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"God Has No Religion" - MOHANDAS K. GANDHI
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Human language cannot describe who or what God is, as even our limited perception
is that of complacency and subjectivity. Objective truth is, in reality, beyond our awareness and comprehension
and is insurmountably unattainable through the vehicle of human language. The above descriptions of spirit, energy,
inner perceptional awareness, call it God if you like, are but paradoxical, that being the only - yet inadequate
way, of explaining what is unexplainable. Mathematicians write formulas, Chemists write codes, all to describe
dimensions of time, space and transcendence, all areas that are beyond human linguistic structures.
If I could explain math, I would use mathematics. If I could explain chemistry, I would use chemistry. If I could explain Greek, I would speak Greek. If I were to explain to the deaf, I would use sign language. I cannot explain God. No one can ever explain God. There is absolutely no objective language for the comprehension and explanation of God. As I experience the soft breeze blowing the flowering tops of grass, hear the sweet sound of leaves in the wind, feel the soft rays of sun from beneath the clouds. All this while thinking of absolutely nothing, of no-thing. It is the experience of love without conditions, disinterested, unattached love simply for the sake of existence. This can be but one (and yet inadequate) explanation of God. In one person's analysis after years of mediation and subsequent kensho experience relates: "Language and words are cumbersome and primitive - almost useless in trying to suggest the true multi-dimensional workings of an indescribable vast complex of dynamic force, to contact which one must abandon one's normal level of consciousness." (1b) The inadequacy of language and the human perception that both objectifies truth under the limited and constraining realm of human mind in it's limiting and debilitating force, is that which puts such in a glass bottle of what can not be contained. We have to recognize that language and written words act as pointers to truth but are never truth in themselves, nor can the literalizing of any words, accounts, stories, prophecies, laws and revelations, nor can any scripture be anything more than of the limited and inadequate human words subject to the inadequacy of language itself and the small mind of being human. No claim of "inspiration" can remove this fact except the delusion we decide to hide in. Thomas Merton assesses our use of human language,
Chogyam Trungpa relates:
Carl Jung puts it this way:
A language we do not have, nor are capable of but certainly in progressive growth, but always far behind the capability to contain objective truth, as always will be such the case. Yet language is our only means of expression and therefore acts as a pointer to objectivity and that alone. It does not capture or grasp the essence. Yet many will answer that language can capture a degree of objectivity, that of a dimension beyond, in relation to mythology, symbolism and ritual. Here is the place that simply has no room for literalism, with its legal precepts, binding chains and blinding lack of insight. To see mythology in its reality, is to see what Jung and Campbell spoke of as "arche types" with stories with meanings far beyond those who constrain such in literal interpretive prisons. Yet with mythology and symbolic meanings, apart from intellectual reasoning, comes speculative and intuitive insight which can never be simply explained in formulated thinking as manual and instructive methods, which act as structural explanations, outlining detailed arrangements. It is here that many read into mythology and symbolism far more than what is and find meanings that simply do not exist but are interpreted to be so. With the "courage to be," we can remove all claims of "inspiration" and face ourselves, looking within ourselves, nature and the naked reality apart from intellectual meaning, with the attempt to find our true nature. It is only here where we can find the ultimate reality to fully live in life, to express and live unconditionally in love and to have the courage to move forward in the insecurity and ambiguity of life, a life that is not mapped out with formulas and doctrines, but of inclusiveness, strength, character and courage.
So we've established the fact that there is no adequate language for objectivity, for God, for truth. Yet some philosophers, such as Martin Heidegger, have used constructive linguistic attempts in describing meditative thinking, as opposed to calculative thinking, which Heidegger describes as surface thinking. Heidegger's credibility as a spiritual man and compassionate person is sorely questioned as a former nationalist in support of the Nazi regime and eye witness to the horrors. He was simply too intelligent not to know what was going on as far as human genocide was concerned. Yet His ideas of human thinking are some of the most influential in existential philosophy of the 20th century, as that of contemplative - deep thinking which is the ontological nature of man and is always there, now with the awareness of what has always been, not erasing calculative thinking but releasing oneself beyond into such ontological being. So with Heidegger its non-willing oneself, and waiting in openness, that releases oneself to one's natural deep, contemplative thinking and original nature of being. This is unlike the Zen Buddhist mind of meditative - thoughtless thinking, or ceasing to think in what is called sunyata - emptiness and "no-mind," yet brings the same result into a present moment awareness of original nature and being. The Zen mind of no-mind is Heidegger's deeper, contemplative thinking and the Zen "emptiness" of sunyata is Heidegger's "openness." Words and expressions used by Heidegger to describe they mystical, contemplative thoughts are such as "re-presenting thoughts," "releasing into openness," "moving-into-nearness," "relinquishing of willing," "opening of openness,", "that-which-regions," "the expanse of being." and so forth, all bringing Heidegger's philosophical attempt to describe the mystical awareness of contemplative thinking in language. Lex Hixon relates:
Martin Heidegger states:
John Shelby Spong relates:
The idea of Rudolph Otto's, Idea of the Holy, is the essence beyond human conception, the Platonic teaching of Plotinus and the concept of God as unconceptual, which can be found in all forms of mysticism, the early Christian church, in Jewish Kabbalic and Talmudic teaching, in Hindu, Sufi and Buddhist teachings. The early church recognized the difference between kerygma and dogma. Kerygma meaning the rational truth, the intellectual and external explanations that contained conceptual and rational thinking, which conveyed a message of understanding to others, while the dogma was the unexplainable essence beyond all thought and analysis, that could not be taught with words, but only with symbolism, mythology and liturgical worship that pointed to this essence of this truth beyond articulation. It was here that the trinity doctrine of the 4th century developed. a doctrine that intellectually, using kerygma, it was unrational and even blasphemous to the Jews and Muslims, while in dogma, it pointed to an essence of three in one that was symbolic, outside the logical framework of Greek reasoning. While the Eastern Greek minds were able to understand the meaning of dogma as that of indescribable and incomprehensible esoteric experience, the West failed to perceive such and defined dogma as merely the various opinions of theological structures. Revelatory Experience vs. Intellectual Knowledge What is logic in thoughts that are inexpressible through human language, mathematical
reasoning and communicative means? These ideas are only that of revelatory experience. Neither in a a divine ecstasy
of fervent extreme emotional outbursts, that are in reality, the products of neurotic escapism, but poetic Eros
living far beyond rational discursive thinking. So here it is between pragmatic logic, devoid of all mystic elements,
and extreme violent frenzies of emotional hysteria that enable illusionary beliefs in mystical doctrines that do
nothing more than employ false hopes in timidity of a courageless mind, unable to face life in it's reality. Can
either a faithless faith in science and mathematical deductions of measurement pertaining to all perception, equating
such to formulated logic or that of a mystical doctrinal belief in antiquated and illusionary concepts that supply
such faulty foundational walls be of any true value in expanding human growth to higher achievement of mental,
emotional and spiritual capacities? Hardly. There exists a level of revelatory experience, the mysticism of life
apart from faith in incarnations, trinities and resurrections. There exists science and logic in realistic perception
that embraces the ability to see the mythological framework, allowing such reasoning to see the vulnerable and
delicate nature of such clear and precise meanings to have degrees of ambiguity. There exists a calm, peaceful
and tranquil conviction of balanced intellect and existential awareness apart from all extremes. |
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Absolute and Relative in Religion - J.J. Van Der Leeuw "In the light of the foregoing the difference between science and philosophy,
or between occultism and mysticism stands out clearly; the aims of science and occultism lie in the world of the
relative, those of philosophy and mysticism in the Absolute; science and occultism are content to investigate the
ways in which the relative appears to the relative and to gain power and control in the world of relativity; philosophy
and mysticism know no peace until they reach that ultimate Reality which has not beyond; to them reality means
either the Absolute or nothing at all. Once again we can see how foolish it is to extol one above the other; a
complete knowledge implies knowledge of the relative as well as realization of the Absolute. |
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The original teaching of Judaism, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews was that
of a separate monotheistic, external and patriarchal God who as a male king, ruled just above the sky, in the heavens,
ruling the universe as a monarch, providing mercy and meting out punishment for all those who failed to obey his
commands. Yahweh, an external being separate from men, first created the man from the earth and his breath, and
then created the animals. Later, only when it became aware that man was incomplete and in need of a helper, the
sub-human, the woman, was created as a "helper." Detailed laws and regulations were instituted to be
obediently observed to please this male God, Yahweh. This tribal God of the Hebrews protected only his people with
laws of mercy, while simultaneously commanding laws of murder and annihilation of all other tribes considered to
be enemies. Yet despite the theism of this male king, Yahweh and the laws of the Sabbath and circumcision that separate with tribal prejudices and exclusive cultural and social differences, there has existed Jewish mystics that rejected the dogmas of theism and exclusive laws and commands that separate men from one another, with the concept of God and man, beyond the tribal limitations of physical relation to Abraham, seeing the light of God in all men - including those outside the dogmas of religious faith, those being in entirely different social, cultural and religious beliefs. Some of these Jewish mystics who had the ability to see God internally, apart from theism, were those of later years, that of the Hasidic movement with the formation and study of writings known as the Kabala. Jewish mysticism that solely looks for "God experiences," with magical visions and quietism, with deep numerical formulas and word definitions that require detailed investigations, are not what is beneficial. Such time spent in theological and philosophical meanings can be useless and of no value unless it brings to understanding the nature of God to be beyond the words of fallible men written under the human limited subjective experience as found in the Torah, Talmud and Kabala. But rather it is seeing God in all life, all men and all cultures, including those outside the Jewish perspective, thus seeing God and love in all humanity, Jewish and Gentile alike, slave and freeman, male and female, gay and straight, loving humanity for the sake of knowing that all of creation, is that of God. One Jewish mystic describes being a mystic as: "Not to be merging with anyone or anything as being separate, but instead the boundaries defining the mystic's self, seem to the mystic to somehow dissolve. The mystic is no longer aware of self, as there is no self which is in need to merge with God, as there is no separation of God and self. The Hebrew word which is usually translated as "mystical union" is (devekut), literally meaning "radical adhesion." Another wards, the Jewish mystical experience is to venture not to an external God of theism, but the perceiving of divine as a part of oneself and all life, being a "mystical union" that acts as a bridge or "union" with God, in which the boundaries of selfhood cease to exist. In an experience of this kind, "knowing" becomes synonymous with "experiencing." And since experiencing is something that cannot be contained in the subjective words of men, the faith in "unknowing" is needed in the ambiguous mystery of "knowing" God. The point is, objective truth is above and beyond the narrow and limited definitions that theism and tribal meanings constrain God to be in. Yet even with Jewish mysticism, the followers of the Hasidic way, are those disciples of the Baal Shem, the "enlightened one," the tzaddik, the Rebbe. To question the tzaddik is considered "absurd." Thus the fundamentalism, the authoritative control over questioning and self discovery is abdicated, forfeited to the Rebbe with cult like following, that which can be found in all religious cultures that trust the leaders to be of divine enlightened or appointed status. Elie Wiesel comments:
This same statement could be said within any fundamental group. One simply has to replace the word "Rebbe," with another title of leadership, which depends of the religious culture. Yet beyond the doors of fundamentalism lives the transcendent nature of universal spirit that emanates in all beings. This is not only far above the limited control of obedience to human leaders and organizations, cultures and traditions, but above the literalization of scripture that confines freedom and the essence of Being to the linguistic straight jacket of words and the mental prison of interpretations. As Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the Jewish mystic, had stated, "all persons, - regardless of religion, race and creed - are in their own right a complete spiritual Torah," venturing outside the barriers of physical decent of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew race. Like the Christian break through of a spiritual nature, the Jewish mystic can see that all persons are from the spiritual essence of Abraham outside the narrow and prejudice walls of both fundamentalism and biblical literalism.
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Continuing from the monotheistic Judea belief, the dogma of man born in a sinful state in need of a redeemer becomes the focal point of Christianity. The external male God, living separate from humans, directly above the sky in the place considered to be the heavens, part of a three-tiered world (the flat earth, the firmament and the heavens), sends his divine son, who is himself God in essence, to depart from the heavens, enter earth, live as a divine human, and obey the requirement to die in behalf of mankind with his blood as the sacrifice, thus reconciling man with God, restoring the so called separation of man and God, restoring the divinity and intimacy formally contained by the first literal man and woman, Adam and Eve, which in our post-Darwin world is truly nothing short of mythology. Jesus the God-Man was written as being perfect, although "learning obedience" (Heb), suggesting he had no shadow side of himself, a term used by Carl Jung to describe a part of what all human beings have, the unconscious part of the personality that contains characteristics which one cannot recognize, including that of inner evil. Yet Jesus was not to have a shadow side, nor imperfect conscious, but rather was a divine being, performing miracles that completely defied the laws of nature and physics. Jesus was known to walk on water, resurrect the dead, instantly heal blindness, control storms and weather patterns and heal leprosy, all being written by men who elaborated on stories circulating among the newly formed Christian community after many decades, stories that attempted to capture both the essence of God in Christ and the Jewish culture into one package and neatly framed narrative. As each account was written, starting with the letters of Paul, then the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and later John, the Christ experience grew out of proportion into stories that can only be found real within first century mentality. Mythology of the both the entry - the virgin birth story - and the exit - the ascension of the Christ - defy both the law of physics and our modern knowledge of biology, as current science and advanced biology teach that each human being is not solely the formation of one genetic code, that of the father's being, as the writers of the New Testament so firmly believed within their limited first century knowledge. Today, post-Darwin, post-Einstein, post-Sagan, we have beyond doubt that the biological structure of human life as that being each human is made up of both parents contributing a 50% DNA code, thus disproving the first century mythology of the virgin birth narrative that can also be found throughout other ancient mythological writings that long before pre-date Christianity. The ascension narrative, too, was in first century, limited understanding, firmly believed to have occurred in a three-tiered universe, defying our post-modern world of knowledge with antiquated concepts that are no longer operative, nor accurate in today's modern world. Only with denial and the subsequent entering into fundamental ignorance, turning blind eyes to progress made in the fields of medical, scientific, psychological and physiological developments, clinging to antiquated, outdated and pre-modern knowledge, can we go back and remain in the ancient and old world thinking of both theism and mythology, that will never survive its death that has already occurred since the dawning of the 20th century. Equally unacceptable in our 21st century is the mythological teaching of an atonement and requirement of a blood sacrifice, emulating teachings of ancient Pagan rites. Here the denial of the human evolutionary process to that of pre-Darwin era thinking of the literal first man and woman, Adam and Eve is simply a teaching that is no longer accurate. The story of Adam and Eve's disobeying Gods command and subsequently punished with sin and death, thus spreading sin and death by inheritance to all humanity is a story that cannot be accepted under today's intellectual data. Requiring a blood sacrifice as the only means to allow forgiveness, first a temporary forgiveness with animal blood, to prefigure the blood of a divine man Jesus, the Christ is nothing short of ancient mythological concepts that predate our world. In addition, it was only after the death of Christ, when Paul pieced together the last Adam and new creation of mystical teaching. Matthew had started his genealogy with Abraham, the father of the Semitic nation, where as, Luke began with Adam, suggesting a new universal faith, as Adam was the symbolic father of all humanity, including the goyem. In the first century it was common knowledge that epilepsy was the cause of demonic infestation, leprosy - the punishment of God, storms and earthquakes - the acts of God, the earth being flat, and the stars in the sky being peepholes into the heavens where God dwelled in pure light, directly above the firmament. In today's world we know that epilepsy is not that of demons, but rather a brain disorder that can be treated with medication, that stars are burning suns, that the earth is round and is one small speck in an ever expanding universe that expands beyond human knowledge and the capacity to fully comprehend. Embedded in the minds of the Christian teaching is the negative and psychological teaching that inhibits human growth, that of being forever a sinner, unworthy of God, in need of a divine rescuer, hopelessly lost unless one goes through "the blood of the lamb, " the human sacrifice a perfect man, Christ. The major drawbacks of the atonement teaching:
Yet there was something in Christ that moved these Jewish writers in such degrees to change their lives forever. Their Christ experience was that of monumental change and direction, forever altering their perception as that of God and what they experienced in Christ. Apparently the only way their limited understanding could possibly grasp what they experienced was to contain this in theistic terms and human descriptions, forever compromising their experience in human fallible words, limited within first century mentality Beyond the supernatural miracles of walking on water, controlling weather patterns and healing blind persons, beyond virgin births, angelic pronouncements and cosmic ascensions, even apart from the literal interpretation of the resurrection itself, the last dying words on the cross, the entire birth story, the existence of Joseph (the father of Christ), the existence of Judas (the "Christ killer," having anti-Semitic meaning of his existence), records a story of symbols, symbols that have meaning far apart from biblical literalism. Apart from all the inaccurate and contradictory stories, brings the real meaning and intent of Jewish midrashic writing. Apart from literalism records a man who lived, loved and became someone who crossed the lines of monotheistic prejudices, ripping apart tribal barriers, overstepping the social, cultural and religious customs that bound persons into exclusive segregated communities. This man Jesus, spoke to women, to lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, Gentiles and all those considered outcasts in their theistic society. He went so far as to eat meals with these people, a practice of hospitality that had much meaning in that time era. This was a man who entered into the transcendental experience of love beyond barriers, living in fullness and having the courage to be beyond tribal prejudices. Apart from the human mythological theistic interpretations, which are nothing more than the creations of men, is the Christ experience of agape love, giving of life with the courage and power to be all that a man can be, that of God, something we all have within ourselves, that is of ourselves. Why did Mark, Matthew, Luke and John describe Jesus as they did? Were they simply under such euphoric idealism that they ignored reality, inventing stories that defy physical reality, acting as deception? This is not the case. And since this is not the reason, then why such miraculous stories of those such as a transfiguration, temptations by the Devil in the desert, walking on water, healing the blind, resurrecting the dead and feeding 5,000 on a few loaves of bread? There is an amazing answer that was formulated from a series of attempts by various theologians, B.W. Bacon, Austin Farrer, later scrapped, until Michael Goulder's thesis and later, John Shelby Spong's continuation of Goulder's analysis. Yet this thesis is not widely accepted as of yet among the mainstream theological community. That is, the seeing of the Gospels through Jewish eyes. It is here that one is revealed the midrashic method of description that correlates the story of Jesus to conform with the Jewish calendar and subsequent Jewish festivals that are so intrinsically bound to liturgical readings read in Synagogues each Sabbath, covering each (originally lunar) year. In Mark one finds the parallel to Jewish liturgical readings in relation to Jewish festivals, but not covering the full year, while Matthew adds additional midrashic writing to fill the remaining Sabbaths of the year. In Luke, there is the parallel to the first five books, the Torah, which are read each Sabbath as liturgical readings, the order and parallel are much too coincidental to be mere speculation. In Acts there is an amazing parallel with the Gospel also written by Luke, that parallels both Peter and Paul's events with those of Jesus. All of this supports the validity of midrashically designed material that removes all literalness of the actual events, not being eye witness accounts and certainly none containing the unnatural miracles of magic that biblical literalists and fundamentalists so readily believe. In Spong's Book, Liberating the Gospels, a full analogy on this thesis is presented. Each account from the birth narrative to the last night and the claims of resurrection appearances are all explained in detail as symbolic of the Jewish writers who have taken such from their treasured and sacred stories found in the Hebrew scriptures. There are also much more earlier and detailed writings of Michael Goulder, however his books may be out of print. Spong's thesis is an extremely enlightening look, an eye-opener, at why the Gospels were written and how they fit into the Jewish teaching and framework of liturgical life. The writers of the Gospels did not write valueless fairy tales, nor did they invent futile words of mythology, yet the accounts of Christ simply were not literal, as were never written as attempts to be read as actual accounts, but stories that repeat earlier accounts in the Hebrew scriptures, rewritten in relation to former characters and festival activities of liturgical Sabbath readings, now retold under the fulfillment of Christ, acting as midrashic (not literal) stories for liturgical purposes. The virgin birth, the resurrection, the ascension and the Pentecost experience are not literal accounts, yet are rich in symbolism, bumping the edges of life with the essence of God:
Unlike the traditional theistic beliefs that literalize mythological concepts and rely on human fallible expressions, the Christian mystics, by far the minority, from the early formation of the church, have attempted to see beyond the theistic explanations and to see what is behind the literal words of men into the mystery of the living word. Many have put their contemplative experiences of thought in the opposite direction, conflicting from the fundamental traditional theistic belief. Through meditation and contemplation the inner self is brought aware to a higher consciousness of being in "one" with God and all humanity, some being aware to our being more than "with" God, but rather "as" God "as" humanity - the only one Being that exists. The early church fathers and mothers, such as Meister Eckhart, St. John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila, who embraced the contemplative and mystical teachings were extremely careful at how they worded their thoughts in written form, always being watched under the careful scrutiny and observation of the hierarchical church organization, waiting on the sides with thumbscrews and torture racks for all those considered to commit heresy. Buddhism, all along recognized this mystical nonduality of God, including others who had the capacity to rise above God as person to "Existence" itself, such as, Sufi Moslems, Hindu mystics and later Protestants, such as William Law and various Quakers. This is a God I consider worthy of worship, one beyond theism, far apart from scriptures, dogmas, creeds and words of men who ignorantly claim them to be the "Inerrant Word of God," beyond the limitations of men and tribal prejudices that exclude other cultures, skin colors and sexual orientations, beyond an external deity who lives separate from men, but rather I find God in knowing divine existence in all humanity as the Source of our Being, more so, "as" being humanity, self, earth, universe and all that exists in itself. A God that goes beyond human limitations and tribal prejudices, with the ability to transcend differences with inclusiveness, to women, blacks, gay and lesbians, to Eastern, Western and cultures reaching the far ends of the globe. To see the Christ in all people, knowing that they are a part of myself and I a part of them, God and the very nature of existence. This is not said to condone or ignore evil, but it is to look beyond, behind and above the egos of men that separate one from another, to look beyond into the one spirit and energy, that we call God, the unconditional, non-judgmental and non-partial life force that is all living matter. On the other hand, I cannot worship an external deity that controls, punishes and provides mercy on a favored basis only to those who beg, pray and plead enough to please this deity with sobbing supplications, employing high titles of reverence, with the return granting of divine favor only to those "in the faith" with correct dogma, that in reality, is only that of fallible human limited concepts that attempt to capture what can never be contained in either human language, theology, commands and laws, that of God. Nor I can I worship a God that falsely labels "sin" on the basis of man made interpretive meanings on areas of life that are part of living, loving and being. This spirit, life force, energy, that which we call God, is unconditional, non-partial and non-judgmental. Anything less are the conditions of men imposing the security of fundamental containments that ward of his hysteria of trauma that immature self-consciousness simply cannot cope with, as the shock of this reality, that is, the ambiguous relativity, is far too great. St. John of the Cross, in his classic mystical writing, The Dark Night of The Soul, described the entering into the unknown, the essence of God - void of formulas, this way:
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As with ancient Judaism, the monotheism of tribal identity is in the male patriarchal form, raising the male in the image of Allah and the female below in inferior subordination, requiring the recognition and praise of this deity as the one and only deity to be worshipped, who would protect his own, and destroy his enemies. The external God in the sky mentality, who rewards the righteous with heaven and the bad with burning hell, is reminiscent of theistic Christianity taken from it's predecessor, Judaism. Muhammad interpreted to be Allah's messenger and true prophet known as being truthful and trustworthy was raised illiterate, unable to read or write, and remained like that till his death. Before receiving revelation, he had no prior knowledge of Religion or any previously sent Message. He remained like that for his first forty years. Revelation then came to Muhammad with the Koran. Allah, the only one and true external God, instilled peace on Mohammad and informed him of future events. Only those who believe in Mohammed, will have the ability to sleep in the manner he slept and purify themselves (through ablution and ritual washing) in the manner he purified himself; and adhere to his practice in the way they eat, drink, and clothe themselves. Mohammed is then said to describe Allah with qualities of complete perfection. Like the fundamental theists of Judaism and Christianity, this theistic belief is interpreted by the fundamental thinkers to be the only true way that will bring life, for it is claimed to be impossible for any person to conceive wisdom,, morals, good manners and nobleness of characters unless they believe and honor what this honorable Prophet, Mohammed, with Allah's blessing, has to say. The Qur'an, to the Muslim, is the degree of inimitability of the Divine law that was sent down upon Muhammad to the same degree of inimitability of the Divine creation of the heavens and earth. It is fundamentally stated that just as humanity cannot create this universe, in the same manner humanity cannot bring forth a law like Allah's law that he sent down upon his servant and messenger Muhammad. Here again, as with all other theistic religions, the remedy to combat what Freud called the trauma to keep mankind's self consciousness from hysteria. A neatly packaged statement of decrees and laws supposedly handed down by God, Allah, himself, given to a divine prophet, to record for us in human terms. I find this no different from any other claim to God through the written words of fallible and imperfect humans, men who from culture, tribal prejudices, social and political agendas, have written, read and taught down through the ages descriptions of God, a Being that can never be contained in words, concepts and theology. This has been the way since the ages of mankind who at some point in history evolved, developing what is known as the self consciousness, which immediately brought on trauma, in turn the birth of theism. It is precisely the fundamentalist thinking, "Our way or no way," that brings on wars and hatred, that of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists. However this is not this way with the mystics and universalists, those who have faith in God, but not one of a theism .nature. Who really was Muhammad? The Muhammad experience was to many a God experience. Persons saw this man as a true and trustworthy prophet of God, Allah. Something about this man moved, changed and overtook many people who experienced him, They saw God in this man's proclamation, and such wisdom from his words, to that to be of God, Allah. It certainly was not the hatred and tribal prejudices that are so identified with Muslim fundamentalists. Muhammad was a Monotheist, as Allah is the only one true God, however Muhammad's Islam was far more tolerant of other deities than the Judeo-Christian religions.
It was only until years later that Islam was hijacked by other men, as all religions, thus destroying the tolerance of other deities and the equality of women, as Muhammad did not require women to were veils or be treated inferior to men. What exactly was experienced, that, can never truly be known under the explanation of human teachings, laws, decrees and theology. Muhammad saw the greed and the comfort of money remove the loyalty to the clan and tribe and the compassion for the poor. He wanted to bring the one God of all, the God of Judaism and Christianity, Allah, to all people and have their own sacred scriptures. What makes the Koran so special is that it is written in it's own special language, Arabic. When read in Arabic, it emits pure creativity, as poetry and other creative forms of art speak. The passion in creative works cannot be explained with intellectual terms. It is said that for some persons, just hearing the Koran read in Arabic, immediately converted them, receiving the transience of the words that speak beyond the rational mind. Arabic is not translated clearly in English, as it comes forth obscure, articulated in indistinct terms, nor does English convey the essence of beauty that reading the Koran in Arabic can only bring. In Islam, there are three main sects or schools of thought, the Sunnis, the Shiis and the Sufis. The Sufis are the mystical branch and the minority. They are as the Zen branch is to Buddhism in the sense that they are universal beyond the walls of fundamentalism, doctrines, creeds and objectivity in strict literalization of man's interpretive perception that filters in prejudice all conceptual ideas with formulations. In this Sufi school, there are such mystics. Just as there can be found mystical teachings that transcend tribal boundaries and cross over fundamental lines in all religious cultures, there it is with some of those in Sufism. For instance the Sufi, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen teaches that the original birth of man transcends the cosmos. Lex Hixon writes on Bawa, Man is not a certain species on a particular planet, but Divine power projecting Its own Image. Wherever this Divine Image appears, focused through the evolutionary process on any suitable planet, the result is Man, in the esoteric meaning of the term, regardless of the particular physical organism involved. Bawa often remarks laconically, Man-God God-Man, suggesting the secret equivalence in essence between Divinity and humanity, as between the sun and its rays. One thinks of Allah in the context of strict Islamic monotheism as wholly other than mankind. But this complete separation between man and God is not borne out by Islamic mystical experience. In Sufi language, the human lover is mysteriously inseparable from the Divine Beloved. Evoking the transcendent nature of Man, Bawa's letter to Lex Hixon writes:
The vision of this transcendent and eternal Humanity is to be clearly distinguished from any pantheism which regards human beings as Divine. Nor form can be Divine, teaches Bawa, for Allah is utterly without form. Interesting, it was pointed out by a close friend of the Mystic and Catholic Monk, Thomas Merton, that at no time in his life did he ever become a true hermit. He had friends all over the world - Vietnamese Buddhists, Hindu monks, Japanese Zen masters, Sufi Muslim mystics, professors of religion and mysticism from Jerusalem's University, French philosophers, artists and poets from Europe, South America and the United States, Arabic scholars, Mexican sociologists, etc. These wrote regularly and turned up on his doorstep having traveled thousands of miles to see him. This is what you would expect and see with mystics, including those of the Sufi Muslims, to be crossing over the boundaries of decrees, climbing over the dogmas of theology, gaining the ability to see God in living, loving and being, perceiving God in all life as we know it. The literal words of Mohammed are men's accounts of Allah, written by humans, under social, political and cultural prejudices under the "straight jacket" of linguistic constraints that can not be taken in absolute certainty, knowing religion is not the same as the grand unexplainable wisdom of Allah. Rather the awareness of God in all and all in God, is the beauty of the Sufi. The knowledge of God is not to be limited to strict interpretation of human fallible words written and read by us, human fallible readers, but rather the knowledge of God is beyond man's reason. Man only perceives things he is capable of perceiving. He cannot raise his imagination above what he is used to, and he cannot reach beyond his imagination to where the being of God is. The secret of God is hidden in the knowledge of unity, the ability to transcend cultural, tribal, social, political and religious differences, to cross the barriers of exclusion, to extend beyond our limitations with the power of love. To quote a well known Sufi mystic and universalist, Hazrat Inayat Khan:
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Hinduism is a sacred and meaningful journey that travels inward. While other faiths, such as Judaism communicated with an external realm and Being, Hinduism were entering far depths of consciousness. Entheogenic plant consumption, that of the divine SOMA, a mushroom, originally played a large part in the Upishads. Yet as Ram Dass* experienced, a Yoga that exhibited no affects from a large dose of LSD, relating psychophysical yoga exercises and meditation produced far better results of inward journey to the Higher Self, thus in no need of SOMA to travel in the depths of consciousness.
Although symbolic, polytheism becomes the later stages of the teachings,
taking on various forms and methodology, the journey began to the inward internal Ground of Being and mystical
awareness of the oneness of God and humanity. A nontheistic teaching, while other forms took on theistic belief.
There are many gods and goddesses who all originated from an original creative force called Brahma. Each god and
goddess symbolically represent a different divine aspect - such as Vishnu, the creator, Siva the destroyer or Krishna
the god of love. Unlike the Christian traditional fundamental teaching, the Hindu theism openly exposes the shadow
side or underdeveloped imperfections of their divine gods, being openly exposed. Apart from the original inward journey, the polytheistic belief in external
gods, can be found in various schools of fundamental thinking within Hindu teaching, it is the metaphysical, non-formulated
conscious level awareness of great spiritual masters that relate the internal self, the Ground of Being, that is
the Atman to be that of the higher self, that of the One consciousness of all Being, the Brahman. Such is explored
in yoga, which is the Hindu system of both philosophy or knowledge, Sankhya and in the action of physical exercises of works, Yoga and meditation as a means of attaining ultimate reunion with the divine who also
lives internally within all as part of a One consciousness. The physical postures of yoga with meditation bring
a calming of the mind (impairment of the brain's cerebral reduction valve) and aid to that of contemplation and
self realization. This is a beneficial, mind centering work, providing emotional, mental and spiritual development
in the awareness of finding the higher self and divine within. Other venues of Hinduism teach the great spiritual principle of our two creative forces, our thoughts and our speech. Both forms of energy that are one and the same as our spirit, yet these our are creative points where we can use our force to project out into the universe, into the oneness that we are already part of in wholeness, and manifest our circumstances. Our thinking and speech should be carefully guarded and used in such a way to train both our conscious and subconscious to expand within us and align us with God. Incorporating the creative sounds of "Aahhh" and "Ohm" or "Aum," can be found both in the Hebrew name for peace, "Shalom," also known as "enlightenment" and in the limited human names for God in every culture, all containing this sound. Through meditation, contemplation, use of our "third eye" - chakra, creative sounds and mental picturing, we can use our creative energy of thoughts of gratitude and peace to project our internal desires, that go beyond surface exterior and illusionary desires that life as we know it so entices, drives and distracts us with both external and internal noise of mental activity.. In other venues of Hinduism, here the below information has been taken from the magazine Hinduism Today, endorses Vegetarianism, and like all religious codes, rationalizing the numinous, doctrinally "proving" the holy translated into moral/health/divine codes of logical thought. Here the reasons employing the laws were listed as the following:
Both Dharma and Karma and that of absorbed consciousness are principles and concepts brought forth by fallible humans seeking to bring meaning to the trauma of life, to fight the fearful result of hysteria, that is, answers to comfort the meaninglessness of life with the evolved gift of self consciousness. As much as I can respect these principles, and I do, I can not agree in an objective level. Rather I can find truth in such, only in subjectivity within my own human limitations. The law of Karma, for instance, has much truth, but again, only within the subjectivity of my perception, as all perception is filtered by our individual interpretation. The fact of the matter is, all of us, vegetarian or not, will one day, become another life form's food. At our death we will feed the worms, the soil, the grass and the trees. This is the cycle of life, whether we are carnivorous creatures or not. Diet, cleanliness, rest and physical exercise all play major roles in mental well being, which in turn, enable us to think more clearly and gain better ability to control our emotions and thoughts which we need for analytical thinking, creative thinking, mediation and contemplative thinking. Yet this can never be a divine law, nor requirement and path strictly adhered to find God and self. Unconditional love, the energy behind all matter, places no conditions and no restrictions, but simply that of Being, that is, living, loving and being beyond the human barriers of restrictive laws and teachings that separate one from another. In addition, the ultimate goal of the Hindu religion is to obtain samadhi, or the total absorption of
the self into the divine. This is what appears to be the difference from the Hindu samadhi and the Zen Buddhist teaching of kensho or satori (all terms of enlightenment). Unlike the Zen teaching of kensho, samadhi
is of the nature of quietism or escapism from life, while the Buddhist kensho
is a self-realization that enables one to live more fully in life.* Taking the view of Carl Jung, the
"father of analytical thinking," is to argue that being human and living in this world makes it logically
impossible to rid one of self, as if there is no self, then there is no consciousness and if there is no consciousness,
who can truly be experiencing samadhi? This
aspect of Hinduism represents an escape from reality and is therefore pointless. Unlike this teaching, leaving
this world is not to become a non functioning entity, but is to tame our egos, curb our selfish desires that infringe
on others. It is to recognize our separateness only within our limited physical self, yet to see our inner "oneness,"
our non-separate selves with the whole, the fullness of God, of humanity and universe. It is to transcend our differences,
to live in fullness, to completely love beyond limitations and to be all that we can be to our fullest capacity.
It is not to withdraw from the world in complete isolation in the total absorption of samadhi, solely finding the divine within. It
is rather, both the finding of divine within in meditative silence and in turn, living to our fullest capacity,
loving beyond our limitations and being all that we can possibly be, pushing our limits to the fringes of existence
where somehow the divine meets the human, to meet the point of God who lives in us, "as" us, that is
the Ground of our Being. Despite any thoughts of the futility of samadhi and complete withdrawal of fully living, loving and being all that one can be, does not remove the power of the Hindu mystic, the so called Hindu "liberal," that the Hindu fundamentalist so angrily despises. Yet as Freud so well explained, mankind's trauma of self-conscious existence from the beginning, simultaneously brought on theism and fundamental thinking as a tool designed to keep our hysteria in check. This can be said of every religious culture in existence that puts fundamentalism above the oneness of all in the mystical teaching of God simply "Being" and all life as we know it, the outpressings there of. Entheogenic Use, Metaphysical Insight Into
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"The religious life does not depend on the dogma that the world is eternal or not eternal, infinite or finite, that the soul and the body are identical or different, or the dogma that the saint exists or does not exist after death. It does not profit from the fundamentals of religion but profits from passion to the supreme wisdom and Nirvana (self-realization)." - MAJJHIMA NIKAYA p.63 As with Hinduism, Buddhism aims for finding the internal self, the Ground of Being, and is explored in meditation and achieving a contemplative experience, gaining an awareness, a higher consciousness to become awake as to who and what we are, into the depth of our interior selves to see our divinity, our connection as divine, our self awareness and that of humanity, thus becoming enlightened. There are some type of Buddhism, such as Pure Land Buddhism, that objectify teachings with symbolism and rituals, acting no different than other forms of religion from the West, with fundamental structures and formulated, methodical framework. Zen, however, is the name given to the branch of Buddhism, which keeps itself away from the Buddha as an image and object, so much that a well know saying goes, "If you meet the Buddha, kill him!." This is far from any Western teaching, such as the object of Christ that is needed in Christian doctrine, even with the mystical contemplatives. Zen is also called the mystical branch, apart from Buddhism, because it does not adhere to the literal meaning of the sutras, nor of objective truth, but sees them only as pointers to the way. This is the mystical Buddhism which transcends self to that of inner peace and truth that goes beyond human concepts, human language and theology that removes enlightenment to that of idolatry of ideas, religion, creating objects rather than symbols.
Zen Buddhism, in the Rinzai school, teaches the student to study riddles called koans, e.g., such as Hakuin's question of "what is the sound of one hand clapping?," or "Does a dog have Buddha nature" The answer given by Joshu is "Mu," which literally means "no," or "no thing." Of course there is no logical answer - the purpose of the koan is to demonstrate the futility of trying to achieve enlightenment through logical thinking. The thought being that sound had to exist before two hands can clap in order for it to be heard. Think about it. Sound outside of what we hear exists. It is our listening to it that makes the difference. But what the koans do is enter the subconscious mind and are answered beyond the intellect. It is with enlightenment, satori or kensho that one finds his true Buddha nature and finds the inner meanings of such koans. Because this understanding is external to us, as we don't really know what we mean by "I am I" and the "what" is the sound of the clapping of the hands. We must come up against this question with the force of a bomb, and all of our intellectual notions and ideas must be annihilated. The only way to resolve these questions is to come to the explosive inner realization that everything is ultimately reducible to nothing. If our understanding is merely theoretical, we will forever ask Who? What? and Why? (5) When I clap my hands it is just "Mu" (the unexplainable barrier you cannot conceive it in terms of existence or non-existence). There is nothing to "figure out" or speculate about. If you try to make even the smallest deduction or the barest analysis, you will never come the realization of Mu. You must cut out speculation about it! Stop using your head! Just become completely one with Mu and you will positively come to Self-realization. Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle explains it this way:
Carl Jung, found Buddhism particularly interesting in that it contains many symbols - "archetypical imagery," that can be tied up with other ancient cultures that Jung believed to be part of the human "collective unconscious" - the deepest layer of the unconscious, which extends beyond the individual psyche, an inherited condition in addition to instinct. What is very appealing in Buddhism are:
Buddhism, along with the mystical contemplative awareness of Christian, Sufi Moslem and other faiths are the closest I have found to my perception of universal wisdom. Non-theism, supporting the existence of ourselves as the manifestations, the outpressings of being. The "original mind," "original face," life force, our source of being is God and this unconditional force is nonjudgmental and primordial. It is nonduality of all life, that is the lack of separateness. The very meaning of Nondualism is that God is not separate from creation, from All That Is but instead is identical with it.
Opening the doors of perception through meditation, becoming aware of simplicity, that is, simple appreciation for all things, seeing the beauty in everything. Appreciation is seeing beyond our limited human perception clouded by our individual interpretation, but invoking magic in our awareness in ways such as; the way of the wind blowing across the leaves, the movement of water rippling in a stream. We attempt to become in touch with the unconditional that exists in all being, that of goodness. However, as with all religious teachings, there could be drawbacks in some areas of Buddhist teaching, for in some circles of Buddhist thought, suffering is seen as an illusion from which one can ultimately escape through escape from rebirths, such as in Soto teachings, yet this is not the same as true enlightenment and self awareness that brings forth mujodo no taigen - the actualization of the Supreme Way in our daily lives, not escaping but seeing through sufferings. Suffering is the result of our thinking and lack of perception, yet suffering is real and unavoidable and furthermore, is needed for emotional, mental and spiritual growth, for maturity, empathy and ultimately wisdom and true self awareness that comes with contemplative thinking. As Buddhism will teach, in order to overcome suffering, it is necessary to live through it, see within it, as beauty can only be found in the midst of suffering, peace only though difficulties, and this attained with the right way of thinking. The cessation of suffering does have validity in the sense that while humans may suffer, the need not let suffering conquer the center of being, or as the Stoics believed, the rational, essential being. To keep self above suffering is a consequence of that which is not from the essential being but which is accidental or in the limited perception view outside awareness or the delusion view of illusionary thought.. If the aim is total separation from all external life as a total withdrawal, as isolation into only the self, then the denial is in itself a form of repression, quietism - a denial of the shadow or unconscious part of the personality that contains characteristics which one cannot recognize as one's own, yet nevertheless are as much a part of one as the conscious. But true Buddhism, particularly daijo and Saijojo Zen, letting go of the busy mind into the calm mind of our original nature, that is, perceiving into the true inner and essential nature, the Buddha-nature or original face before your parents were born, and becoming aware to the universal way, not in escape from, but in living in one's daily life. While those of the west may classify and criticize Zen to be part of a whole collection of spiritualities of inwardness, withdrawal, inner purity, and quiet contemplation which simply take a man out of the world and make him indifferent to all forms of worldly life and action, spotlessly clean of all concepts, they have missed the Zen of Hui Neng, that it is anything apart from a mystique of passivity and of withdrawal. It is not a resting in one's own interiority but a complete release from bondage to the limited and subjective self, of liberation from all forms of bondage to techniques, to exercises, to systems of thought and of spirituality, and specific forms of individual spiritual achievement. It is the direct awareness that in which is formed the "truth that |
