I want to write soon about an independent realization stemming from the writings of schizophrenics -- one of those “knowings” that we occasionally experience which was not handed down to us by other people – but first I need to tell you more about “where I’m coming from”.
I’ve already mentioned that when I was young I moved from fundamentalist Protestant Christian teachings to an independent realization that there was a single spiritual underpinning of all that exists. Just about everything I’ve since learned about that general subject has come from reading, including such things as the “Upanishads”, the “Bhagavad Gita”, Aldous Huxley’s “The Perennial Philosophy”, and writings on Taoism, mysticism, Spiritualism, and New England
Transcendentalism, among many others. There are interesting contemporary views in Tolle’s “The Power of Now” (my personal favorite), “Conversations with God”, “Seth Speaks”, and books by Deepak Chopra.
The Tao is the power or essence which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living.
In the Bhagavad Gita, the Supreme (the Source) expresses these concepts: “All states of being are manifested by my energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am above and inexhaustible. I am the origin and dissolution of all things material and physical. All manifestations of being are within Supreme Consciousness. The quality of the existence of living entities is one and the same with the Supreme, but they are never equal to the Supreme in quantity of power.”
The Transcendentalists spoke of the Oversoul, the divine "spark" within, which connected all facets of nature, including humans. They believed that one's "spark" and connection can be discovered through intuition and not through logical reasoning.
I believe that there is a single Source, an ultimate universal Beingness, which creates and sustains all things. The Source is as incomprehensible to us as It is to a goldfish, and must remain largely a mystery to humans in this life, but we can intuitively be aware of Its ultimate reality as well as perceiving Its physical creations. It is what some would call God, but my upbringing has crushed that word under so many unacceptable meanings and emotional connotations that I need to find alternatives. I wish I could also find better words for the vague and overused terms “spirit” and “spiritual”. Words are the greatest enemy of awareness of reality.
In this context, I plan to post some thoughts about schizophrenia.
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I most CERTAINLY empathize with being highly suspicious of typical American Christianity. The source of the crushing (as you say) is not God Himself nor His word. The source of the crushing is human thought.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of my own experience, I decided to literally throw away everything I ever believed and start over again. This thing I did.
One of the things I learned along the way was to chew the meat and spit the bones. There are clues to the source of something (i.e. either the imaginations of men or the reality of being).
So, what I am learning to do is look for the clues. The clues of the source of what I am reading or hearing.
May I point you back to the bible and look at what Jesus says. Put him to the test of being lost in His own mental fiction or not. Moreover, look at the descriptions of what God does and says. Start with Genesis 6:5 where it says how God destroyed the earth with a flood because of the imagination of people -- NOT what they were doing.
After two years, I have begun to see how there is so much I missed in the bible. I am also seeing how much I missed from other points of view as well (i.e., Buddhism). I am seeing where Christians are like the Jews of Jesus time: same dance, different partner -- still dancing around the traditions of men and not the reality of a deep, still and loving God.
The Power of NOW is all through the bible, just as others from other points of view see SOME of it as well. The thing to ponder is still: What to do with Jesus?
Jesus still claims to be Lord, Savior, the Way, the Truth and the Life: What to do with that?
What I am NOT saying to you is "You're wrong." Honestly, having read your words and the expression of who you are, I am highly enclined to think your one of the sanest people I have had the pleasure of running across.
All I am pointing towards is how we can react violently towards where we have come from to the point where we toss the baby with the bath water. I know I sure started to and did and find places where I still do. Yet, there is truth there as well.
Today, I see Jesus in a different light. He's still savior and God, emmanuel, but there is a whole new level and I don't see many Christians "getting it." Honestly, I see the clues where I think they're just as lost deep in their own minds and thoughts as any unbeliever could ever be. Moreover, I see how the unbelieving can connect with truth as well and the only missing element is the person of Christ in their understanding and knowing of reality.
Finally, I am in no way "arrived" in any of this. I am very much open to your thoughts and responses. I have experienced too much and have had an opened pathway towards understanding by so many people -- it is hard to consider just living in one vertical hole any more.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and consider where my words are pointing. I am thankful you are your own person and able to see choices for yourself in all the ways that matter to you and for you. God bless and keep you in this journey we're all on.
More more thing --
ReplyDeleteTolle talks about two wonderful experiences to gain understanding from:
"Love others AS yourself." I have found this to be such an amazing view of reality. Each day I discover places where my thoughts have trapped me and the self made trap of my mind takes me away from seeing others AS my own self. My own thoughts rob me of the capacity to love in reality and love because a selfish game of imagined scenes and outcomes in my head; filling my heart and working out in to the words I speak and actions I take. I am thankful and grateful for where those simple words Tolle spoke point to.
The Pain Body
Here is a realy cool thing. I was so confused by this when I first heard him speaking about it. Honestly, it wasn't until I picked my bible back up and started looking to see if I could find the NOW within it, that I came across what the "pain body" is.
I think he's pointing to the flesh. Tolle describes is as a thing that wants to feed. I have found this to be consistent with the flesh (appetites and lusts).
I have come to experience in myself and gain understanding from the experience how my flesh is perfectly happy for me to be twisted up in made up worlds of thought in my head. It is happy to have it that way because it can then feed on the results of filling up the heart.
The heart is the bucket described by Tolle. It is not a name, but our heart. Our heart is the container in which our thoughts, experiences, emotions, memories and so forth are gathered up. We view them here and form what we believe (core beliefs) and then express our will there -- forming up what we want to do and say (Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks).
I appreciate Tolle pointing out the "Pain Body" because it tells me there is an experience there, not just a theology (empty and powerless thoughts). Such a vicious circle it becomes with thoughts leading towards feeding the appetites of the flesh.
The emotions -- any of them -- can turn in to a food. I am experiencing, understanding and learning from the cycle I see happening there. There is so much to learn from.
I like the way you trail your next post! It gets the reader wanting to read more, in the proper sequence. I wasted some time a while ago getting Blogger to output posts in forward rather than backward sequence, to facilitate a chronological reading. It's possible and I found some html which does it, but not fully satisfactory.
ReplyDelete