posted 29 Dec 2011 08:45 by Christian Bodhi
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We are all wizards, we all have magic power. Merlin the Magician or Harry Potter is who we all are. We are created in the image of God or Universe and we have the power of creation. God is love and that is the power we have - our love turns the world around. The way we use this cosmic power of love determines the world we create.
The present problems of the world are the result of our misuse of the power of love. So, it is not that we don't have love, we are just misusing it.
Humanity, especially after the rise of globalisation, has invested too much of its love, enthusiasm, hope and passion into something that has neither reality nor value on its own - money. The divine power has been prostituted, wasted and now we reap the results.
We have created a monster. We are foolish magicians who are trapped into our own short-sighted, un-intelligent magical art, which now consumes other forms of love and wants to devour all. There is only one way to defeat this monster, this global thought-form, and that is to stop feeding it with our love.
The only way forward for humanity, according to the esoteric or psychological law, is to shift this investment of love, passion, enthusiasm and hope from money towards the real values.
This shift has to be gradual and as it progresses, the society would spontaneously change to accommodate the new approach. Without any revolution and huge crisis it is possible to create a new world which would be again borne of love just as the last one, but this time love would be well invested.
The first step in this process would be to become aware how much love, enthusiasm, passion and emotion we invest in the concept of money and start to question the rationality of this investment. The rest would follow naturally.
Many people would ask how would the new world work, how should it be called? But it is wrong to try to entirely define something new with the knowledge of the past. Only a new consciousness can understand it, hence one has to have trust in the method and allow the future to unfold and bring the fruits of a properly invested love, of a good and wise magic.
You are the magician, we are all the magicians. We are the creators of our own destiny and this world. It all depends where we invest our power of love. This is the Law of which all sages, saints and yogis talk and the time has come when humanity must realise that it is love that runs the world, not money, and start appreciating love more and money less.
Christian Bodhi |
posted 25 Dec 2011 04:28 by Christian Bodhi
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updated 26 Dec 2011 16:10
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What often is not well understood is how fundamentalism can shape society and entire civilisations by conditioning the economic and political structures in such a way that collective irresponsible behaviour becomes the norm which so many take for granted.
Present day materialism, which not only results in unnecessary suffering for millions but also endangers our entire planetary eco-system, is the result of both religious and scientific fundamentalism. An interesting insight can be obtained by looking at how orthodox religious and scientific ideas work at the level of an ordinary man, rather than a priest or a scientist. A scientist is usually an idealist who cares about the Earth, but the average person may not find that science inspires altruism. This is illustrated by interpreting the idea of the “selfish gene” to mean that we are meant to be selfish, even though Richard Dawkins advocates that we must rise above that which he only metaphorically calls the “selfish gene” - not literally! Similarly with religion, one can interpret religious doctrines in a very literal way and use these interpretations to guide ones actions and the sentiments that stem from them. However this attitude is not confined to the individual, but also conditions attitudes in business, political and even educational structures until our entire civilisation is enthralled in a matrix of illusion. However -
“The darkness of ages cannot shroud the glowing sun; the long kalpas of samsara cannot hide the mind’s brilliant light.” ~ Mahamudra
In our encounters with people, we hear many opinions that sometimes are an expression of fundamentalism in both implicit and explicit forms. Many times we find ourselves having to question these opinions as we begin to realise that we are not just arguing with another person but with an entire system of thought or the entire collective that somehow is talking with powerful energy through the individual in front of us.
There are two major theological fundamentalisms that happen to fuel the materialism we live in, these are: religious fundamentalism and an ideology called mechanistic materialism, which pretends to stand for science. Without going too deeply into why philosophical materialism may not necessarily be an unsound theory of reality, it has to be stressed that mechanistic materialism, which postulates that matter is inanimate, is in utter contradiction with the real world where life, consciousness and feelings do exist even though they cannot be derived from physics and mathematics which only perceives the world in terms of ‘inanimate’ entities.
In this analysis, our attention is directed towards the impact of fundamentalism upon our culture. In the examples below, we can see the usual ‘rationalisations’ from these two major types of fundamentalism as well as the possible responses from a spiritual viewpoint. Note that the use of the word “God” in the esoteric outlook below is to denote Spirit and the One Life - hence it is not equivalent to a theological notion of God. These ‘dialogues’ are here for illustration only and in no way attempt to limit or over-define any particular philosophical outlook.
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Mechanistic Materialism
(some rationalisations) |
Esoteric outlook
(possible response) |
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Man only lives once, therefore I must survive and compete to get satisfaction - earth resources are limited. After all, the genes are selfish and I am only following human nature. |
Man is a reincarnating soul; hence quality of life is more important than mere survival. If everything in Nature would only compete, the world would break apart into chaos; cooperation is more essential than competition - even genes must have realised this by now. |
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Since there is neither God nor Karma, what does it matter if I am good or bad? Morality is only a cultural construct. |
There is karma, and whatever we do to others we do it to ourselves, for others are an aspect of ourselves. Our actions define what we are, they liberate or imprison us, and in the fullness of time we will have to resolve all actions which have limited our or someone else’s creative potential.
One might not be able to prove if there is a God, but there is Love. |
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If the world continues like this, in 50 years this planet will become so polluted that our children will not be able to live, but it is their problem I’ll be dead by then anyway |
Generally, one keeps reincarnating on the same planet. Who would like to reincarnate on a polluted toxic planet?
We like to say that we love our children, if so, shouldn’t we provide them with a healthy planet? |
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Imagine we go mad and blow up this planet with our Nuclear Arsenal. Well how sad that will be, but we will be all dead and death is nothingness, so I won’t know a thing. |
Nobody ever ceases to exist; if we destroy the earth the human souls would have to reincarnate on a planet with extremely bad living conditions. Humanity would inherit such bad karma and such a deep sense of guilt that it would take aeons of suffering to recover to where we are now. |
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Criminals, homeless and poor people - well something must be wrong with their genes, they are either mental or lazy. |
Everybody is our brother and sister, a soul in incarnation, an aspect of us. Everybody should be helped and cared for. Sharing and solidarity is what makes us truly human. |
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There is nothing wrong in exploiting others - I have a bigger brain. |
Nature and people respond to our beliefs and attitudes on all levels, so we will be treated as we treat others. By diminishing another’s quality of life we inevitably ruin our own future. |
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Orthodox Religion
(some rationalisations) |
Esoteric Outlook
(possible response) |
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People of different religions than ours are not blessed and are not as worthy of life in this world as we are. We are special, for we interpret the holy scriptures correctly while others do not. |
What kind of cosmic all-wise God would value people by their labels, e.g. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or sceptic? Should not God judge people by their hearts and deeds, rather than by the naive doctrines they hold? Besides, all beings are sons and daughters of God, for everyone has an immortal soul. A good religion is made up of those people who are true to their divine soul and have compassion for all. |
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Though people of a different tribe, nationality or race to ours can belong to the same religion as we do, they are not as good or as godly as we are. God is English! |
Maybe one should take some pride in one’s identity, but it should not be forgotten that everybody is a unique representation of God or the Universe and therefore special. |
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Bad people will be punished and destroyed by the almighty God. So there is nothing wrong with taking this into our own hands and punish or destroy the ‘bad guys’ whoever they might be even if it means destroying entire countries. They, the ‘bad guys’, they are evil, while we are good and righteous. |
In the process of reincarnation everybody makes mistakes and accumulates bad karma, but mistakes can be corrected. So nobody will ever be destroyed, just delayed in his evolution. Since everybody is our brother and sister and we are all connected, we should show some compassion for those who make mistakes and not be too quick to judge out of fear or hurt. |
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Since there are many ‘bad guys’ in the world it is prudent to have a more powerful army than anybody else. |
This black and white division of good and evil creates an unnatural tension, which results in aggressiveness. Governments easily spend billions on arms, but their hearts cannot part with much money when they are asked to improve medical care or education. In such a dualistic good/evil world people are too macho, too combative to have enough sensitivity for ‘female’ stuff such as quality of life.
If governments want to create a safe world then they should base it on trust among nations and will good - this can be helped by contemplating the idea that we all share the same divine nature expressed in a unique way. |
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This planet has fallen; it is populated by too many sinners. What is the point in fighting for a better world, equality and justice when such a world can never be achieved? A competitive and cruel capitalism is the best we are able to have at the moment. God will change this when the time comes. |
Our planet provides us with a stage for our evolution. We are the ones who have to do the evolving. No gods, no angels, no Jesus Christ’s, no extraterrestrials can live our lives for us or come and make it nice for everybody. If change is to be made then it has to be done using our own initiative by our free choice. Better, more just human relationships will help create a society where people can express their greater creative potential - this is the natural course of evolution. Evolution is about self-expression and self-realisation, and society as a whole reflects this process. |
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God is all-powerful, and at the end of the world when all sinners are purged from existence, He will restore this planet to an ecologically perfect state with the snap of His fingers. There is no use in struggling too much for better environmental policies now. |
If divine beings could solve our problems for us we would still be like little babies – immature and dependent. The world is like this because we make it so, and though there might be spiritual beings that can help us, they have to respect our free will and wait for us to do the major part in cleaning and improving the environment.
It is our planet, our choice, our evolution – who could possibly save us from ourselves? |
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Gold represents godliness, so get as much as you can. If not gold then money, it is always more pleasant to pray in a rich and safe environment. Poor and homeless people? Well they must be lazy, or God is testing their faith. |
Yes, material richness is good, but why not help everybody enjoy it when there are enough resources on Earth? Why do some have castles while many have nothing? We are all a spiritual family and by realising this truth and feeling it in our hearts, we can share the wealth of the world – never casting anybody out. |
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This all above sounds inhuman to you?
Well, you don’t think you can understand the ways of God, do you? |
If there is a God then man’s reason derives from God’s reason. A God who behaves as many religious people describe would be rather mad. So, is an image of such a God a projection of our own sentiments? | |
posted 25 Dec 2011 03:09 by Christian Bodhi
Why would any material dynamic system, like biological, want to survive? Elements of the system like atoms and other particles are surviving for eternity as indestructible matter and energy. What difference makes to these elements if they would be in a form of an animal or dust when they are already eternal?
If a system wants to survive then there must be something implicit in that system or an outside force which seeks to achieve or express itself and preserve the RELATIONSHIP of the elements as an instrument or a vehicle. But any external force would have again to be driven by its implicit or internal drive for self-expression and achievement. Therefore we have no choice but to conclude that the driving force behind struggle for survival and evolution is a desire for self-expression.
What is the nature of this desire? I believe it is Love – a sense of unity. Even if I hate and desire to hurt somebody I believe that I could find fulfilment in doing so – I foolishly believe that I can find some greater unity through such dreadful act. So you see all desires are a quest for satisfaction and they do spring from Love. Love is the ultimate satisfaction in itself and for itself.
The Universe, therefore, is a desire in action, a dream born in Love which is eternally playful.
We are that Love in a form of a self-conscious Man. |
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