Thoughts and Divinity (God, beliefs, Lord, belief)
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There is no "proper way to think about Divinity,". I don't believe I said that.
You have been subjected to indoctrination of the worst kind and since all you know about is Christianity, you think everyone is indoctrinated the same way - by forcible brain washing.
I respect all my teachers from Kindergarden to my Masters in creative writing. That is my cultural grounding, to look upon teaching as one of most noble things one can do -to be able to impart knowledge.
Nobody can learn self-inquiry until they are ready for it. Self-inquiry is new knowledge. Everyone knows there is Divinity out there somewhere. But very few understand that Divinity is within ourselves, our true Self is nothing but Divinity itself. Learning this is not brain washing, just as learning anything new you did not know before is not brain washing. All knowledge come from outside of us, so you either read or listen or read and listen or teach yourself. But it is always from an outside source.
When one is ready you will find the texts, find the teachings, and find the teachers who are right for you. Nobody is forced to learn and there is no reward for it - no heaven, no God. Just peace and happiness here and now.
Since you are so consumed by ego, and with anger because you are unable to convince anyone about your "encounter" or to learn anything from you, you may never find the kind of teachers you can respect.
Advaita may not be for you.
It's sort of hypocritical to talk about someone else's anger when your post seems angry.
And, btw, not "Everyone knows there is Divinity out there somewhere".
There is no "proper way to think about Divinity,". I don't believe I said that.
You have been subjected to indoctrination of the worst kind and since all you know about is Christianity, you think everyone is indoctrinated the same way - by forcible brain washing.
I respect all my teachers from Kindergarden to my Masters in creative writing. That is my cultural grounding, to look upon teaching as one of most noble things one can do -to be able to impart knowledge.
Nobody can learn self-inquiry until they are ready for it. Self-inquiry is new knowledge. Everyone knows there is Divinity out there somewhere. But very few understand that Divinity is within ourselves, our true Self is nothing but Divinity itself. Learning this is not brain washing, just as learning anything new you did not know before is not brain washing. All knowledge come from outside of us, so you either read or listen or read and listen or teach yourself. But it is always from an outside source.
When one is ready you will find the texts, find the teachings, and find the teachers who are right for you. Nobody is forced to learn and there is no reward for it - no heaven, no God. Just peace and happiness here and now.
Since you are so consumed by ego, and with anger because you are unable to convince anyone about your "encounter" or to learn anything from you, you may never find the kind of teachers you can respect.
Advaita may not be for you.
My ego is my ego, but I am not angry about anything. The conclusion of Advaita that all is Oneness resonates with me, but not the irrational explanations and definitions you use about it. My "knowing" about it is also compatible with everything we know about our Reality scientifically. Unfortunately, you and even the neuroscientists misunderstand what is and is not an illusion (or Maya), IMO
As a Buddhist atheist, I did not accept any of the mumbo jumbo (or "woo") in it either. I only adopted Christianity because the "mind of Christ" as described in the narrative exactly matched the consciousness I encountered. It makes zero difference to me what the historical accuracy of the narrative is because obviously, such a consciousness DOES exist as the basis of our Reality (aka, God).
My ego is my ego, but I am not angry about anything. The conclusion of Advaita that all is Oneness resonates with me, but not the irrational explanations and definitions you use about it. My "knowing" about it is also compatible with everything we know about our Reality scientifically. Unfortunately, you and even the neuroscientists misunderstand what is and is not an illusion (or Maya), IMO
As a Buddhist atheist, I did not accept any of the mumbo jumbo (or "woo") in it either. I only adopted Christianity because the "mind of Christ" as described in the narrative exactly matched the consciousness I encountered. It makes zero difference to me what the historical accuracy of the narrative is because obviously, such a consciousness DOES exist as the basis of our Reality (aka, God).
There are many terms in your post that I do not understand. Such as “mind of Christ”. “Knowing”. Oneness. Reality. Consciousness. You need to create a glossary of these terms, and they need tonalways mean the same thing when they appear. And when someone reads the text and has no clear understanding, you need to explain further, clarify doubts, with analogies if necessary, until they truly understand you, and your truth becomes their truth. They would then be able to explain to themselves what your words mean. Until then they do not own it. This is teaching.
This is what the teachers do for me with the texts that make up Advaita. The texts are dense with meaning because there are no words to explain all they have to realized. Some teacher do this better than others. I choose those who do it for me, explain the concept until I own it.
This why they are special.
There are many terms in your post that I do not understand. Such as “mind of Christ”. “Knowing”. Oneness. Reality. Consciousness. You need to create a glossary of these terms, and they need tonalways mean the same thing when they appear. And when someone reads the text and has no clear understanding, you need to explain further, clarify doubts, with analogies if necessary, until they truly understand you, and your truth becomes their truth. They would then be able to explain to themselves what your words mean. Until then they do not own it. This is teaching.
This is what the teachers do for me with the texts that make up Advaita. The texts are dense with meaning because there are no words to explain all they have to realized. Some teacher do this better than others. I choose those who do it for me, explain the concept until I own it.
This why they are special.
Thank you for the answer. That is what I thought you meant by the definitional Divinity Trace. Unfortunately, their definitions do not resonate with my intellect or experiences.
Thank you for the answer. That is what I thought you meant by the definitional Divinity Trace. Unfortunately, their definitions do not resonate with my intellect or experiences.
I wonder if you really understand how that sounds.
A thought is conceived by the bonding of a desire and an object of nature when a human wants to get something or to do or avoid acts as they are pleasant or unpleasant, and which bring him the feeling of comfort, well-being, joy or satisfaction, or of pain, grief, or dissatisfaction. This affects the doer as a feeling of right or wrong. Conscience warns of a departure from the standard of right.
Thinking: is the steady holding of the Conscious Light within on the subject of the thinking. It is a process of (1) the selection of a subject or the formulation of a question; (2) turning the Conscious Light on it, which is done by giving one’s undivided attention to it; (3) by the steady holding and focusing the Conscious Light on the subject or question; and (4) by bringing the Light to a focus on the subject as a point. When the Conscious Light is focused on the point, the point opens into fullness of the entire knowledge of the subject selected or in answer to the question formulated. Thinking affects subjects according to their susceptibility and by the rightness and the power of the thinking.
Conscious Light, or The Light of Intelligence, is what is referred to as "divinity" here.
And, btw, not "Everyone knows there is Divinity out there somewhere".
This is true.
That the Divinity is within us, the Mahavakya ( the grand statement) “ You are That” is an assertion that is true for all. But the understanding of its meaning may not happen to all. And it is the understanding, not the words, that matter.
Thoughts are are result of our organs of perception. They leave a trace in the mind. Vedanta has a word for it. Feelings, emotions, knowledge, experiences, all leave a trace in the mind. We project the world with the sum of these traces in our mind. We understand and interact with this world. The world is what our mind is.
Divinity too is such a trace in the mind. The means for this trace is not our organs of perception. To recognize the Divinity trace we need to know it. This knowledge needs to come from elsewhere - teachings, texts, reading, being drawn to it naturally for indiscernible reasons. This knowledge creates a unique trace in the mind by which we recognize Divinity. Vedanta has a name for that as well.
To know Divinity you need to seek it, and to seek Divinity is to love it, to love it is happiness.
There is no other way to understand Divinity. It is evident that there really is no bridge to connect spirituality of Divinity with atheism.There can be no dialog because we speak different languages. One can know everything that are in scriptures, and read all the texts of various religions, and quote from them But without the mind with the Divinity trace there will be no understanding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticPhD
My ego is my ego, but I am not angry about anything. The conclusion of Advaita that all is Oneness resonates with me, but not the irrational explanations and definitions you use about it. My "knowing" about it is also compatible with everything we know about our Reality scientifically. Unfortunately, you and even the neuroscientists misunderstand what is and is not an illusion (or Maya), IMO
As a Buddhist atheist, I did not accept any of the mumbo jumbo (or "woo") in it either. I only adopted Christianity because the "mind of Christ" as described in the narrative exactly matched the consciousness I encountered. It makes zero difference to me what the historical accuracy of the narrative is because obviously, such a consciousness DOES exist as the basis of our Reality (aka, God).
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb2008
There are many terms in your post that I do not understand. Such as “mind of Christ”. “Knowing”. Oneness. Reality. Consciousness. You need to create a glossary of these terms, and they need tonalways mean the same thing when they appear. And when someone reads the text and has no clear understanding, you need to explain further, clarify doubts, with analogies if necessary, until they truly understand you, and your truth becomes their truth. They would then be able to explain to themselves what your words mean. Until then they do not own it. This is teaching.
This is what the teachers do for me with the texts that make up Advaita. The texts are dense with meaning because there are no words to explain all they have to realized. Some teacher do this better than others. I choose those who do it for me, explain the concept until I own it.
This why they are special.
A few things strike me on reading this thread.
1. It's curious to me why you two bicker. From my perspective on reading your posts about your particular worldviews / religions / views on divinity or whatever you want to call it, strike me as quite similar. So I'm surprised you don't have more in common.
2. Perhaps 'Divinity' is also something that could be defined.
The opening post seems to me to be quite nicely written. Except I don't know why atheism is brought into it and why you couldn't have just written your post without that.
But since you did bring it in I will contribute my thoughts:
'Spirituality of divinity' Okay yes I agree. Atheists don't have 'spirituality of divinity'. I don't really know what you mean by divinity but I assume you just mean whatever you think of as god. Okay that far I agree.
But atheists are not without spirituality. Also I absolutely do think there can be dialogue. Otherwise why else are we all here? We are here to understand one another.
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