* "flying on brooms" is to trust in oneself, trust in the miraculous world which is more than can be empirically proven and trust in Goddess - and believing in magic - trust and belief - faith
This week I have been working with my "50 before 50" list.
There is about 100 months before my 50th birthday. I'm really pleased about that - 100 months sound like a good, solid time frame :-) Divine plan in action, huh? :-D
50 things in 100 months... I think I will be able to do that.
I trust in God 100%.
I believe there is no coincidents, it's all Divine Plan in action.
I believe serendipity is Divine Plan the person experiencing it was listening to.
I believe OWOH lead me on purpose to some comments, that reminded me of my Flying on Brooms Friday meme, just in time for this Friday, the last of the year... all happening 100 months before my 50th birthday, so that I would be prepared for it.
So - the Bucket List is very much about finding what your Broom is. I love flying. To me flying - with or without a broom - is the ultimate freedom... I fly in my dreams if I need to get somewhere, or if I need to flee.
I believe our dreams, wishes and wants are... cannot remember the correct word right now, but specific, unique, typical and innate for all of us. We were born with them, and also with the talents and gifts necessary to reach them, in the life situation and childhood beneficial for reaching them. I also believe that God gives us plenty of possibilities to reach there, and all we need to do is to be open and follow our dreams where ever they may lead. I believe that when ever I get an idea or react with desire, envy, yearn, longing, covet, hunger for something, God is speaking to me, and I should head and follow the feeling.
Of course I'm not saying you should go and start killing people because that's what you want to do... I suppose most of us have felt the helplessness of being a victim with the strong urge to get a gun and start shooting at the villains. I know I have. That is though a clearly situation related impulse, a clear reaction to the helplessness, and thus not a real dream and wish. Then there might be born killers, who actually would be amazing at that "job", but I suppose they should become butchers or join the army in stead. I suppose those people are such a tiny minority that I really shouldn't even need to write this, but I just know someone will read this and claim that I encourage people to lead a selfish life of crime and evil.
Come on, now. Think just a moment about what you would like to have on your Bucket List. I bet it's not "kill all the Muslims in the world, blow up Harrods', hijack an aeroplane and force it to fly in the White House, sleep with every person on People Magazine's Most Beautiful People list" and alike. It is more likely you have things like "visit the Great Wall, eat something wonderful I've never dared to eat before, climb Mount Everest, meet someone I appreciate" - experience something extraordinary, do things you have always wished you had done, dare. Live.
Also, "become a millionaire" is usually not a true dream either. If you write things like that on your list, you should ask the follow-up question. "What would I do, if I was a millionaire?" THAT's what you dream of. If you, like Scrooge, would love to swim in money, then being a millionaire is your true dream, but most of us want the economical freedom, independence and security that follows with a lot of money.
Making these lists, dreaming, letting the thought wander, being aware of my wanting, all this leads me closer to my broom, and closer to flying.
I believe finding out what is my broom makes me a nicer person to live with. Being satisfied with my life, happy with who and what I am, makes me less judgmental and grumpy. When I'm busy living my own life, I have less time being bothered by others and how they choose to live their lives.
I know I'm very harsh, but that's mainly because the world has been harsh with me. It's hard to learn not to let other people's opinions influence me, when one is being punished and rewarded according to how well one manages to fulfill the expectations of others... I'm only slowly getting there, and I'm over 40. Of course it is difficult to get over the feeling of injustice in that some people expect certain things of you but not of themselves, that some people allow their loved ones to behave in a way they don't allow you. It's really hard to accept that injustice to go on, when one is taught not to allow injustice to happen... The world is unfair in many ways, but even though I cannot change anyone, nor make them change their "wicked ways" just by pointing it out to them, I don't need to join them and use their bad behavior as an excuse to my own. I am the first person to talk against that excuse, so I better start listening to myself and stop being such a judgmental bitch I am.
After all, the example is the best way of teaching people, and in reality the only way that works.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
I just watched "The Bucket List"
Amazing movie... I adore both Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson :-)
Watching movies like that puts the world really in the right perspective :-D
Sure, it would be nice to find a rich buddy who takes you around the world on his/her private plane, but... the thing is that I have everything, EVERYTHING I want here, at my fingertips.
I want to be with my family. Nothing else matters.
It really doesn't matter who celebrates what or believes what or calls themselves what.
Some USonians boycotting stores for wishing "happy holidays" have no influence in my life.
Some Christians calling themselves Jews or other Christians not Christians, have no influence in my life.
Christians calling themselves Pagans - who really cares.
Of course, it's not right.
Naturally, the consequences might influence my life.
Right now I don't give a dime :-)
Some 10 years ago I was thinking about "faith, hope and love".
I thought that "faith" is weak, knowledge is what it's all about. I KNOW God is, I don't believe in God.
I thought that hope is pretty worthless... that we need to trust in God.
That love is overrated. We need tolerance and compassion.
But that's really it, isn't it? Faith, hope and love... if you go to the correct meaning of the words.
Faith is trust. You can never know everything, never "enough". Knowledge takes you only so far. Knowledge doesn't help you when you are to throw yourself over the cliff and trust, have faith, that someone will catch you. It will be all right. In the end, everything will be okay.
That's hope. Even in the darkest hour, something will happen that makes everything turn out all right.
And love isn't this wishy-washy false "I love you, so I have the right to hurt you" crap. Love is the warm, fuzzy feeling inside you, what makes you smile, that washes away all the fear and tension, that makes you forgive and forget and move on...
I don't want to talk about love, because so many misunderstand the concept. The word is overused, misused, abused... so it is better to talk about compassion, tolerance, charity and kindness. Mercy.
When you get old, you'll understand. Very few elderly are extremist fundamentalists. That is a vice of the young and restless, who think they need to change the world... Seeing an elderly fundamentalist is very sad. So many years learning nothing at all...
I think that's one of the reasons why I respect all elderly... not people 10 years older than me, but people who could be my parents or grandparents... Very few people live that long without learning anything... also I have this belief of that we all have our gifts. Not talents, talents are overrated. Anyone can learn anything if one puts oneself to it. Some people are interested in maths, others in animals, or cooking or something. In my class there was this girl who wasn't very bright nor pretty, but she was very kind.
I believe our interests are given to us so that we could become the most we can.
I also believe that our interests, wishes, desires and dreams are unique to each one... I don't mean that only one person wants to be a writer, but that everyone of us dreaming to be a writer is a unique writer, the only one who can write the book we are going to write.
I believe there is a person for every job, someone who wants to do the job, someone who dreams of the job, who knows nothing better... I know a man who always wanted to be a garbage truck driver. I know a woman who loves nothing as much as cleaning. Not everyone wants to be a singer or a pilot or a model or an actor. Some want to be mothers, teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, librarians... There is a work for everyone, and a worker for every work...
Now I go and work with my plarn crocheting. I'm not fully convinced, but... hmm... It's free.
Watching movies like that puts the world really in the right perspective :-D
Sure, it would be nice to find a rich buddy who takes you around the world on his/her private plane, but... the thing is that I have everything, EVERYTHING I want here, at my fingertips.
I want to be with my family. Nothing else matters.
It really doesn't matter who celebrates what or believes what or calls themselves what.
Some USonians boycotting stores for wishing "happy holidays" have no influence in my life.
Some Christians calling themselves Jews or other Christians not Christians, have no influence in my life.
Christians calling themselves Pagans - who really cares.
Of course, it's not right.
Naturally, the consequences might influence my life.
Right now I don't give a dime :-)
Some 10 years ago I was thinking about "faith, hope and love".
I thought that "faith" is weak, knowledge is what it's all about. I KNOW God is, I don't believe in God.
I thought that hope is pretty worthless... that we need to trust in God.
That love is overrated. We need tolerance and compassion.
But that's really it, isn't it? Faith, hope and love... if you go to the correct meaning of the words.
Faith is trust. You can never know everything, never "enough". Knowledge takes you only so far. Knowledge doesn't help you when you are to throw yourself over the cliff and trust, have faith, that someone will catch you. It will be all right. In the end, everything will be okay.
That's hope. Even in the darkest hour, something will happen that makes everything turn out all right.
And love isn't this wishy-washy false "I love you, so I have the right to hurt you" crap. Love is the warm, fuzzy feeling inside you, what makes you smile, that washes away all the fear and tension, that makes you forgive and forget and move on...
I don't want to talk about love, because so many misunderstand the concept. The word is overused, misused, abused... so it is better to talk about compassion, tolerance, charity and kindness. Mercy.
When you get old, you'll understand. Very few elderly are extremist fundamentalists. That is a vice of the young and restless, who think they need to change the world... Seeing an elderly fundamentalist is very sad. So many years learning nothing at all...
I think that's one of the reasons why I respect all elderly... not people 10 years older than me, but people who could be my parents or grandparents... Very few people live that long without learning anything... also I have this belief of that we all have our gifts. Not talents, talents are overrated. Anyone can learn anything if one puts oneself to it. Some people are interested in maths, others in animals, or cooking or something. In my class there was this girl who wasn't very bright nor pretty, but she was very kind.
I believe our interests are given to us so that we could become the most we can.
I also believe that our interests, wishes, desires and dreams are unique to each one... I don't mean that only one person wants to be a writer, but that everyone of us dreaming to be a writer is a unique writer, the only one who can write the book we are going to write.
I believe there is a person for every job, someone who wants to do the job, someone who dreams of the job, who knows nothing better... I know a man who always wanted to be a garbage truck driver. I know a woman who loves nothing as much as cleaning. Not everyone wants to be a singer or a pilot or a model or an actor. Some want to be mothers, teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, librarians... There is a work for everyone, and a worker for every work...
Now I go and work with my plarn crocheting. I'm not fully convinced, but... hmm... It's free.
Flying with the Broom Friday
"Memes" are nice inspiration to write a blog entry, when the day arrives, when you don't know what to write about.
There's the Daily Meme, if you would like to know other "memes" around the internet.
Meme is not just "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" - it's a cultural building block, like genes are genetic building blocks, and "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" is just one form of memes. Memes are fascinating things :-)
One of the Friday memes is "Fruits of the Spirit Friday"
"Fruits of the Spirit" are "the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life";
According to this, the majority of Xians are not Xians at all... I know what they say about not being perfect, but in my mind this is not a question of being perfect. It really doesn't take that much to actually live up to these "requirements". If I, a Pagan, could do it, why not you, a Xian?
I am slightly offended by the idea that because of this quote from the Xian scriptures the Xians have claimed monopoly, the sole ownership of these qualities - as if no-one but a Xian can be loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful, gentle and controlled... I know there are Xians who truly believe it to be so... doesn't sound loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful or gentle to me.
I am a witch, and I am not quite sure I agree with who ever wrote the letter to Galatians. I wish there was a "holy scripture" of witches... it would make keeping this blog and the purpose of this blog so easy... (The purpose is to be one point of spiritual Pagan witches' internet community and network.)
The classical attributes of a witch are "flying on brooms, intercourse with the Devil, and meeting of demons and other witches at sabbaths"... Sounds "bad", huh?
But what is bad in this is that these words are used by people who don't understand what they see, and who believe they need to call other people and their traditions bad names to protect themselves from "foreign" influences.
* "flying on brooms" is to trust in oneself, trust in the miraculous world which is more than can be empirically proven and trust in Goddess - and believing in magic - trust and belief - faith;
* "intercourse with the Devil" is loving the Goddess and being faithful to Her, misunderstood by elitist, ignorant and arrogant fundamentalists, and
* "meeting of demons and other witches" - community - having healthy, social life; not isolating oneself and remembering that we are One -
* "at sabbaths" - attuning to the seasons and Circle of Life - enjoying and celebrating life.
All good things.
Of course, there are Scott Cunningham's 13 Goals of a Witch, which can also be used.
Robin is very good with this kind of things, so I am going to adopt this meme and make it mine :-)
The purpose of this meme is to make me aware of what it is to live in Goddess and for Goddess, and how can I honor Goddess through my daily behavior, attitudes, qualities and deeds.
As you noticed, I said "according to this most Xians are not Xians at all" - how can I live so that the same cannot be said of me.
I am doing this for ME, not for anyone else. I am not doing this to show the world how "good" I am, but to show my traveling companions that you are not alone... I am just one of them, with bad qualities, struggle, good intentions, aspirations to become a better person... and perhaps, you - my companions - could show me that I indeed am one of you, just another human being, with the same kind of thoughts and doubts, reactions and conclusions - sometimes right, sometimes wrong...
Tips for writing these blog memes
* Trust in Goddess to help you with it. Ask for guidance and LISTEN to Her answer.
* Don't wait for Friday to start thinking about this. Decide already the previous Friday what the next Friday's quality will be, and keep your eyes and mind open all week through.
* Don't limit yourself to the prompt questions in this blog entry. They are there just to help you, if you find it hard to write. So be open for Goddess' suggestions during the week. ;-)
* Write the ideas, quotes and anecdotes down as you encounter them.
* Limit yourself to one quality a week.
* You don't need to do this on Friday, you know ;-) Write the blog entry when you can.
* This is not a competition. There are no limits in how much - or little - you write, how well you write, there are no rights or wrongs here - it's YOUR blog and YOU write what YOU want, think, feel...
Prompts
Which quality am I focusing on this Friday?
How do I define this quality? How do other people define this quality?
How does this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?
How does the LACK of this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?
How do I know someone possesses this quality? Do I possess this quality?
Is this quality common or generally missing among people in my life; my family, friends, relatives, acquaintances?
Is there someone who is an especially "fine example" of a person possessing this quality?
What brought these people into my life?
Is there someone "famous" who expresses this quality or lack of this quality?
Is there someone who used to "have it" but haven't anymore - or didn't "have it" but has it now - and what changed it?
How can this quality be reached/developed?
How could I show more of this quality in I?
Is there a quality I find hard to reach or express?
Do I get misunderstood/misinterpreted? How? What could I do to change it?
Is there something that makes it harder to express or possess the quality?
What could be done to encounter that?
There's the Daily Meme, if you would like to know other "memes" around the internet.
Meme is not just "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" - it's a cultural building block, like genes are genetic building blocks, and "an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog" is just one form of memes. Memes are fascinating things :-)
One of the Friday memes is "Fruits of the Spirit Friday"
"Fruits of the Spirit" are "the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life";
“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
-- Galatians 5:22-23
-- Galatians 5:22-23
According to this, the majority of Xians are not Xians at all... I know what they say about not being perfect, but in my mind this is not a question of being perfect. It really doesn't take that much to actually live up to these "requirements". If I, a Pagan, could do it, why not you, a Xian?
I am slightly offended by the idea that because of this quote from the Xian scriptures the Xians have claimed monopoly, the sole ownership of these qualities - as if no-one but a Xian can be loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful, gentle and controlled... I know there are Xians who truly believe it to be so... doesn't sound loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, good, faithful or gentle to me.
I am a witch, and I am not quite sure I agree with who ever wrote the letter to Galatians. I wish there was a "holy scripture" of witches... it would make keeping this blog and the purpose of this blog so easy... (The purpose is to be one point of spiritual Pagan witches' internet community and network.)
The classical attributes of a witch are "flying on brooms, intercourse with the Devil, and meeting of demons and other witches at sabbaths"... Sounds "bad", huh?
But what is bad in this is that these words are used by people who don't understand what they see, and who believe they need to call other people and their traditions bad names to protect themselves from "foreign" influences.
* "flying on brooms" is to trust in oneself, trust in the miraculous world which is more than can be empirically proven and trust in Goddess - and believing in magic - trust and belief - faith;
* "intercourse with the Devil" is loving the Goddess and being faithful to Her, misunderstood by elitist, ignorant and arrogant fundamentalists, and
* "meeting of demons and other witches" - community - having healthy, social life; not isolating oneself and remembering that we are One -
* "at sabbaths" - attuning to the seasons and Circle of Life - enjoying and celebrating life.
All good things.
Of course, there are Scott Cunningham's 13 Goals of a Witch, which can also be used.
- 1. Know yourself.
- 2. Know your Craft (Wicca).
- 3. Learn.
- 4. Apply knowledge with wisdom.
- 5. Achieve balance.
- 6. Keep your words in good order.
- 7. Keep your thoughts in good order.
- 8. Celebrate life.
- 9. Attune with the cycles of the Earth.
- 10. Breathe and eat correctly.
- 11. Exercise the body.
- 12. Meditate.
- 13. Honor the Goddess and God.
Robin is very good with this kind of things, so I am going to adopt this meme and make it mine :-)
The purpose of this meme is to make me aware of what it is to live in Goddess and for Goddess, and how can I honor Goddess through my daily behavior, attitudes, qualities and deeds.
As you noticed, I said "according to this most Xians are not Xians at all" - how can I live so that the same cannot be said of me.
I am doing this for ME, not for anyone else. I am not doing this to show the world how "good" I am, but to show my traveling companions that you are not alone... I am just one of them, with bad qualities, struggle, good intentions, aspirations to become a better person... and perhaps, you - my companions - could show me that I indeed am one of you, just another human being, with the same kind of thoughts and doubts, reactions and conclusions - sometimes right, sometimes wrong...
Tips for writing these blog memes
* Trust in Goddess to help you with it. Ask for guidance and LISTEN to Her answer.
* Don't wait for Friday to start thinking about this. Decide already the previous Friday what the next Friday's quality will be, and keep your eyes and mind open all week through.
* Don't limit yourself to the prompt questions in this blog entry. They are there just to help you, if you find it hard to write. So be open for Goddess' suggestions during the week. ;-)
* Write the ideas, quotes and anecdotes down as you encounter them.
* Limit yourself to one quality a week.
* You don't need to do this on Friday, you know ;-) Write the blog entry when you can.
* This is not a competition. There are no limits in how much - or little - you write, how well you write, there are no rights or wrongs here - it's YOUR blog and YOU write what YOU want, think, feel...
Prompts
Which quality am I focusing on this Friday?
How do I define this quality? How do other people define this quality?
Robin's prompts are based on her experience of Bible study journaling and the idea of using the meme as a base to the journal, so she asks "how does the Bible define this fruit". We don't have a holy scripture, but as the Bible is said to be "God's word mediated through inspired people", I am going to try to find some insightful quotes instead. Goddess speaks through everything, so if you find a quote inspiring, insightful, well said, take it as Goddess' Word. (Even if it happens to come forth in another spiritual tradition's holy scripture ;-))
How does this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?
How does the LACK of this quality show in the everyday life? How does it affects others in my surroundings?
How do I know someone possesses this quality? Do I possess this quality?
Is this quality common or generally missing among people in my life; my family, friends, relatives, acquaintances?
Is there someone who is an especially "fine example" of a person possessing this quality?
What brought these people into my life?
Is there someone "famous" who expresses this quality or lack of this quality?
Is there someone who used to "have it" but haven't anymore - or didn't "have it" but has it now - and what changed it?
How can this quality be reached/developed?
How could I show more of this quality in I?
Is there a quality I find hard to reach or express?
Do I get misunderstood/misinterpreted? How? What could I do to change it?
Is there something that makes it harder to express or possess the quality?
What could be done to encounter that?
To "Against Pagan Gods"
"You speak of Christians robbing your pagan holidays, that is a lie, it was your pagan forefathers that assimilated both religions."
If it was, the new religion created in that manner would be called something else. Like Santeria. Sorry, but everyone knows the truth about this matter, and it is as I say, not as you say.
"So if you are angry, perhaps you should petition your anger with your pagan gods, their leader, your teachers are to blame."
What are you trying to say here?
For your information - I'm a monotheist. I don't know any "pagan gods and their leader".
Also, my teachers are not trying to make Yule a Christian tradition. Why blame them for something they haven't done?
Here you are, stealing another people's celebration, once again, and blame MY "gods" and MY forefathers... Of course. "Satan made me do it". Haven't we heard that before? Everything is always someone else's fault, huh? YOU never do anything wrong, and if you do, it's because Satan made you do it. Or something.
"According to the educated messianice jew this is offensive, and He is not the reason for the season, your pagan forefathers are to blame for that."
You know what... Be "an educated messianic Jew", but as long as you call yourself a Jew, when you are really a Christian, I will think of you as uninformed and ignorant, and, frankly, offensive.
"...since you claim on your blog that you are a pagan, stick with your pagan roots..."
*I* stick with my Pagan roots, and I wish you, and every other dishonest Xian, would have stuck with your Jewish roots and been true to your God, and not started worshiping people.
"leave the christian or messianic jew that is coming to the truth of knowing that these holiday roots are pagan."
I think you have misunderstood something. *I* am all about informing people of the Pagan roots of holidays. Rosh Hashanah is a Pagan holiday, Shavuot is a Pagan holiday, Christmas is a Pagan holiday, Easter is a Pagan holiday. I welcome anyone, not only the more or less dishonest Christians to "the truth of knowing that these holiday roots are Pagan".
"You are not Adonai"
Haven't claimed that either. No human of woman born is, has been and will ever be.
"and only He knows how He will judge"
You better remember that before you decide how I will be judged.
"He hears the blood of all those that cry out, that have been murdered, yes I am referring to the Inquisition and Holocaust. The very same pagan gods that you serve, so did Hitler, King James, Constatine, Queen Isabella."
Hitler was born Christian, turned Atheist. He didn't serve my God.
King James was Christian, serving the same God you do.
Constantine was born Pagan, born-again Christian.
Queen Isabella was Christian.
Inquisition was done in the name of your God, and the Holocaust was done in the name of Fatherland.
"Your fruits are a bad fruit."
How would you know. You can't even see the difference between a Jew and a Christian.
"First clean up your own house, before you make a remark on the christian or messianic jew."
Why would I do that? I haven't claimed my house is clean. You do.
"Neither one of them lose their identity for believing in Yeshua."
Of course not. They just change it. Messianic Jews believe in the divinity of Jesus and that Jesus is the savior, therefore "Messianic Jews" are in reality Christians, not Jews. If you were not even born Jewish, but a convert to "Messianic Judaism" (brrr), you're not even ethnically Jewish.
It is possible to stay Jewish and believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but the second you start attributing divinity and saviorship to Jesus, you have left Judaism and entered Christianity. God is the only Savior and God is not human.
"Oh, and stop quoting your scriptures to people, even the demons know scripture, you can consider yourself within that realm."
Not my scriptures, yours :-D I'm quoting them to remind YOU of what YOUR scriptures say, reminding YOU of what YOUR "god" is asking of you.
"If anything, I would say that those demons within your being are so angry."
My being doesn't include demons.
"Yes even they know that Adonai is calling the gentile and 12 tribes to YHWH!"
Of course. There is only one God.
"Give it up lady, I would quote scripture to you, but I think you are so bound in your ways, only Adonai can deliver you."
Only Adonai can deliver me in any way. Quote the scripture all you can. Anyone can do that.
"As far as your jewish husband, married to a pagan, that is questionable."
Not really. Besides, you're a Christian, what's it to you? Nothing.
"yet a jew married to a pagan…assimilation..that is not acceptable..then he has broken the law as well and he is not a Jew?"
Uh... It is against the Torah for a Jew to marry a gentile, but that doesn't make them non-Jews. For you to worship a human being as "god" doesn't make you less ethnically Jewish either, but it surely makes you religiously non-Jewish. Christians are not Jewish, Jews are not Christian.
"You not being a jew, his children will neither be jews."
If we had had any children they would not be Jewish.
"Oh and a convert to Judaism, that is a joke, becuase that doesn’t make them a jew either, they are now a convert."
If you were a Jew you'd know that there are no converts in Judaism. There are either Jews or gentiles. Nothing in between. Sarah and Abraham were converts, Ruth was a convert - and fully Jewish.
"Stick to your pagan roots and be judged just like you have said you would be"
Well, thank you for your permission. :->
"not all Christians are responsible for the bad deeds that have taken place"
Hmm... Of course not. But even if you didn't commit the original theft, you are part of it when you refuse to return the stolen property. Just leave the Pagan ways be, the Pagan traditions, holidays and symbols, and leave the Jewish God and God's blessings to the Jewish people be. If you don't care to keep your part of the covenant and be fully Jewish, don't expect to get the benefits of the covenant.
"if anything your pagan forefathers are the ones to blame for causing assimilation of the pagan roots with Yeshua."
They weren't asking to be converted. They didn't ask to be made disciples. They were never meant to be.
But, sure, blame the victim. I wonder why you don't blame the true Jews of Holocaust, as a punishment from God for their wicked ways, being a "barren" fig tree, as your "god" said.
"Fight with your own demons on that one, cause I am outraged by that!"
Well, your Christian forefathers forced their disgusting beliefs upon us. You should have listened to God and not Jesus, Paul and other such apostates.
"To think my jewish family became conversos into that pagan religion."
To think you are shaming your Jewish family by worshiping a dead human.
"The Messiah I serve is not the same as the everyday christian."
You should be serving God, not an anointed one.
"Jesus was a Jew by blood, by the defintion of Judaism and paganism, those things do not matter. Look at his lineage."
Thus a human being, not God.
"Your husbands lineage however, will be lost being married to you because you are not a jew."
So Jesus married and had children?
"So before you accuse Jesus as not being a Jew, you are a liar and belong as you say, Rightfully belong to the house of H’Satan!"
I haven't said Jesus was not a Jew. If there ever was Jesus, he was Jewish, there is no question of that. He was an apostate though, his teachings were not according to Torah.
I have said the people who worship a dead Jew as their "god" are not Jewish. There's a difference.
If you were a Jew, you wouldn't talk about some "house of H'Satan". I'm a gentile, so are you, the only difference is that you refuse to admit it.
"I commend you on your education and realizing that X-mas and Easter are your gods, u can have them back and perish with them in Babylon as you serve them."
"realizing"? Christmas and Easter are Pagan holidays, not gods. I don't serve holidays.
Go tell the "war on Christmas" idiots to give them back.
And please leave judging me to God.
"Oh and quit being a baby about being persecuted for your religion, not too long ago your pagan forefathers (Constantine, Hitler?) persecuted the Jews if they didn’t become conversos."
Hitler didn't give a dime about the Jews' religion, and he was not Pagan.
Constantine converted to Christianity. YOUR religion. He WAS Pagan, and as long as he was a Pagan, he didn't persecute anyone. He started it after listening to your cursed brethren, like Paul.
I wish I could commend you on your education, or your intelligence.
"You need to beg for forgiveness as well."
ROTFLMAO From a dead Jew? Or a lying Christian pretending to be something he is not?
"You wanna play this good witch of the north and bad witch of the south"
Huh?
"your just as responsible as the christian and the jew."
Of course. And...?
"The Messianic Jew does not fall under Catholiscm, nor does it fall under christianity."
Yes, it does. Catholism is Christianity, Messianism is Christianity, any and everyone who believes Jesus is God and Savior is Christian.
"You showing hatred and criticsm for what someone believes in is wrong."
Yet another misunderstanding of yours. I don't care what you believe. I'm "showing hatred and criticism" of what is DONE here. You believe what ever you want. Just don't push it on others, and don't steal other people's Gods and feasts. You have Jesus, be satisfied with that. Really, why would you need anything else? Why would you need to celebrate ANYTHING? Isn't Jesus enough?
"Adonai gives us free will just like u have the free will to follow after your pagan gods."
Er... yes, God gave us all free will when God created us, and we are all free to believe what ever we want.
"The Christian did not steal your pagan gods"
Well... actually they did. Some were twisted into demons or fairytale figures and some others - those too loved by their followers - were turned into "saints".
"you murdered them if they didn’t follow u, Conversos?"
The Pagans murdered Christians if they didn't convert? Not since your precious Constantine. After that it was the other way around. You Christians killed anyone who didn't convert, until the Pagans managed to push forth the freedom of religion again. In most Pagan societies there has been freedom of religion, that's how you managed to contaminate the world so easily... first you enter the society in all peace and harmony, but immediately when you have enough support and room, you turn into a monster and make Christianity a state religion and kill anyone who won't convert, or expell people. The Jews lived peacefully in the whole Roman empire until the Christians came and started causing waves.
"remember that, but then again I guess you would say that u are not responsible for that, right?"
Of course I'm not responsible for that, you idiot. You are not responsible for what Christians have done. But I am not denying Pagans have done some pretty horrible things, and you should not be denying the Christian crimes either. You should definitely not blame the Pagans for the Christian crimes :-D
Procelytism has never been part of Paganism. My Pagan forefathers didn't kill anyone for their beliefs. But you don't give a dime about what my Pagan forefathers actually did, do you? To you all Pagans are the same, huh... and then you get offended, when to a Pagan all Christians are the same :-D
I do hold you responsible for stealing other people's holidays, if you celebrate Chanukkah and are not Jewish. I also hold you responsible for adding Christian attributes to Jewish holidays and thus tainting them. If you think the Chanukkah candles are a symbol of Jesus' light, you're falsifying the meaning of Jewish symbols, and you should stop that immediately. Really, don't you have anything own? Do you really have to steal everything from someone else?
P.S. Pagan and gentile are not synonymous. Gentile means non-Jew. Pagan means the follower of a non-Abrahamic religion. Sort of the same as infidel, but - the Muslim infidel really means someone who has been educated in Islam, but refuses to believe.
Christians are gentiles but they are definitely not Pagan. Christian cannot be Pagan, which ever ways he follows. Constantine was born Pagan but converted and "lost" his "Pagan status". To a Jew he would still be a gentile.
You are Christian, not a Jew. To any real Jew you would be gentile, but not Pagan.
If you don't like this FACT, give up your heretic ideas of a man-god. You can still believe Jesus was the Mashiah, but you would need to read the Greek Scriptures with a VERY critical eye, and denounce most of it as Jewish teachings, and all of it as God's Word.
Frankly, if you WERE Jewish, you would be on MY side in this discussion, and not supporting the theft of your cultural inheritance by the man-worshiping Christians.
If it was, the new religion created in that manner would be called something else. Like Santeria. Sorry, but everyone knows the truth about this matter, and it is as I say, not as you say.
"So if you are angry, perhaps you should petition your anger with your pagan gods, their leader, your teachers are to blame."
What are you trying to say here?
For your information - I'm a monotheist. I don't know any "pagan gods and their leader".
Also, my teachers are not trying to make Yule a Christian tradition. Why blame them for something they haven't done?
Here you are, stealing another people's celebration, once again, and blame MY "gods" and MY forefathers... Of course. "Satan made me do it". Haven't we heard that before? Everything is always someone else's fault, huh? YOU never do anything wrong, and if you do, it's because Satan made you do it. Or something.
"According to the educated messianice jew this is offensive, and He is not the reason for the season, your pagan forefathers are to blame for that."
You know what... Be "an educated messianic Jew", but as long as you call yourself a Jew, when you are really a Christian, I will think of you as uninformed and ignorant, and, frankly, offensive.
"...since you claim on your blog that you are a pagan, stick with your pagan roots..."
*I* stick with my Pagan roots, and I wish you, and every other dishonest Xian, would have stuck with your Jewish roots and been true to your God, and not started worshiping people.
"leave the christian or messianic jew that is coming to the truth of knowing that these holiday roots are pagan."
I think you have misunderstood something. *I* am all about informing people of the Pagan roots of holidays. Rosh Hashanah is a Pagan holiday, Shavuot is a Pagan holiday, Christmas is a Pagan holiday, Easter is a Pagan holiday. I welcome anyone, not only the more or less dishonest Christians to "the truth of knowing that these holiday roots are Pagan".
"You are not Adonai"
Haven't claimed that either. No human of woman born is, has been and will ever be.
"and only He knows how He will judge"
You better remember that before you decide how I will be judged.
"He hears the blood of all those that cry out, that have been murdered, yes I am referring to the Inquisition and Holocaust. The very same pagan gods that you serve, so did Hitler, King James, Constatine, Queen Isabella."
Hitler was born Christian, turned Atheist. He didn't serve my God.
King James was Christian, serving the same God you do.
Constantine was born Pagan, born-again Christian.
Queen Isabella was Christian.
Inquisition was done in the name of your God, and the Holocaust was done in the name of Fatherland.
"Your fruits are a bad fruit."
How would you know. You can't even see the difference between a Jew and a Christian.
"First clean up your own house, before you make a remark on the christian or messianic jew."
Why would I do that? I haven't claimed my house is clean. You do.
"Neither one of them lose their identity for believing in Yeshua."
Of course not. They just change it. Messianic Jews believe in the divinity of Jesus and that Jesus is the savior, therefore "Messianic Jews" are in reality Christians, not Jews. If you were not even born Jewish, but a convert to "Messianic Judaism" (brrr), you're not even ethnically Jewish.
It is possible to stay Jewish and believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but the second you start attributing divinity and saviorship to Jesus, you have left Judaism and entered Christianity. God is the only Savior and God is not human.
"Oh, and stop quoting your scriptures to people, even the demons know scripture, you can consider yourself within that realm."
Not my scriptures, yours :-D I'm quoting them to remind YOU of what YOUR scriptures say, reminding YOU of what YOUR "god" is asking of you.
"If anything, I would say that those demons within your being are so angry."
My being doesn't include demons.
"Yes even they know that Adonai is calling the gentile and 12 tribes to YHWH!"
Of course. There is only one God.
"Give it up lady, I would quote scripture to you, but I think you are so bound in your ways, only Adonai can deliver you."
Only Adonai can deliver me in any way. Quote the scripture all you can. Anyone can do that.
"As far as your jewish husband, married to a pagan, that is questionable."
Not really. Besides, you're a Christian, what's it to you? Nothing.
"yet a jew married to a pagan…assimilation..that is not acceptable..then he has broken the law as well and he is not a Jew?"
Uh... It is against the Torah for a Jew to marry a gentile, but that doesn't make them non-Jews. For you to worship a human being as "god" doesn't make you less ethnically Jewish either, but it surely makes you religiously non-Jewish. Christians are not Jewish, Jews are not Christian.
"You not being a jew, his children will neither be jews."
If we had had any children they would not be Jewish.
"Oh and a convert to Judaism, that is a joke, becuase that doesn’t make them a jew either, they are now a convert."
If you were a Jew you'd know that there are no converts in Judaism. There are either Jews or gentiles. Nothing in between. Sarah and Abraham were converts, Ruth was a convert - and fully Jewish.
"Stick to your pagan roots and be judged just like you have said you would be"
Well, thank you for your permission. :->
"not all Christians are responsible for the bad deeds that have taken place"
Hmm... Of course not. But even if you didn't commit the original theft, you are part of it when you refuse to return the stolen property. Just leave the Pagan ways be, the Pagan traditions, holidays and symbols, and leave the Jewish God and God's blessings to the Jewish people be. If you don't care to keep your part of the covenant and be fully Jewish, don't expect to get the benefits of the covenant.
"if anything your pagan forefathers are the ones to blame for causing assimilation of the pagan roots with Yeshua."
They weren't asking to be converted. They didn't ask to be made disciples. They were never meant to be.
"For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever."
- Micah 4:5
But, sure, blame the victim. I wonder why you don't blame the true Jews of Holocaust, as a punishment from God for their wicked ways, being a "barren" fig tree, as your "god" said.
"Fight with your own demons on that one, cause I am outraged by that!"
Well, your Christian forefathers forced their disgusting beliefs upon us. You should have listened to God and not Jesus, Paul and other such apostates.
"To think my jewish family became conversos into that pagan religion."
To think you are shaming your Jewish family by worshiping a dead human.
"The Messiah I serve is not the same as the everyday christian."
You should be serving God, not an anointed one.
"Jesus was a Jew by blood, by the defintion of Judaism and paganism, those things do not matter. Look at his lineage."
Thus a human being, not God.
"Your husbands lineage however, will be lost being married to you because you are not a jew."
So Jesus married and had children?
"So before you accuse Jesus as not being a Jew, you are a liar and belong as you say, Rightfully belong to the house of H’Satan!"
I haven't said Jesus was not a Jew. If there ever was Jesus, he was Jewish, there is no question of that. He was an apostate though, his teachings were not according to Torah.
I have said the people who worship a dead Jew as their "god" are not Jewish. There's a difference.
If you were a Jew, you wouldn't talk about some "house of H'Satan". I'm a gentile, so are you, the only difference is that you refuse to admit it.
"I commend you on your education and realizing that X-mas and Easter are your gods, u can have them back and perish with them in Babylon as you serve them."
"realizing"? Christmas and Easter are Pagan holidays, not gods. I don't serve holidays.
Go tell the "war on Christmas" idiots to give them back.
And please leave judging me to God.
"Oh and quit being a baby about being persecuted for your religion, not too long ago your pagan forefathers (Constantine, Hitler?) persecuted the Jews if they didn’t become conversos."
Hitler didn't give a dime about the Jews' religion, and he was not Pagan.
Constantine converted to Christianity. YOUR religion. He WAS Pagan, and as long as he was a Pagan, he didn't persecute anyone. He started it after listening to your cursed brethren, like Paul.
I wish I could commend you on your education, or your intelligence.
"You need to beg for forgiveness as well."
ROTFLMAO From a dead Jew? Or a lying Christian pretending to be something he is not?
"You wanna play this good witch of the north and bad witch of the south"
Huh?
"your just as responsible as the christian and the jew."
Of course. And...?
"The Messianic Jew does not fall under Catholiscm, nor does it fall under christianity."
Yes, it does. Catholism is Christianity, Messianism is Christianity, any and everyone who believes Jesus is God and Savior is Christian.
"You showing hatred and criticsm for what someone believes in is wrong."
Yet another misunderstanding of yours. I don't care what you believe. I'm "showing hatred and criticism" of what is DONE here. You believe what ever you want. Just don't push it on others, and don't steal other people's Gods and feasts. You have Jesus, be satisfied with that. Really, why would you need anything else? Why would you need to celebrate ANYTHING? Isn't Jesus enough?
"Adonai gives us free will just like u have the free will to follow after your pagan gods."
Er... yes, God gave us all free will when God created us, and we are all free to believe what ever we want.
"The Christian did not steal your pagan gods"
Well... actually they did. Some were twisted into demons or fairytale figures and some others - those too loved by their followers - were turned into "saints".
"you murdered them if they didn’t follow u, Conversos?"
The Pagans murdered Christians if they didn't convert? Not since your precious Constantine. After that it was the other way around. You Christians killed anyone who didn't convert, until the Pagans managed to push forth the freedom of religion again. In most Pagan societies there has been freedom of religion, that's how you managed to contaminate the world so easily... first you enter the society in all peace and harmony, but immediately when you have enough support and room, you turn into a monster and make Christianity a state religion and kill anyone who won't convert, or expell people. The Jews lived peacefully in the whole Roman empire until the Christians came and started causing waves.
"remember that, but then again I guess you would say that u are not responsible for that, right?"
Of course I'm not responsible for that, you idiot. You are not responsible for what Christians have done. But I am not denying Pagans have done some pretty horrible things, and you should not be denying the Christian crimes either. You should definitely not blame the Pagans for the Christian crimes :-D
Procelytism has never been part of Paganism. My Pagan forefathers didn't kill anyone for their beliefs. But you don't give a dime about what my Pagan forefathers actually did, do you? To you all Pagans are the same, huh... and then you get offended, when to a Pagan all Christians are the same :-D
I do hold you responsible for stealing other people's holidays, if you celebrate Chanukkah and are not Jewish. I also hold you responsible for adding Christian attributes to Jewish holidays and thus tainting them. If you think the Chanukkah candles are a symbol of Jesus' light, you're falsifying the meaning of Jewish symbols, and you should stop that immediately. Really, don't you have anything own? Do you really have to steal everything from someone else?
P.S. Pagan and gentile are not synonymous. Gentile means non-Jew. Pagan means the follower of a non-Abrahamic religion. Sort of the same as infidel, but - the Muslim infidel really means someone who has been educated in Islam, but refuses to believe.
Christians are gentiles but they are definitely not Pagan. Christian cannot be Pagan, which ever ways he follows. Constantine was born Pagan but converted and "lost" his "Pagan status". To a Jew he would still be a gentile.
You are Christian, not a Jew. To any real Jew you would be gentile, but not Pagan.
If you don't like this FACT, give up your heretic ideas of a man-god. You can still believe Jesus was the Mashiah, but you would need to read the Greek Scriptures with a VERY critical eye, and denounce most of it as Jewish teachings, and all of it as God's Word.
Frankly, if you WERE Jewish, you would be on MY side in this discussion, and not supporting the theft of your cultural inheritance by the man-worshiping Christians.
To "Steph" from Hearts of Wisdom
About a year ago I got into a discussion about Chanukkah at Hearts of Wisdom. My last words were: "I appreciate Robin’s kind response to me, and will leave this to that."
The Xians didn't want to leave it to that... I just found out by accident. So
"after visiting your blog, I realized you are only trying to attack people at any venue that you can"
So blogs are "every venue" I can attack people at? I wonder what ever you were reading. You couldn't have understood much.
"You are a practicing pagan/witch according to your blog, so why does any of it matter to you at all?"
According to my blog profile, I'm also married to a Jew, so Christians giving Christian meaning to Chanukkah matters to me a lot, especially because I know - as a Pagan - what THAT means. In some 100 years you are going to treat Chanukkah as CHRISTIAN holiday, and bash every Jew trying to celebrate it as it was meant to be celebrated, and try to keep the significance of the celebration clean from apostatic influences, just like you did with Yule.
"Truth is, that it doesn’t."
Truth is that you don't know what the truth is.
"You have no Biblical conviction"
I'm Pagan... duh!
"... nor Biblical understanding"
Well... you don't understand the Bible as anything but a Christian book. I have the access to that understanding, the Jewish understanding and also the religiously free understanding. I would say I understand it better than you do.
"...if you did then you would know what the entire context of Galatians is discussing... ...it is in fact convicting those who have been called to the Truth and asking them– why are you turning back to your worldly ways and worldly holidays when what the one True God offers you is so much greater and will in fact free you from the deceit of this world?"
That's what I said. You are just turning back to someone else's worldly ways and holidays, not even to your own!
You know, it doesn't matter what *I* think it means, it matters what *YOU* think it means. Chanukkah is just another "worldly holiday", just like Pesach, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and any other Jewish holiday. The only non-worldly holiday the Jews celebrate is Shabat... and that is to be celebrated on Saturday.
My Christian friend thinks it's enough, and guess what... it is.
Perhaps one day you'll realize that you don't need special days to celebrate.
After all, every Jewish holiday is built upon Pagan traditions. We, the Pagans were here first, and everything human and worldly is also Pagan.
"people who DO NOT know God, who are serving things that are NOT God... ...things that I believe you yourself practice for whatever reasons that you do"
So you say I don't know God, huh. How would you know?
Not everyone who say "Jesus, Jesus" knows God, and not everyone who says "Ishtar, Ishtar" knows not God...
So how do you recognize a Christian? You look at the fruit. So, let's look at our fruits, "Steph", yours and mine...
"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;"
Not guilty of those. I have only had sex with one man in my whole life, and that man is my husband. I don't know about you, and don't care to either. I'm sure you know well enough your sexual habits, ways and history, and that's enough.
"idolatry and witchcraft"
Well... considering that I'm a self-proclaimed Pagan Witch, one would think that's obvious... but is it?
YOU think my God is an idol, but it really isn't YOUR opinion on the matter that counts, but GOD's opinion.
In reality, YOU cannot know which God I serve, as you know only the words I use, and words mean nothing.
As far as I'm concerned, there is only one God, and as I believe in God, that's the God I believe in.
If God is so petty as to burn me in hell because I didn't use the "right" words when speaking of God, or because I refuse to worship an imaginary corpse in stead of a real, living God the Creator, then be it. I'd rather burn in hell than spend one second with a "god" like that.
Also, the word used as "witchcraft" is actually pharmakeia :-D That means every pharmacist and anyone buying and using medicines is a witch according to Paul.
Do I use medicines? Yes.
Do I use herbs for their medical effect? Yes.
So I'm a witch.
Are you?
I don't converse with "familiar spirits" nor unfamiliar spirits, dead people (not even Jesus) nor do I use magic to hurt other people, which is the Jewish definition of a witch.
So... am I really guilty of these? A good question.
"hatred"
Yes, I'm guilty of that. So are you.
"discord"
Yes, I'm guilty of that. So are you.
"jealousy"
Yes, that exists in my life too. It does in your life as well.
"fits of rage"
I can't remember when I last - if ever - had a fit of rage... Loosing my temper, yes, but you loose your temper too :-D Rushing into "defending" a friend who doesn't need any defending, after her "attacker" has bowed out. Not only foolish, but cowardly.
"selfish ambition"
Considering that I'm a nobody living in a low-income family, I don't think one can see "selfish ambition" manifests itself in my life :-D
"dissensions and factions"
I suppose so. I think it's important to keep things clear and separate and not start mixing things, like "Christo-Pagans" *yuk* I do think Christians should be Christians and stay Christians and leave everyone else and everyone else's habits, traditions, ways and holidays be, and vice versa.
Also, I do have friends and we tend to agree on many things. If that is called "dissensions and factions", then I'm guilty.
In my mind people who say "Catholics are not Christian" and talk about "TRUE Christians", are more guilty of this than I am, but that's just me. :-> (Or Paul himself...)
But:
I have never wished anyone less because I envy them, nor have I tried to take from them what they have, nor have I tried to spoil their joy. I just wish I too had what they have.
I don't argue with people just for the argument, but because I sincerely think they are hurting other people.
I don't find pleasure in hurting people, in disagreements, in offending people or watching people fight.
I don't join internet discussions nor comment in the internet just to offend, provoke or irritate people. I do it because I think I have something worthwhile to say and I want to say it.
I don't debate to "win", but to reach an understanding.
I don't need to be right, even when I am.
I have no problems in agreeing to disagree, if people only show they have understood that we disagree, and that they understand my point of view and acknowledge its validity as a point of view, even when they disagree. It's only then we can agree to disagree, not if you THINK I'm saying something and I KNOW I'm not. In most cases there is no disagreement, just misunderstanding, and "agreeing to disagree" in that case means continuing to misunderstand, and what's good in that?
I don't do any of this with bad intentions, out of malice.
So - YOU might think I'm guilty of all this, but in that case I strongly suggest you look at the beam in your own eye, before you start looking at the specks of sawdust...
"murders"
I haven't killed anything larger a fly in my life.
"drunkenness, orgies, and the like."
No. I don't even like alcohol and I haven't even smoken a cigarette in my life.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Love means benevolence, good-will, charity...
"liberality in judging of people's actions indulgence to their opinions; attributing to them good motives and intentions; a disposition to judge of them favorably, and to put on their words and actions the best construction."
Funnily enough I show more love to my fellow beings when coming to Heart of Wisdom than you do in your reactions to my comments. I do it in an effort to make you see how you are hurting other people with your words, believing that you will stop when you realize that, but you see nothing good in my words or actions, on the contrary, you assign me intentions and habits that are totally strange to me... Not only do you fail to love thy enemy, as Jesus told you to, but you also bear false witness against your neighbor... tsk tsk tsk, "Steph".
"forbearance"... I am afraid none of us have shown much of that. I feel offended so I comment, you feel offended by my comment and comment...
and then "faithfulness"... What would my faithfulness be if I left my God for anything? God, as my people knows God and has known God, has been good to us, and there is no reason, no justification, no sense in leaving God, especially if one does that as to "save oneself" :-D What is a faith worth that fails when one is threatened with pain? Nothing, nothing at all.
Might be that I put my faith in "wrong" God, but I trust the "right" God to know my faith (what ever the Bible and "Xians" say about that.)
No, "Steph", I can see "the fruits" as well as anyone else, and recognize them as what they are, and according to your fruit, you're not Xian either. Maybe you should work with "Fruits of the Spirit Friday" more... :->
"anyone can claim to be faithful, but if their fruits/works don’t show their love for God then their faith is naught because it isn’t true faith"
Your fruits don't show your love for God either, "Steph", and it is actually a bit worse for you, because I'm Pagan. Hey, I'm already lost, and don't care. But you... you are sitting there preaching, judging, quoting irrelevant scriptures, being nasty and claiming to be oh-so-good... What do you think your Jesus thinks about that?
According to what YOUR holy scripture says about it, according to what YOUR authorities say about it, you know God just as well as I do, or even less.
Also, the Pagan ways might seem pointless and meaningless to you and who ever wrote the Bible, but they are not pointless and meaningless to me, and as you have zero understanding of the true meaning of Pagan holidays, worship and spirituality, you should keep your mouth shut.
Who ever wrote the Bible didn't understand them either. The Bible has zero meaning and zero bearing in explaining Pagan ways.
Interesting point about worhiping things that are not gods... a lot of Xians get really upset if you burn the Bible, as if it was something more than a crafted and decorated piece of wood. (Paper is wood, you know.)
What religion do I suppose Paul was? I don't think he was any religion, but I think he was a Xian, not Jewish. He was born Jewish but at the time he wrote the letter to Galatians, he was worshiping a human being as God, accepting non-circumsized (non-Jewish) people to be counted as Christians and preferred the company of proselytes (like the mentioned Galatians) to the company of Jews.
The verse 12 reads: "Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are". A gentile. A Christian.
The letter to the Galatians start with Paul warning the Galatians from listening to the Jewish apostles of Jesus, for they are teaching the wrong thing. (Yeah... a lovely man that one. "Don't listen to them, because they are not telling the RIGHT gospel, listen to ME, I tell the RIGHT one... but beware of the people who try to divide you into different schools and cliques... except me, of course, though I'm the smallest of all, I'm the only right authority.)
"I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." Those "some" were Jews, "Steph", which you certainly are aware of, as you understand the Bible so well :->
What HOLY Days do I suppose Paul observed and honored?
Could as well be none. We could discuss Colossians 2:16.
Chanukkah was/is not a Biblical feast. It wasn't ordained by God, but Jehudah HamMakabi, and it has no value for anyone else but a Jew. Frankly, I think Paul did NOT celebrate Chanukkah, because the Hellenistic Pagans, his target group, didn't celebrate it and didn't understand what it was. "...for I am as ye are", he said. Also, Hellenistic Pagans might not appreciate a celebration of a victory over them...
But what do I know - or you.
"vain traditions of men concocted of men, for the worship of men" like Chanukkah.
Chanukkah is not God's Holy Day, "Steph".
Where do you get the idea that *I* think holidays are a burden? I'm Pagan! I love my holidays and understand the spiritual meaning of them, even when you don't. You don't even understand the spiritual meaning of the Jewish holy days. You're just stealing them, because you too are too fond of the Pagan ways, like special holy days. God doesn't care about days.
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
- 2 Peter 3:8
"also whatever version of the Bible you quotes is WAY off track from the actual Greek translation… just an fyi — if you want to quote scripture, then quote it for real, not from some watered down text of the world who doesn’t understand the Truth of God nor observe His commandments or Holy times."
I quote the King James' Bible, because I have been told by several Christians that that is the only acceptable version. I also give the place of the quote, so that you can go and read which ever version you like at any language. Go read it in Greek if you please.
I find your comment interesting, as most of the Christians claim the Bible and all the translations are inspired by God, and thus every translation of the Bible is God's Unadulterated Word... But if you call The King James' Bible a "watered down text of the world", I agree with you. Anything written in anything but Hebrew is a translation and an addition, and means absolutely nothing.
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
- Deuteronomy 4:2
(Funnily enough, after saying that you go on and quote the Bible - and the exact same "watered down text of the world" I do :-D)
IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. (John 14:15) (that is pretty clear right there)
Yes, it is. Why don't you?
"Jesus Christ obeyed God the Father, HE kept the Holy Days, all of His apostles also did."
And you know this because...? Again, Chanukkah is not a Holy Day.
"Not because those are just customs, but because each one is prophetic and reveal the plan of God Almighty to mankind!"
What? Where the heck did you dig up this little piece of crap?
"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles"
The Jews are to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, Pesach, to commemorate the release from the Egyptian slavery.
They are to celebrate the feast of weeks, Shavuot, to thank for the blessings God has given to them. It's the Jewish thanksgiving.
They are to celebrate the feast of tabernacles, Sukkot, so that they will remember that the Jews lived in booths as they wandered from Egypt. It ends the three weeks of New Year celebration, that starts at Rosh Hashanah, "Day of the Trumpet", and this season has Yom Kippur, Day of the Atonement, in the middle.
There is no mentioning of any prophetic meaning of these Holy Days. I know the Christians have appointed a symbolical, prophetic meaning to these days, as part of stealing the Jewish traditions, but it doesn't mean there really is any such meaning to these days.
"A carnal person is focused on carnal/worldly pursuits and customs"
So, skip Chanukkah, "a carnal/worldly custom", and, frankly, it would be better if you left the other Jewish holidays for the Jews as well. You are not Jewish, and any holidays are just wordly customs.
"I am truly sorry at the bitterness in your heart and eyes."
Be sorry at the bitterness, hatred and loathing in your heart.
"None of what I have written pertains to Hannukkah"
So it's totally irrelevant. Why even bother writing it?
"it is a memorial and if someone wants to keep that memorial then that is their choice"
It is a JEWISH memorial. Why would someone not Jewish want to keep Jewish memorials? And why change the meaning, significance, symbolism of the day? If you wanted to celebrate the day when it was Jewish, why is a Jewish symbolism, significance and meaning "good enough"?
That's exactly what the early Christians did when they stole the Pagan Holy Days, and I see no reason why this won't end the same way. More and more Christians are awakening to the FACT that "Christmas" is a Pagan holiday and naming it Christian doesn't make it Christian, but they are doing the exact same mistake with the Jewish holidays. Giving this JEWISH holiday Christian symbolism doesn't make it Christian.
I keep Samhain because it's a tradition of MY PEOPLE. I believe it is a God ordained Holy Day, and God marked it by tilting this planet the way it is tilted, and putting the sun on the sky, so that we have the Equinoxes and the Solstices. Samhain is exactly in between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, marking the end of Autumn and beginning of Winter. All the traditions are natural and connected to the seasons. MY PEOPLE celebrated Kekri (as we call it) when the harvest was done, the earth could freeze and one could start eating meat, because it was cold enough for the meat not spoil quickly. As the leaves had fallen, the soil was frozen and most plant life seemed dead, and as the animals were being slaughtered, death was a natural association with this time of the year.
I keep Yule, because it's a tradition of MY PEOPLE. I believe it is a God ordained Holy Day, marked by Winter Solstice, and the end and the beginning of the year. I believe it is the Sun's "birthday", as the days are getting longer, and if you haven't lived close the polar circle, you don't have the slightest idea of what the Kaamos feels like.
If you wish to celebrate the three Jewish feasts named in the Bible, do so, but don't give them some esoteric Christian symbolism. Jesus didn't. I think it would have been mentioned in the Bible, if he had.
"We can agree to disagree on this..."
...when you don't even know if you really disagree or not. Sure...
"...but I hope you have seen how wrong it was for you to jump to conclusions and attack someone for no reason."
Frankly, what you have managed to do is to show me that my conclusions were correct. I haven't attacked anyone for no reason. I have a very good reason to do what I did. I hope one day you will learn to look a bit further than your navel and see that people might actually have good reasons to do what they do, even when you wouldn't do what they do, and for their reasons.
I fail to see how telling me my God is... some sort of a combination of an idol, Satan and nothing; mocking me about the Bible version I chose to quote, to then quote the same version yourself; and telling me that I'm a slave of earth and my love, joy, faith etc are rotten fruits because I'm not Christian, plus a lengthy quoting of the Bible with no relevance to the discussion at hands, would "help" me to "realize how wrong I was".
"Robin is far more humble and reserved than I, and I am less likely to defend myself than one of the brethren… which is why I was so harsh with you."
You let Robin do her own fights. She is quite able to do that and does it better than you do.
I know and understand this. It would be nice, if you could understand that I too am a human being, and I too am defending my friends, and if you feel I'm being harsh, it is because I think you lot are being very much out of line and doing things that are not right.
"I do apologize for being as harsh as I was, but the vehement remarks you made here and on our blog are completely out of line and filled with hatred, and it filled me with indignation the slander you put upon people who are trying to do what they are being shown is the right thing to do — Honor God"
Stealing other people's tradition is not honoring God. Replacing one culture's holidays with another culture's holidays - neither your own - is not "the right thing to do" by any standard. In my mind it is the right thing to do to interfere when you see people doing something wrong, and that is what I did - disciplined the wrong-doers. For no avail, though, as you are all so full of your own righteousness, that no words, sensible nor harsh, can penetrate your wickedness.
But, It's not me you should apologize to. You haven't said or done anything I haven't already experienced, and nothing I didn't expect. You haven't offended me. What you have done is enforced the negative impression I have about you and your brethren.
If you are asking God's blessings and that God's will be done, then I accept your prayers, thankfully, but if you are asking God to soften my heart and let Jesus in there, you can just as well save your prayers. I will not fail my God, for anything.
Also, I tried to be Xian when I was 10, and as far as I understand Xianity, nothing YOU do make you believe, and INTELLECTUAL UNDERSTANDING of the scriptures is not necessary. You need the Holy Spirit, and it is only through the Holy Spirit anyone becomes Xian. I suppose that's the "worldly mainstream so-called christian" theology of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has nothing to do with REAL Xian theology.
Nevertheless, as the Holy Spirit didn't enter my heart even though I opened it as wide as I could and prayed to be saved, I know I'm not a Xian and will never be. I can't possibly be any more suggestible as I was when a child, and if your "god" didn't see me as worthy when I was a child, why would I be any more worthy now?
But thank you for reminding me of my flying Fridays. :-) I had totally forgotten them :-D
The Xians didn't want to leave it to that... I just found out by accident. So
"after visiting your blog, I realized you are only trying to attack people at any venue that you can"
So blogs are "every venue" I can attack people at? I wonder what ever you were reading. You couldn't have understood much.
"You are a practicing pagan/witch according to your blog, so why does any of it matter to you at all?"
According to my blog profile, I'm also married to a Jew, so Christians giving Christian meaning to Chanukkah matters to me a lot, especially because I know - as a Pagan - what THAT means. In some 100 years you are going to treat Chanukkah as CHRISTIAN holiday, and bash every Jew trying to celebrate it as it was meant to be celebrated, and try to keep the significance of the celebration clean from apostatic influences, just like you did with Yule.
"Truth is, that it doesn’t."
Truth is that you don't know what the truth is.
"You have no Biblical conviction"
I'm Pagan... duh!
"... nor Biblical understanding"
Well... you don't understand the Bible as anything but a Christian book. I have the access to that understanding, the Jewish understanding and also the religiously free understanding. I would say I understand it better than you do.
"...if you did then you would know what the entire context of Galatians is discussing... ...it is in fact convicting those who have been called to the Truth and asking them– why are you turning back to your worldly ways and worldly holidays when what the one True God offers you is so much greater and will in fact free you from the deceit of this world?"
That's what I said. You are just turning back to someone else's worldly ways and holidays, not even to your own!
You know, it doesn't matter what *I* think it means, it matters what *YOU* think it means. Chanukkah is just another "worldly holiday", just like Pesach, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and any other Jewish holiday. The only non-worldly holiday the Jews celebrate is Shabat... and that is to be celebrated on Saturday.
My Christian friend thinks it's enough, and guess what... it is.
Perhaps one day you'll realize that you don't need special days to celebrate.
After all, every Jewish holiday is built upon Pagan traditions. We, the Pagans were here first, and everything human and worldly is also Pagan.
"people who DO NOT know God, who are serving things that are NOT God... ...things that I believe you yourself practice for whatever reasons that you do"
So you say I don't know God, huh. How would you know?
Not everyone who say "Jesus, Jesus" knows God, and not everyone who says "Ishtar, Ishtar" knows not God...
So how do you recognize a Christian? You look at the fruit. So, let's look at our fruits, "Steph", yours and mine...
"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;"
Not guilty of those. I have only had sex with one man in my whole life, and that man is my husband. I don't know about you, and don't care to either. I'm sure you know well enough your sexual habits, ways and history, and that's enough.
"idolatry and witchcraft"
Well... considering that I'm a self-proclaimed Pagan Witch, one would think that's obvious... but is it?
YOU think my God is an idol, but it really isn't YOUR opinion on the matter that counts, but GOD's opinion.
In reality, YOU cannot know which God I serve, as you know only the words I use, and words mean nothing.
As far as I'm concerned, there is only one God, and as I believe in God, that's the God I believe in.
If God is so petty as to burn me in hell because I didn't use the "right" words when speaking of God, or because I refuse to worship an imaginary corpse in stead of a real, living God the Creator, then be it. I'd rather burn in hell than spend one second with a "god" like that.
Also, the word used as "witchcraft" is actually pharmakeia :-D That means every pharmacist and anyone buying and using medicines is a witch according to Paul.
Do I use medicines? Yes.
Do I use herbs for their medical effect? Yes.
So I'm a witch.
Are you?
I don't converse with "familiar spirits" nor unfamiliar spirits, dead people (not even Jesus) nor do I use magic to hurt other people, which is the Jewish definition of a witch.
So... am I really guilty of these? A good question.
"hatred"
Yes, I'm guilty of that. So are you.
"discord"
Yes, I'm guilty of that. So are you.
"jealousy"
Yes, that exists in my life too. It does in your life as well.
"fits of rage"
I can't remember when I last - if ever - had a fit of rage... Loosing my temper, yes, but you loose your temper too :-D Rushing into "defending" a friend who doesn't need any defending, after her "attacker" has bowed out. Not only foolish, but cowardly.
"selfish ambition"
Considering that I'm a nobody living in a low-income family, I don't think one can see "selfish ambition" manifests itself in my life :-D
"dissensions and factions"
I suppose so. I think it's important to keep things clear and separate and not start mixing things, like "Christo-Pagans" *yuk* I do think Christians should be Christians and stay Christians and leave everyone else and everyone else's habits, traditions, ways and holidays be, and vice versa.
Also, I do have friends and we tend to agree on many things. If that is called "dissensions and factions", then I'm guilty.
In my mind people who say "Catholics are not Christian" and talk about "TRUE Christians", are more guilty of this than I am, but that's just me. :-> (Or Paul himself...)
But:
I have never wished anyone less because I envy them, nor have I tried to take from them what they have, nor have I tried to spoil their joy. I just wish I too had what they have.
I don't argue with people just for the argument, but because I sincerely think they are hurting other people.
I don't find pleasure in hurting people, in disagreements, in offending people or watching people fight.
I don't join internet discussions nor comment in the internet just to offend, provoke or irritate people. I do it because I think I have something worthwhile to say and I want to say it.
I don't debate to "win", but to reach an understanding.
I don't need to be right, even when I am.
I have no problems in agreeing to disagree, if people only show they have understood that we disagree, and that they understand my point of view and acknowledge its validity as a point of view, even when they disagree. It's only then we can agree to disagree, not if you THINK I'm saying something and I KNOW I'm not. In most cases there is no disagreement, just misunderstanding, and "agreeing to disagree" in that case means continuing to misunderstand, and what's good in that?
I don't do any of this with bad intentions, out of malice.
So - YOU might think I'm guilty of all this, but in that case I strongly suggest you look at the beam in your own eye, before you start looking at the specks of sawdust...
"murders"
I haven't killed anything larger a fly in my life.
"drunkenness, orgies, and the like."
No. I don't even like alcohol and I haven't even smoken a cigarette in my life.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Love means benevolence, good-will, charity...
"liberality in judging of people's actions indulgence to their opinions; attributing to them good motives and intentions; a disposition to judge of them favorably, and to put on their words and actions the best construction."
Funnily enough I show more love to my fellow beings when coming to Heart of Wisdom than you do in your reactions to my comments. I do it in an effort to make you see how you are hurting other people with your words, believing that you will stop when you realize that, but you see nothing good in my words or actions, on the contrary, you assign me intentions and habits that are totally strange to me... Not only do you fail to love thy enemy, as Jesus told you to, but you also bear false witness against your neighbor... tsk tsk tsk, "Steph".
"forbearance"... I am afraid none of us have shown much of that. I feel offended so I comment, you feel offended by my comment and comment...
and then "faithfulness"... What would my faithfulness be if I left my God for anything? God, as my people knows God and has known God, has been good to us, and there is no reason, no justification, no sense in leaving God, especially if one does that as to "save oneself" :-D What is a faith worth that fails when one is threatened with pain? Nothing, nothing at all.
Might be that I put my faith in "wrong" God, but I trust the "right" God to know my faith (what ever the Bible and "Xians" say about that.)
No, "Steph", I can see "the fruits" as well as anyone else, and recognize them as what they are, and according to your fruit, you're not Xian either. Maybe you should work with "Fruits of the Spirit Friday" more... :->
"anyone can claim to be faithful, but if their fruits/works don’t show their love for God then their faith is naught because it isn’t true faith"
Your fruits don't show your love for God either, "Steph", and it is actually a bit worse for you, because I'm Pagan. Hey, I'm already lost, and don't care. But you... you are sitting there preaching, judging, quoting irrelevant scriptures, being nasty and claiming to be oh-so-good... What do you think your Jesus thinks about that?
According to what YOUR holy scripture says about it, according to what YOUR authorities say about it, you know God just as well as I do, or even less.
Also, the Pagan ways might seem pointless and meaningless to you and who ever wrote the Bible, but they are not pointless and meaningless to me, and as you have zero understanding of the true meaning of Pagan holidays, worship and spirituality, you should keep your mouth shut.
Who ever wrote the Bible didn't understand them either. The Bible has zero meaning and zero bearing in explaining Pagan ways.
Interesting point about worhiping things that are not gods... a lot of Xians get really upset if you burn the Bible, as if it was something more than a crafted and decorated piece of wood. (Paper is wood, you know.)
What religion do I suppose Paul was? I don't think he was any religion, but I think he was a Xian, not Jewish. He was born Jewish but at the time he wrote the letter to Galatians, he was worshiping a human being as God, accepting non-circumsized (non-Jewish) people to be counted as Christians and preferred the company of proselytes (like the mentioned Galatians) to the company of Jews.
The verse 12 reads: "Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are". A gentile. A Christian.
The letter to the Galatians start with Paul warning the Galatians from listening to the Jewish apostles of Jesus, for they are teaching the wrong thing. (Yeah... a lovely man that one. "Don't listen to them, because they are not telling the RIGHT gospel, listen to ME, I tell the RIGHT one... but beware of the people who try to divide you into different schools and cliques... except me, of course, though I'm the smallest of all, I'm the only right authority.)
"I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." Those "some" were Jews, "Steph", which you certainly are aware of, as you understand the Bible so well :->
What HOLY Days do I suppose Paul observed and honored?
Could as well be none. We could discuss Colossians 2:16.
Chanukkah was/is not a Biblical feast. It wasn't ordained by God, but Jehudah HamMakabi, and it has no value for anyone else but a Jew. Frankly, I think Paul did NOT celebrate Chanukkah, because the Hellenistic Pagans, his target group, didn't celebrate it and didn't understand what it was. "...for I am as ye are", he said. Also, Hellenistic Pagans might not appreciate a celebration of a victory over them...
But what do I know - or you.
"vain traditions of men concocted of men, for the worship of men" like Chanukkah.
Chanukkah is not God's Holy Day, "Steph".
Where do you get the idea that *I* think holidays are a burden? I'm Pagan! I love my holidays and understand the spiritual meaning of them, even when you don't. You don't even understand the spiritual meaning of the Jewish holy days. You're just stealing them, because you too are too fond of the Pagan ways, like special holy days. God doesn't care about days.
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
- 2 Peter 3:8
"also whatever version of the Bible you quotes is WAY off track from the actual Greek translation… just an fyi — if you want to quote scripture, then quote it for real, not from some watered down text of the world who doesn’t understand the Truth of God nor observe His commandments or Holy times."
I quote the King James' Bible, because I have been told by several Christians that that is the only acceptable version. I also give the place of the quote, so that you can go and read which ever version you like at any language. Go read it in Greek if you please.
I find your comment interesting, as most of the Christians claim the Bible and all the translations are inspired by God, and thus every translation of the Bible is God's Unadulterated Word... But if you call The King James' Bible a "watered down text of the world", I agree with you. Anything written in anything but Hebrew is a translation and an addition, and means absolutely nothing.
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
- Deuteronomy 4:2
(Funnily enough, after saying that you go on and quote the Bible - and the exact same "watered down text of the world" I do :-D)
IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. (John 14:15) (that is pretty clear right there)
Yes, it is. Why don't you?
"Jesus Christ obeyed God the Father, HE kept the Holy Days, all of His apostles also did."
And you know this because...? Again, Chanukkah is not a Holy Day.
"Not because those are just customs, but because each one is prophetic and reveal the plan of God Almighty to mankind!"
What? Where the heck did you dig up this little piece of crap?
"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles"
The Jews are to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, Pesach, to commemorate the release from the Egyptian slavery.
They are to celebrate the feast of weeks, Shavuot, to thank for the blessings God has given to them. It's the Jewish thanksgiving.
They are to celebrate the feast of tabernacles, Sukkot, so that they will remember that the Jews lived in booths as they wandered from Egypt. It ends the three weeks of New Year celebration, that starts at Rosh Hashanah, "Day of the Trumpet", and this season has Yom Kippur, Day of the Atonement, in the middle.
There is no mentioning of any prophetic meaning of these Holy Days. I know the Christians have appointed a symbolical, prophetic meaning to these days, as part of stealing the Jewish traditions, but it doesn't mean there really is any such meaning to these days.
"A carnal person is focused on carnal/worldly pursuits and customs"
So, skip Chanukkah, "a carnal/worldly custom", and, frankly, it would be better if you left the other Jewish holidays for the Jews as well. You are not Jewish, and any holidays are just wordly customs.
"I am truly sorry at the bitterness in your heart and eyes."
Be sorry at the bitterness, hatred and loathing in your heart.
"None of what I have written pertains to Hannukkah"
So it's totally irrelevant. Why even bother writing it?
"it is a memorial and if someone wants to keep that memorial then that is their choice"
It is a JEWISH memorial. Why would someone not Jewish want to keep Jewish memorials? And why change the meaning, significance, symbolism of the day? If you wanted to celebrate the day when it was Jewish, why is a Jewish symbolism, significance and meaning "good enough"?
That's exactly what the early Christians did when they stole the Pagan Holy Days, and I see no reason why this won't end the same way. More and more Christians are awakening to the FACT that "Christmas" is a Pagan holiday and naming it Christian doesn't make it Christian, but they are doing the exact same mistake with the Jewish holidays. Giving this JEWISH holiday Christian symbolism doesn't make it Christian.
I keep Samhain because it's a tradition of MY PEOPLE. I believe it is a God ordained Holy Day, and God marked it by tilting this planet the way it is tilted, and putting the sun on the sky, so that we have the Equinoxes and the Solstices. Samhain is exactly in between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, marking the end of Autumn and beginning of Winter. All the traditions are natural and connected to the seasons. MY PEOPLE celebrated Kekri (as we call it) when the harvest was done, the earth could freeze and one could start eating meat, because it was cold enough for the meat not spoil quickly. As the leaves had fallen, the soil was frozen and most plant life seemed dead, and as the animals were being slaughtered, death was a natural association with this time of the year.
I keep Yule, because it's a tradition of MY PEOPLE. I believe it is a God ordained Holy Day, marked by Winter Solstice, and the end and the beginning of the year. I believe it is the Sun's "birthday", as the days are getting longer, and if you haven't lived close the polar circle, you don't have the slightest idea of what the Kaamos feels like.
If you wish to celebrate the three Jewish feasts named in the Bible, do so, but don't give them some esoteric Christian symbolism. Jesus didn't. I think it would have been mentioned in the Bible, if he had.
"We can agree to disagree on this..."
...when you don't even know if you really disagree or not. Sure...
"...but I hope you have seen how wrong it was for you to jump to conclusions and attack someone for no reason."
Frankly, what you have managed to do is to show me that my conclusions were correct. I haven't attacked anyone for no reason. I have a very good reason to do what I did. I hope one day you will learn to look a bit further than your navel and see that people might actually have good reasons to do what they do, even when you wouldn't do what they do, and for their reasons.
I fail to see how telling me my God is... some sort of a combination of an idol, Satan and nothing; mocking me about the Bible version I chose to quote, to then quote the same version yourself; and telling me that I'm a slave of earth and my love, joy, faith etc are rotten fruits because I'm not Christian, plus a lengthy quoting of the Bible with no relevance to the discussion at hands, would "help" me to "realize how wrong I was".
"Robin is far more humble and reserved than I, and I am less likely to defend myself than one of the brethren… which is why I was so harsh with you."
You let Robin do her own fights. She is quite able to do that and does it better than you do.
I know and understand this. It would be nice, if you could understand that I too am a human being, and I too am defending my friends, and if you feel I'm being harsh, it is because I think you lot are being very much out of line and doing things that are not right.
"I do apologize for being as harsh as I was, but the vehement remarks you made here and on our blog are completely out of line and filled with hatred, and it filled me with indignation the slander you put upon people who are trying to do what they are being shown is the right thing to do — Honor God"
Stealing other people's tradition is not honoring God. Replacing one culture's holidays with another culture's holidays - neither your own - is not "the right thing to do" by any standard. In my mind it is the right thing to do to interfere when you see people doing something wrong, and that is what I did - disciplined the wrong-doers. For no avail, though, as you are all so full of your own righteousness, that no words, sensible nor harsh, can penetrate your wickedness.
But, It's not me you should apologize to. You haven't said or done anything I haven't already experienced, and nothing I didn't expect. You haven't offended me. What you have done is enforced the negative impression I have about you and your brethren.
If you are asking God's blessings and that God's will be done, then I accept your prayers, thankfully, but if you are asking God to soften my heart and let Jesus in there, you can just as well save your prayers. I will not fail my God, for anything.
Also, I tried to be Xian when I was 10, and as far as I understand Xianity, nothing YOU do make you believe, and INTELLECTUAL UNDERSTANDING of the scriptures is not necessary. You need the Holy Spirit, and it is only through the Holy Spirit anyone becomes Xian. I suppose that's the "worldly mainstream so-called christian" theology of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has nothing to do with REAL Xian theology.
Nevertheless, as the Holy Spirit didn't enter my heart even though I opened it as wide as I could and prayed to be saved, I know I'm not a Xian and will never be. I can't possibly be any more suggestible as I was when a child, and if your "god" didn't see me as worthy when I was a child, why would I be any more worthy now?
But thank you for reminding me of my flying Fridays. :-) I had totally forgotten them :-D
Monday, December 27, 2010
50 Things To Do Before I Turn 50
I cannot wait becoming a "real crone" :-D
So - what do I think I should have done to get that experience? What would make me go "wahoo!"?
There are thousands of "30 before 30" lists, but not that many "50 before 50" ;-)
I suppose you have to be unusually immature to write a list like that. I mean, these "goal games", achievement lists, bucket lists, are for young people, aren't they? I mean, it's only the young and foolish 20-somethings who are stupid enough to think things like this matters, isn't it?
Well... if I'm going to be wearing my red hat proudly in 9 years, I think I need to start practicing ;-)
I am 41. Getting good at my job and finding a job I love is kind of... I'm going to be retired in some 15 years. I think the career choices should have been done already 20 years ago. Of course it's always good to fill in the blanks and change one's mind, but your mind should have been made up already 20 years ago at least once! You should HAVE at least one career already when you're middle-aged.
AND YES I AM MIDDLE-AGED! MIDDLE-AGED, MIDDLE-AGED, MIDDLE-AGED!
But there's still 8 years until I'm 50 ;-)
So - what do I think I should have done to get that experience? What would make me go "wahoo!"?
There are thousands of "30 before 30" lists, but not that many "50 before 50" ;-)
I suppose you have to be unusually immature to write a list like that. I mean, these "goal games", achievement lists, bucket lists, are for young people, aren't they? I mean, it's only the young and foolish 20-somethings who are stupid enough to think things like this matters, isn't it?
Well... if I'm going to be wearing my red hat proudly in 9 years, I think I need to start practicing ;-)
I am 41. Getting good at my job and finding a job I love is kind of... I'm going to be retired in some 15 years. I think the career choices should have been done already 20 years ago. Of course it's always good to fill in the blanks and change one's mind, but your mind should have been made up already 20 years ago at least once! You should HAVE at least one career already when you're middle-aged.
AND YES I AM MIDDLE-AGED! MIDDLE-AGED, MIDDLE-AGED, MIDDLE-AGED!
But there's still 8 years until I'm 50 ;-)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
About New Year and divination
It is a bit hard for a Pagan to decide when the New Year is going to begin :-D Will we start it at Spring Equinox, like the Babylonians do, at Autumn Equinox, like the Jews, at Midwinter's Day, like the Romans...? Why not at Summer Solstice? There beliefs concerning New Year's Day are the same in all the belief systems though.
One of the common practices is trying to get hints on what the New Year is going to be like. You read omens and fortunes. I am planning on going to my sisters at New Year's Day and take my tarot cards with me.
Another thing is the effort of trying to do something to improve one's life. I have been participating in the "100 things in 1000 days" but it's not going too well :-D I also participated in 100 days' writing challenge and that went to forest as well. ;-) (Going to woods is a Swedish expression, I think, about things failing.)
I have tried to loose weight, and that doesn't go well, I have tried to study languages, and the same there... I really have problems with commitments.
But - a new year and a new chance. Every new day is a new chance trying to make it better this time.
One of the common practices is trying to get hints on what the New Year is going to be like. You read omens and fortunes. I am planning on going to my sisters at New Year's Day and take my tarot cards with me.
Another thing is the effort of trying to do something to improve one's life. I have been participating in the "100 things in 1000 days" but it's not going too well :-D I also participated in 100 days' writing challenge and that went to forest as well. ;-) (Going to woods is a Swedish expression, I think, about things failing.)
I have tried to loose weight, and that doesn't go well, I have tried to study languages, and the same there... I really have problems with commitments.
But - a new year and a new chance. Every new day is a new chance trying to make it better this time.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Lunar Eclipse and Yule...
It was supposed to happen early this morning. I woke up and went to see the sky. It was cloudy. Nice.
At sunrise the clouds had dispersed mostly, but covered the horizon, where the moon was slowly gliding down the from the sky, as the sun rose. I didn't see anything. Not even the moon. :-(
Well, there was a small accident. Someone had got their truck blocking the road, so the buses waited for 10 minutes for the road to clear up. Thankfully no-one was hurt or damaged.
My husband made us a nice Yule dinner; roasted pork, glazed potatoes, mashed potatoes, red cabbage, pumpkin jam, nice gravy... the taste sensation was really sensational... the sour cabbage, sweet potatoes, spicy jam and soft mash and pork... mmmm....
Now we are going to watch some Yule movies :-)
At sunrise the clouds had dispersed mostly, but covered the horizon, where the moon was slowly gliding down the from the sky, as the sun rose. I didn't see anything. Not even the moon. :-(
Well, there was a small accident. Someone had got their truck blocking the road, so the buses waited for 10 minutes for the road to clear up. Thankfully no-one was hurt or damaged.
My husband made us a nice Yule dinner; roasted pork, glazed potatoes, mashed potatoes, red cabbage, pumpkin jam, nice gravy... the taste sensation was really sensational... the sour cabbage, sweet potatoes, spicy jam and soft mash and pork... mmmm....
Now we are going to watch some Yule movies :-)
Monday, December 20, 2010
Blue Annis
Cailleach Bheur, Goddess as the Winter Mother.
She is NOT the feminine aspect of sun. Sunna, Sulis, Saule, is.
She is NOT the feminine aspect of sun. Sunna, Sulis, Saule, is.
I'm sorry I'm not going to do much for my blog at this moment... I'm feeling awful, I'm tired and aching... But visit my husband and read his lovely story, and visit Teresa. She has a lot of interesting information in her blog.
Day 1:
Just because the earth is cold doesn't mean there's nothing going on down there in the soil. Think about what lies dormant in your own life right now, and consider what may bloom a few months from now.
Cold and dark, this time of year,
the earth lies dormant, awaiting the return
of the sun, and with it, life.
Far beneath the frozen surface,
a heartbeat waits,
until the moment is right,
to spring.
Just because the earth is cold doesn't mean there's nothing going on down there in the soil. Think about what lies dormant in your own life right now, and consider what may bloom a few months from now.
Cold and dark, this time of year,
the earth lies dormant, awaiting the return
of the sun, and with it, life.
Far beneath the frozen surface,
a heartbeat waits,
until the moment is right,
to spring.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I believe in woo-woo...
but as an addition to the conventional science, not as a replacement.
Kim Tinkham died... in a disease that shouldn't have killed her. A disease millions of women have survived. Sure, millions have died in it too, but... Kim shouldn't have needed to.
You see, Kim Tinkham had a breast cancer. Untreated, I say. She treated it with positive thinking and a diet. That doesn't bite on cancer... unfortunately.
Now, a lot of people are angry with Oprah Winfrey, who could have stopped her, but I blame Robert O. Young. I think he killed Kim.
I also blame the society which makes it possible for people to suspect authorities for all the wrong reasons and trust the snake-oil sellers for the same reasons.
Kim Tinkham died... in a disease that shouldn't have killed her. A disease millions of women have survived. Sure, millions have died in it too, but... Kim shouldn't have needed to.
You see, Kim Tinkham had a breast cancer. Untreated, I say. She treated it with positive thinking and a diet. That doesn't bite on cancer... unfortunately.
Now, a lot of people are angry with Oprah Winfrey, who could have stopped her, but I blame Robert O. Young. I think he killed Kim.
I also blame the society which makes it possible for people to suspect authorities for all the wrong reasons and trust the snake-oil sellers for the same reasons.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Flabberghasted...
Old Earth Why Not
So... dragons existed. Hmm.
Must be true if the Christians say it is...
I really would like to believe, but...
So... dragons existed. Hmm.
Must be true if the Christians say it is...
I really would like to believe, but...
This is the Chinese dragon fossil
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Eckhard Tolle: The New Earth, rest of it
I have been thinking that perhaps this ego-babble is due to the fear of death... a thing I have never understood.
I don't want to die, but I'm not afraid of dying either. To me Death is Sleep's big brother and kind and gentle deity. It is a sleep you never wake up from. Probably also a sleep without dreams. Deep sleep... Nothing to be afraid of.
And the idea of that one day there will be no Ketutar in the world... big deal. Right now there is a Ketutar. That's me. Right now I am responsible for the life and adventures of Ketutar, of the experience and memory of Ketutar... when I'm dead, it's too late to do anything about that :-D And then it doesn't matter at all ;-)
Anyway, back to Eckhart. The more I read, the more perplexed I get. Are these things really so important to people and so hard to comprehend?
I am not my earthly possessions. What I have has nothing to do with who I am.
I do not identify myself with what I have, my status, in comparison to others, as right or wrong, as better or worse, as more or less.
I identify myself as a human being, equal with all the other human beings of this world. ALL.
I identify myself as part of the creation, and as such equal to every other part of the creation. EVERY part.
I am very aware of my existence as a cell in this huge organism called life.
But still I am also aware of my unique, personal self. It is *I* who think these thoughts *I* write down... It is not Eckhart Tolle or Sarah Jones. It's me. Ketutar Jensen.
"For many people, their sense of selfworth is intimately bound up with their physical strength, good looks, fitness, and external appearance. Many feel a diminished sense of selfworth because they perceive their body as ugly or imperfect."
Yeah... which came first, the hen or the egg?
Many people feel ugly because they are told all the time they are ugly. Not because they themselves would compare themselves to others and deem their looks objectively less appealing.
Being told all the time you are less worth makes you believe it. It is very hard to speak against the "public opinion", especially in modern world, which is full of information. You couldn't avoid hearing the messages.
This is just a way for the "powers that be" to keep you quiet and occupied with secondary matters, so that you will be easier to control, and, boy, doesn't it work!
So - when it seems you are getting loss from the hunt for perfect body and physical image, let's exchange it with hunt of ego... This whole crap reminds me of a ingenius short story by Agatha Christie... How a "person" managed to persuade a man to give up his skeleton...
You see, I'm back to copyleft. Eckhart Tolle is still exploiting your wish of becoming a better person, and selling books, CDs and DVDs, cards, calendars, "talks, intensives and retreats", and everything possible... he's selling words...
"Words... ...can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you", he says...
He is full of crap and knows nothing, he tells you this, over and over again, and you praise him and pay him for telling you nothing you don't already know.
I don't get this. I really don't get this.
"If you are not familiar with “inner body” awareness, close your eyes for a moment and find out if there is life inside your hands. Don't ask your mind. It will say, “I can't feel anything.” Probably it will also say, “Give me something more interesting to think about.” So instead of asking your mind, go to the hands directly. By this I mean become aware of the subtle feeling of aliveness inside them. It is there. You just have to go there with your attention to notice it. you may get a slight tingling sensation at first, then a feeling of energy or aliveness. If you hold your attention in your hands for a while, the sense of aliveness will intensify. Some people won't even have to close their eyes. They will be able to feel their “inner hands” at the same times as they read this..."
Er... Yeah... my mind is a powerful tool.
I don't know... perhaps I don't get this thing with ego because I don't have it. Nothing in this sounds familiar or true to me.
I have never had any problems with mindfulness, being in the moment, "inner body awareness" and other such things.
I have never had any problems with emptying my mind and meditating.
I have never had any problems with connecting with the Highest and feeling, sensing, experiencing, being the Unity, Gaia consciousness or what ever you call it.
I am still me, I, the personal, unique, special, individual I. Ego.
---
Poor, stupid Descartes and Sartre... if they only had been as wise as Tolle!
---
"The suppression of the feminine principle especially over the past two thousand years has enabled the ego to gain absolute supremacy in the collective human psyche. Although women have egos, of course, the ego can take root and grow more easily in the male form than in the female. this is because women are less mindidentified than men. They are more in touch with the inner body and the intelligence of the organism where the intuitive faculties originate. The female form is less rigidly encapsulated than the male, has greater openness and sensitivity toward other lifeforms, and is more attuned to the natural world."
Oh, Goddess, what bull!
a) there is no difference in women's and men's minds. Claiming anything else is sexism.
b) the idea of that women are closer to nature is nothing but misogyny. It's the base to the treatment of women as mindless children, in need of being taken care and governed by adult men.
"Nobody knows the exact figure because records were not kept, but it sees certain that during a three hundred year period between three and five million women were tortured and killed by the “Holy Inquisition“
Highly overestimated, considering that the realistic and rational estimates put the victims (male and female) of inquisition to 3000-10000 - thousands, not millions.
"It was enough for a woman to show a love for animals, walk alone in the fields or woods, or gather medicinal plants to be branded a witch"
No, it wasn't.
"The sacred feminine was declared demonic, and an entire dimension largely disappeared form human experience."
*sigh* No, it didn't. But, perhaps you truly believe people couldn't keep their secrets back some hundreds of years ago. In Italy - where the Catholic inquisition had quite an influence - they kept the Strega alive.
"Males who denied the feminine even within themselves where now running the world..."
"...this fear of the feminine that could only be described as acute collective paranoia"
"But then why in many ancient preChristian civilizations such as the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Celtic were women respected and the feminine principle not feared but revered?"
The appreciation and treatment of women was not especially different in the Hebrew and Sumerian societies. The Greek society was horribly misogynist. Celts weren't especially appreciative of women either. The same about Roman society or the Indian society, the cradle of Hinduism and Buddhism, and the main body of the "Eastern Wisdoms" now so revered by the Western spiritual world. It doesn't matter that Goddess was worshiped in the society.
"What is it that suddenly made men feel threatened by the female? The evolving ego in them. It knew it could gain full control of our planet only through the male form, and to do so, it had to render the female powerless."
Oh, crap!
"The sacred feminine, because it is suppressed, is felt by many women as emotional pain. In fact, it has become part of their painbody, together with the accumulated pain suffered by women over millennia through childbirth, rape, slavery, torture and violent death."
This is such crap! But I'm sure all the so-called feminists lap this up...
"Certain countries in which many acts of collective violence were suffered or perpetrated have a heavier collective painbody than others. This is why older nations tend to have stronger painbodies. It is also why younger countries, such as Canada or Australia, and those that have remained more sheltered from the surrounding madness, such as Switzerland, tend to have lighter collective painbodies."
Oh, yeah! We don't give a shit about all the aborigins who have been abused by their European overlords! Of course the history before the REAL, official, Western history doesn't matter! In Switzerland the inquisition had quite a heavy toll, it's one of the most racist countries in the world and the Western country where women received their voting rights last, but - hey, it was neutral during both world wars, who cares about the rest? Never mind hunger and cold winters and tribal wars and other such insignificant things, it's not that such things have an effect on the "painbody" :-D
This guy is really unbelievable... and yet so many believe everything he says and thinks it's wise and profound...`
I give up on this book.
The painbody part of the book is more interesting, even though I'm quite fed up with this guy.
I call this "painbody" shadows.
Also, angels feel your emotions as physical. "Negative" emotions are like physical violence, "positive" emotions like caressing. I have no difficulties in thinking it works so with our angel-souls as well. So the idea of our "positive" attitude spreading like ripples in water to heal and comfort others' pain sounds like a good idea. At least, it will keep me calm and serene, so that at least one person is ok.
Besides, pets react on your emotions, why wouldn't people?
I don't want to die, but I'm not afraid of dying either. To me Death is Sleep's big brother and kind and gentle deity. It is a sleep you never wake up from. Probably also a sleep without dreams. Deep sleep... Nothing to be afraid of.
And the idea of that one day there will be no Ketutar in the world... big deal. Right now there is a Ketutar. That's me. Right now I am responsible for the life and adventures of Ketutar, of the experience and memory of Ketutar... when I'm dead, it's too late to do anything about that :-D And then it doesn't matter at all ;-)
Anyway, back to Eckhart. The more I read, the more perplexed I get. Are these things really so important to people and so hard to comprehend?
I am not my earthly possessions. What I have has nothing to do with who I am.
I do not identify myself with what I have, my status, in comparison to others, as right or wrong, as better or worse, as more or less.
I identify myself as a human being, equal with all the other human beings of this world. ALL.
I identify myself as part of the creation, and as such equal to every other part of the creation. EVERY part.
I am very aware of my existence as a cell in this huge organism called life.
But still I am also aware of my unique, personal self. It is *I* who think these thoughts *I* write down... It is not Eckhart Tolle or Sarah Jones. It's me. Ketutar Jensen.
"For many people, their sense of selfworth is intimately bound up with their physical strength, good looks, fitness, and external appearance. Many feel a diminished sense of selfworth because they perceive their body as ugly or imperfect."
Yeah... which came first, the hen or the egg?
Many people feel ugly because they are told all the time they are ugly. Not because they themselves would compare themselves to others and deem their looks objectively less appealing.
Being told all the time you are less worth makes you believe it. It is very hard to speak against the "public opinion", especially in modern world, which is full of information. You couldn't avoid hearing the messages.
This is just a way for the "powers that be" to keep you quiet and occupied with secondary matters, so that you will be easier to control, and, boy, doesn't it work!
So - when it seems you are getting loss from the hunt for perfect body and physical image, let's exchange it with hunt of ego... This whole crap reminds me of a ingenius short story by Agatha Christie... How a "person" managed to persuade a man to give up his skeleton...
You see, I'm back to copyleft. Eckhart Tolle is still exploiting your wish of becoming a better person, and selling books, CDs and DVDs, cards, calendars, "talks, intensives and retreats", and everything possible... he's selling words...
"Words... ...can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you", he says...
He is full of crap and knows nothing, he tells you this, over and over again, and you praise him and pay him for telling you nothing you don't already know.
I don't get this. I really don't get this.
"If you are not familiar with “inner body” awareness, close your eyes for a moment and find out if there is life inside your hands. Don't ask your mind. It will say, “I can't feel anything.” Probably it will also say, “Give me something more interesting to think about.” So instead of asking your mind, go to the hands directly. By this I mean become aware of the subtle feeling of aliveness inside them. It is there. You just have to go there with your attention to notice it. you may get a slight tingling sensation at first, then a feeling of energy or aliveness. If you hold your attention in your hands for a while, the sense of aliveness will intensify. Some people won't even have to close their eyes. They will be able to feel their “inner hands” at the same times as they read this..."
Er... Yeah... my mind is a powerful tool.
I don't know... perhaps I don't get this thing with ego because I don't have it. Nothing in this sounds familiar or true to me.
I have never had any problems with mindfulness, being in the moment, "inner body awareness" and other such things.
I have never had any problems with emptying my mind and meditating.
I have never had any problems with connecting with the Highest and feeling, sensing, experiencing, being the Unity, Gaia consciousness or what ever you call it.
I am still me, I, the personal, unique, special, individual I. Ego.
---
Poor, stupid Descartes and Sartre... if they only had been as wise as Tolle!
---
"The suppression of the feminine principle especially over the past two thousand years has enabled the ego to gain absolute supremacy in the collective human psyche. Although women have egos, of course, the ego can take root and grow more easily in the male form than in the female. this is because women are less mindidentified than men. They are more in touch with the inner body and the intelligence of the organism where the intuitive faculties originate. The female form is less rigidly encapsulated than the male, has greater openness and sensitivity toward other lifeforms, and is more attuned to the natural world."
Oh, Goddess, what bull!
a) there is no difference in women's and men's minds. Claiming anything else is sexism.
b) the idea of that women are closer to nature is nothing but misogyny. It's the base to the treatment of women as mindless children, in need of being taken care and governed by adult men.
"Nobody knows the exact figure because records were not kept, but it sees certain that during a three hundred year period between three and five million women were tortured and killed by the “Holy Inquisition“
Highly overestimated, considering that the realistic and rational estimates put the victims (male and female) of inquisition to 3000-10000 - thousands, not millions.
"It was enough for a woman to show a love for animals, walk alone in the fields or woods, or gather medicinal plants to be branded a witch"
No, it wasn't.
"The sacred feminine was declared demonic, and an entire dimension largely disappeared form human experience."
*sigh* No, it didn't. But, perhaps you truly believe people couldn't keep their secrets back some hundreds of years ago. In Italy - where the Catholic inquisition had quite an influence - they kept the Strega alive.
"Males who denied the feminine even within themselves where now running the world..."
"...this fear of the feminine that could only be described as acute collective paranoia"
"But then why in many ancient preChristian civilizations such as the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Celtic were women respected and the feminine principle not feared but revered?"
The appreciation and treatment of women was not especially different in the Hebrew and Sumerian societies. The Greek society was horribly misogynist. Celts weren't especially appreciative of women either. The same about Roman society or the Indian society, the cradle of Hinduism and Buddhism, and the main body of the "Eastern Wisdoms" now so revered by the Western spiritual world. It doesn't matter that Goddess was worshiped in the society.
"What is it that suddenly made men feel threatened by the female? The evolving ego in them. It knew it could gain full control of our planet only through the male form, and to do so, it had to render the female powerless."
Oh, crap!
"The sacred feminine, because it is suppressed, is felt by many women as emotional pain. In fact, it has become part of their painbody, together with the accumulated pain suffered by women over millennia through childbirth, rape, slavery, torture and violent death."
This is such crap! But I'm sure all the so-called feminists lap this up...
"Certain countries in which many acts of collective violence were suffered or perpetrated have a heavier collective painbody than others. This is why older nations tend to have stronger painbodies. It is also why younger countries, such as Canada or Australia, and those that have remained more sheltered from the surrounding madness, such as Switzerland, tend to have lighter collective painbodies."
Oh, yeah! We don't give a shit about all the aborigins who have been abused by their European overlords! Of course the history before the REAL, official, Western history doesn't matter! In Switzerland the inquisition had quite a heavy toll, it's one of the most racist countries in the world and the Western country where women received their voting rights last, but - hey, it was neutral during both world wars, who cares about the rest? Never mind hunger and cold winters and tribal wars and other such insignificant things, it's not that such things have an effect on the "painbody" :-D
This guy is really unbelievable... and yet so many believe everything he says and thinks it's wise and profound...`
I give up on this book.
The painbody part of the book is more interesting, even though I'm quite fed up with this guy.
I call this "painbody" shadows.
Also, angels feel your emotions as physical. "Negative" emotions are like physical violence, "positive" emotions like caressing. I have no difficulties in thinking it works so with our angel-souls as well. So the idea of our "positive" attitude spreading like ripples in water to heal and comfort others' pain sounds like a good idea. At least, it will keep me calm and serene, so that at least one person is ok.
Besides, pets react on your emotions, why wouldn't people?
Friday, December 3, 2010
Eckhard Tolle: The New Earth, chapter II
"Words... ...can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you. You... ...believ[e] that when you have attached a word to something, you know what it is. The fact is: You don’t know what it is... ...because it has unfathomable depth"
So do the words, Eckhard. That's one of the rules of magic. Even Kabbalah, the "more enlightened form of Judaism" is built upon the magic and power of words, letters, numbers. The words include the depth, the oneness, the fact that a stone is a bird is a tree is a star.
I really don't think Vincent looked and looked and looked at the chair and sensed the Beingness of it, to then paint it. I also doubt that Vincent van Gogh's chair would sell for a couple of dollars. I also think that a painting by someone else of the same chair, with the exact same expression of "beingness" would not cost millions of dollars.
But that's just me. What do I know, I'm just a mediocre artist. How would I know how a great artist like van Gogh thought? You, Eckhard, most certainly must understand that better, because... Because what?
Do you paint? No...
So actually you are expressing yourself as the childless woman who gives parents advice on how to bring up their children. You think an artist must see the beingness of things, otherwise they wouldn't be able to create art.
"All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness."
- Eckhard Tolle, "Power of Now"
You have an interesting way of express your subjective opinions as if they were objective facts... "Whether they know it or not" - So effectively killing all opposition. I cannot say I don't create from a place of no-mind, because you say that I do, I just don't know it. You are saying you know me better than I do. I say you're a sanctimonious toad.
"you need to disentangle your sense of I, of Beingness..."Sense of I is sense of beingness - I is being, my essence. I. Ego. *sigh*
Considering that you are so against words and "labeling", you used darn many to express nothing.
"...reality, the miracle of life that continuously unfolds within and around you."Excuse me...? This "miracle of life" is maya, the illusion, Buddha's suffering.
"Of course we have to use words and thoughts"Why? Just sit and allow the existence to "silently communicate itself to you, reflecting your own essence back to you", in "the awareness that is prior to thought, the space in which the thought – or the emotion or sense perception – happens".
It would have been better if you had allowed the trees that were cut to be made into paper your books were printed on, it would have been better if you had not enslaved the energy in uranium, coal, water, wind, or what ever sort of electricity you used to power your computer or printing press. And what is this ink used to print your words?
"Language consists of five basic sounds produced by the vocal cords. They are the vowels a, e, i, o, u."
Which language? There are over 30 sounds produced by the vocal cords in human languages, and the letters a, e, i, o and u are used to denote several of the sounds, even in English. "A cat falls" is a quick example of this.
"Do you believe some combination of such basic sounds could ever explain who you are, or the ultimate purpose of the universe, or even what a tree or stone is in its depth?"Yes. That's the magic of words, Eckhard.
Albert Einstein is said to have said:I haven't been able to verify this. Did he? When, why, in which context? And even if he did, so what? He too is the child of his environment and his opinions are just that. Opinions.
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us "universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
"If you can recognize illusion as illusion, it dissolves."Ah. So you haven't yet recognized the illusion as illusion, even though you have created books and sites and tons of merchandise on the denial of the reality of this world, life and existence... you're still here, aren't you? Eckhard is still around, hasn't dissolved anywhere. You're still not me.
"When “my” toy breaks or is taken away, intense suffering arises... ...because of the thought of “mine”. The toy became part of the child’s developing sense of self, of “I.”
No. The "intense suffering" is due to the realization of the ultimate definity of things. The child realizes that he/she is part of the Universe, and also that everything else is part of him/her. He/she doesn't classify people higher than animals higher than plants higher than inanimate objects. To him/her it's all the same, just as real as he/she is.
"And so in many cases you are not buying a product but an “identity enhancer.”"Mmm... like a book that promises to awaken you and save the world from the unawakened people.
"Of course, in this physical dimension that our surface selves inhabit, things are a necessary and inescapable part of our lives. We need housing, clothes, furniture, tools, transportation."
Housing, perhaps, and some tools, but most of the earthly possessions are not a need but a want. There's this guy in Stockholm, who has nothing on but a pair of shorts and shoes. Winter, summer, rain, storm, blizzard, night, day, he walks through life wearing nothing but that. Furniture? Totally unnecessary. Remember Diogenes.
The Greek philosopher Diogenes adiscarded all his possessions except a cloak, purse and wooden bowl, and made his home in a barrel. When he saw a boy drinking from his hands, he threw out the bowl as well.
It is told that Alexander the Great once met Diogenes, then a very old man. The powerful young conqueror, having heard much about the old philosopher, asked if there was anything he could do for him. Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my sunshine.”
"We need to honor the world of things, not despise it. Each thing has Beingness, is a temporary form that has its origin within the formless one Life, the source of all things, all bodies, all forms."
Ah. So perhaps the child is not crying for the ego, but mourning a death of a thing's Beingness?
This world and everything in it, how ever beautiful, delightful, lovely, is just an illusion, if you listen to the Buddhist and Christian teachings. If you think this world is more than an illusion, partly beautiful, partly horrifying, then you shouldn't be yapping about the misery teachings of Buddhism and Christianity. Neither honors the world of things, Eckhard.
"In most ancient cultures, people believed that everything, even so called inanimate objects, had an indwelling spirit, and in this respect they were closer to the truth than we are today."Ha. But still you claim that Christianity is one of the most improved versions of spirituality, in all its hatred of "earthly things".
*sigh* Eckhard, Eckhard... you are so confused you don't even understand what you are saying yourself.
Your ego is part of you. Accept it, acknowledge it, embrace it as part of you, and part of this world, and part of this universe. Don't get too attached to it, but don't try to get rid of it either. Everything in this world has a purpose, even your ego.
"The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease."And what is an effort to evolve, grow spiritually, tranform into a higher spiritual being more than striving for endless growth?
‘If someone takes your shirt, let him have your coat as well.’”I think it's exactly what it means.
"“It doesn’t mean you should never lock your door."
Come on, now, Eckhard! Nothing is yours. Not your possessions, not your home, not the clothes on your back, not your life or your body. So what is it to you what happens to them? Nothing that can happen to any of the things - your body and life included - will not diminish you in any way.
Why should you try to avoid things you try to avoid by locking the door?
Perhaps the thief needs your possessions more than you do - who don't need anything, really. Perhaps the rapist needs your body more than you do. Perhaps the murderer needs your life. Besides, it's all an illusion.
Also, if you are me am a star is a bird, the one who enters to "your" home is you. If something is stolen, if your child is kidnapped, if you are raped, or murdered, it's you who did it. It's you who dreamed it into the illusion you think you are living. It really didn't happen at all.
Besides, most people never experience anything like this, even when they live in houses with no doors to lock. You should learn to trust the humanity more. But I suppose... I suppose you don't really, really, REALLY believe in all the words you spout.
"Is it wrong then to be proud of one’s possessions or to feel resentful toward people to have more than you? Not at all."Not at all. It's just evil.
I'm so tired with this egobabble. Blah blah blah...
The question remains: why isn't The New Earth published in copyleft and anonymously?
Eckhard Tolle: The New Earth, chapter I
I came by a review of this book at Wicca Spirituality, and decided to read it myself, to know what it is all about.
"A New Earth is one of the 5 books that I believe are not to be missed in anyone's lifetime. I'd give it more than 5 stars. It deserves a sky-full."
I am very suspicious about this book. It feels to me like one of the New Age Bibles, that is, badly disguised Indo-European spirituality. I know I have had enough of that, thank you.
I am going to share my reading notes with you.
---------------------------------
So, if flowers are the enlightenment of plants, crystals/jewels the enlightenment of rocks and birds enlightenment of reptilians... what does he suggest the enlightened form of humans is?
None what so ever... because the human enlightenment doesn't change your outer essence, just the inner one. >:->
I'm sorry, Eckhard, you're full of it. Your first step to enlightenment would be to practice the two steps program:
Step 1) I realize I'm full of crap and know nothing
Step 2) whenever I feel like I'm not full of crap, whenever I feel like I know something, I need to take step 1 again.
Then just repeat these steps until you realize that writing books is futile and useless.
Jesus was one of the great wises and messengers... You know, the guy who said: "*I* am He", "*I* am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through *Me*...", "*I* am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved", "*I* am the resurrection and the life."
You should really let go of your ego and be like Jesus... >:->
Bull.
So, I'm not "ready" to be "awaken" yet... >:->
If I have objections, critique, if I disagree, it's only because I'm a lower spiritual lifeform. Are you even aware that that is a logical fallacy called Argumentum ad hominem? You are insulting your opponent as a substitute to meet and refute their arguments... in a book that is supposed to help the human kind to be more "enlightened", make your spirit glow more beautiful than all the flowers, jewels and birds in the world, make your spirit glow so that it can be seen from outside as your face and whole being shines... Good one, Eckhard :-D
Illusion and delusion are not exact synonyms.
An illusion is a false conception of something real. Delusion is the belief of the false conception one refuses to accept as a false conception.
Maya is a dream so vivid, so real, you experience it as real. It's not a delusion, it's an illusion.
It is either not a "dysfunction", "madness" or "collective mental illness". Using words like that of a normal human function is not only derogative, it's insulting and inconsiderate to all the people who fight every day with a real dysfunction or mental illness. Islamophobia that spread over USA like a wild fire after 9/11 is a wordborne "collective mental illness". The dream called life is not.
The life as we know it is an illusion, a dream. When you, Eckhard, finally understand this, really understand, really wake up, there will be no Eckhard. Enlightenment, waking up from the dream that is maya, means that you stop existing as you.
But - there are 33 words for 'sin' in general in the Greek Scriptures, and three in the Hebrew Scriptures. Let's talk about "chata'" - to miss. Yes, miss the mark, miss the point, but also miss the meeting, miss the chance, miss someone... The word "miss" means to fail, to err, to lose, to lack. To draw the conclusions that it must mean "missing the point of human existence" is presumptuous and illogical. (I think the logical fallacy is called begging the question... when conclusions are drawn from arbitrary interpretation of facts, or when inadequate facts are interpreted to support one's conclusions. The facts are assumed to mean something, that supports the argument.)
Eckhard, you are not to strip the words their "cultural baggage". Language is what carries the culture, and if you remove them from the culture, you will misinterpret the words.
You claim "...underneath the many surface differences [of the humanity’s ancient religions and spiritual traditions] there are two core insights that most of them agree on", and then you give examples of three: Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. Which all are practically the same; Indoeuropean imperialist religions, based on the idea of that the world, life, human existence, is intrinsically bad, suffering due to our ignorance, something to get rid of. The idea of that there must be something more than this, that life in itself is not amazing, wonderful, glorious and worthwhile experience, that there were no other reasons for humans and life and the world to exist, but that... what? Our souls in their great egotism chose to start believing the illusion rather than the bright and light existence of enlightened Unity?
I believe we live for a reason.
I believe we live to experience.
I believe we are here to enjoy the sensory input, and I cannot imagine an existence better for that purpose.
I think it is you, Eckhard, who misses the point of human existence. Your sin is to be unsatisfied with what you have, to live in now ;-> and to enjoy what is enjoyable in this world or dream, if you'd rather use that word. I think you are too focused in suffering, so you will experience suffering. If you let go of your fixation with suffering and this world being a bad place, you would be much happier, and stop sinning and stop suffering.
What about "Year Without a Summer"?
And for heaven's sake, let's not discuss about the dinosaurs or other life forms that existed before the human race. Dinosaurs are not even ancient history.
"Humans are born bad" blah blah blah. No, Eckhard. We are not. We are born animals with a normal self-preservation instinct. We were created rather weak and dysfunctional, in survival sense, but we were given something that has made us into one of the strongest species on earth. We had no fur, so we took it from those who had it. We tamed the fire, even though all animals are born with fear of fire. We built us caves when there were none. we are not strong, so we started by using wooden sticks to add to the force, to be able to move stones and to kill for our survival. Our claws and teeth are weak, so we took sticks and stones to be able to dig and mash and carve. We are slow, so we tamed the horses to run for us. But the most magnificent of all our "inventions" was the invention of social conscience and kindness - not only serving ourselves to survive, but helping our neighbors... The survival of the village was not a question of survival of the strongest, but the survival of the fittest - the able-bodied hunted and gathered, protected and worked, and the old and handicapped taught the young and weak, so that they in turn would be able to take care of the able-bodied, when they no longer could do that for themselves, of which they paid by teaching the next generation... This is the miracle of human existence. It is this that gives people like you possibility to waste your time writing "spiritually alive and transformational books".
"enlightenment... ...salvation... ...the end of suffering. Liberation and awakening"
Yeah... Indo-European beliefs. Found in one form or another practically ONLY in the Indian and Middle-Eastern spiritual traditions, and spirituality heavily influenced by these.
It was the Buddhist influence that has caused all the "similarities" you believe to recognize in the "teachings" of "most ancient religions and spiritual traditions".
Oh! So, Monoteism is "intensified" Polyteism, and Abrahamic religions are "intensified" Paganims... Kabbalah, I suppose Berg's Kabbalah, is "intensified truth" of Judaism. Christianity is "intensified" Judaism, Buddhism is "intensified" Hinduism, Taoism and Confucianism...
Yeah. Just throw out everything you cannot understand and that doesn't support your stupid thesis as "archaic" and "obsolete" - something lesser and lower, uneducated, unenlightened, uninformed and un-awakened.
"Well, people were worshiping trees, that's how little they understood God and spirituality!"
You claim to seek to "unity"... but do you know what that is? That's animism and pantheism.
Animism is the belief of God's Breathe in everything, all things, all parts of the world being alive, living, breathing parts of the one singular organism called The Universe.
Pantheism is the belief of everything being part of God, created by God of God, God being in everything...
Animism and pantheism were the original, oldest forms of religion. You are only now, slowly, getting there, after thousands of years of adventures with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, and still you have no humility of admitting we knew it all, all of it, long before your "enlightened" religions "intensified the light".
As far as I know, also Gnostics eat, Sufis eat, Dalai Lama eats... Jesus is recorded eating. I am 100% sure of that you, Eckhard, eat too. Don't you think that makes you sanctimonious, egocentric hypocrit as well? I do.
Why? Because you don't live what you teach, Eckhard.
This is so damn offensive! Your whole book is probably nothing but a testimony to your beliefs - BELIEFS, ECKHARD. NOT TRUTHS - and you have the guts of shaming others for believing differently from you. You are trying to manipulate people to join your church by shaming them, by making them feel bad for having own thoughts and beliefs, for thinking for themselves and being the unique individuals God made us.
You make me sick! Your sanctimonious, sugarcoated crap makes me sick!
Of course you will just smile sweetly and tell your followers that it's my ego "fighting back". So enlightened. So kind. So amazingly not egocentric, judgmental, ignorant and dysfunctional... NOT!
Ego is Evil. *sigh*
Part of my understanding of spiritual evolution is the understanding of that there is no "original sin". I really cannot see in what way hanging on the medieval ideas invented to force people to accept Christianity as "the only solution" can be seen as "spiritual evolution", improvement or enlightenment, but if a person understand enlightenment and salvation to be the same thing, why not.
Yes - observe that you are able to observe how humans relate to each other, observe that you know how to read, that there are books about history available to anyone who can read, that you can trust in the facts printed in that book and what they tell you in the news, observe that you have a television, and a home you can sit in and watch television, and what ever you choose to watch in the television, and that there are several broadcasting companies providing you several options. If you don't wish to watch television, you can also read a newspaper, even if you cannot afford to buy or subscribe to one, because there are public libraries that give you the opportunity to read the newspaper... Observe this very carefully, because this is what I create when "this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I think, say and do".
I recognize, acknowledge and respect that you are not me, that you don't think like me, that you don't like the same things I do, and I give you an opportunity to seek out what your heart desires and fulfill your own, individual, specific needs.
It is the social consciousness, that makes us work and grow food, hunt and collect, build shelters, make clothes, that also makes us interested of the rest of the world, and sees a fellow human being, a friend, a sister, a brother in the foreigners being killed in catastrophes, wars, crimes, sees a member of the same human race and care about him/her and his/her faith, and therefore broadcast the misfortune and suffering of our fellow human beings all over the world, several times a day, in all the languages, from many different points of view, in all medias - I don't only care about my spiritual evolution, MY spiritual evolution, MY enlightenment... In my mind telling a stranger, for example the victims of Haiti earthquake, that he/she would not suffer if he/she only could let go of his/her ego, is extremely inconsiderate, egocentric, stupid and, frankly, disgraceful.
So... are they part of the "new earth" or consequences of the inborn wickedness of the humanity? Could you make up your mind?
Besides, who cares, when it's all just an illusion anyway?
"A New Earth is one of the 5 books that I believe are not to be missed in anyone's lifetime. I'd give it more than 5 stars. It deserves a sky-full."
I am very suspicious about this book. It feels to me like one of the New Age Bibles, that is, badly disguised Indo-European spirituality. I know I have had enough of that, thank you.
I am going to share my reading notes with you.
---------------------------------
So, if flowers are the enlightenment of plants, crystals/jewels the enlightenment of rocks and birds enlightenment of reptilians... what does he suggest the enlightened form of humans is?
None what so ever... because the human enlightenment doesn't change your outer essence, just the inner one. >:->
"Can they defy the gravitational pull of materialism and materiality and rise above identification with form that keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within their own personality?"Why isn't Eckhard Tolle's book published in copyleft? Why isn't it published anonymously?
I'm sorry, Eckhard, you're full of it. Your first step to enlightenment would be to practice the two steps program:
Step 1) I realize I'm full of crap and know nothing
Step 2) whenever I feel like I'm not full of crap, whenever I feel like I know something, I need to take step 1 again.
Then just repeat these steps until you realize that writing books is futile and useless.
Jesus was one of the great wises and messengers... You know, the guy who said: "*I* am He", "*I* am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through *Me*...", "*I* am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved", "*I* am the resurrection and the life."
You should really let go of your ego and be like Jesus... >:->
"their message became largely misunderstood and often greatly distorted."Oh? And you know this... how? I assume you "know" it because you "know" Jesus was something exceptional and amazing and true and wise, because "everyone" says so, so if his message doesn't sound exceptional, amazing, true and wise to you, it must be because someone misunderstood and distorted it.
Bull.
"As you read, a shift takes place within you."I see... You know what, Eckhard. I hate people who tell me I'm not awake, because I don't think the way they do.
"This book’s main purpose is... ...to awaken."
"It can only awaken those who are ready"ROTFLMAO
So, I'm not "ready" to be "awaken" yet... >:->
If I have objections, critique, if I disagree, it's only because I'm a lower spiritual lifeform. Are you even aware that that is a logical fallacy called Argumentum ad hominem? You are insulting your opponent as a substitute to meet and refute their arguments... in a book that is supposed to help the human kind to be more "enlightened", make your spirit glow more beautiful than all the flowers, jewels and birds in the world, make your spirit glow so that it can be seen from outside as your face and whole being shines... Good one, Eckhard :-D
"For some, [initiation of the awakening process] will come... ...through reading "The Power of Now"[, a] spiritually alive and therefore transformational book"You wrote "The Power of Now". You really think you're all that... you write "spiritually alive" books. People who write books expressing different opinion write books that are "spiritually dead".
Illusion and delusion are not exact synonyms.
An illusion is a false conception of something real. Delusion is the belief of the false conception one refuses to accept as a false conception.
Maya is a dream so vivid, so real, you experience it as real. It's not a delusion, it's an illusion.
It is either not a "dysfunction", "madness" or "collective mental illness". Using words like that of a normal human function is not only derogative, it's insulting and inconsiderate to all the people who fight every day with a real dysfunction or mental illness. Islamophobia that spread over USA like a wild fire after 9/11 is a wordborne "collective mental illness". The dream called life is not.
The life as we know it is an illusion, a dream. When you, Eckhard, finally understand this, really understand, really wake up, there will be no Eckhard. Enlightenment, waking up from the dream that is maya, means that you stop existing as you.
"Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the New Testament was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence."The word used in the Greek Scriptures that has been translated in English as "sin", is hamartia. Hamartia is a Greek concept that comes from the word hamartánein, to err, to miss the mark. In the Greek dramaturgy, hamartia is the character flaw which leads to the downfall of the protagonist. This is the meaning the people who wrote the Greek Scriptures used the word in, not "missing the point of human existence".
But - there are 33 words for 'sin' in general in the Greek Scriptures, and three in the Hebrew Scriptures. Let's talk about "chata'" - to miss. Yes, miss the mark, miss the point, but also miss the meeting, miss the chance, miss someone... The word "miss" means to fail, to err, to lose, to lack. To draw the conclusions that it must mean "missing the point of human existence" is presumptuous and illogical. (I think the logical fallacy is called begging the question... when conclusions are drawn from arbitrary interpretation of facts, or when inadequate facts are interpreted to support one's conclusions. The facts are assumed to mean something, that supports the argument.)
Eckhard, you are not to strip the words their "cultural baggage". Language is what carries the culture, and if you remove them from the culture, you will misinterpret the words.
You claim "...underneath the many surface differences [of the humanity’s ancient religions and spiritual traditions] there are two core insights that most of them agree on", and then you give examples of three: Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. Which all are practically the same; Indoeuropean imperialist religions, based on the idea of that the world, life, human existence, is intrinsically bad, suffering due to our ignorance, something to get rid of. The idea of that there must be something more than this, that life in itself is not amazing, wonderful, glorious and worthwhile experience, that there were no other reasons for humans and life and the world to exist, but that... what? Our souls in their great egotism chose to start believing the illusion rather than the bright and light existence of enlightened Unity?
I believe we live for a reason.
I believe we live to experience.
I believe we are here to enjoy the sensory input, and I cannot imagine an existence better for that purpose.
I think it is you, Eckhard, who misses the point of human existence. Your sin is to be unsatisfied with what you have, to live in now ;-> and to enjoy what is enjoyable in this world or dream, if you'd rather use that word. I think you are too focused in suffering, so you will experience suffering. If you let go of your fixation with suffering and this world being a bad place, you would be much happier, and stop sinning and stop suffering.
"Humans suffered more at the hands of each other than through natural disasters."Er... Have you ever heard of a thing called "Great Famine"? It was caused by a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world, and killed millions at the time the world population - WORLD population was about the same as the USA population today.
What about "Year Without a Summer"?
"...the unprecedented violence that humans are inflicting on other lifeforms and the planet itself"Yes, let's not talk about the Romans who exported thousands of animals from all over the empire, just to die in circus to entertain people; who burned people as living torches, who enslaved as much of the existing world they could. Let's not talk about the deforestation of British isles. Let's not talk about the thousands of species destroyed before the 20th century. Who gives a dime for some dodos.
And for heaven's sake, let's not discuss about the dinosaurs or other life forms that existed before the human race. Dinosaurs are not even ancient history.
"Humans are born bad" blah blah blah. No, Eckhard. We are not. We are born animals with a normal self-preservation instinct. We were created rather weak and dysfunctional, in survival sense, but we were given something that has made us into one of the strongest species on earth. We had no fur, so we took it from those who had it. We tamed the fire, even though all animals are born with fear of fire. We built us caves when there were none. we are not strong, so we started by using wooden sticks to add to the force, to be able to move stones and to kill for our survival. Our claws and teeth are weak, so we took sticks and stones to be able to dig and mash and carve. We are slow, so we tamed the horses to run for us. But the most magnificent of all our "inventions" was the invention of social conscience and kindness - not only serving ourselves to survive, but helping our neighbors... The survival of the village was not a question of survival of the strongest, but the survival of the fittest - the able-bodied hunted and gathered, protected and worked, and the old and handicapped taught the young and weak, so that they in turn would be able to take care of the able-bodied, when they no longer could do that for themselves, of which they paid by teaching the next generation... This is the miracle of human existence. It is this that gives people like you possibility to waste your time writing "spiritually alive and transformational books".
"A number of spiritual teachings tell us to let go of fear and desire."Like for example...?
"enlightenment... ...salvation... ...the end of suffering. Liberation and awakening"
Yeah... Indo-European beliefs. Found in one form or another practically ONLY in the Indian and Middle-Eastern spiritual traditions, and spirituality heavily influenced by these.
Not said by Eckhard:
"For Taoism, salvation is not an escape from this world; rather, it is to become perfectly aligned with the natural world and with the cosmic forces that sustain it."
"Early Taoism emphasized Confucian virtues, which encouraged harmonious community living rather than salvation from sin."
It was the Buddhist influence that has caused all the "similarities" you believe to recognize in the "teachings" of "most ancient religions and spiritual traditions".
"It is unlikely, however, that you will be able to perceive it there unless you have at least already had glimpse of that Truth within yourself."With other words, you will see what you believe to see. You will see the "truth" you believe to be the truth, what ever it is, and thus everything you say and prove with ancient texts, holy scriptures, and what not, becomes just circular argument.
Do I consider myself enlightened? No. I don't give a dime about enlightenment. I am here to live and to experience, to sense and to enjoy, not to get rid of life and senses and experiencing the world.
Do I think Eckhard is more enlightened than I am? No. I think he's so delusional it's painful to read his book. I think he's full of himself and believes to be more enlightened than I and the other "not awakened", "not ready" people >:->
"Through some of those men and women, “schools” or movements developed within all major religions that represented not only a rediscovery, but in some cases an intensification of the light of the original teaching."
Oh! So, Monoteism is "intensified" Polyteism, and Abrahamic religions are "intensified" Paganims... Kabbalah, I suppose Berg's Kabbalah, is "intensified truth" of Judaism. Christianity is "intensified" Judaism, Buddhism is "intensified" Hinduism, Taoism and Confucianism...
Yeah. Just throw out everything you cannot understand and that doesn't support your stupid thesis as "archaic" and "obsolete" - something lesser and lower, uneducated, unenlightened, uninformed and un-awakened.
"Well, people were worshiping trees, that's how little they understood God and spirituality!"
You claim to seek to "unity"... but do you know what that is? That's animism and pantheism.
Animism is the belief of God's Breathe in everything, all things, all parts of the world being alive, living, breathing parts of the one singular organism called The Universe.
Pantheism is the belief of everything being part of God, created by God of God, God being in everything...
Animism and pantheism were the original, oldest forms of religion. You are only now, slowly, getting there, after thousands of years of adventures with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, and still you have no humility of admitting we knew it all, all of it, long before your "enlightened" religions "intensified the light".
"most of them were viewed with suspicion and often hostility by the established religious hierarchies"Yeah - because they were emphasizing the individual on the cost of the society. They still are... your precious Buddhist monks live on the kindness of people who they despise and consider being lower spiritual lifeforms. These sanctimonious egocentric hypocrites, Buddhist monks, haven't stopped eating. Hunger is just an illusion, Eckhard. It's your body trying to tell you your mind, your ego, your body, your flesh and blood and soul, are one. That you don't exist without the body. It's absolutely correct, of course, because "you" are an illusion. There is no "you", there is no body either, there is no hunger, and there is no need to eat.
As far as I know, also Gnostics eat, Sufis eat, Dalai Lama eats... Jesus is recorded eating. I am 100% sure of that you, Eckhard, eat too. Don't you think that makes you sanctimonious, egocentric hypocrit as well? I do.
Why? Because you don't live what you teach, Eckhard.
"Unless you believe (think) exactly as they do, you are wrong in their eyes, and in the not-too-distant past, they would have felt justified in killing you for that."Yeah... you just despise and pity the people who doesn't believe exactly as you do.
Blah blah blah "Some religious institutions will be open to the new consciousness; others will harden their doctrinal positions and become part of all those other man-made structures through which the collective ego will defend itself and “fight back.” blah blah..
This is so damn offensive! Your whole book is probably nothing but a testimony to your beliefs - BELIEFS, ECKHARD. NOT TRUTHS - and you have the guts of shaming others for believing differently from you. You are trying to manipulate people to join your church by shaming them, by making them feel bad for having own thoughts and beliefs, for thinking for themselves and being the unique individuals God made us.
You make me sick! Your sanctimonious, sugarcoated crap makes me sick!
Of course you will just smile sweetly and tell your followers that it's my ego "fighting back". So enlightened. So kind. So amazingly not egocentric, judgmental, ignorant and dysfunctional... NOT!
"The dysfunction of the egoic human mind is for the first time threatening the survival of the planet."And you think this is a problem, because...? This planet is an illusion, Eckhard. It doesn't really exist. Neither does pollution, global warming, genocides and wars, exploitation, extinction... I don't exist, you don't exist, your readers don't really exist. None of us is really doing anything to this planet. It's all just an illusion, just a nightmare. It's not really happening. So why are you acting as if you were worried?
"Ego is no more than this: identification with form, which primarily means thought forms. If evil has any reality – and it has a relative, not an absolute, reality – this is also its definition: complete identification with form – physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms."
Ego is Evil. *sigh*
Part of my understanding of spiritual evolution is the understanding of that there is no "original sin". I really cannot see in what way hanging on the medieval ideas invented to force people to accept Christianity as "the only solution" can be seen as "spiritual evolution", improvement or enlightenment, but if a person understand enlightenment and salvation to be the same thing, why not.
"...observe how humans relate to each other, read a history book, or watch the news on television tonight" to realize "what kind of world do I create, when this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I think, say, and do."
Yes - observe that you are able to observe how humans relate to each other, observe that you know how to read, that there are books about history available to anyone who can read, that you can trust in the facts printed in that book and what they tell you in the news, observe that you have a television, and a home you can sit in and watch television, and what ever you choose to watch in the television, and that there are several broadcasting companies providing you several options. If you don't wish to watch television, you can also read a newspaper, even if you cannot afford to buy or subscribe to one, because there are public libraries that give you the opportunity to read the newspaper... Observe this very carefully, because this is what I create when "this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I think, say and do".
I recognize, acknowledge and respect that you are not me, that you don't think like me, that you don't like the same things I do, and I give you an opportunity to seek out what your heart desires and fulfill your own, individual, specific needs.
It is the social consciousness, that makes us work and grow food, hunt and collect, build shelters, make clothes, that also makes us interested of the rest of the world, and sees a fellow human being, a friend, a sister, a brother in the foreigners being killed in catastrophes, wars, crimes, sees a member of the same human race and care about him/her and his/her faith, and therefore broadcast the misfortune and suffering of our fellow human beings all over the world, several times a day, in all the languages, from many different points of view, in all medias - I don't only care about my spiritual evolution, MY spiritual evolution, MY enlightenment... In my mind telling a stranger, for example the victims of Haiti earthquake, that he/she would not suffer if he/she only could let go of his/her ego, is extremely inconsiderate, egocentric, stupid and, frankly, disgraceful.
"Since human life and human consciousness are intrinsically one with the life of the planet, as the old consciousness dissolves, there are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some of which we are already witnessing now."
So... are they part of the "new earth" or consequences of the inborn wickedness of the humanity? Could you make up your mind?
Besides, who cares, when it's all just an illusion anyway?
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