "spiritual attainment" in public. It is contrary to Jesus' sermon on the mount, in which he taught people not to let their left hand know when their right hand does some good deeds. I have been in the Christian religious circles in which I have seen such displays of performance. Not surprisingly, there were incidences of envy and jealousy among the people when they compared with one another who is "more spiritual". So, theologically, they may say god loves everyone the same and nothing they do can make god love them more or love them less, but in practice, there is a contradiction in what they believe and what they do, since they are still stuck in the performance rut, and in a sense, they are competing with one another to see who gets more favour from god. So, after all is said and done, it is really good to be out of this religious madness.

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Someone also asked this question: "What social improvements have Christians fought for in the last 300 years?"

I think "social conditionings" is probably more appropriate to describe modern christianity, which actually does more harm than good, as the predominant christian mindset is based on the illusion of separation, which only creates division and strife instead of unity and peace.

Even the so-called missionary outreaches are often carried out with an evangelical purpose to convert people to become "christians". True love has no agenda, and is done for the sake of the betterment of humanity without any conditions attached.

Jesus said to the Pharisees not to trumpet their good deeds in the marketplace, who love to receive greetings and praises from others. Why are christians not heeding Jesus' sermon on the mount and choosing to display their "good deeds" to the world instead? Could it be a case of self-righteousness and looking down on those who are not considered as part of Christianity, I wonder?

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Someone mentioned abolition of slavery, but the same Bible has been used by christians to enforce slavery on others. How is this considered as "social improvements"?

How is Christianity helping people when it imposes a dogmatic view of "christians" versus "non-christians"? Are we not all human beings regardless of our religion or belief system? Isn't christianity impairing relationships among people instead of repairing when it favours those who are "in", and discriminates or condemns those who are "out"?

So, instead of talking about "social improvements" that christians have "fought for", why not address the problem of christians "fighting" against one another and "others" because of differences in doctrines and theology and denominations, labelling each other as heretics just because they disagree on their different viewpoints?

The world will indeed be more peaceful and united if christianity (and any other religious system) is done away, when people help one another purely based on unconditional love, instead of a religious agenda to convert people or to instil fear and condemnation in people's heart for not subscribing to a particular doctrine or saying the "right" words or pronouncing the "right" name of a particular god or deity.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Love is why we are here

 Source: Practicing the Presence through Mind and Meditation
 
I like the short and succinct message. The words "love" and "here" stand out. It is like the message is conveying a sense of being present, in the here and now. Love is. Here is love. Right now in the present moment, love is here with us, and in us, and is us. As a saying goes, "we reach there by realising we are there".

Yes, in the same way, we find (or experience) love by realising we are love. Love is the journey as well as the destination. Love is also the source or the starting point, for as the message says, love is why we are here. So we came from love, our original source. We came to love and be loved, our divine/human purpose. Without love, there is no meaning in life. Love is the highest vibration of the universe that makes life worthwhile. I am on a journey of remembering who I am and why I am here, over and over again, every day.

Truth is an outsider - Mick Mooney

"Truth, I have discovered, is an outsider.

If you want it, you’ll never be allowed to remain in the circles of main stream acceptance; like Jesus, truth isn’t accepted in religious circles.

I tried to make it work, to find a middle ground, we all do.

But there came a point when I simply stopped understanding the religious mind.

It is a strange thing, because that was my mind for so long, but I can’t sympathise with it any longer; I want no part of it.

And I am not alone.

I’ve become part of a band of rebels who have found each other along the path of honesty.

We’re not considered rebels because we are looking for a fight; we are rebels because we openly reject the cry of religion, demanding we return to captivity."

- excerpt from Losing The Christian Economy: Confessions Of An Ex-SuperPastor

Yes, the moment we decide to be intellectually honest and seek the truth that sets us free, we will not find ourselves remaining in the circles of mainstream acceptance. We have become rebels, so to speak, who have found company with those who are also seeking freedom from the religious mindset. For me, I no longer find any resonance with the church mindset of "saved" versus "unsaved", for example, so being away from the institutional church system and feeding on my own through inspirational pages on facebook (as well as nuggets shared by my beloved) has helped keep my spirit buoyant.

We are inter-dimensional beings as Jesus was

"We are not only multi-dimensional beings, we are inter-dimensional beings as Jesus was. He learned how to transcend even molecular space and cellular intelligence. His miracles, reported in scripture suggests he was a true Metaphysician. He taught that people should reconnect with their God selves and souls. This is what he meant when he said, "In my Father's House', meaning: in the things of my Father, or in the Kingdom of God 'there are many mansions", meaning many dimensions, apartments, compartments, levels, floors, spaces, places and paces. Don't park where you are. Keep expanding, experiencing, evolving, involving and expressing your best and better self. Jesus said, God is Spirit. I believe that everything is Consciousness, which indeed is spirit, the ultimate or perhaps only Reality. See ya there! Peace is possible!"
~ Bishop Carlton Pearson
 Yes, Jesus is indeed a true metaphysician as he performed miracles that transcended physical laws and taught about the power of words, thoughts and beliefs to change and recreate our reality. When we reconnect with our true God self, we can more fully express our infinite potential. We will also see the material world in a new light, as nothing but possible movements of consciousness, as I learnt from the movie "What the bleep do we know?" that I watched last night.
 

Friday, July 13, 2012

How Great is the Divine

The Divine was expansive, but religion was reductive. Religion attempted to reduce the Divine to a knowable quantity with which mortals might efficiently deal, to pigeonhole it once and for all so that we never had to reevaluate it.
With hammers of can't and spikes of dogma, we crucified and crucified again, trying to nail to our stationary altars the migratory Light of the world.
~Tom Robbins
 Yes, the Divine is expansive and cannot be contained within the restrictive confines of religion. The expansive nature of the Divine reminds me of the Universe, which is also ever expanding. So are we, for we too are the Universe, and we are ever on a journey to know ourselves. The more we know ourselves, the more we discover there is so much to know, for there is an infinite depth to our soul. We are deep calling unto deep, and marvellous co-creators with greatness, power, beauty, wisdom and love within us that is endless. Hence, religion can never be able to do justice to the wonderful Us/Divine with their dogma. God/Us are like the new wine that cannot be contained in old wine skins, and we are like the unending spring that flows unceasingly with rivers of life. 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Our inner child

In my soul, I am still that small child who did not care about anything else but the beautiful colors of a rainbow. ~Papiha Ghosh

Yes, I too believe there is an inner child in every one of us, longing to be free again and enjoy relishing the wonders of creation, such as the colours of a rainbow, all over again. Perhaps in the eyes of society, we may look strange if we were to stop by in the middle of a busy street and gaze at the sky. I was wondering to myself about that sometimes when I was walking towards the bus stop after work, and the evening sky with the setting sun caught my attention, and I stopped in my tracks to take photos of the scenic sky with my hand phone camera. It can feel awkward especially when people are passing by and they might be wondering what is this grown up man in his office attire standing and looking at the sky. After all, clouds are clouds and the sun is there all the time. Surely it is not the first time this gentleman has seen the sun in his life, they may be thinking. After all, to some of them, they probably prefer to dwell on "grown up stuff" such as buying property, investing in shares, and keeping up with the Jones and the Lims and the Ramasamys in terms of social status and so on. But there is an inner child in every one of us, and how wonderful it is to appreciate the beauty of Nature anew. In that moment, time stands still and we experience eternal life. 

Monday, July 9, 2012

Faith and doubt are parts of the human experience

"The one who commits themselves to the task of helping people really enter into doubt, unknowing, and ambiguity needs to be ten, twenty, even a hundred times better than those who sell certainty. They have got to be prepared to walk a difficult and often a dangerous path if they wish to invite people into this murky and uncertain world, for doing so they bring to the surface a whole host of anxieties that we spend so much of our time and resources repressing"~ Peter Rollins
I think as we grow to accept our humanity, with all our emotions of happiness, sadness, peace and doubts, we tend to relate to others who are open and authentic. Recently, I was reading this blog, and I can relate to the writer in this observation:
"In the past decade, I have read more than my fair share of self-help books.
Though I’ve enjoyed the ones with countless action steps and workbook sheets to change my life, I’ve felt the most moved and inspired by honest, personal stories of overcoming adversity."
I myself felt most moved and inspired by honest, personal stories of overcoming adversity whenever I read inspirational materials because I find that I can relate to them better in the light of my own experiences, and take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in facing my own struggles and doubts. It also inspires me to come to terms with my own feelings, and form my own conclusions and find my own answers in life, instead of feeling obliged to follow a certain formula.

I also agree with the interviewee in the blog on this:
"I was also worried that I’d come off as self-indulgent, but all of my teachers explained that healing from my own pain would make me more compassionate to the suffering of others. I try to build that awareness all the time now."
Yes, healing from my own pain also enables me to be more compassionate to the suffering of others, and I am also learning to build that awareness all the time now.

Here's sharing this blog, which I learnt about the differences between a leader and a friend.
"The reality is that I am no wiser than them; I just happen to publicize the things I observe and learn on a given day. And much like them, I sometimes need a little help accessing the answers within.
Maybe that’s what it means to really help people—to help them help themselves.
None of us has it all figured out, and maybe we never will.
Acknowledging this, to me, is the difference being having followers and friends. With followers, you lead the way. With friends, you support them in discovering it for themselves."
I think it is perhaps unfortunate that in the christian circles, a number of preachers tend to see themselves more as leaders than as friends. As a result, they think they have to lead the way all the time, and end up telling the congregation what to do (or believe). Such sermons usually become dry and formulaic, as in reality there are no seven steps to achieving a better life and becoming happy. Also, from what I heard in a church institution, the preacher feels that he should look happy the moment he steps up on stage, regardless of what went on in his own life, whether it be an argument with his wife earlier that morning before going to the church building or some other challenge, so that he will be able to focus on preaching a faith-inducing sermon to help raise other people's faith.

I feel that while this might be well-intentioned at first, it can inadvertently become a subtle form of legalism because the people in the congregation may feel that they also have to follow the preacher's example and act as if they have faith all the time. It can become a performance-based living, and instead of helping people in the long run, it may even cause some people to feel disappointed with themselves for not being able to match the preacher's level of faith.

Perhaps a better way for preachers/teachers to help people is to treat them as friends rather than as followers, by giving them the space and time to discover the way for themselves. For example, Rob Bell prefers to let people think for themselves and come to their own conclusions about their faith instead of giving them certain answers to follow without questioning. I think that is a better way of helping people help themselves, so to speak.

After all, we all are already spiritual and we don't need to become spiritual. I realise our journey in life is to become more human instead - to embrace our humanness in all its fullness.

I think one reason that christian evangelical preachers tend to focus so much on faith is not because they have a lot of faith themselves, but because they are trying to have faith in their own lives. In other words, I am beginning to think that the "faith movement" is actually motivated by fear. This is somewhat ironic because one would think that if a preacher talks a lot about faith, it means he is a man of great faith. This is not necessarily so, because when I looked back at the sermons I used to listen to, I recalled that the preachers tend to use old testament examples, such as how the children of Israel could not enter the promised land because they did not have faith and doubted their "god". So maybe these preachers were afraid that they also could not enter the promised land themselves because they thought the promised land was referring to a physical place called heaven.

Yet I have come to learn that we are all already in the promised land - it is the kingdom of heaven within us, not some physical place to go to after we die. In fact, I realise there is no such distinction between "believers" and "unbelievers" today because these are only labels in the old covenant mindset. When the old covenant of law system became obsolete in AD70, the symbolic lake of fire would destroy all the old Adamic identities that existed in the separation mindset, including "fearful, unbelieving, murderers, etc". In the new covenant mindset, there is only one true identity - Love. We no longer see one another (and ourselves) from the worldly point of view, for the old has passed away, and the new has come - we are all new creations, made in Love's image, and our minds are renewed to see this truth restored in our lives.

Faith, then, is not something we do or have; faith is who we are. So, in our day and age, our "faith" does not make us "believers", and our "doubt" does not make us "unbelievers". Since every human being would experience ups and downs as well as moments of faith and doubt in real life, it doesn't mean that each person keeps changing from "believer" to "unbeliever" and back again. Hence, the labels "believer" and "unbeliever" are simply man-made concepts. To me, the truth remains that we are all spiritual beings on a human journey, and whether we experience faith or doubt, happiness or sadness, etc does not change the truth that we are all beloved children of God/Unconditional Love/Universe.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The deep things of God

"The kind of faith Jesus invites us into doesn't skirt the big questions about topics like God and Jesus and salvation and judgment and heaven and hell, but takes us deep into the heart of them." --LOVE WINS Rob Bell

I suppose we are all designed to have an inquiring heart - Jesus himself was found asking questions in the temple when he was 12 years old. It looks like Jesus understands our innate hunger and thirst for the deep things in life, and in this respect, the kind of faith Jesus invites us would involve deep questions about God, Jesus, salvation, judgement, heaven and hell. I remember Jesus challenged his disciples to answer his question "who do you say that I am?" I believe he would want every one in every generation to think about this question as well because it is a key to finding answers to those big questions. It is also a question that each person has to answer for oneself and not go by what others say about him.

I am reflecting that we all have the spirit who is the candle of the Lord, searching the deep things of God, like the woman sweeping the whole house for that lost coin. I understand Jesus' question in terms of knowing his true identity, which in turn is about knowing ourselves. As Aristotle put it, knowing ourselves is the beginning of all wisdom. Hence, when we know who Jesus is, we know our true self and origin.

When we see our true identity in the image and likeness of Christ, we see God, for he who has seen him has seen the Father. Thus we see ourselves as one with the Father, as Jesus is one with him. Thus knowing ourselves, as I understand it, is the beginning of wisdom to find our own answers to the other big questions on salvation, judgement, heaven and hell.

At this point of my journey, I see salvation in terms of awakening to our innocence and know who I really am. Judgement to me is a matter of evaluating my value and worth in the light of my true identity - this is the boldness we have in the day of judgment, for as he is, so are we in this world.

Heaven is the state of being when we are like little children, not knowing good or evil, who simply live in the warm embrace of the presence of love, and living in the present. Jesus said to the religious Jews that unless they become like little children, they will by no means enter (or experience) the kingdom of heaven. He also said the kingdom of heaven does not come by observation but is within us.

Hell, as I have learnt, is simply a state of ignorance, as Jesus said to Peter that upon the rock of our true identity he will build the church (who are called out of darkness) and the gates of hell (ignorance) shall not prevail against the church. We shall awake from the illusion of separation and overcome fear, guilt and condemnation.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and it is the glory of man to search out a matter, as proverbs says. The kind of faith Jesus invites us would involve searching out the deep things of God and in the process, we discover more about ourselves, which will determine the quality of our life on earth, such as how much of heaven we will experience on earth, as in how we all can live a life of love, grace and acceptance.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Much ado about theology

The first thing that goes when you begin to think is your theology. ~Oswald Chambers
Theology, as I understand it, refers to an established set of man’s views and opinions about God. In the religious circles, theology tends to be passed down the generations like hand-me-down clothes.

In other words, I understand theology as a set of beliefs about God that is often passed down from person to person, usually in religious circles. Many a times, we all started off learning about God through listening to or reading about someone’s theology. Hence when we choose to think for ourselves instead of merely accepting someone’s theology entirely, we begin to form our own views about God ourselves. In this sense, the first thing to go when we start to think is our theology (handed down from someone or some institution), as Oswald Chambers noted.

Often, we see that organised religion is not too fond of people thinking for themselves because the religious authorities prefer to hold on to doctrines and traditions. As I have learnt, one man’s orthodoxy is another man’s heresy. Some organised religions tend to demonise those that differ from their theology and label them as heretics. Yet this only reflects on their closed-mindedness and unwillingness to rethink about God since they prefer to put God in a box. In this respect, being called a heretic can be seen as a compliment – to be a heretic means you can and you choose to think for yourself instead of allowing yourself to be confined to a particular theology or religion.

I would say spirituality itself is organic and living, and people’s understandings of God are meant to be subjective and evolving over time. It is perhaps better not to label any set of beliefs because to do so would only inevitably confine people’s understanding of God within a particular -ism or -ianity. Even for those religions with long history of traditions, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sufism, native American spirituality and so on, I feel that being open to interfaith dialogues among the adherents is a progressive step towards freedom to think for oneself and go beyond traditions and theology, which can only promote peace and harmony among all peoples.

Some other notable quotes on theology:
“If we are afraid to question our theology, then perhaps our theology is questionable.” – Terri White
“Better a heart full of love than a heart full of theology. For one’s theology might be wrong, but love is always right.” – Mick Mooney
Related posts:
Religious obligations
Correctly dividing the Word