A CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE -- MY FAVORITE SPIRITUAL PASSAGE

[This post is dedicated to our regular poster RanD... You knew I had this already. But you just say it so much better than I do sometimes.]

Throughout out man's history as one major epoch passed and a new one emerged, mankind's religions and interpretations of God have changed dramatically. But did God itself change? By definition that is impossible. This isn't the quote that's coming but another of my favorite spiritual writers, a guy by the name of Joel Goldsmith, once offered a definition of God as something that is self-created and self-sustaining... unto infinity. He told the tale of a nuclear
physicist who had just presented a theorem demonstrating the everything in the universe was a form of hydrogen -- one proton and one electron. Ipso facto: there was no place in the universe where God wasn't. Now compare that with John, Chapter1...

Religions follow business models just like businesses do. Christianity, since around 300 AD anyway, has had the most "successful" business model and has helped shape every aspect of our lives, especially, business, finance and commerce; infinite expansion, capitalism, slavery and relentless population growth.

I think it inevitable that all religions are facing great challenges at the moment; some much worse than others. I think Buddhism and Taoism are probably most immune from this because they incorporate every challenge we see today in one way or another. The Indian parable
of the four blind men and the elephant is apropos here. -- Four blind men come across an elephant. One grabs the trunk and argues, "An elephant is very like a snake!" One grabs the ear and says, "No! An elephant is very like a leaf!" The next one grabs a leg and proclaims, "You fools! An elephant is like a tree." The last grabs the tail and proclaims, "I must kill all you infidels, "An elephant is exactly like a rope!"... In the meantime the elephant just stands there waiting for
someone's consciousness to expand. For the record, I believe that Christ, Mohammed, Isaiah, Buddha and Lao Tze were all prophets -- among others -- who in their lifetimes achieved enlightenment in some form. I believe that all of mankind is being challenged to do the same thing. Every individual is being held accountable for its own level of spiritual awareness.

Think of it this way: The next phase of human spiritual growth will also appropriately be called relocalization.

We must anticipate, expect and encourage new spiritual thought as much as we MUST encourage new political, economic and social thought at this epochal shift in human existence.

So, with that being said, here is a quote from George Fowler's "Dance of a Fallen Monk" which is (today) my favorite.

"Now I understood for the first time that all these problems are caused by a race asleep and thrashing about in its panicked nightmares. There will be wars and holocausts and genocides as long as God is portrayed and thought of as a tight-minded Legislator, a feudal Lord, n offended King, a hypersensitive artisan -- even if church managers condescendingly tack onto that ridiculous list the not-very-convincing footnote that He is also loving. As long as people dream that they are insecure and needy, in some sort of eternal jeopardy, there will be atrocities. But as the human race grows up spiritually, and as individuals gain a personal experience of the God they have been worshipping in fear, they will recognize that much of their theology and philosophy is built on nightmares. That will be the day of the rethinking of presuppositions and of vested positions. That will be the day of peace. I suddenly found myself unwilling to sit it out in the mountains of Utah. I wanted to play an active role in the process of the world's awakening."

Happy holidays to all, with a special message of love and gratitude to our growing tribe.

Carl Jung might be pleased. And God, with no concept of time, just is.

MCR
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JO adds:

Meanwhile, back at the unspiritual, materialistic ranch...

US Warned India in Early October of Potential Terrorist Attack
The Fool's Gold of Carbon Trading


The mainstream media wake up to the nightmare:

Fed Refuses To Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion
Trade secret. See, it's taxpayer money but the Fed isn't the government so transparency isn't required. Heads I win, tails you lose.

“It would really be a shame if we have to find this out 10 years from now after some really nasty class-action suit and our financial system has completely collapsed,” [Lucy Dalglish, executive director of Reporters Committe for Freedom of the Press] said.

Barney Frank, sounding downright defensive

"Let me start with that second despicable comment you just made I am surprised at you that you would do something like that."

"You wrote the bill," Stahl points out. "You’re, quote, 'the smartest man in Congress.' How did it happen that you wrote a bill that the secretary of treasury has the power not to fulfill in the way you wanted it fulfilled?"

"Because there’s a metaphor that works here: you cannot push on a string. There’s no Constitutional way to force them to do things," Frank says.

A Second Mortgage Crisis on the Horizon?
Peak Money

Since Dick Cheney called the "War on Terror" a war that would not end in our lifetime (because that is how long it will take to use up the second half of the oil), we could call the global financial crash triggered by reaching the limits to growth "the economic crisis that will not end in our lifetime."


Quote of the day (strictly speaking, the actual day of the quote was December 12):

[D]espite yesterday’s setback, we wouldn’t be surprised if this rally continued for several more months. No particular reason. It’s just the way Mr. Market works. Investors have gotten scared...they’re taking precautions. They’re closing their wallets...they’re asking questions and reading prospectuses carefully. Mr. Market will want to loosen them up a bit...get them to relax, let down their guard and come out into the open – so he can destroy them.

Robin Williams on Obama Election
Businessman's Version of The Night Before Christmas
See comment posted at 12:24 pm