A couple Sundays back Mimsie commented;
There is so much to take in there Yam but I get the general gist of it. Myself I tend to use Mother Nature as my 'god' if you want to put it that way. I can sit quietly and look at the sky, the trees, the flowers and feel so much calm.
I know Mother Nature can be very cruel but then so can most gods as is proven if you look back in many religious beliefs.
At my age I must be content with who I am and how I feel and as I do so I feel quite content.
I love the engagement of such comments - thank you Mims!!! The 'gist' was most certainly taken, for it is the sense of contentment and inner balance which is key to dealing Lovingly with the world. (If you are new to Mimsie, it is worth a trawl of her blog - the posts from her mother's memoirs [last year] are a delight and demonstrate Love manifest in action!)
Mother Nature can absolutely serve as 'God'. The thing to appreciate is that the term 'God' is a man-made one - serving the purpose of trying to explain the inexplicable.
The thing which prompted this post over a simple response to the comment, though, was the reference to the cruelty of nature. This is taken up from the philsophical persepctive and is not to say that, when watching how each successive creature preys upon the weaker then is preyed upon itself, we are not to feel the pangs of that... rather it is to point out that the very reason we do feel such emotion is because we are the top of the pile, in the schema of evolution.
It is the mind and the intellect, the perception of ego-self, individuality, which differentiates us from the remainder of the animal kingdom. (The opposable thumb helped but all apes have those - it is the brain which makes the difference.) Cruelty is, like 'God', a man-made construct.
Nature does not 'know' cruelty. It is what it is. The animal kingdom knows this. What it does is survive.
Only Man, in its perverse way, grew in mental power and, with that grew an ever-more diverse interaction with the rest of nature - then, subsequently, the desire to conquer it. One of the greatest impositions has been to use the Sacred Element which all somehow percieve, then twist it and turn it and use it as a weapon of wrath and deny it of others, claiming it for themselves. Even if that is to declare there is no 'God'.
All established religions grew out of single premise; there is an element of energy which surrounds the whole of nature and, if Man will attune, can raise the individual to a 'heavenly' state. ... herein lies the trouble. Language. We set paramaters with its use which have no bearing at all on the Truth. Language is a poor tool indeed for the communication of CeL, however else it may be named. As the religions established, those 'in the know' became elevated and then greedy for the control this afforded.
The 'cruelty' of religions (all - none are exempt!) is their dogma and rhetoric, neither of which have anything to do with the Sacred Element they would claim to represent. These things have arisen because of the small egos of the human critter, seeking to 'prey' upon those less able.
The Love of religions (all - none are exempt!) is their caring and outreach and recognition of the commonality, each within the other.
Each of the established faiths has a sound philosophical base, the path of Knowledge. Gnosticism in Christianity, Sufism in Islam, Kaballah in Judaism, Jnaana (Gyaan) in Hinduism. All of these seek to understand the relationship of Man with the world and that which brought forth the world. All of these explore, and promote questioning into, the mechanics (science) of existence, what 'life' means, and set out values by which to obtain the maximum benefit of life, with minimum impact on other individuals who are seeking also to live. All advocate one fundamental essence by which this can be achieved.
Love. With the capital 'ell'.
It is interesting that, after the surge of rationalism which the great scientific age claims to have brought upon us, the need still to have a philosophical construct arose and along came "Humanism". Bit of a chequered history, but as of 2015 "Humanism" typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world. The term is derived from the latin 'humanitas', which incorporates benevolence toward one's fellow humans and the values imparted by humane learning.
Look familiar?
There is so much to take in there Yam but I get the general gist of it. Myself I tend to use Mother Nature as my 'god' if you want to put it that way. I can sit quietly and look at the sky, the trees, the flowers and feel so much calm.
I know Mother Nature can be very cruel but then so can most gods as is proven if you look back in many religious beliefs.
At my age I must be content with who I am and how I feel and as I do so I feel quite content.
I love the engagement of such comments - thank you Mims!!! The 'gist' was most certainly taken, for it is the sense of contentment and inner balance which is key to dealing Lovingly with the world. (If you are new to Mimsie, it is worth a trawl of her blog - the posts from her mother's memoirs [last year] are a delight and demonstrate Love manifest in action!)
Mother Nature can absolutely serve as 'God'. The thing to appreciate is that the term 'God' is a man-made one - serving the purpose of trying to explain the inexplicable.
The thing which prompted this post over a simple response to the comment, though, was the reference to the cruelty of nature. This is taken up from the philsophical persepctive and is not to say that, when watching how each successive creature preys upon the weaker then is preyed upon itself, we are not to feel the pangs of that... rather it is to point out that the very reason we do feel such emotion is because we are the top of the pile, in the schema of evolution.
It is the mind and the intellect, the perception of ego-self, individuality, which differentiates us from the remainder of the animal kingdom. (The opposable thumb helped but all apes have those - it is the brain which makes the difference.) Cruelty is, like 'God', a man-made construct.
Nature does not 'know' cruelty. It is what it is. The animal kingdom knows this. What it does is survive.
Only Man, in its perverse way, grew in mental power and, with that grew an ever-more diverse interaction with the rest of nature - then, subsequently, the desire to conquer it. One of the greatest impositions has been to use the Sacred Element which all somehow percieve, then twist it and turn it and use it as a weapon of wrath and deny it of others, claiming it for themselves. Even if that is to declare there is no 'God'.
All established religions grew out of single premise; there is an element of energy which surrounds the whole of nature and, if Man will attune, can raise the individual to a 'heavenly' state. ... herein lies the trouble. Language. We set paramaters with its use which have no bearing at all on the Truth. Language is a poor tool indeed for the communication of CeL, however else it may be named. As the religions established, those 'in the know' became elevated and then greedy for the control this afforded.
The 'cruelty' of religions (all - none are exempt!) is their dogma and rhetoric, neither of which have anything to do with the Sacred Element they would claim to represent. These things have arisen because of the small egos of the human critter, seeking to 'prey' upon those less able.
The Love of religions (all - none are exempt!) is their caring and outreach and recognition of the commonality, each within the other.
Each of the established faiths has a sound philosophical base, the path of Knowledge. Gnosticism in Christianity, Sufism in Islam, Kaballah in Judaism, Jnaana (Gyaan) in Hinduism. All of these seek to understand the relationship of Man with the world and that which brought forth the world. All of these explore, and promote questioning into, the mechanics (science) of existence, what 'life' means, and set out values by which to obtain the maximum benefit of life, with minimum impact on other individuals who are seeking also to live. All advocate one fundamental essence by which this can be achieved.
Love. With the capital 'ell'.
It is interesting that, after the surge of rationalism which the great scientific age claims to have brought upon us, the need still to have a philosophical construct arose and along came "Humanism". Bit of a chequered history, but as of 2015 "Humanism" typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world. The term is derived from the latin 'humanitas', which incorporates benevolence toward one's fellow humans and the values imparted by humane learning.
Look familiar?
Thank you for all the POTP and love you sent our way this week. It was greatly appreciated.
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ReplyDeleteLived
Lovingly...
A little alliteration does WONDERS fur ones outlook and philosophy. RIGHT?
Hari OM
DeleteCan do no harm!!! Yxx
Amen. We are all in this place together, held in the great hands of the universe, until we are returned to it.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff!
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