The One, oneness, and not

[wil]

contemplations...

There are those that believe they know the way and the truth.

Of those some believe we all know the way and the truth.

Those believe that we are all on the same path.

Those that believe this are all on different paths.

Then there are those who know who believe that only they are on the right path.


There are those that believe that there is only one G!d, and that we all worship the same G!d.

There are those that believe that there is only one G!d, but only they know how to correctly worship G!d.

There are those that believe that there is only one G!d, but everyone else is not worshiping their G!d.



I don't know where I am going...its just all interesting.

[17th Angel]

And who said God didn't have a sense of humour?

[Ciel]

Originally Posted by wil

I don't know where I am going...its just all interesting.

Wil,
Can you rotate the bird in a clockwise motion......like forward..............

- c -

[wil]

Originally Posted by Ciel

Wil,
Can you rotate the bird in a clockwise motion......like forward..............

- c -

rotate the bird...

some think a colloquial saying

some say metaphor

some take it literally

fighting words in some locales

others think sexual innuendo

I don't know where the bird is going and hesitate to predict or offer directions.

However I do know if I tuck its head under its wing and rotate I can produce it later out of a hat....abra kadabra

[Dah-veeth]

Ooh, ooh.... that reminds me of a T-shirt... hehe....

It went something like this...

A Priest, a Rabbi,
an Imam, a Buddhist,
a Hindu, and a Baha'i
are on the same path...






...get it?

_____

The two great commandments of Jesus, in simplified form:

1. Love God!
2. Love mankind.

...and there was a famous Jew, other than Jesus, who said....

...and the rest is commentary.

[Joedjr]

Hi Wil,
What makes this even more interesting, you would think being that we're one human family, we would have one understanding of G!d.
I would like to suggest there be a world meeting of all religions. Especially invited to attend are those that feel their way is the only way. This meeting should go on for as long as it takes for them to come up with some common thread or agreement on just what the truth is about religion.
Joe

[Dah-veeth]

Originally Posted by Joedjr

Hi Wil,
What makes this even more interesting, you would think being that we're one human family, we would have one understanding of G!d.
I would like to suggest there be a world meeting of all religions. Especially invited to attend are those that feel their way is the only way. This meeting should go on for as long as it takes for them to come up with some common thread or agreement on just what the truth is about religion.
Joe

Great idea! It might not ever end, but communication helps

I think every religion agrees on the golden rule.

[wil]

Originally Posted by Joedjr

I would like to suggest there be a world meeting of all religions. Especially invited to attend are those that feel their way is the only way. This meeting should go on for as long as it takes for them to come up with some common thread or agreement on just what the truth is about religion.

Originally Posted by Dah-veeth

Great idea! It might not ever end, but communication helps

I'd love to have the catering contract, we could pay off the national debt!

Originally Posted by Dah-veeth

I think every religion agrees on the golden rule.

Here are some for ya, check it out!

[China Cat Sunflower]

Mostly, those who think theirs is the only path adhere to older traditions. Those who propose syncretism and univerality are on newer paths. The older traditions put forth pedigree and precedent. Those newer propose similarity and legitimacy by connection or analogy. I think that the era of Religion is closed. It is now an exhibit complete with re enactors.

Chris

[Ahanu]

This meeting should go on for as long as it takes for them to come up with some common thread oragreement on just what the truth is about religion.

My daily life is my temple and religion! What else is there for me to say?

[Saltmeister]

Originally Posted by Ahanu

My daily life is my temple and religion! What else is there for me to say?

Could go on . . . life is a sequence of rituals that you perform inside this temple, this temple of things dear, holy, special and important to you, and that what you do in there . . . is an indication and expression of who you are as a person. Most importantly, that is the real religion.

This religion has been expressed in many different philosophical and terminological systems. They do not say the same thing, because each is a different perspective. The important thing is whether you can translate the words into the wordless but naturally perceptible meanings that our God-created minds is capable of thinking and feeling.

Adam and Eve tasted the fruit of good and evil. God banished them into a world of ultimate confusion and aimlessness, a world where human beings have to figure things out for themselves. Yes we can redefine ourselves, reinvent ourselves, rediscover ourselves and rationalise our existence, but unless we actually believe wholeheartedly in our own rationalisations (stay true to your ultimate beliefs), we will probably find disappointment in life. Things change. Life changes. People change. We learn. We get better at doing what we do. Ten years ago we were less of a whole person. Now we're more whole. Everything else may change, but the important things must never change.

It's not necessarily a bad thing that we believe different things. Let's just not get in each other's way. Support your neighbour and his beliefs. We're all in this together. We can't judge others for what they are thinking. It is their journey, their decision, not our's. But we can still make it one walk. A perspective is a perspective.

[17th Angel]

Originally Posted by Dah-veeth

Ooh, ooh.... that reminds me of a T-shirt...

... No swimming! Sharks...

That one?

[farhan]

Not far from Ghur once stood a city tall
Whose denizens were sightless one and all.
A certain Sultan once, when passing nigh,
Had pitched his camp upon the plain hard by,
Wherein, to prove his splendour, rank, and state,
Was kept an elephant most huge and great.
Then in the townsmen's minds arose desire
To know the nature of this creature dire.
Blind delegates by blind electorate
Where therefore chosen to investigate
The beast, and each, by feeling trunk or limb,
Strove to acquire an image clear of him.
Thus each conceived a visionary whole,
And to the phantom clung with heart and soul.

When to the city they were come again,
The eager townsmen flocked to them amain.
Each one of them-wrong and misguided all-
Was eager his impressions to recall.
Asked to describe the creature's size and shape,
They spoke, while round about them, all agape,
Stamping impatiently, their comrades swarm
To hear about the monster's shape and form.
Now, for his knowledge each inquiring wight
Must trust to touch, being devoid of sight,
So he who'd only felt the creature's ear,
On being asked: 'How doth its heart appear?'
'Mighty and terrible,' at once replied,
'Like to a carpet, hard and flat and wide!'
Then he who on its trunk had laid his hand
Broke in: 'Nay, nay! I better understand!
'Tis like a water-pipe, I tell you true,
Hollow, yet deadly and destructive too';
While he who'd had but leisure to explore
The sturdy limbs which the great beat upbore,
Exclaimed: 'No, no! To all men be it known
'Tis like a column tapered to a cone!'
Each had but known one part, and no man all;
Hence into deadly error each did fall.
No way to know the Al man's heart can find:
Can knowledge e'er accompany the blind?


------ Blind men & the elephent - Rumi's Masnavi

[Dah-veeth]

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

... No swimming! Sharks...

That one?

No, not that one. I got eaten by a leopard last night, though... I emailed the dream to some people, so I'll copy/paste it:

I had an awesome dream last night. I was walking in very high mountains, extremely high up, on a little trail that wound through woods and over deep, deep chasms. I remembered the trail, I had been there before. I was walking higher and higher and for a very long time. It was a very awesome place and I knew where the trail was leading me. It would have led me to an extremely high cliff that overlooks a valley in Paradise, a breath-taking view that's indescribable. When you get there you have to crawl to the edge so you don't fall off. I decided not to go there this time because I had walked so far and had to get back to wherever it was I had started out. So I turned around and started walking down the winding trail. But walking down was awkward, my legs felt funny, and I had the feeling that something was watching me. I started to think about cougars and why I had gone so high up in the mountains when I could have run into cougars. I turned around and there was what I thought to be a cougar. It moved very fast and ran towards me. I stood still and knew it would attack. I had nowhere to run, no time to get away. It pounced. On me. As it grabbed me I noticed that it had spots and was therefore a leopard, not a cougar. I was just thinking about how it was a leopard. Somehow I was just simply in another dream thinking about the leopard. Then I saw my valley, my real valley in Paradise. I can't describe how beautiful, and I was just thinking about how perfect it was. I don't know if it was another dream or the same one, but I decided to get some sleep and went to a huge palatial mansion. I didn't think anyone was there, but I found my grandma sleeping in a high level, so I decided to sleep in one of the hidden levels. The hidden levels are spacious, too, and I don't know why they were hidden, probably because I wanted it that way. I'm shy. I've been there before many times.

[Dah-veeth]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

Mostly, those who think theirs is the only path adhere to older traditions. Those who propose syncretism and univerality are on newer paths. The older traditions put forth pedigree and precedent. Those newer propose similarity and legitimacy by connection or analogy. I think that the era of Religion is closed. It is now an exhibit complete with re enactors.

Chris

The Baha'i Faith might appear to be syncretistic, but it's not. While we do acknowledge the divine origin of previous religions, we don't depend on any of them. We have a new revelation with new laws and new scriptures.