Why we fall prey to dogma

 

"We fall prey to dogma because we are living in fear and seeking security, seeking to be "right" and "correct"; but the most we accomplish with dogma is to keep our minds buzzing with ideas and confirmations, constantly guarding what we've learned, constantly defending positions, fearful of what we hear, of what we see. Thus, dogma is simply a religious path formed of ego, it's footing established through fear of eternal punishment and desire for eternal security."
~ Bobby Hinkle (from Free Believers Network)

Friendship is the essence of the Gospel....

Someone said:

"Friendship is the essence of the Gospel....
Without deep connection, we have missed the basis of the Life of God

When we differ in beliefs and by those differences estrange ourselves from others, we have endorsed the lies that have separated Mankind for thousands of years....

We are One....not primarily in our beliefs, but in who we are, based on His belief about us....

If our beliefs have divided us even if we have believed 100% correctly, then our beliefs have failed us...

Love others you love yourself
It is simply ... Profound !"

Yes, unity and harmony goes deeper beyond the differences in the belief systems of people. The life and love of God transcends any religious book or scripture or theology - whether it is called the bible or the quran or the bhavagad gita or lotus sutra - we are all one indeed. Doctrines and theologies are merely constructs of the mind, and those who hold on tightly to their doctrines or scriptures are only liable to become attached to fundamentalist dogmas.

As I have observed, those who are attached to a particular book or scripture tend to use circular reasoning in their argument (eg "I believe the bible is the word of god, and whatever the word of god says is true, therefore I believe the bible is true"). This circular reasoning perhaps becomes a hindrance for people to be free from the religious mindset of separation and ego, since it tends to give people the impression that only they know the "truth" and other people do not know the "truth". Yet we know that truth is universal and is not confined to any religion or any "holy book", just as love is universal and includes everyone.

So yes, the heart of the matter is that we are all one - we are brothers and sisters of the same family of the human race, of the spiritual realm, regardless of our differences in belief systems, cultures, etc. It is like what this quote says too.

~What If?~
"What if our religion was each other, if our practice was our life, if prayer our words? What if the temple was the Earth, if forests were our church, if holy waters ~ the rivers, lakes and oceans. What if meditation was our relationships, if the teacher was life, if wisdom was self-knowledge, if love was the center of our being?“
~Ganga White

Yes, love is the centre of our being, just as friendship is the essence of the gospel.  

 

To be great is to be misunderstood

Emerson said, "To be great is to be misunderstood."

Someone added, "The more 'above average' you are, the fewer number of people will understand or comprehend you."

Yes, the more 'above average' we are, the fewer number of people will understand or comprehend us because we are rising above the conformist mindset of the society. Like eagles, we want to soar high above limitations that society and religion try to impose on us. Like what Ralph Smart concluded in his videos, the world is moving to a higher vibration. May we continue to stay in higher vibration and dive deeper and deeper into esoteric wisdom and love.

Wild and Wise Women

"Go deeper, go deeper. Don't land anywhere." H.W.L. Poonja

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=386968114671769&set=a.171294852905764.30355.160615880640328&type=1

'The easiest thing in the world to be is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.' ~ Leo Buscaglia
Always be your true self..... :)) Lx

Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Yes, love believes the best of a person and brings out the best of him or her. Love recognises the full potential of the person and helps actualise his or her hidden qualities to the fullest, like what the quote says. For example, my beloved twin flame inspires me to express my potential to love, as she builds me up through her encouragement  and support as well as sharing edifying nuggets of wisdom with me. I have been reflecting that conversing with my beloved is like a blessed homecoming to our resting place, where I take refuge from the performance-oriented system and mindset of the world that is based on the illusion of duality and separation, and be refreshed by our inner journey to discover more of our innate oneness and reawaken to our true divine identity as beloved and perfect spiritual beings on a human journey. Together, we shall continue to flourish and overcome the system of the world, and experience more of love and freedom from religion and condemnation both for ourselves and others around us.

We all need revelation of the gospel

We all need revelation of the gospel, for Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law." The new covenant interpretation of "keeps the law" is to believe in Jesus (seeing our true identity in Him), for He has fulfilled the law on our behalf.

I believe it is possible to have peace and harmony in the world, when we all see one another as new creations in Christ, no longer from a worldly point of view. What we need is a constant reminder of who we are in Christ - "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

Angry preaching comes from angry preachers

 "Angry preaching comes from angry preachers. If you attend a church where the preacher fusses and fumes and yells at the congregation you should consider leaving it because you the listener are not being respected. No one should be yelled at. Respect yourself and your family enough to not subject yourself to it.

If you want to snuff out the flame in someone's heart, tell them what the Bible says about their mistake. Tell them "I told you so!" Tell them how God hates what they did. And when you're done you will have taken what little spark of a life there was left and turned it into a smoldering ember nearly extinguished" Scott Livengood

Judgment and condemnation always kill life whereas understanding and compassion will always nurse life back to health.
~ Skip Newby

 "A preacher can be disrespectful without yelling too. Those are the sneaky ones".EDK

I  agree with Scott Livengood, Skip Newby and EDK - angry and/or disrespectful preachers are to be kept at a distance for the sake of our peace and dignity, so that we are not subject to their abuse. We would rather be where there is gentleness and compassion instead of judgment and condemnation. The letter (literal interpretation of scripture and law of telling people do's and don'ts)
kills and condemns, but the Spirit (symbolism and unconditional love and grace of unveiling our true identity of beauty and perfection) gives life and builds people up. May we continue to follow the
unforced rhythm of grace and rest in the kingdom of heaven within,  even as we love the religious people from afar.

 For myself I can say, that if there is a God, and he is such a being as [the Universalist] describes, I can bow before him and give him all my heart. He says God is love, made the world in love, and in perfect wisdom, and well adapted to serve the divine purpose.

He then made a family, all of them have sinned, and some of them have fallen very low, but God is determined, according to [the Univers alist], to stand by His family, every one of them, let come what will come, till he makes all of them respectable.

This standing by His family, as every true Father ought to do, is what I like in [the Universalist's] idea of God. But if there is a God, and he has created a family and will at last turn against most of them, and in burning wrath cast them into Hell forever, as [traditional Christianity] describes, I should hate him—he is not as good as I am, for I propose to stand by my family and every member of it for as long as I live. It is an insult to ask me to love and worship a God who is guilty of doing what we would detest in an earthly father. –Robert Ingersoll

 Yes, like what Robert Ingersoll said, a loving God (according to universalists) is a true Father who loves his family unconditionally and stands by them come what may, and is worthy of our worship and admiration. But a vengeful god (according to traditional christianity) who consigns most of his family to eternal torture is not worthy of our attention and respect - I would say that kind of god is only a mental projection of the human ego or shadow.

We know that Jesus came to reveal who the true Father is, for we who has seen him has seen the Father - one who is kind, gracious and compassionate. We also understand that those who hold on to the idea of a mean, vengeful god are also mean and condemning to others because that is their worldview that causes them to behave that way. Hence, Jesus had prayed for the Father to forgive such people, for they knew not what they were doing, for indeed in their unconscious state, they did not know what they were doing. They probably didn't know how much harm they caused when
they quoted bible verses to judge or condemn people because they thought they were serving god, when actually they were serving their ego. (Paul used to persecute others thinking he was serving god, until he encountered the grace of Christ.) As for us, we will continue to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves when dealing with religious people,

Be aware of how you feel at all times

"Be aware of how you feel at all times. Your feelings will point out where the subconscious blockages of pain are."-Jason Hairston

 I suppose being aware of how we feel at all times is part of living and being in the present moment, practising mindfulness and meditation. We can watch our feelings pass by, just as we observe our thoughts come and go, like passing clouds in the sky, without necessarily engaging or acting upon our thoughts or feelings. Our feelings may or may not be validated, depending on how we perceive things, since I learnt that life is a matter of perception. I am not sure what the quote meant by subconscious blockages of pain - if they refer to guilt and regrets about the past, I would say it is only human to experience such feelings, since we all tend to do some self-reflection and wish we could have done something better (I tend to do self-evaluation from time to time, such as in the area of my work). 

 I believe even as we embark on this inner journey, it is also good to remember that our past - whether shortcomings or achievements - does not define us since our true identity is based on that which is unchanging and eternal - beloved, blameless, beautiful and perfect spiritual beings on a human journey - we are here to have a human experience. This is how we can reconcile to our highest self (the Father) whenever we come home and remember who we really are and awake to our innocence, being embraced in divine unconditional love. Being aware of our feelings at all times thus becomes a meditation practice in which we make peace with ourselves, and experience inner bliss. 

As the verse goes, "Having been made righteous by faith (awakening to our true identity of innocence and perfection and wholeness), we have peace with God (our highest self) through our Lord Jesus Christ (representative of our human race, our true identity), in whom we have access in this grace (divine favour) through faith." We can continue to expect wonderful things to happen to us because we are beloved and precious children of the universe.

"Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now is the time of favour." Every day is a good day because we are accepted in the Beloved.

Armed with Love

"To arm oneself with hatred and judgmental accusations takes no courage. No, the courageous are the ones who arm themselves with love". Mick Mooney

I agree with Mick Mooney's quote that the courageous ones arm themselves with love because love wins at the end of the day. Jesus was naked and armed only with love at the cross when the religious people were throwing accusations at him, and he prayed for their forgiveness for they knew not they were doing. After he rose again, many of them heard about how he had loved them and experienced a change of heart. Indeed, the weakness of God confounds the might of man.

The Energization Exercises of Paramhansa Yogananda

"The whole purpose of true exercise is to awaken the inner source of energy which we have ignored throughout our lives."

—Paramhansa Yogananda

Overview

The Excercises are based on the principle of drawing the Cosmic Energy into the body through the medulla oblongata by the power of will. Located at the back of the head, the medulla is the point where the scull joins the spinal column. It is referred to in the scriptures as “the mouth of God,” and is considered by yogis to be the portal through which the energy enters the body.

The idea of awakening our divine energy through double breathing technique looks interesting. I tried double breathing just now and the deep breathing made me feel more relaxed. I will keep in mind to practise this.

Leadership is not about having the answer to all the questions....

Someone said: "Leadership is not about having the answer to all the questions....it's about enabling the group you lead to ask the questions!"


Yes, leadership is not about having all the answers, but enabling the group to ask questions because leadership is more about serving and nurturing and building up people, teaching them how to think for themselves, rather than about spoonfeeding, or worse, indoctrinating them into following the leader without questioning.

Even in the education system here in Singapore, the ministry wants to change the traditional mindset of teachers - that they are no longer to be seen as a  container of knowledge, facts and figures giving information to students just to memorise for examination without really understanding the hows and whys beyond the whats and wheres, but to be seen as facilitators of learning, self-discovery and critical thinking, encouraging students to gather information, compare sources of evidence, evaluate their validity, and draw their own conclusions about various issues.

It is much like what we have been doing in our own studies and research in comparing and analysing different religions, philosophies and schools of thought, and drawing our own conclusions. In a sense, we are our own teachers or leaders, and our own students at the same time, even as we also learn from other teachers and leaders, and compare notes with other students in this university we call life. Together, we learn and share and build up one another, till we all reach the measure of the fullness of Christ in maturity.

Coming out of fear-based religion is like coming back to life and back to reality

"I'M GONNA HAVE A BAD-HAIR DAY!
somebody just message me and said you couldn't go to Heaven unless you were baptized in water after Praying the sinner's prayer...
So....I pulled out half my hair.
I....REEEAAALLY HATE DUMB RELIGION!!!"- Robert Rutherford

Yes, the christian religion can be dumb. As much as I am coming to accept that there is no one true or perfect spiritual path, so to speak, since every one is unique (due to the fact that each of us has a unique spiritual DNA and is responsible for our own spiritual path), I also see that some aspects of christianity - especially the fundamentalist ones - can be dangerous. For example, I heard about a case of someone being told by a pastor that he could "see" a tumour in her body. It is sad that many people who are still in the religious circles are being vulnerable to so-called pastors claiming or presuming to have the "authority" to speak in the name of God. I want to address the issue of this cultic mindset in my blog, so as to spread the awareness of such spiritual abuse that is still going on, despite the fact that many are coming out of organised religion in view of the global spiritual awakening.

Incidentally, I was reading this blog "Taking charge of how we experience life" earlier on a similar subject, and I like what it says here:

"I knew that no one had the power to make me feel anything, except for me and my brain. Nothing external to me had the power to take away my peace of heart and mind. That was completely up to me. I may not be in total control of what happens to my life, but I certainly am in charge of how I choose to perceive my experience."

Yes, those of us who have learnt to meditate and watch our thought life have come to a place where we realise the importance of not allowing ourselves to be affected by what others tell us - especially negative or fear-inducing things - and instead choosing to perceive our own experience and guard our heart and remain in peace and wholeness.

Indeed, coming out of fear-based religion is like coming out of the illusion of fear and separation and coming back to life and back to reality, as the song by Soul II Soul goes.

Nowhere to go but the heart. - Rumi

Yes, we have nowhere to go except return to the heart. The only journey is our journey within. 

"The only journey is the journey within." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

“Meditation increases your vitality and strengthens your intelligence; your beauty is enhanced; your mental clarity and health improve. You acquire the patience and fortitude to face any problem in life. So, meditate! Only through meditation will you find the treasure you are seeking.” — Mata Amritanandamayi ("Amma")

I agree with the quote on meditation too. Meditation is indeed beneficial for our mind, intellect and soul as it stabilises and refreshes us from within. I am learning to live and breathe mindfully whenever I remember to.

The more we meditate on our true divine identity, the more we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, from beauty to beauty, from one level of brilliance to another level of brilliance. Our beauty is enhanced, our strength and wisdom is restored, and our youth is renewed like the eagle's, much like what the quote above says. As we wait upon the Lord and behold the beauty of our true self, we shall mount up with wings and soar like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint, and we shall dance the divine dance to the rhythm of love.