This should arouse the growls either written or unwritten from the usual suspects but I feel the argument should be made for better or worse. Looking inward is double edged. It can IMO lead to good results or extremely harmful results. The road to hell is literally paved with good intentions.
All these exercises that lead to inner opening so common in today’s New Age community can be the worst thing for a person. The reason as usual is the overestimation of oneself; the belief that somehow we are God and all we have to do is let this goodness flow out. Paul, through inner verification saw his own condition and that of humanity in general as that of the 'wretched man." This is not all that flattering but non the less much more accurate. This being the case, the inner opening that is created through the initial good intentions quickly becomes adopted by egotism that denies our objective human condition. As a result the inner opening becomes filled with a quality of imagination much worse than what existed to begin with.
This aspect of ancient psychology was expressed in the Bible in Matthew 12:
When a person begins inner work, just the simple looking inward creates a quality of inner light that has a psychologically cleansing effect. As the “wretched man” existing as a plurality and not “one”, the original impulse becomes a quality of egotism inviting the same emotional defenses (spirits) in defense of egotism justifying its existence. This again leads to escapism but because a person has been touched on the inside to a certain degree, what denies its purity is much stronger described as the seven spirits.
So, as annoying and insulting it is to read, everything regarding looking inward may not be as wonderful as it first appears simply because we do not know ourselves and only proceed to do damge to ourselves.
This is why the Householder is a respected spiritual figure. He is not conned through wonderfulness. He accepts his personal responsibilities even though both politicians and artists often consider him narrow minded for not being more involved with the “important” things. Of course such people can be unscrupulous but when balanced and without an axe to grind, his feet are on the ground and accepts something above him. This is a natural humility which is the saving grace allowing him to avoid being taken up with the extreme negativities of life and the karmic damage it creates.
I know all these New Age philosophies promote pleasant feelings but, as we all know, we must pay for our fantasy life. This is especially true IMO when it substitutes itself for something of real value. The piper must be paid. Can we know the cost? Similarly, I suspect a great many alcoholics and other drug addicts never were able to comprehend the cost of escapism. Non the less, the piper is paid by oneself at the expense of ourselves which may not turn out to be all that wonderful after all is said and done.
I’m hardly a new age guy, but I must say that I never here non-believers say that they are god. That seems like some attribution from the Christians placed others to make them sound prideful.
Some people discuss self examination as a way to find “peace” or to be “in touch” with nature while someone like myself might want to understand myself and “life” as a way to give it more meaning. None of this suggests and one will have god-like power over life or even the self. If anyone is saying this then they are full of crap. However, as I said, I’m not hearing it and I’m not getting the impression that it is overly implied.
Maybe you need to think about what is being said by the other side some more.
To be christ-like. To follow the golden rule, to aspire to be a son of god like christ…
What else is christ? man-god. Christianity in it’s basic pagan form is about the man-god. Is that a bad thing? If we aspire to be gods, it’s certainly much more challenging than just aspiring to be good people.
I can give different examples but for example consider the subtle difference between Christianity and New Age Christendom as in the Course in Miracles.
First from John 1:
Notice "children of God or sons of God exists as a potential in the context of re-birth.
But consider the idea from the ACIM workbook:
The detail of re-birth as a potential is conveniently forgotten. It is now a given. From the wretched man we’ve become son’s of God.
Scyth
The goal of Christianity is re-birth which begins from acknowledging our nothingness in relation to it. How can we be Christ-like as we are? Our being denies it. Re-birth is the change of being that allows us to be Christ-like. It is the making of a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
If the choice is aspiring to be Gods or acknowledging ourselves as the wretched man, I believe the inner recognition of ourselves as the wretched man will be much more beneficial in spite of the protests from our egotism. But to each his own.
I have never heard of this organization before. I can also say that I don’t think that they represent the common alternative religious stuff. Also, they are clear selling the concept of miracles and that is just some shit for suckers if I may be so bold. They are a sales organization.
That type of thing has nothing to do with being introspective and using ideas that have been around for thousands of years and basically cost nothing.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against the ideas that have been around since ancient times. All I’m suggesting is the natural distortion that must occur in respect to them from their adoption by our egotism.
I used “A Course in Miracles” (ACIM) because it isn’t written of here so I wouldn’t be hurting anyone. I dislike challenging a person’s heart and their religion to at least some degree touches their heart.
You may be unfamiliar with ACIM but it is extremely big and is taught in all sorts institutions. Supposedly Jesus himself channeled it through this teacher. I don’twant toappear rude but it wasn’t Jesus.
I just cannot believe this but really I am the odd man out. You’d be surprised at its power of attraction. It just goes to show how easily a person can fall under the influence of a cult though this isn’t considered one but actually authentic.
It makes people feel “wonderful;” but at what cost?
Clearly, the person that claims Jesus is channeling through them is either insane or a liar. I have had inner voices tell me what to do. I just talked about this in another thread. Anyway, it was not Jesus nor could or would it be.
Frankly, the material mentioned does not make me feel wonderful. Rather, I find it annoying. I think the case is that it makes people feel special that don’t feel special at all.
I for one can easily imagine that Jesus (whatever) would not want you looking for miracles when you could look at a baby, a tree, or some guy that you hate. Miracles are magic and why would you need that when it’s here.
Looking for magic is nothing new. These are the same people that have always been looking for this stuff.
ask yourself… does god have an ego? Do you look out upon the world and say “god gave me this beautiful morning.” For the most part you can’t even tell god has involvement with our world.
To be godly, means to deny your ego existence. Buddha taught something similiar, different route to get there. Through Buddhism you try to meditate your ego into non-existance. I haven’t had a chance to meditate in awhile, as I’m caught up in the modern distractions far too much, but I remember one meditation where I had an OOBE and was floating above the whole earth, looking down upon all the chaos and turmoil of souls who disagree over the stupidest of things.
re-birth is an egyptian ideal made pagan through christ. Christ gave resurrection and god-king to the common man.
I’ll go even further and say that God’s will is not done on earth. It’s only our corrupt sense of self or egotism that allows us to believe that something so chaotic as life on earth could reflect God’s direct will.
Even some disciples had a hard time with that one believing that somehow by knowing of Jesus God would take care of them. Jesus explained it wasn’t the case but people didn’t believe him.
Luke 13
Towers fall and kill people regardless of how wonderful and noble a person is thought to be.
This IMO is escapism. The road to godliness isn’t in denial but instead through affirmation; from being able to carry ones cross and be conscious to the experience. During these times, egotism is subordinate and no longer dominant. In this way reality replaces imagination. Denial just replaces one form of imagination with another. A disagreeable form of imagination is replaced by a wonderful feeling from imagination. But they are both imagination. A person seeking truth cannot be content with imagination.
You are lucky to have such an OOBE. Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” implies the same. At this level of sleep you witnessed, everything is purely reactive signifying nothing. This is what Christianity affirms through “presence” or being conscious to the experience.
I agree that re-birth was known in ancient Egypt and probably before but how can this be Pagan?
The aim of Christianity is conscious freedom, a new quality of existence free from the confines of the earth, while Paganism only concerns itself with the earth.
Christianity asserts a possibility. It is through wonderfulness that we assume it has already actualized with us.