What is the beginning of righteousness?

Baptism or a covenanat. But yet people do not uphold their vows.
Such as marriage. Love till the end.

In order to be save, you must endure till the end. mormon

selflessness?

Hi dan020350,

what do you want to know? Could you be a little specific?

Shalom

i want to know when do people starts to act righteous. If possible when does it stop.

If you are a righteous person, how did it begun, how did it stop, how did it return?

There is no standart for rightousness. Therefore, one cannot be rightious or wrongious.

But if your standarts are of the religous nature, then consulting with your book of faith would answer your question.

Exactly. Different societies have different standards for righteousness to begin with. In ancient Japan, for example, Christian values such as selflessness were considered weak and stupid. Still, they had a culture very much focussed on righteousness.
Stoning a woman for sinning was considered righteous by the ancient semites. Jesus thought it wasn’t. I agree with him on this. Personally I think rigteousness starts with taking responsibility for ones own condition, pain and ones strengths - in other words, to know oneself. Self loathing comes first, purgatory next, Self-love follows, righteous acts follow from that. What these acts are depends entirely on the society one finds oneself in.

Hi dan020350,

Righteous – the Hebrew root TzDQ
tsâdaq = to be (causatively make) right (in a moral or forensic sense)
tsaddîyq = just: - just, lawful, righteous (man)
tsedâqâh = rightness (abstractly), subjectively (rectitude), objectively (justice), morally (virtue) or figuratively (prosperity): - justice, moderately, right (-eous) (act, -ly, -ness).

yâshâr = straight (literally or figuratively) [sometimes translated as upright]

Righteous - Greek
dikaios = equitable (in character or act); by implication innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively)

The Hebrew understands righteousness in the reciprocal sense, like Confucius for example: “What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.” In this sense, it invokes a relationship of mutual dependence or action or influence. It is effectively the view that we all make up a whole and if we all act reciprocally, we take part in in that whole. If we act against this principle, we act against the whole of humanity. That is why the “sinner” or “scoffer” was seen to endanger life itself.

“What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man” says the great teacher Hillel and Jesus puts a positive slant on the same statement: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This means to avoid resentment and rather to forgive, actively persuading those who do you wrong to act just as reciprocally. The Aramaic suggests that those who do not have fallen out of rhythm or step and “loving your enemies” means to help them get back into step. In a way, we are all in danger of acting displaced, disunited or divided from the whole, seeking independence rather than unification. But the Aramaic word Alaha means not only God but also Unity.

The Greek is a step away from the Semitic understanding, implying innocence and impartiality, but also a balanced and more stoic view of humankind.

Shalom

What do you do for a living Shalom?
You seem to have study quite well.

And how does what you identified righteouness be used to get what you want in life?

Hi dan020350,

This is a good question but, although I am prepared to tell you what I do, it will have little bearing on your life at the end of the day. Each of us must find his own path and follow it by staying in contact with the source of our inspiration. We need to be balanced, patient and observant, awake to the spirit that guides us, although this is less a question of what I do, than what I do not do.

Most of us take part in life without ever “waking up” – which seems to be the best description of what I am talking about. We are involved with all sorts of activities and are members of diverse groups and clubs, but we achieve this all at a level of awareness that can be described as being mediocre and average. Boredom is often a regular part of such an existence. Anger or enthusiasm is a standard attempt to feel alive. People fall in and out of love, are full of beans or bored out of their head. The emotional extremes they live through tell them that they are “awake”.

It is only when people experience another level of awareness that they become aware of what “waking” can be like. It is through discipline, meditation and contemplation that the mind becomes able to relax enough to experience the kind of awareness I am talking about. It is only when we learn to let go that we realise that activism is the opposite of fulfilling a purpose. It is only when we get off of the roundabout that we realise that our giddiness comes from going around in circles all the time. It is only when we stop speaking that we start hearing. It is only when we stop looking that we start seeing.

What do I do? I just experience Shalom. I allow it to happen. I find my spiritual balance, accept my polarity and allow peace to come to me. We do a lot to prevent this from happening, and it is really a case of doing less and becoming more aware of my need for unity. I see my fellow man in the same situation and understand his dilemma, and try to persuade him to do the same.

Now this is the point where we separate, since it is the other way around. I need to learn to want that which I need. There is no way to “use” righteousness to get what I want, but righteousness is in fact the awareness that I need to reduce my wants and find unity to become whole or complete.

Shalom

Hi Bob,

It sounds as if you’re saying that contrived righteousness isn’t righteousness. That perhaps what is truly righteous is that ‘something’ within us that comes un-bidden. We just have to recognize it, honor it, and cultivate it.

Contrived righteousness? What is that?

Righteousness is a virtue. An aspect of the spiritual nature. It is constant yet in order for it to be manifested it needs to be cultivated. We do this through cultivating our character, our purity of heart and our conduct.

A

The beginning and the end must always intersect full circle.
duality of righteousness:

Actions (good) thoughts (evil) , vice versa.
a balance must be set forth or a tilt you also require rotation.
the balance for righteousness:Honesty , self-love , understanding.
the tilt of righteousness:small mistakes with small consequences.

the rotation of righteousness:show your love , use self control if your thinking/doing evil overall make a actions that are positive.
the start of righteousness would have to be curiosity wich is most often the production of sins and other such things , if curiosity killed the cat it’s a good thing it/he/she learns throughout the other 8 lives.

In conclusion , i would have to say that you must keep the tilt , the balance , and the rotation with only an often return of curiosity i suggest one doesn’t influence it into a deadly negative matter.

Bob you told me what is enlightenment. And about the idea and concept of righteousness.

Still I haven’t heard what do you do for a living but I suspect from your words that you are a couslenor of some sort.

This topic of righteousness came to my questioning is that the bible teaches you to be righteous in order to prosper. I just want to know how it does and why one ought to be righteous to prosper.

But at the end you have given me a rich response. :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi JT, Hello Angel,

Yes, in a sense I am saying that. People plan with cleverness or ingenuity to do things that would be regarded as “righteous” but instead, Jesus says for example, when “doing merciful deeds, do not let your left know what your right does” because it would otherwise become contrived and generally has a reason. The more we are contriving, the more we are veering left or right and loosing our centre and balance. In a world where everybody is off-centre or off-balance it may seem strange and even be regarded as the opposite, but the Sage remains intuitive about mercy, which helps him remain selfless.

You are right as well, but to cultivate character and purity of heart, we need to be inwardly detached and able to step back from those things that would have me running around “being righteous”, because in reality I would be doing these things precisely to be regarded as “righteous”. The righteous, on the other hand, are independent of what people think. This helps them avoid hypocrisy, which is merely a result of our tendency to the one extreme or the other.

To become balanced within yourself, you can’t struggle like with a set of scales. That is what the Pharisees were doing with their behaviour. Rather we need to step back and avoid attachment, and act intuitively and spontaneously. This isn’t callousness or carelessness, but calmness and composure.

Luk 12:22-26 And He said to His disciples, Because of this I say to you, Do not be anxious as to your life, what you should eat; nor as to the body, what you should put on. The life is more than the food and the body than the clothing. Consider the ravens, for they do not sow, nor do they reap; to which there is no storehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much rather you differ from the birds! And who of you by being anxious is able to add one cubit to his stature? Then if you are not able to do even the least, why are you anxious about the rest?

Shalom

Indeed Bob.

Again, Trust comes up. It seems to me that Trust or Faith is central to this ‘cultivation’.

A

Hi Bob,

Yes, the detachment. The diamond at the center of heart. The expression of our spiritual nature undifferentiated.

LA,

Contrived righteousness is defined virtue, which is of mind or cognition and not of affective or heart. I cannot will virtue or righteousness. I must let them go. I must have faith in heart and then that which is within me may appear. Cognitive righteousness is standing in one’s own light. If I am righteous, possess virtue, it is spontaneous and not of mind, but of heart.

But righteousness will not always appear as “righteous” in the eyes of those attached to the projected character of social entities.

Definitions are useful, to a degree, but as Donnie pointed out, the bearing relevance comes through action.

The righteous action follows the order of the natural, not the order of humankind.

Thus, the righteous walk outside the human world, and are all too often perceived as hostile, or even wicked.

The dichotomy persists.

Lovely thoughts all.

I too want to add lovely thoughts all .

donnie~

I felt that I am slow comprehending specific words yet I felt that I am fast at knowing the whole picture.
What is self-love?
Masturbation? To balance out thoughts and actions?

Dan

I’m sorry but mine are more wonderful. No one matches me in wonderfulness.