My feelings would be hurt if…you know.
Human senses cannot perceive all of physical reality only some of it so what we perceive is not all that there is
Sight is the dominant human sense but it is very limited indeed with regard to what can be seen
You can only see a very small section of the light spectrum with the naked eye
You cannot see through solid non transparent matter with the naked eye
You cannot see radio or micro waves or x rays with the naked eye
You cannot see the unobservable universe with the naked eye
You cannot see through total darkness with the naked eye
You cannot see atomic particles with the naked eye
You cannot see dark matter with the naked eye
You cannot see inert gases with the naked eye
You cannot see radiation with the naked eye
And the counterpart, the person who presents as sure and cranky when they are in fact unsure or afraid. (not a jab at you, your crankiness always has the timbre of authenticity) And then you have the implicitly ‘superior’ who do not get angry. The internet makes these patterns harder to disrupt since the things these patterns hide often pop through in body language or voice tone when one is in person, not that there is any guarantee in person that the facade will fall.
Personal attacks here discourage me from posting. I see Pilgrim’s responses as a breath of fresh air among stodgy schoolmarmistic opinions about what can be said. He’s young and attempting to describe here his spiritual experiences.
Tom, beware of the thought police!
WEll, we are all young in some way or other, but I am pretty sure he is middle-aged. I don’t think the issue is what can be said. But when he attacks without taking responsibility, this has gotten pointed out. When he makes statements that make no sense and is questioned or critiqued, he has often attacked - though I am not sure how conscous of this he is - by making it seem like his pure, non-flocklike, better than the intellecturals mind is being excluded. His actual beliefs, when presented clearly are not the problem, though they may elicit disagreement. It is all the assumptions about who he is talking to and what they should not say that is the problem. Schoolmarms come in many forms. IOW I experienced many of this posts as personal or general attacks, sometimes it was implicit.
Yes, my crankiness is sadly authentic. Most of the cocksure and cranky people I meet aren’t unsure or afraid I don’t think, I most often find them when they’ve puffed themselves up winning arguments on the internet with inferior sources. I.E., that atheist or that believer who gives monologues on YouTube refuting words he puts into other’s mouths, until he’s argued himself into thinking he’s educated. Dealt with one of those just yesterday in fact. Not on here.
I try to be anti-facade. I come across as cranky and mean and dismissive and all the rest because I have some instinct that it would be somehow worse to pretend that I’m not that way. There’s something more, too. Maybe a lack of expectation of courtesy over the years, and a distaste for false courtesy. It seems like, these days, so much ‘politeness’ amounts to nothing more than masked and sophisticated ways to be a dick.
Um, I’m quite sure he said in one of his posts that he’s in his 60’s.
Thanks Ierrellus … you know me well. Sometimes sharing spiritual experiences elicits jealousy … especially among a crowd who view themselves as spiritual people … Joan of Arc comes to mind.
If 65 years old is young … much of this community is 80+ ??? I was raised to respect my elders but that doesn’t include being a doormat for elders in hiding.
I offer the following comments in the spirit of humility and generosity.
Moreno … for some people there is no facade … facades are like body armor. Some people outgrow the need for it. Usually, these same people do not foolishly engage in what you refer to as “attacks”.
UCC … some people don’t reach out for olive branches offered to them.
JSS … sometimes there is a fine line between believing in God … and acting like God. Falling off our pedestals once in a while is healthy.
Faith … hope … and … love.
The first two are useless in the absence of the third.
That’s right. If you make more preposterously false statements about other people’s religious beliefs tomorrow, I’m going to call them out. Why wouldn’t I?
I had no idea Tom is 65; his posts appear youthful–a continued spiritual odyssey that probably does upset those who are content in their own “dogmatic slumber”. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I don’t see it. I see, instead, a multifaceted approach to the problem of whether or not we can capture God in a concept. I think we can.
How far we have come from the OP!
How does one facet a gem?
I am a psychic of prophets, tom gave me the 65 vibe long before I ever knew.
Which says what about the OP? Age does not define the search for concepts of God. If you were a psychic, you would see that.
You declared you thought he was young based on his posting just a day or two ago, so apparently you think age says something.
No. My idea that he was young was based on his spiritual search as spelled out in several threads. One can be 65 and have youthful ideas. Young or old, one can search for truth; but the search itself implies a youthful spirit.
Are we still going along with the bandwagon of trash Tom and his ideas or are we serious about concepts of God? If it’s the former, Ucci, you win. You can take your ball and go home, stopping the game.
Tom,
But God has us as a captured audience, some more cognizant than others, but caught in a limbo like testing ground none-the-less.
The Creator has been keeping in touch a lot lately via many vehicles…signage of all manners, synchronicities galore, and people set in my path acting as vessels, usually without their knowledge. Perhaps it’s time to ascend to him rather than staying on this carousel.
Why not take the most important questions to him up there rather than waiting an eternity to get answers down here? Besides I feel that is my duty to find justice for all life. And wouldn’t a GREAT FATHER want more desperately than anything for his children to succeed Him?
Perhaps it’s time for the soul to have a tete-a-tete with POP’s soul stuff. What do you feel? Anything you need to know?
I like the notion of “Liminal Space” … “the place of transition, waiting, and not knowing …”
inaliminalspace.com/about/what
Perhaps you are in a stage of transition where acute vigilance is encouraged. You are recognizing His invitations to get to know Him better … in the often insignificant events of daily life. IMO discernment is so important in this stage.
Reminds me of the time I boarded a ferry in Caen France and followed a couple of people to an entertainment lounge. At the time I didn’t know where the ferry was headed … and I didn’t care … as long as the general direction was London England. I was on my way to visit a couple of acquaintances I met on a kibbutz in Israel a year or so earlier.
The customs people in Portsmouth almost sent me back to France … I had very little cash in my pockets and only a debit card which they didn’t recognize. Finally, they asked me for the names and addresses of the friends I claimed I wanted to visit in London. Long story short … I ended up walking from the dock in Portsmouth to the house of one of my friends … I had no idea she lived in Portsmouth. Synchronicity??? This all happened before I learned the word synchronicity and its meaning.
Back to the entertainment lounge on the ferry. While I was in a contemplative mood at the time I decided to sit down and have a beer. A few minutes later the band started singing the chorus to a song I recognized …
“If you don’t know me by now
You will never never never know me”
… a tearful moment that I will never forget.
Seems I have passed the stage of “wanting/needing to know” … I’m becoming increasingly comfortable “not knowing”.
I believe a GREAT FATHER wants His children to know Him. A great personal sadness for me is that my children/grand children don’t know me … and seems they have little or no interest in getting to know me either. Of course, they have plenty of justification for their feelings.
Don’t know the term “POP’s soul stuff” ???
… encouraged and intimidated by our e-exchanges.
See above comments on wanting to know.
I don’t want to be impious, but couldn’t resist posting this here:
Where is the real universe? What is the real universe? Who lives in the real universe?
Pilgrim: the great father and his flock are synonymous. Your grandkids will sometime in another incarnation see the connectedness with you, even if they will not understand it, until yet another incarnation they will understand it. By that time, they will have their own progeny to worry about. Individual entities like god, you and me, don’t Tristan as singular beings, they are composites , fearing their total composition, as well as their uniqueness. Their fear their eternal soul as well as the pain of their existence. Therefore they are constantly in a state of strife.