69) The supernatural is no different from the natural. The supernatural is simply an aspect of the natural, the knowledge of which has perhaps been lost or is yet to be discovered.
70) The logical mind has difficulty in dealing with allegory, symbolism, mythology and archetypes because the logical mind is often reluctant to acknowledge its limitations. Nevertheless, the limitations of the logical mind are unquestionably real.
71) If we take the literalism and politics out of religion we rediscover a mystery.
72) Is to "turn water into wine" an allegory of the transformation that has taken place in a man who can Be and Act in accordance with what he Knows and Understands?
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Philosophical Musings 65-68
65) There is a tendency nowadays to think of truth in terms of factual information which has been verified. While this may tell us the truth of what we are in terms of mechanics it cannot tell us the truth of what we are psychologically and physiologically in the moment in a way that enables us to act selflessly and appropriately. What is the point of knowing everything there is to know about the human body and the energies which run through it if through one flash of uncontrollable anger we create havoc, even danger. As one remarkable man once said, it is like knowing everything there is to know about money without having any money in the bank.
66) To be touched by kindness, warmth and compassion is to be touched by the Truth, and if such kindness, warmth and compassion is exhibited by those we violently disagree with then so much the better for us.
67) Sometimes I think of the thoughts that are racing around inside my head, which want to shove my subjective opinions down someone else's throat, as being like a seperate creature or a fly that I would like to swat. But the fly is elusive and eventually flies away before it returns, again and again. The fly lives on auto-pilot. There is no need for me to do the same for every second of my life.
68) We all have negative emotions which from time to time possess us and even eat away at us. I think of Purgatory as being the friction between the desire to express such negative emotions and the knowledge that the expression of them cannot serve me
66) To be touched by kindness, warmth and compassion is to be touched by the Truth, and if such kindness, warmth and compassion is exhibited by those we violently disagree with then so much the better for us.
67) Sometimes I think of the thoughts that are racing around inside my head, which want to shove my subjective opinions down someone else's throat, as being like a seperate creature or a fly that I would like to swat. But the fly is elusive and eventually flies away before it returns, again and again. The fly lives on auto-pilot. There is no need for me to do the same for every second of my life.
68) We all have negative emotions which from time to time possess us and even eat away at us. I think of Purgatory as being the friction between the desire to express such negative emotions and the knowledge that the expression of them cannot serve me
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Philosophical Musings 61-64
61) Righteous indignation can neither know Conscience nor Reason; its energy is too coarse.
62) The more insistent we are about the need for explanations, and the more we make demands for 'evidence', the more we drive a wedge between ourselves and our capacity for emotional understanding and genuine intuition.
63) If the Holy Ghost acts through a pure quality of attention and a complete absence of egoism then to "be with child by the Holy Ghost" may well mean to be with child as a result of a sexual union where there was a pure quality of attention and a complete absence of egoism.
64) We usually think of vanity in terms of someone who likes to blow their own trumpet. However, perhaps there is a more pernicious and less obvious form of vanity - the vanity of not being able to view our limitations realistically. So long as we exaggerate our capacity for making the world a better place, there is vanity. So long as we exaggerate our capacity for coming up with sound ideas with which to make the world a better place, there is vanity. As has been said before, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
62) The more insistent we are about the need for explanations, and the more we make demands for 'evidence', the more we drive a wedge between ourselves and our capacity for emotional understanding and genuine intuition.
63) If the Holy Ghost acts through a pure quality of attention and a complete absence of egoism then to "be with child by the Holy Ghost" may well mean to be with child as a result of a sexual union where there was a pure quality of attention and a complete absence of egoism.
64) We usually think of vanity in terms of someone who likes to blow their own trumpet. However, perhaps there is a more pernicious and less obvious form of vanity - the vanity of not being able to view our limitations realistically. So long as we exaggerate our capacity for making the world a better place, there is vanity. So long as we exaggerate our capacity for coming up with sound ideas with which to make the world a better place, there is vanity. As has been said before, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Philosophical Musings 57-60
57) The assumed intellectual superiority of the atheist is as bogus as the assumed moral superiority of the pious.
58) Those who are gentle but firm in discouraging us from asserting our own cleverness are doing us a great favour.
59) We owe a huge debt of gratitutude to whomsoever bruises our egos, egos we would be better off without.
60) The mystery of the existence of God and what happens to us at death will always be with us and will never be solved through our usual forms of automatic thinking, irrespective of whether such thinking is from an atheistic perspective or a "so-called" religious perspective.
58) Those who are gentle but firm in discouraging us from asserting our own cleverness are doing us a great favour.
59) We owe a huge debt of gratitutude to whomsoever bruises our egos, egos we would be better off without.
60) The mystery of the existence of God and what happens to us at death will always be with us and will never be solved through our usual forms of automatic thinking, irrespective of whether such thinking is from an atheistic perspective or a "so-called" religious perspective.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Philosophical Musings 53-56
53) Until we are conscious of the contents of the subconscious we should be ashamed to claim that we can know God or to deny His existence.
54) We come closer to understanding by trying to sense what is behind the words and phrases that we might hear or read, rather than taking issue with them or thinking about them too superficially.
55) Without mystery there is no life.
56) Information is information. Experience is Knowledge
54) We come closer to understanding by trying to sense what is behind the words and phrases that we might hear or read, rather than taking issue with them or thinking about them too superficially.
55) Without mystery there is no life.
56) Information is information. Experience is Knowledge
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Philosophical Musings 49-52
49) Intelligence is far too generous a word to be wasted on intellectuals.
50) We neither need secularism 'more than ever' nor a return to religion in its corrupted and degenerative state. What we need is to be able to act with more kindness and compassion and impartiality, unaffected by other people's chemistry. We can start by having the humility to question our opinions and our constant need to justify them.
51) In order to know 'the Truth', as opposed to 'our truth', a very refined quality of energy has to penetrate the human heart.
52) If we think about the way we use the words 'faith' and 'belief', when removed from their ordinary religious associations, we realise that they mean something quite different. We are quite open to the fact that we may have been naive to believe something which turns out to be untrue whereas we say that we have faith in something or someone because of the confidence that previous and repeated experience gives us.
50) We neither need secularism 'more than ever' nor a return to religion in its corrupted and degenerative state. What we need is to be able to act with more kindness and compassion and impartiality, unaffected by other people's chemistry. We can start by having the humility to question our opinions and our constant need to justify them.
51) In order to know 'the Truth', as opposed to 'our truth', a very refined quality of energy has to penetrate the human heart.
52) If we think about the way we use the words 'faith' and 'belief', when removed from their ordinary religious associations, we realise that they mean something quite different. We are quite open to the fact that we may have been naive to believe something which turns out to be untrue whereas we say that we have faith in something or someone because of the confidence that previous and repeated experience gives us.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Philosophical Musings 45-48
45) Debating is nearly always 'points-scoring' not truth seeking.
46) If, after a debate, my opinions are as fixed as they were before I enterered into the debate then the interaction has done nothing to bring me to a new understanding of something and has almost certainly been a waste of time.
47) Technological evolution is not necessarily synonomous with human evolution.
48) Shakespeare said far more with the English language, when there were far fewer words at his disposal than there are now, than perhaps any of us are capable of today.
46) If, after a debate, my opinions are as fixed as they were before I enterered into the debate then the interaction has done nothing to bring me to a new understanding of something and has almost certainly been a waste of time.
47) Technological evolution is not necessarily synonomous with human evolution.
48) Shakespeare said far more with the English language, when there were far fewer words at his disposal than there are now, than perhaps any of us are capable of today.
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