When I saw the title of a New York Times opinion piece, "How Can I Possibly Believe That Faith Is Better Than Doubt?", I was pretty sure that I was going to disagree with it.
After reading what Peter Wehner wrote, I know that I disagree with him. Here's what rubbed me the wrong way in Wehner's essay. Let's start with this paragraph.
But faith itself, while not the converse of reason, is still distinct from it. If it seems like that’s asking too much — if you think leaps of faith are for children rather than adults — consider this: Materialists, rationalists and atheists ultimately place their trust in certain propositions that require faith. To say that truth is only intelligible through reason is itself a statement of faith. Denying the existence of God is as much a leap of faith as asserting it. As the pastor Tim Keller told me, “Most of the things we most deeply believe in — for example, human rights and human equality — are not empirically provable.”
This is wrong. Materialists, rationalists, and atheists don't have faith in reason. Rather they, or rather we, trust in reason because it freaking works.
Meaning, reason leads to demonstrable evidence supporting its propositions, when reason is reasonable. This is the power of science. Reason comes up with hypotheses that then are tested through a further extension of reason. The results are analyzed via reason, which leads to a provisional understanding that can be altered through additional applications of reason.
If something worked better than reason to understand reality, then us materialists, rationalists, and atheists would use that instead.
Regarding many things not being empirically provable, this is obvious. To my knowledge no scientist ever has claimed that everything in life can be empirically proven. Value judgements are a big part of being human. But those judgements usually should be made on the basis of solid information, facts, evidence.
My love for my wife isn't mathematically provable. But it stems from experiences that can be described. We met, we got to know each other, we got married, we've been wife and husband for 27 years. This isn't a matter of faith. It is a matter of lived experience.
By contrast, no one has direct experience of Jesus' life and death. All we have are stories put down in writing many years later. So it's no wonder faith is required to be a Christian.
Next, consider this excerpt from the essay.
Perhaps the key to understanding why faith is prized within the Christian tradition is that it involves trust that would not be needed if the existence of God were subject to a mathematical proof. What God is seeking is not our intellectual assent so much as a relationship with us. That is, after all, one of the purposes of the incarnation of God in Jesus.
Every meaningful relationship — parent-child, spouse to spouse, friend to friend — involves some degree of trust. It is better and more vivifying to be the object of someone’s trust rather than the last person standing after a series of logical deductions. That’s true for us as individuals, and it can be true for God as well.
This sort of circular reasoning drives me crazy when I read religious writings. Wehner assumes that God exists, and he even claims that he knows what God is seeking from us. He then uses those utterly unprovable assumptions to bolster his argument that trust, a form of faith, is a good thing.
Well, anything can be shown to be good if we just make up crap. For example: fairies want us to believe in them without any evidence of their existence; I do believe in fairies; so fairies are pleased with me.
If you can believe that, then you probably also believe other ridiculous stuff. Like, Jesus died for our sins.
Moving on, here's another part of the essay that I disagree with.
Faith can allow us to understand things in a different way than reason does, in a manner similar to what J.R.R. Tolkien meant when he said that pagan myths weren’t lies but rather pointed toward deep truths. The imagination could be integrated into reason, he believed, in a way that helped us to see reality a bit more clearly. Reason is one way to perceive reality; faith — rooted not in partisan ideology but in grace and a sense of the sacred — is another.
Well, one person's pagan myth is another person's religion. And vice versa. Billions of people in the world look upon Christianity as a myth. Other billions believe in the Bible. People have faith in all kinds of supernatural beliefs. How would Wehner have us sort of which sorts of faith are justified, and which are not?
By reason and evidence? No, because he has said that faith is greater than reason. Thus apparently Wehner is fine with Muslims having faith in the Koran and Allah, since no one can disprove faith.
Again, Wehner believes that the New Testament is true despite plenty of scholarly evidence that little of it can be substantiated by evidence, contemporaneous or otherwise. So his whole essay about faith is based on faith.
Which is fitting, I guess. Just not persuasive.
Yogic breathing / breath control / pranayama freezes the mind-body psychosomatic complex , even the energy chakras mentioned by Yogis have definite frequency of vibration which can be measured by electromagnetic devices / Quantum level discretion.
Posted by: vinny | December 25, 2017 at 09:25 PM
Hi Brian
Your logic was sound and eloquent early on...
You wrote
"Reason comes up with hypotheses that then are tested through a further extension of reason. The results are analyzed via reason, which leads to a provisional understanding that can be altered through additional applications of reason."
But falls apart here...
You wrote
"My love for my wife isn't mathematically provable. But it stems from experiences that can be described. We met, we got to know each other, we got married, we've been wife and husband for 27 years. This isn't a matter of faith. It is a matter of lived experience.
By contrast, no one has direct experience of Jesus' life and death. All we have are stories put down in writing many years later. So it's no wonder faith is required to be a Christian. "
Your experience of your wife is no different materiality from someone else's experience of the color green, or of a set of rules someone else invented, or their own experience applying those rules.
If someone prays to Jesus when unhappy, and, time after time, feels better, has clearer thinking, and functions better, time after time, year after year,they have their proof. Their Jesus may turn out to be a lot more reliable and powerful, being always available, and through that prayer always calming, always soothing, and always leading to less reactive thinking, than anyone's spouse, limited as they are to a temporary body and thinking and sentiment deeply affected by health.
And since we marry for better or worse there may be substantial periods requiring great patience and faith in them... Much greater than the tiny demands of faith for any form of belief, or those grounded in practice, and the results of that practice.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 26, 2017 at 12:01 PM
A subtle point about a change in the usage of the word Faith.
Today Christians equate faith with belief. The article Brian cited uses the term faith as in blind belief without any experience of a result or proof.
But St Paul teaches that faith is not passive belief but something more... An experience of the spirit which results from a practice.
"Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? (Gal 3:2)
" Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? (Gal 3:5)
"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Gal 3:14)
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Romans 10:17)
Faith as St. Paul describes it, is an active belief in the Spirit, developed by hearing the Word of God. A practice.
"But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
(Romance 10:8)
" 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
" For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
(Romans 10:13)
This 'faith' St. Paul writes of involves calling upon the 'name of God', listening to the Word and receiving the Spirit by doing so.
It is a practice through which the practitioner 'receives the spirit' a result that is experienced.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 26, 2017 at 08:35 PM
Atheists are cowards who cannot accept the reality of consciousness which has been proved by
physicists as " Unified field of consciousness ". It has wounded the ego of atheists & validated sant-mat & yogic science. These atheists are now misguiding the innocent gullible people by writing cheap diversion tactics articles.
Posted by: vinny | December 27, 2017 at 06:21 AM
Yes, faith is a funny one; its always accompanied by a large degree of knowledge. In the Christian faith it is based on the hope or desire that if one believes in Christ then all will be well. There are similar rewards and hopes in Islam, Judaism and many others - including the lesser known cults.
But can it really be faith where there is a carrot and stick scenario? I see a reality in faith that is not based on a thought-projected outcome - a fledgling does not know it can fly, at a certain time it just launches itself into the air and flies. Now that's real faith - not knowing the outcome, just relying on life. Similarly, we have faith for example when going to sleep, just letting ourselves drop into (almost) unconsciousness. We have faith in our natures, in our brain/body abilities - in life.
But perhaps life is to scary and insecure for most of us. Still, why can't we just simply have faith in life? Why is it that we need to identify with a series of beliefs -mere concepts that promise us rewards, that we wont die and so on. It is all a bit immature, there are no magic saviours, masters or fairies, there is just life. Why can't we just live it every moment with awareness and compassion and cease all our thought based, life denying separatist beliefs?
Posted by: Turan | December 30, 2017 at 07:05 AM
You seem to be confusing faith with blind belief.
And you assert, as if it is a known fact, that there are no saviours or masters. How do you know this except by blind belief? If you have been in Sant Mat for 10 years or 50 years and you are still stuck on trying to believe in these "masters" instead of KNOWING that they are masters through inner illumined experience of the truth of them, you deserve pity. I don't know what else you deserve except that, other than you seem to be an atheist. Which means you are confused. Why are you on this website? What are you trying to convey and transmit to others by writing here? What is the purpose of it?
Faith is always based on some kind of evidence. Blind belief is based on a lack of evidence. You have faith in every day life in many things. You trust you won't die in a car accident every single time you drive, for example. That has nothing to do with a shot in the dark, blind belief. Or Wanting to believe in something you know nothing of, even religious concepts and ideas. It is completely blind.
Posted by: D.r | December 30, 2017 at 10:38 AM
D.r, the difference between trust you won't die in a car accident and religious faith is that there's lots of demonstrable evidence about the number of people who drive and the chance of dying in a car accident. So it makes sense to trust that you won't die in a car accident, especially if you drive safely and have a vehicle with good safety equipment.
But there's exactly zero demonstrable evidence that anyone has died and gone to heaven, or experienced some sort of supernatural divine presence while alive. So religious faith is very different from the everyday trust, since there is no basis for it. Meaning, there is no solid evidence to support religious faith, while there is much evidence to support everyday trust.
Posted by: Brian Hines | December 30, 2017 at 11:35 AM
Hello Brian
I think you are right. Period!
Who has seen the light - c’mon all those who rabbit on about it???? All I read and hear is blah blah blah blah. Rssb is supposed to be a science. If the theory doesn’t work - discard the experiment. Blah blah blah.
God is $$$$$$$$ +€€€€€€+£££&&&&. It’s that simples.
Exactly - no one has!!!! Have a great day.
Posted by: Arjuna | December 30, 2017 at 01:47 PM
" Unified field of consciousness " is mathematical proof of consciousness advocated by Saints .
Posted by: vinny | December 30, 2017 at 04:30 PM
Hi Arjuna
You wrote
"Who has seen the light - c’mon all those who rabbit on about it????"
Several have brought forth their experiences on this website, and there is the written record of mystic spiritual experience as early as Sent recorded history.
It's a matter of what you choose to believe.
Brian accepts the report of the physical senses, digested through reason.
And that's how we know, except that there are internal sensory experiences as well. And our reason also becomes refined so that we understand more about how our minds perceives and reacts.
It's the same mechanism. If you travel to a foreign country that you once thought was backwards and ignorant only to find the people there are very mature, you give up your prejudices.
But until you go there or trust accurate reports of that place, all you can have is pre-judice.
The faith of a mystic is always temporary, like that of a scientist. You put together the experientiment, you build the nuclear accelerator as best you can and begin testing.
Your results may vary, and therefore your judgment.
Is nothing there? Or did you fail to maintain the necessary experimental control?
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 30, 2017 at 06:36 PM
@ Spencer - I cannot find fault in your response bar the “control” bit at the end. This control bit is hard to master when one sees meeting with politicians (thought RSSB was above that), land grabs, shares in companies, funny answers to serious questions, some of the most big headed people you can meet treating seeking badly when they turn up seva - all most want is a way out of this pain. If you have money or are of a higher caste you get more attention. The list goes on and on.
Where you are seeking perfection - none is there. Did not Dr Johnson write that one should use ones wits to see if something is right. If not - discard.
Let me tell you something a lot if people are walking away Sir. Decent people only want hope.
I’m getting tired and bored of this now - so I bid you and the rest on here - goodbye.
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 01:01 AM
Hi Arjuna:
You wrote
"@ Spencer - I cannot find fault in your response bar the “control” bit at the end. This control bit is hard to master when one sees meeting with politicians (thought RSSB was above that), land grabs, shares in companies, funny answers to serious questions, some of the most big headed people you can meet treating seeking badly when they turn up seva - all most want is a way out of this pain. If you have money or are of a higher caste you get more attention. The list goes on and on."
I found this interesting because I had written about mastery of meditation, not the social experience of any group.
Yet your experience of the latter brings you to dismiss the former.
Mastery of meditation is already built into us, like learning language, or mastering our profession, or learning to walk. If you watch children carefully you can see for yourself that learning the simplest things consumes all their time, attention and effort. They experience so much frustration, and yet so much joy. It's a game they play with their siblings, parents, teachers. And with each level of mastery they gain greater freedom.
The older we grow, the more our progress depends upon ourselves, and not anyone else.
So we encourage our younger siblings to play and learn, as we continue our own efforts.
When we see adults distracted and derailed, that can last for decades. Thirty years of casual and therefore ineffective meditation can really be one year repeated thirty times.
Meditation has nothing to do with the external organization at all.
What we are given at initiation is just a set of tools to do our own work within.
Judging the organization, the world, the master, even ourselves, letting our mind lead us, when a higher mind waits for us within, is just another obstacle. Just another distraction.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 31, 2017 at 07:59 AM
@ Spencer - I am really banging my head against a wall here. Have a read of what you just said in your last paragraph.
You think that when one concentrates or mediates it will upon the door on YOUR own accord. Looool.
Sorry mate - you need to have a guru or teacher who has POWER to pull you up.
Just have a think about your response before you reply - we are not Gods who control that access like some gate keeper.
And the other points I made you brush them aside - like a He Man. Sorry you don’t know my story and yes I don’t know yours. Later Captain
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 10:12 AM
Hi Arjuna
I apologize for the misunderstand.
We are nothing but gains of sand. The spirit shapes us, and our Master is always at the helm.
Yet we have our role to play, our personal responsibility.
Should that be to judge others? Or just to keep working within?
You already know the answer.
Whether we are god - men or slaves? We are all the same. Whatever place we find ourselves in is temporal.
The light in me is the same light in you. So I would prefer to point to that within yourself. If your Master is your best help, then of course turn to Him alone. If He is true, He is within.
But to judge anyone else when Truth waits inside you? It is only a distraction, Arjuna.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 31, 2017 at 10:55 AM
@ Spencer - I am Not judging anyone bar making observations - please don’t throw that argument my way. That’s why I stopped going satsang!!! Due to judgement by the Sanget when I needed help most! Please don’t.
You would not go to a pimp who claims to be a messenger from God - you would run a mile after seeing the company he keeps. So is that not observation and then judgement to avoid harm. Get my drift???
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 11:01 AM
Ps all I have ever asked for in my life is hope - hope for all. I have just come back after being in the company of initiates and what a pompous lot they are thinking they alone have access to God. Ps they are a shady lot from what I know - question for you? Does that mean a meat eater and a drinker who genuinely doesn’t know anything about the path but DOES more about helping the less fortunate - the truly in need is denied by god ??? Compared to a pompous intiate who says that if you mediate the lord gives you more?????
I want hope for all humanity not just a few pompous - stuck up their own ass and with egos bigger than you can imagine! YET they don’t miss a trick in not going and seeing Him.
I really hope Master reads this!!!!
Peace out.
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 11:10 AM
Hi Arjuna
You wrote
"You would not go to a pimp who claims to be a messenger from God - you would run a mile after seeing the company he keeps. So is that not observation and then judgement to avoid harm. Get my drift???"
Jesus walked with tax collectors, blessed thieves, forgave prostitutes. He didn't associate with the" holy" but for those needing to be saved.
But can we judge others rightly? I can't. I don't even judge myself. Can you judge who is holy? I can't.
But my Master is within. That's a much better place to be.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 31, 2017 at 11:13 AM
@ Spencer I judge myself all the time. If you don’t judge others - people think you are weak and exploit you mate!!!!
News flash - I may have been an ass wipe on my last life - a life I can remember!!!!!! But in this life I have lived well above what even most saints would marvel at but to what end !!!!!
Right I’m bored and a very angry - so bid you good night. And happy new year.
I
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 11:19 AM
I see this world as an illusion. Kal is Mind, we are taught in Sant Mat. People have visions and out of body experiences but they are still in Kal's domain. How can we believe in anything if it is all illusionary.
Gurinder jokes around all the time and can't be serious which looks to me like he is a trickster.
Shamans are tricksters. They can bend time and use magical powers to change physical reality so what does that say about our minds, our consciousness and this world. Nothing seems real.
Posted by: Jen | December 31, 2017 at 12:45 PM
Exactly- I want truth and have lived my life according to that but had nothing but pain!!!!
Have I wasted my life in a con???
I read Maria Konnikova's book: "The Confidence Game, The Psychology of the Con and Why we fall for it Everytime. It just blow my mind apart. The conman is usually very smart.
Sod this - get Robert Mueller to look into this after he finished his Investigation lol.
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 01:01 PM
Arjuna, you say "I have just come back after being in the company of initiates and what a pompous lot they are thinking they alone have access to God."
I know what you mean, must be frustrating. When I'm not feeling too happy or frustrated with life and taking things too seriously I watch funny youtubes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZOwNK6n9U
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert about religion versus science.
This one is hilarious...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvPxRyIWWX8&t=18s
Robin Williams interview with Craig Ferguson (26:04)
Happy New Year, dear Arjuna :)
Posted by: Jen | December 31, 2017 at 01:57 PM
@ Jen. Thank for the YouTube videos.
And Happy New Year to you too.
Hope we get our answers in 2018 - ps loved the bit about shamens. 😀
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 02:06 PM
Below is sinthing Robin Williams once said and thought I’d share it as it best illustrates the illusion of what I thought I would find on the Path. Good night all
"I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone." -
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 02:12 PM
If anyone is interested in watching the Robin Williams interview, I should have issued a warning - It is NOT politically correct - but is the funniest video I have every watched - loved the second half - laughter is infectious Happy New Year 😊
Posted by: Jen | December 31, 2017 at 03:08 PM
Find light within yourself. It's worth the trouble. Then, regardless of who is around you, you are never alone.
Accept the duty, do the work, enjoy the reward. Because in the absence of that, looking to the world, you have only disappointment, and the very small consolation of labeling others.
You look to others with disappointment. But the world is filled with ordinary people.
How can this stop you?
If you are this sensitive, the world is too harsh a place for that. Take this child, this innocence deeper within yourself, guard it carefully, where you can regain your connection to love within. The source of all love. The greatest power in creation.
You can take this as spiritual, you can take it as psychological. But that atmosphere you create in your own mind and heart is the source of your power.
Find it, develop it. Then you will spend your time on that. And it will return your efforts.
If you don't like Masters, or Satsangis, or religion, or even spirituality, why are you still looking to others? It's just more of the same. How can that lead to a better answer?
If others are the problem, imperfect and often unkind, why not look within?
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | December 31, 2017 at 03:13 PM
@ my dear Spencer - I care not for others bar as a measuring stick. Please stop going on about them and I am sorry I mentioned them.
Thank you for your words - I bid you good night
Posted by: Arjuna | December 31, 2017 at 03:20 PM
Ah D.r – I am always suspicious about KNOWING (from my own experiences – take too long to explain here) and no need for pity as I have a whole world of reality in my life – not based on faith or belief I hasten! The evidence that justifies religious or spiritual faith is, well, iffy. And I realise that faith can be necessary and harmless for some. As the Sufi saying goes “Why take a fish out of water and moisten it with a little spittle”.
I dabble on this website because some of the blogs Brian puts up interests me and I qualify because I am 'churchless' with no particular beliefs or agenda to promote or defend. My interest here is simply to talk about the world of nature, of life, of the realities around us I see everyday being available to us and that our 'faiths' and beliefs – and various other thought based concepts appear to separate us from that.
I read recently how babies and infants have a sense of wonder and oneness and that as a self-structure emerges in a few short years this infant sense begins to wane. It seems to me that we perhaps try to recover that state later in life through our religions etc. I'm reminded of two examples :- “Unless you become as little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven” and the Chinese (perhaps Taoist) talk of the “Uncarved Block” - realising our original nature - before conditioning.
Posted by: Turan | January 01, 2018 at 04:36 AM
@ Spencer - I think you were right about everything and it is I who let my anger and ego get in the way. Thank you
Posted by: Arjuna | January 01, 2018 at 03:18 PM
Hi Arjuna
We all deal with that. Join the club.
Some of us are amateurs, thrown about by our own emotional reactions, even justified by injustice, or the ignorance of others that leads to injustice.
How many unnecessary deaths have I witnessed in hospitals where I work due to management fear and greed? And it is my job, somehow, to turn all that around.
In service, we step right into situations that would cause others to scream in outrage, unable to tolerate even a moment there.
Some of us take a professional approach, applying the tools we have honed over years of practice and refinement, metal refined into pure gold, into a philosophers stone; the tools refined in an oven of ten thousand suns, within us.
No anger, no lust, no greed can survive that resounding oven within.
But as long as we occupy the body, we are subject, daily, to its limitations and biochemistry.
So, take this day as a fresh beginning, as an opportunity, not to eliminate for all time emotions, but instead, to develop to a professional level the necessary cleaning tools that actually transforms dark energy, dark matter, into light.
Light that helps illuminate the world, and gives pause and a moment of peace, introspection and thoughtfulness to others. Not your light. Just the light that is inside everyone. But when you connect to it, every action you take resonates with others around you, and they find themselves in a moment outside time and space. A thoughtful moment.
The fact that it is in you means no one can corrupt it. No one can abuse it. That light is more powerful than any human being, greater than all the armies of this and every other world together.
Without it, creation would end.
You have access to it. But that access requires leaving your ego and personality at the door, at least while you visit Her. You may need those things to function here. She does not require them. You must remove all your clothes there. As that is so very difficult, that light will help you in stages to approach Her. She is the real you.
So, my New Year's wish for all my friends here is to successfully mine what is in you, to make this your career, your profession, to a professional degree.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | January 01, 2018 at 04:20 PM
@ Spencer - thank you again. I know this is not the right place to say this but I hope I find that light soon. This world is very sour. I was not myself that day I write on here. I don’t know who you are but please tell me who inistiated you. You sound like what the world calls a good man.
I thought I hurt your feelings the other day in my responses - that is the last thing I wanted to do - as I believe it is the greatest sin anyone can create. To hurt another.
Happy new year.
Posted by: Arjuna | January 01, 2018 at 09:37 PM
To Arguna,.....
I'm passing the light of peace, love and prosperity to you for 2018 Its pretty cool don't kill it pass it on.
Posted by: Jim Sutherland | January 02, 2018 at 02:59 AM
@ Jim - thank you. That made me chuckle and hope you have a wicked as I’m good 2018:-)
Posted by: Arjuna | January 02, 2018 at 05:10 AM
Hi Arjuna.
Maharaj Charan Singh is my Master.
1978 initiation by Roland DeVries.
As far as what kind of person I am, my goal is nothing. I'm making gradual progress on that.
You said nothing inappropriate. We all go through our cycles.
Posted by: Spencer Tepper | January 03, 2018 at 08:34 PM
LOVE, ......while incarcerated in a human body , magnifies all suffering happening in the world that Lovers of God can do nothing about, other than observe, protest about, speak about, until all tears dry out and hearts harden .
Yes, Love really does syfen through harden hearts occassionally, but observing the ratio of suffering, injustice, and pain, to Joy , Bliss and Hope, all depends on which Observation Tower each mind/soul happens to manifest on.
Meditation at the Third Eye focusing above Pind ( body ) is the only brief escape from being forced to observe the evil and suffering of others, in addition to one’s own, such as,..........
Animal cruelty and slaughter by humans for food consumption; slaughter houses and meat processing plants, cattle farms where extreme cruelty of all animals happen every moment, and baby calfs are kept in small boxes and slaughtered young so blood thirsty carnivores can eat “ Tenderloin” Beef.
Cattle are shipped by Air and Ships, to Israel from South America, alive on the hoof, in transit, over crowded, terrified, and sent to the slaughter houses in Israel so meat will be “ fresh” for Kosher Carnivores.
Horses are eaten, as are Kangaroos, and dogs are raised to be eaten in Korea!
Chickens are raised to be eaten and sold like Pop Corn! The flesh pots keep cooking, as Love never penitrates those suffering animals while we observe and can do nothing to stop the suffering other than choosing to not participate in it ourselves,
Animals kill and eat each other, which is their nature, which we can only observe,
Wars, killing, bombing, gasing, burning, torturing, is happening some where, on the planet, daily, and as individuals, we can really do nothing, other than observe.
Human slavery, children sold and trafficked for sex accross the globe, is happening daily, and as individuals, we can do nothing about that suffereng, other than not participate and observe.
The list expands daily, of world suffering, as the Internet expands, and the Media continues to share all the negativity of the world, moment by moment, live as it happens.
Regardless of where we happen to find our selves, in the evoltion scale, as humans, Meditation focusing at the Third Eye and traveling inside to arrive at Samadhi is the only place I have ever found to be able to briefly escape the horrors of observing the evil and suffering happening in the world that I can do absolutely nothing about, other than choose not to participate in any of it.
I really think we were, as humans, far better off before we had the Internet and TV showing us every negative thing happening all over the world, moment by moment.
And we can only see the tip of the ice berg.
imagine how God, Anami Purush feels, observing all from the top or pinnicle of the suffering on earth?
😪🙈
Jim Sutherland
Posted by: Jim Sutherland | January 04, 2018 at 03:26 AM
When I observe the state of the world in this present time, I am reminded of the Four Yugas, and I think we are only in the beginning of Kali Yuga:
The four great epochs in Hinduism are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga.
Kali Yuga: The final age lasts only one tenth of the cycle, however, that is certainly long enough as it is the age of darkness and ignorance. People slide further down the path of dishonesty, with virtue being of little value. Passions become uncontrollable as unrestrained sexual indulgences and manipulations run through society. Liars and hypocrites rise. Important knowledge is lost and scriptures become less and less common. The human diet is now ‘dirty’, and people are not even close to being as powerful as their ancestors in the Satya Yuga. Likewise, the once pristine environment is now polluted. Water and food become scarce, as do family bonds.
Posted by: Jen | January 04, 2018 at 01:44 PM