Showing posts with label understanding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label understanding. Show all posts

What Would Jesus Do?

The question itself is a hint at something a lot of people have never dared to think of. Choices make us who we are more than anything else. And if we posses the ability to choose what Jesus(/Buddha/any other religious figurehead) would do in a given situation, we already have them within us.

In other words, by choosing the godly way to act, we become more god like ourselves. This is true for any type of behavior. If a person went around with a, "What would a thief do?" mind set, they would take on the attributes of a thief. If a person went around with a, "What would a scholar do?" mind set, they would take on the attributes of a scholar. And so on.

They say that man was made in the image of God. But it can't be denied that the image of God was made by man. No matter how you look at it, what we think of God had to be observed and interpreted by people. Therefore all images and ideas of God are man made.

To take it even further, God and man are one. The perception and sense of God that man has is but a reflection of himself. When he asks himself, "What would Jesus do?", he is literally speaking to his God-self consciousness. Whatever his impression of God's teachings is, he will act on that.

Appreciate the fact that your Higher Intelligence is always with you. It will continue to grow and guide you as you give it more attention.

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What's In a Name?

Have you ever been told a story where some names were dropped and you had no clue as to who the people mentioned were? Or, have you ever seen the opening or closing credits of a movie and realized that you had absolutely no idea who any one of the people's names displayed were? If you have, you may have realized that unless you know a person, their name is a mere shadow of a representation of who they are.

Providing less clues to the nature of their character than a silhouette, a name only begins to have significance once the person it belongs to is known to some extent. Even then, a name is only associated with how we ourselves see the person it belongs to. If we are not exposed to a person's multifaceted nature, we usually only see them one way. The name becomes one dimensional.

Words are like the names of what ever emotion or concept we are trying to express at the time. They are static. Like a snapshot or a statue, they remain inanimate while the subject captured continues to live and evolve. This is how and why language so often gets in the way of true communication.

Words don't allow you to feel what the person who spoke them felt. You only feel your interpretation of what you think they felt. Sometimes your interpretation is accurate, and sometimes way off. When it's off, people think they understand when they do not.

Words like God, heaven, the devil, hell, blasphemy, sin, and a long list of others are all up for debate on meaning because people's interpretations of them are different. This is an illustration of why the experience of enlightenment can not be captured in words. The words can only serve as a pointer. Enlightenment is just a name, but you have to get to know who it really is.


Related post: Words Can Not Express...

Out The Box

Most people live in a box. Many will go through their whole lives without making a conscious effort to get out of this box.

This box is made of identity concepts and past experiences. Within this box, all contentment and happiness is short lived. You are also subject to several levels of stress and suffering.

Outside the box there is only peace. This peace is expressed in countless ways. Joy, excitement, enthusiasm and freedom are a few forms of this peace.

To get out the box, you first have to notice that there is a box. This box is very real, although it is invisible to your five basic senses. Many times people confuse the box for who they really are.

When the box starts to get damaged, they believe that they, themselves have been damaged. Some times, it takes a box getting nearly completely destroyed before people start to wake up and notice that they are not their boxes.

Are you ready to get out of the box? If you have caught glimpses of being out, are you ready to stay out? To learn how, read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

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The Pure Paradox

Language can often be misleading. Because of the inanimate nature of words; all too often words really can not express the abstract essence of what they are attempting to describe. Even when articulated very well; the depth of the concept makes language contradict itself. The result is a paradox.

Let's see what a paradox looks like in action. Here are a few from the book, "Oxymoronica" by Mardy Grothe, that make it clear exactly what a paradox is:



The superfluous is the most necessary.
-Voltaire

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
-Margaret Mead

I shut my eyes in order to see.
-Paul Gauguin

We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
-Georg Hegel

We are never prepared for what we expect.
-James Michener

To be believed, make the truth unbelievable.
-Napoleon Bonaparte

What we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.
-Sydney J. Harris

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.
-Henry David Thoreau

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.
-Harry S. Truman

Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable.
-Oscar Wilde

War is a series of catastrophes which result in a victory.
-Georges Clemenceau

First I dream my painting, then I paint my dream.
-Vincent van Gogh

We are confronted by insurmountable opportunities.
-Walt Kelly, From Pogo

I want peace and I’m willing to fight for it.
-Harry S. Truman

Study the past, if you would divine the future.
-Confucius, in Analects

Love is a kind of warfare.
-Ovid

All works of art should begin…at the end.
-Edgar Allan Poe

The final delusion is the belief that one has lost all delusions.
-Maurice Chapelain

A man chases a woman until she catches him.
-Anonymous


The very nature of our true selves, when described, seems to be a paradox. There are countless contradictions about our reality and the way things work, due to the depth of the concepts. Just to name a few that I have observed:
  • Empty space is full of infinite possibilities.
  • The more you accept, the more control you have
  • The better you teach, the more you learn

The list goes on and on. For plenty more on paradox and contradiction, read What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!

Words Can Not Express...

What's the word?

'Love' is a word, among many others, that has a general meaning to it. There is an idea behind it that is vague and general enough to use the word in conversation or even address a mass audience and the listener or listeners will feel they know what the speaker is referring to.

In reality, 'love' is one of those concepts that may be interpreted differently by every listener who hears the word.
• Freedom
• Success
• Good
• Bad
• Cool

This list of words can all replace 'love' in the first paragraphs. Words can not adequately capture the true meaning behind life's big concepts. As a result, people can think they are communicating while never actually really knowing what the other felt.

Words are like statues that are supposed to represent the real living, breathing feeling and emotion. They are way to open to interpretation to be effective.

Words are sign posts. Do not get stuck on the words. Look where the words are pointing.

This is good to remember for previous and all future posts.

Stay tuned.