Last night at work, I spotted members of the local church holding an addiction seminar at the recreation center.
This church offers the cure of Jesus Christ for addictions.
Sadly they brought pamphlets, which would lead to pollution so I threw the four that I found in the nearest garbage can.
IMHO the cure for addiction is to be of service to other people. Even keeping the earth green is a higher calling. Yet a religious organization that is not eco-friendly is not keeping the earth that God created clean.
That these church members don't get this shows that their cure is merely a substitution of a deadly addiction with godliness and its potential to be abused.
All the paper pollution that these ex-addicts left behind show that they are the road to a spiritual addiction which will blind them to true service to their fellow mankind.
For godly people are sorely tempted to consider themselves better than a sinner who abases himself by praying meekly, "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner."
Showing posts with label balancing good and evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balancing good and evil. Show all posts
20150430
Satan as Superstition (satire)
Contrary to a few of Christendom's arrogant posture that their faith is based on a new offshoot of Judaism lacking true syncretism, the assimilation of local traditions into Catholicism is nothing more than syncretism in which the early Church absorbed pagan traditions and remade the gods in God's image as angels, demons and Satan.
However, Satan is a tempter who has no real power, except through people aligned with the dark side of human nature.
Ergo, absolute evil and absolute good never existed before mankind thought them up, given that, according to the Bible, God is the sole author of good-and-evil.
Satan is not real. Rather, superstitious fear of the devil is the most diabolical of what man has wrought on innocents.
It has led to witch hunts from the 15th Century up until the 19th Century, and sometimes occurs in the Old World.
In the name of religion, socio-political turmoil, Catholic versus Protestant conflict, functional explanations, class conflict and gender conflict better explain what really happened in those times. Men relied on their prejudices and fears stoked by religious excess to oppress other men, women and children.
Today, few people believe Satan is real, and most of us know he is not a real being. Indeed, he has no physical power in the material realm at all, being merely a metaphor for the potential of great evil, just as God is the metaphor for the potential of great good in us all.
Reference:
God as sole author of good-and-evil: http://biblehub.com/isaiah/45-7.htm
Satan: the devil mind: http://www.truthcontest.com/entries/the-present-with-religion/satan.html
Witch hunts in the early modern period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period
However, Satan is a tempter who has no real power, except through people aligned with the dark side of human nature.
Ergo, absolute evil and absolute good never existed before mankind thought them up, given that, according to the Bible, God is the sole author of good-and-evil.
Satan is not real. Rather, superstitious fear of the devil is the most diabolical of what man has wrought on innocents.
It has led to witch hunts from the 15th Century up until the 19th Century, and sometimes occurs in the Old World.
In the name of religion, socio-political turmoil, Catholic versus Protestant conflict, functional explanations, class conflict and gender conflict better explain what really happened in those times. Men relied on their prejudices and fears stoked by religious excess to oppress other men, women and children.
Today, few people believe Satan is real, and most of us know he is not a real being. Indeed, he has no physical power in the material realm at all, being merely a metaphor for the potential of great evil, just as God is the metaphor for the potential of great good in us all.
Reference:
God as sole author of good-and-evil: http://biblehub.com/isaiah/45-7.htm
Satan: the devil mind: http://www.truthcontest.com/entries/the-present-with-religion/satan.html
Witch hunts in the early modern period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period
20150307
The Moderation Method: The Glass is Both Half Empty and Half Full!
Even if my life didn't turn out well as my classmates who graduated in 1976, then I will still insist that I would never change what I did other than get more sleep.
I have a method to deal with life.
My method is to always bounce back from any short stumble, be it financial or what have you (depression, anxiety, upsets).
For someone to tell me such and such is for my own good without any humor is too mercenary for my tastes. You may think you are helping me, but it's like sticking a knife in me to tell me "It's for your own good."
How dare you to think you know what's good for me?
It is not rude to say "I understand", because that beats anything that self help books and the inspirational speaker can give me! ;)
I too have found nobody likes what they mistake for wavering i.e. to honestly state the truth that the glass is half empty and half full, while around you the realists cry "you cannot have both!!!"
Um... Sorry, most hard cases at the mental health clinic ooze with seeing the mirror darkly and insisting that the cup is half empty. Is it really up to me to help my brother who also suffers when he insists that he has to be honest with his feelings?
That's not honesty; that's a form of subtle violence against all the positive feelings which we bottle up until we only have negative ones to practice.
Truth is, when you're home and isolated to the point where you think being home is more "normal" than talking with someone, then you're maladapted, and no one may change your mind unless they talk as I do now.
Yes, I am mildly maladapted but I'm trying to show the positive and the negative, because balanced expression beats gazing in that dark mirror.
If this offends anyone who insists on the safety of the hearth over dealing with life outside, then I believe deep down that talking to someone hurts less than your reluctance to share with a trusted friend.
All the anxiety you have might have you to believe your delusions about other people are real. A person is only real when they can glow with positive vibes whilst explaining how they conquer the negative ones daily.
Hopefully the gentle reader is clear of mind enough to see the beauty of positive thinking in what I write.
Originally posted November 9, 2012 at 6:45 PM PST
I have a method to deal with life.
My method is to always bounce back from any short stumble, be it financial or what have you (depression, anxiety, upsets).
For someone to tell me such and such is for my own good without any humor is too mercenary for my tastes. You may think you are helping me, but it's like sticking a knife in me to tell me "It's for your own good."
How dare you to think you know what's good for me?
It is not rude to say "I understand", because that beats anything that self help books and the inspirational speaker can give me! ;)
I too have found nobody likes what they mistake for wavering i.e. to honestly state the truth that the glass is half empty and half full, while around you the realists cry "you cannot have both!!!"
Um... Sorry, most hard cases at the mental health clinic ooze with seeing the mirror darkly and insisting that the cup is half empty. Is it really up to me to help my brother who also suffers when he insists that he has to be honest with his feelings?
That's not honesty; that's a form of subtle violence against all the positive feelings which we bottle up until we only have negative ones to practice.
Truth is, when you're home and isolated to the point where you think being home is more "normal" than talking with someone, then you're maladapted, and no one may change your mind unless they talk as I do now.
Yes, I am mildly maladapted but I'm trying to show the positive and the negative, because balanced expression beats gazing in that dark mirror.
If this offends anyone who insists on the safety of the hearth over dealing with life outside, then I believe deep down that talking to someone hurts less than your reluctance to share with a trusted friend.
All the anxiety you have might have you to believe your delusions about other people are real. A person is only real when they can glow with positive vibes whilst explaining how they conquer the negative ones daily.
Hopefully the gentle reader is clear of mind enough to see the beauty of positive thinking in what I write.
Originally posted November 9, 2012 at 6:45 PM PST
20141021
Authors of Destiny
Nowhere in the Bible does it state that Satan is the author of evil, for this is blasphemy. Rather, God is author of good-and-evil, which is the complement of good and evil.
For man is not only capable of great evil but also great good.
All that the devil can do is accuse or tempt us. We are perfectly capable of making mistakes on our own when temptation leads to desire.
Of course, the devil exists in Christendom. However, the devil never made a person do anything. That's merely an excuse for being wicked until one is damned by ill will.
This is why it's important to attend church regularly, and serve the church selflessly to renew your covenant with God.
That's what repentance is about.
Although God is the author of good-and-evil, people are the authors of their own destiny.
For man is not only capable of great evil but also great good.
All that the devil can do is accuse or tempt us. We are perfectly capable of making mistakes on our own when temptation leads to desire.
Of course, the devil exists in Christendom. However, the devil never made a person do anything. That's merely an excuse for being wicked until one is damned by ill will.
This is why it's important to attend church regularly, and serve the church selflessly to renew your covenant with God.
That's what repentance is about.
Although God is the author of good-and-evil, people are the authors of their own destiny.
20140807
A Meditation on the Weird and Wonderful (satire)
Sometimes, out of fear a person would deem me weird, rather than acknowledge their fear and grow from that knowledge.
Labelling me weird means you are afraid of someone else being different from you.
It also means you do not care to know me, but wish to remain ignorant of the fact that I am mostly harmless and am a very loyal friend to those people who are willing to abandon their fear of me and to love me just as I am.
Knowing this, I understand why I have few friends because truth telling like this is certain to scare away people unable to handle the truth.
They will deny it to be true, and accuse me of insulting them, telling me "You don't know me."
Of course, I do not know you but the truth is, my own fear of you do not end with me projecting it onto you, and labelling you "weird". That would be too easy to do.
Instead, I would meditate on why people label other people they barely know as "weird", and come to realize that such labelling is based on ignorance about the "weird" person and the unwillingness to get to know the other person and truly acknowledge them as a human being.
Perhaps we project our anxiety about "being different" onto other people, mainly because we want to fit in, and keeping out people who we think don't fit in is for the greater good.
Sadly though, creating a "them versus us" scenario violates the human rights of the person who is merely different from you, even if it may be higher intelligence, being more patient than Job, or having the biggest collection of plush toys.
For myself, I find that I grow from the knowledge about other people who are my closest friends. This comes through sharing our thoughts about our lives, and overcoming our fears about what concerns us, such as food, shelter and entertainment. Often it requires promises of commitment followed by honoring that commitment.
Perhaps it is possible to be weird and wonderful. Perhaps weird morphs into a new kind of difference which arises out of love and respect for each other. Maybe it's time to embrace the fear and transform our inner weirdness into something wonderful.
For love conquers the fear of being different.
Labelling me weird means you are afraid of someone else being different from you.
It also means you do not care to know me, but wish to remain ignorant of the fact that I am mostly harmless and am a very loyal friend to those people who are willing to abandon their fear of me and to love me just as I am.
Knowing this, I understand why I have few friends because truth telling like this is certain to scare away people unable to handle the truth.
They will deny it to be true, and accuse me of insulting them, telling me "You don't know me."
Of course, I do not know you but the truth is, my own fear of you do not end with me projecting it onto you, and labelling you "weird". That would be too easy to do.
Instead, I would meditate on why people label other people they barely know as "weird", and come to realize that such labelling is based on ignorance about the "weird" person and the unwillingness to get to know the other person and truly acknowledge them as a human being.
Perhaps we project our anxiety about "being different" onto other people, mainly because we want to fit in, and keeping out people who we think don't fit in is for the greater good.
Sadly though, creating a "them versus us" scenario violates the human rights of the person who is merely different from you, even if it may be higher intelligence, being more patient than Job, or having the biggest collection of plush toys.
For myself, I find that I grow from the knowledge about other people who are my closest friends. This comes through sharing our thoughts about our lives, and overcoming our fears about what concerns us, such as food, shelter and entertainment. Often it requires promises of commitment followed by honoring that commitment.
Perhaps it is possible to be weird and wonderful. Perhaps weird morphs into a new kind of difference which arises out of love and respect for each other. Maybe it's time to embrace the fear and transform our inner weirdness into something wonderful.
For love conquers the fear of being different.
20140725
Evil Means Nothing to Me (satire)
Of all the good that is in the world, love is especially treasured.
When love comes without conditions, it can only be shared. Hopefully we may put no conditions on it, lest love lose its power to overcome the trials in this journey called life.
Having said this, I only hope that love reflects all that is good without me hating what I may mistake for evil.
For that which is not good is not always evil. Even though it is not good to hate, hatred for what is not good may become like another evil when the hater is biased about evil.
Since unconditional love inspires me not to hate but to love without attaching conditions to that Love, I am the wiser for remaining aloof to what is not good and not consider it truly evil.
True evil thus is not worth my hatred, lest I lose myself to that hatred. Though it would be equally foolhardy to love evil!
It would be best for my sake to ignore evil, and to desist from contemplating it at all. In loving that which is good, be it beauty or the pure heart, I love both because of what they mean to me.
Therefore evil has no place in my heart, and is thus meaningless to me.
Murder, lust, rage, mayhem — these acts and feelings seem exciting and sometimes attractive to a few people, but not to me. I see them all as abstract concepts, for they are not a part of my immediate reality.
Evil means nothing to me because I do not naturally contemplate acting and thinking evil. Instead I gravitate towards good, due to the power of unconditional love.
Though it would seem that I am suggesting unconditional love makes evil irrelevant, I deny this. For good and evil have their place in the world.
It is evil to harm other people, and especially evil to kill them. Likewise, the contemplation of murder is an evil thought. For killing other sentient beings violates the precept against killing.
However, it is good to treat other people with kindness. Though unconditional love does not blind us to evil. We do good to other people not merely to benefit ourselves, but mainly to help other people.
Even so, the act of causing harm to another sentient being cannot be due to unconditional love.
Sometimes we do not act to stop harm to another person. This inaction is the cause of evil, rather than calculated malevolent intent.
This is why the opposite of love and hate is actually indifference.
I do not like to hate another person or even a group of people. Rather, my hatred is directed toward their actions when it violates my moral code. If they bully other people, then I have less sympathy for them and more sympathy towards their victims.
I will hate what they do but certainly not hate them.
My attitude towards them is mitigated by unconditional love. For it is their limitations which lead them to bully someone for reasons known only to them.
Still, I admit to being a hypocrite since in the past I might have been a bully to the bullies for their heinous acts. For I am human, and sometimes my feelings of outrage may get the best of me, especially when the callousness of other people becomes so apparent to me.
In any case, the power of unconditional love inspires me to remember not to hate other people for the evil that they do, but to hate their evil actions.
This is why evil means nothing to me, and good means all the world to me.
When love comes without conditions, it can only be shared. Hopefully we may put no conditions on it, lest love lose its power to overcome the trials in this journey called life.
Having said this, I only hope that love reflects all that is good without me hating what I may mistake for evil.
For that which is not good is not always evil. Even though it is not good to hate, hatred for what is not good may become like another evil when the hater is biased about evil.
Since unconditional love inspires me not to hate but to love without attaching conditions to that Love, I am the wiser for remaining aloof to what is not good and not consider it truly evil.
True evil thus is not worth my hatred, lest I lose myself to that hatred. Though it would be equally foolhardy to love evil!
It would be best for my sake to ignore evil, and to desist from contemplating it at all. In loving that which is good, be it beauty or the pure heart, I love both because of what they mean to me.
Therefore evil has no place in my heart, and is thus meaningless to me.
Murder, lust, rage, mayhem — these acts and feelings seem exciting and sometimes attractive to a few people, but not to me. I see them all as abstract concepts, for they are not a part of my immediate reality.
Evil means nothing to me because I do not naturally contemplate acting and thinking evil. Instead I gravitate towards good, due to the power of unconditional love.
Though it would seem that I am suggesting unconditional love makes evil irrelevant, I deny this. For good and evil have their place in the world.
It is evil to harm other people, and especially evil to kill them. Likewise, the contemplation of murder is an evil thought. For killing other sentient beings violates the precept against killing.
However, it is good to treat other people with kindness. Though unconditional love does not blind us to evil. We do good to other people not merely to benefit ourselves, but mainly to help other people.
Even so, the act of causing harm to another sentient being cannot be due to unconditional love.
Sometimes we do not act to stop harm to another person. This inaction is the cause of evil, rather than calculated malevolent intent.
This is why the opposite of love and hate is actually indifference.
I do not like to hate another person or even a group of people. Rather, my hatred is directed toward their actions when it violates my moral code. If they bully other people, then I have less sympathy for them and more sympathy towards their victims.
I will hate what they do but certainly not hate them.
My attitude towards them is mitigated by unconditional love. For it is their limitations which lead them to bully someone for reasons known only to them.
Still, I admit to being a hypocrite since in the past I might have been a bully to the bullies for their heinous acts. For I am human, and sometimes my feelings of outrage may get the best of me, especially when the callousness of other people becomes so apparent to me.
In any case, the power of unconditional love inspires me to remember not to hate other people for the evil that they do, but to hate their evil actions.
This is why evil means nothing to me, and good means all the world to me.
20140617
The Do-Gooder (satire)
When a man abandons egoistic desire and chooses to do all that is pure and good, his basic goodness outshines all shame and reproach.
Choosing good over evil is just and good, when the innocent achieve justice. Indeed, it is good to abandon the wicked to achieve that justice.
Yet humans bedevil themselves when they call what they think is not good evil and blame a supernatural being for their lot in life.
Indeed, choosing good over evil is like choosing love over hate. The wise however should determine what is good and do it while refraining from doing evil.
It makes no sense to scapegoat other people who you assume are doing evil, just because you have chosen to do good.
For do-gooders ought not trespass against other people simply because of their unbelief. Instead, they should patiently guide them through skillful means.
Such a wise person who is skilled in guiding other people would never reproach another person simply because he made the wrong choice. Rather, he would comfort the wrong-doer and let him discover the error of his ways.
This is why it is wise to abandon desire and chooses to do good.
Choosing good over evil is just and good, when the innocent achieve justice. Indeed, it is good to abandon the wicked to achieve that justice.
Yet humans bedevil themselves when they call what they think is not good evil and blame a supernatural being for their lot in life.
Indeed, choosing good over evil is like choosing love over hate. The wise however should determine what is good and do it while refraining from doing evil.
It makes no sense to scapegoat other people who you assume are doing evil, just because you have chosen to do good.
For do-gooders ought not trespass against other people simply because of their unbelief. Instead, they should patiently guide them through skillful means.
Such a wise person who is skilled in guiding other people would never reproach another person simply because he made the wrong choice. Rather, he would comfort the wrong-doer and let him discover the error of his ways.
This is why it is wise to abandon desire and chooses to do good.
20140406
Life Is All Smoke and Mirrors (satire)
Nothing is either good or evil. There just is Yin and Yang. All good and evil is is just smoke and mirrors.
Yet Westerners love to delude themselves by believing good and evil have been here from the beginning. The only thing that is here from the beginning is the Tao.
When humanity becomes extinct, the Tao will remain. Then a new champion will arise take our place.
My bet is on the cockroaches...
Thus all of creation is neither solely good nor solely evil. Instead, all of it but the balance of Yin and Yang, dark and light as one.
This is why it is impossible for me to accept Christianity or even Islam completely. Christianity makes it seem as good and evil pre-date Creation. If you're not good enough for Islam, then the Fire is your destination. It all seems black and white to the ʍuslim.
However, by not being Jewish or Christian, but somewhat touched by the Quran, ɪ still am going to spout words that would get me stoned in the Middle East, mainly because I have outed myself as an unbeliever in strict Muslim eyes and an apostate to Christian and Jewish ideals.
However, it is all an illusion, this concept of good versus evil. For in each of us is the potential for great evil and also great good.
Few of the religionists will grasp my meaning, because they take sides on the concept of good and evil, falsely tainting it as "good versus evil" which is a fallacy if one believes that "forces of good" and "force of evil" predate humanity.
Each of us creates by our actions good or evil, depending on whether each act leads to confusion or to understanding.
In Buddhism, it is said that evil is the result of actions that create confusion and pain. All good actions result from creating conditions that favor peace and understanding. It is impossible to be a goody-two-shoes, because when you least expect it, your good actions might result in suffering for other living beings.
One of the Buddhist precepts is about not killing a living being. Bacteria are living beings, but if we do not kill them with antibiotics, then we might end up dead. This is why we wash our hands.
Yet killing a living being is against the Buddhist precepts. However, because a bacteria is causing us harm, we allow ourselves the right to defend ourselves to kill it. Once ɪ continue my thoughts on this topic, the line between good and evil becomes fuzzy. It is no longer a question of black and white anymore.
Good and evil exist together. You cannot have one without the other. They are not opposites; they are complements.
In my opinion, the same applies to the Absolute and the Void. They coexist to form Space. Yes, I am saying being and nothingness coexist to form the whole universe, reality and unreality, the whole existence, and life as we know it.
Therefore the end of the world story of all evil being consumed by Fire is only half the story of that time, because the brimstone is a clue that the Fire cleans everything of the darkness that is Evil. Once cleans, the goodness of all souls God create remains to return to him in the Absolute. This is known as returning to the Godhead.
Only the wise will understand what I just said. Those people who think ɪ am babbling, their understanding is limited.
This is why it is best for you who understand to just forget what I just said. Truth like this only sounds like babbling but is known to the depth of the souls of the wise.
Originally postedː ʍarch 31, 2014 03ː18 PDT
Yet Westerners love to delude themselves by believing good and evil have been here from the beginning. The only thing that is here from the beginning is the Tao.
When humanity becomes extinct, the Tao will remain. Then a new champion will arise take our place.
My bet is on the cockroaches...
Thus all of creation is neither solely good nor solely evil. Instead, all of it but the balance of Yin and Yang, dark and light as one.
This is why it is impossible for me to accept Christianity or even Islam completely. Christianity makes it seem as good and evil pre-date Creation. If you're not good enough for Islam, then the Fire is your destination. It all seems black and white to the ʍuslim.
However, by not being Jewish or Christian, but somewhat touched by the Quran, ɪ still am going to spout words that would get me stoned in the Middle East, mainly because I have outed myself as an unbeliever in strict Muslim eyes and an apostate to Christian and Jewish ideals.
However, it is all an illusion, this concept of good versus evil. For in each of us is the potential for great evil and also great good.
Few of the religionists will grasp my meaning, because they take sides on the concept of good and evil, falsely tainting it as "good versus evil" which is a fallacy if one believes that "forces of good" and "force of evil" predate humanity.
Each of us creates by our actions good or evil, depending on whether each act leads to confusion or to understanding.
In Buddhism, it is said that evil is the result of actions that create confusion and pain. All good actions result from creating conditions that favor peace and understanding. It is impossible to be a goody-two-shoes, because when you least expect it, your good actions might result in suffering for other living beings.
One of the Buddhist precepts is about not killing a living being. Bacteria are living beings, but if we do not kill them with antibiotics, then we might end up dead. This is why we wash our hands.
Yet killing a living being is against the Buddhist precepts. However, because a bacteria is causing us harm, we allow ourselves the right to defend ourselves to kill it. Once ɪ continue my thoughts on this topic, the line between good and evil becomes fuzzy. It is no longer a question of black and white anymore.
Good and evil exist together. You cannot have one without the other. They are not opposites; they are complements.
In my opinion, the same applies to the Absolute and the Void. They coexist to form Space. Yes, I am saying being and nothingness coexist to form the whole universe, reality and unreality, the whole existence, and life as we know it.
Therefore the end of the world story of all evil being consumed by Fire is only half the story of that time, because the brimstone is a clue that the Fire cleans everything of the darkness that is Evil. Once cleans, the goodness of all souls God create remains to return to him in the Absolute. This is known as returning to the Godhead.
Only the wise will understand what I just said. Those people who think ɪ am babbling, their understanding is limited.
This is why it is best for you who understand to just forget what I just said. Truth like this only sounds like babbling but is known to the depth of the souls of the wise.
Originally postedː ʍarch 31, 2014 03ː18 PDT
20140204
Let God's will be / دعونا الله سيكون
الله يكون كبيرا و سجن الشيطان في الجحيم من قبل المسيح.
لا يتم تضليل للذئاب في ثياب الحملان الذين يدعون الشيطان يغري لنا. فإنه ليس من عمل الشيطان لإغراء لنا، ولكن ل يلقي ظلالا من الشك على قوتنا الداخلية و عزيمة . لأنه هو بإرادة الرجل وحده أن ننكر كل إغراء ل سلامنا للعقل.
عندما يخطئ رجل ، هو فقط من قبل إرادته أن ينشأ الشر ، وليس لأن الشيطان يغري له . الأحمق فقط هو الذي يلوم كائن خارق مع قليل التأثير المادي على قراراتنا.
إذا لم تكن جيدة يحدث لنا ، ثم لماذا لعنة الله ؟ إذا الشر يضر بنا ، لماذا علاج الشيطان ؟ لا ينبغي لنا أن نحمد الله عند حسن الحظ هو نصيبنا ؟
في الواقع ، يجب علينا التبرع للمشردين عندما يواجه حسن الحظ ، وعندما يصيب الشر لنا ، للحصول على خطأ أو إغفال الأمر الذي أدى إلى مثل هذه المأساة.
وبالتالي أنا أعرف أن أي شخص يقول الشيطان بيننا و تعزيز عمل شيطاني فقط ، ومتمنيا أشخاص آخرين للخوف عليه عندما يجب أن نضحك على الشيطان.
انه هو الذي يعرف الحكمة رموز الشر الجيدة والتي لا بد لي القانون الفيزيائي . لذلك، على حد سواء الله والشيطان وبصرف النظر منا. لا لا اللهم ارزقنا حسن الحظ، لا ولا الشيطان تحيق بنا مع الوباء .
دعونا الله سيكون
--- translation: english ---
God be great and Satan is imprisoned in hell by the Christ.
Do not be mislead by wolves in sheep's clothing who claim Satan tempts us. It is not the devil's work to tempt us, but to cast doubt on our inner strength and resolve. For it is by man's will alone that we deny all temptation for our peace of mind.
When a man errs, it is solely by his will that evil arises, not because Satan tempts him. Only a fool would blame a supernatural being with little physical influence over our decisions.
If good does not happen to us, then why curse God? If evil harms us, why cure the devil? Should we not praise God when good fortune is our lot?
Indeed, we ought to donate to the homeless when encountering good fortune, and when evil befalls us, seek the error or omission which led to such tragedy.
Thus I know that anyone who says Satan is among us is only promoting diabolism, and wishing other people to fear him when she should laugh at the devil.
He who is wise knows the symbols of good and evil are not bound by physical law. Therefore, both God and the devil are apart from us. Neither does God grant us good fortune, nor does Satan plague us with pestilence.
Let God's will be.
20140203
Meditation - Journal Entry: September 30, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Be excellent in all
That you do, and accept
Everyone as Buddha
Without question. O!
No one is as splendid
As the bodhisattvas.
Egoless due to daily meditation,
I hold no delusions about being a god.
For what is ego but a tool to wield for liberation?
He who wields Ego wisely uses it to benefit everyone.
What is evil but utter confusion?
What is good but true understanding?
Although all of what I write
Is metaphorical, it is
For the good of us all,
Even the white lies which hold
The Truth occulted by evil karma.
Truth arises from
The pure mind, cleansed of evil
Through daily practice
Of calm abiding and
Mindful reflection on Truth.
Achieve the pure mind
By letting go of desire
Through skillful means.
All it takes is to repeat
The Nembutsu sincerely.
For the Nembutsu
Is the tool of cleansing, and
Purifies the mind.
Wield it kindly when saying
The Nembutsu, the Name-that-calls.
He who utters the Name-that-calls
Is merely moved by the Buddha
Calling to all of humanity.
With each calling his mind is
Cleansed of anger arising from
Desire until the Pure Mind
Arises, shining bright like
The moon rising after sunset,
And the sun rising in the morn.
All things in the universe
Are impermanent,
And there is no soul at all.
Instead, there is but
The Eightfold Consciousnesses.
That you do, and accept
Everyone as Buddha
Without question. O!
No one is as splendid
As the bodhisattvas.
Egoless due to daily meditation,
I hold no delusions about being a god.
For what is ego but a tool to wield for liberation?
He who wields Ego wisely uses it to benefit everyone.
What is evil but utter confusion?
What is good but true understanding?
Although all of what I write
Is metaphorical, it is
For the good of us all,
Even the white lies which hold
The Truth occulted by evil karma.
Truth arises from
The pure mind, cleansed of evil
Through daily practice
Of calm abiding and
Mindful reflection on Truth.
Achieve the pure mind
By letting go of desire
Through skillful means.
All it takes is to repeat
The Nembutsu sincerely.
For the Nembutsu
Is the tool of cleansing, and
Purifies the mind.
Wield it kindly when saying
The Nembutsu, the Name-that-calls.
He who utters the Name-that-calls
Is merely moved by the Buddha
Calling to all of humanity.
With each calling his mind is
Cleansed of anger arising from
Desire until the Pure Mind
Arises, shining bright like
The moon rising after sunset,
And the sun rising in the morn.
All things in the universe
Are impermanent,
And there is no soul at all.
Instead, there is but
The Eightfold Consciousnesses.
20140127
Eye of Wisdom
Having obtained the eye of wisdom,
I will remove the darkness of ignorance;
I will block all the evil paths
And open the gate to the good realms. — Bodhisattva Dharmakara
"Having obtained" refers to years of study (of the three sutras of Amida Buddha) and meditation (particularly Nembutsu or Buddha Recitation) which uncovers the "Eye of Wisdom".
"Eye of wisdom" refers to the eye that sees the Dharma and the inner spiritual world. Also known as the Dharma Eye, the Eye of Wisdom is the complement of the physical eye that sees the external material world, which is called the Worldly Eye.
"Darkness of ignorance" refers to the state of the unenlightened mind that delights in sensuous desire and the evil passions which distract the Buddhist from the spiritual journey. Evil in context with the passions refers to any confusion and distraction from that journey due to wrong action resulting in wrong-mindedness.
"Evil paths" refers to the many paths which distract the Buddhist from achieving calm abiding and peace of mind. Calm abiding refers to the mind that is content with itself and is free of evil passions.
Through regular meditation, it is possible to "remove the darkness of ignorance" and "block all the evil paths" through calm abiding and continued reflection on Enlightenment. By removing the darkness of ignorance and blocking all evil paths, confusion and distraction from the spiritual journey is dispelled. As a result, the clear mind is achieved in which calmness abides.
With calm abiding, it is possible to "open the gate to the good realms" of spiritual contentment, which prepares the way to the Pure Land of Bliss.
Juseige - Verses confirming the 48 Vows:
http://web.mit.edu/stclair/www/larger.html#Juseige%20-%20Verses%20confirming%20the%2048%20Vows
Eye of wisdom: http://www.buddhapadipa.org/dhamma-corner/the-eye-of-wisdom/
20131225
Good Alone Means Nothing (satire)
For good is empty of evil; evil, of good.
Empty implies the quality called "good and evil" is not a thing that has been here since the beginning. Instead it is a reified object of abstract origin made to be real which it is not.
Indeed, there is no reified good or evil.
For the "battle between good and evil" is a metaphor for what each person does in his life.
As well, the devil is not a personification of evil opposed to the personification of good (God).
Rather, the devil or satan is merely the metaphor of the Tempter without any power to harm us, just as God is aloof from man. It is within the mind of a person that the so-called battle rages, not from the supernatural realm (a mystical dimension).
For God is the author of good and evil, and Jesus-worship is a violation of the first commandment that God is your Lord, and he does not take kindly to worship of Jesus, whilst forgetting God is in deity with Jesus. All "Jesus is Lord" means is Jesus is the god of the Chrisitans.
Yet, to Christians, Jesus in deity with God means Jesus is Lord God.
Therefore, asking us to accept Jesus into our hearts is unnecessary as God-worshipers such as Jews and Muslims believe in God, and can do very well without Christianity.
For a Christian, Jesus-worship is empty of God-worship but is full of Jesus in deity with God.
What that means is that Jesus became the means by which Gentiles (non-Jews) and Jewish converts came to know God as the Jews tend to keep Gentiles (Goyim) in the dark about all things Jewish.
Thus it became difficult to know God personally as the Jew would stone any Goyim who tried to read the Talmud.
This is why Christianity was invented: to know God by accepting Jesus into their hearts. In this way, the Bible replaced the Talmud and the Jewish tendency to isolate was rejected.
As well, the Salafi Muslims err in persecuting Coptic Christians because their hate crimes against Christians violate Muslim respect for Christians.
Salafi propaganda is a fascist political tool that combines religious hatred for Christianity with violence against Christians, Jews and so-called unbelievers. For them, good means a worldwide Caliphate, which is impossible to arise due to the tendency for humanity to resist against hate and violence.
As much as anti-Semitism against Jews is a hate crime, so too is oppression of Coptic Christians and violence against unbelievers.
For Salafi Muslims are much too zealous to be considered a proper Muslim. Here the good that is full of hate and empty of love for all people as the Salafi display it is untrue and thus a pernicious fallacy inflamed by their zeal.
Were God to bless their enemies, not one Salafi Muslim would view as such. In their blindness, they are led by Shaitan and fooled by Iblis. Yet a Salafi would deny this and resort to violence while affirming that they are led by God to cleanse the land for the future Caliphate.
I do not write this to inflame a man's heart against Islam, but rather to convince people that Salafi Muslim are Muslim only in name. Even if they pray five times a day, they cannot wash off the curse of Cain, which is to murder others out of jealousy over God's blessing of their works.
Just as a Jew Jealously guards his Talmud from Christian eyes, so too does a Salafi guard his faith from the moderation of mainstream Islam, which he finds to be the root of unbelief of the moderate Muslims.
Good alone means nothing to a zealot. For he thinks he is good and others evil. The truth is, good and evil is relative to the situation, and in the situation of the Salafi warrior, it is good to kill unbelievers. His way is subtly influenced by Shaitan.
No matter how many infidels a Salafi warrior kills, his reward will still be the one of what the Christian calls "sinners", which is a time when to help cleanse the warrior of his sins, he will be cast into the pits of the Hells.
What this means is, the Salafi warrior has besmirched his name and brought shame to his ancestors. It is only by the forgiveness of the rest of humankind that their legacy will be redeemed. For there is a purpose to such zealous acts of mayhem and violence.
Since the Salafis see the Coptic Christian displays of piety as sacrilege, it is due to their level of shame which conflicts with the level of pride the Christians demonstrate when consecrating their churches. It makes me wonder if their ancestors were also guilty of condemning the Christ.
Out of their shame they act with the zeal of madman, killing Christians, be they men, women or child.
All the Christians of this world can do is condemn it and think of the good in forgiving the Salafis, for their ignorance of their actions.
That ignorance is what leads to the evil caused by their violence against the Christians.
It is not the Christian's duty to resist evil through violence, lest by raising a hand they go to Hell.
Even though the Jews may laugh at such things, even their actions bear the fruit now of evil rather good. It may be good to Israeli to kill nine Palestinians, but the one Israeli who was shot by a Palestinian sniper was a contractor to the Israel Defence Force. Though it was also a good for the Palestinians to martyr the killers of their people, their revenge is an evil.
Thus, no good will come of it, all this violence in the Middle East.
If I take a side, then I am no better than them. So on this matter, relative to good and evil, neither side is good (worth defending), be it Christian, Jew or Muslim.
For good alone means nothing.
Originally written January 20, 2013 4:21 AM
Empty implies the quality called "good and evil" is not a thing that has been here since the beginning. Instead it is a reified object of abstract origin made to be real which it is not.
Indeed, there is no reified good or evil.
For the "battle between good and evil" is a metaphor for what each person does in his life.
As well, the devil is not a personification of evil opposed to the personification of good (God).
Rather, the devil or satan is merely the metaphor of the Tempter without any power to harm us, just as God is aloof from man. It is within the mind of a person that the so-called battle rages, not from the supernatural realm (a mystical dimension).
For God is the author of good and evil, and Jesus-worship is a violation of the first commandment that God is your Lord, and he does not take kindly to worship of Jesus, whilst forgetting God is in deity with Jesus. All "Jesus is Lord" means is Jesus is the god of the Chrisitans.
Yet, to Christians, Jesus in deity with God means Jesus is Lord God.
Therefore, asking us to accept Jesus into our hearts is unnecessary as God-worshipers such as Jews and Muslims believe in God, and can do very well without Christianity.
For a Christian, Jesus-worship is empty of God-worship but is full of Jesus in deity with God.
What that means is that Jesus became the means by which Gentiles (non-Jews) and Jewish converts came to know God as the Jews tend to keep Gentiles (Goyim) in the dark about all things Jewish.
Thus it became difficult to know God personally as the Jew would stone any Goyim who tried to read the Talmud.
This is why Christianity was invented: to know God by accepting Jesus into their hearts. In this way, the Bible replaced the Talmud and the Jewish tendency to isolate was rejected.
As well, the Salafi Muslims err in persecuting Coptic Christians because their hate crimes against Christians violate Muslim respect for Christians.
Salafi propaganda is a fascist political tool that combines religious hatred for Christianity with violence against Christians, Jews and so-called unbelievers. For them, good means a worldwide Caliphate, which is impossible to arise due to the tendency for humanity to resist against hate and violence.
As much as anti-Semitism against Jews is a hate crime, so too is oppression of Coptic Christians and violence against unbelievers.
For Salafi Muslims are much too zealous to be considered a proper Muslim. Here the good that is full of hate and empty of love for all people as the Salafi display it is untrue and thus a pernicious fallacy inflamed by their zeal.
Were God to bless their enemies, not one Salafi Muslim would view as such. In their blindness, they are led by Shaitan and fooled by Iblis. Yet a Salafi would deny this and resort to violence while affirming that they are led by God to cleanse the land for the future Caliphate.
I do not write this to inflame a man's heart against Islam, but rather to convince people that Salafi Muslim are Muslim only in name. Even if they pray five times a day, they cannot wash off the curse of Cain, which is to murder others out of jealousy over God's blessing of their works.
Just as a Jew Jealously guards his Talmud from Christian eyes, so too does a Salafi guard his faith from the moderation of mainstream Islam, which he finds to be the root of unbelief of the moderate Muslims.
Good alone means nothing to a zealot. For he thinks he is good and others evil. The truth is, good and evil is relative to the situation, and in the situation of the Salafi warrior, it is good to kill unbelievers. His way is subtly influenced by Shaitan.
No matter how many infidels a Salafi warrior kills, his reward will still be the one of what the Christian calls "sinners", which is a time when to help cleanse the warrior of his sins, he will be cast into the pits of the Hells.
What this means is, the Salafi warrior has besmirched his name and brought shame to his ancestors. It is only by the forgiveness of the rest of humankind that their legacy will be redeemed. For there is a purpose to such zealous acts of mayhem and violence.
Since the Salafis see the Coptic Christian displays of piety as sacrilege, it is due to their level of shame which conflicts with the level of pride the Christians demonstrate when consecrating their churches. It makes me wonder if their ancestors were also guilty of condemning the Christ.
Out of their shame they act with the zeal of madman, killing Christians, be they men, women or child.
All the Christians of this world can do is condemn it and think of the good in forgiving the Salafis, for their ignorance of their actions.
That ignorance is what leads to the evil caused by their violence against the Christians.
It is not the Christian's duty to resist evil through violence, lest by raising a hand they go to Hell.
Even though the Jews may laugh at such things, even their actions bear the fruit now of evil rather good. It may be good to Israeli to kill nine Palestinians, but the one Israeli who was shot by a Palestinian sniper was a contractor to the Israel Defence Force. Though it was also a good for the Palestinians to martyr the killers of their people, their revenge is an evil.
Thus, no good will come of it, all this violence in the Middle East.
If I take a side, then I am no better than them. So on this matter, relative to good and evil, neither side is good (worth defending), be it Christian, Jew or Muslim.
For good alone means nothing.
Originally written January 20, 2013 4:21 AM
20131223
Comments on Satanism versus satanism
Preamble: this article is about Satanism as the religionists view it, and how I use the term.
My use is to point to the truth of the possibility that Christians, Jews and Muslims might be "worshipping" Satan when their doctrines lead to hate crimes committed against gays and people "living in sin".
E.g. It is satanic for Jews to cheat Gentiles. Likewise it is satanic for Salafis to kill Coptic Christians while excusing their violence as "will of God".
A religionist who kills is only exercising the will of man. That in itself is not satanic. It is when a person who errs hides behind a deity who is apart from man most of the time.
Let's first turn to Wikipedia's definition of Satanism.
May 15, 2005 1403H: Satanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satanism is a religious and philosophical movement whose adherents recognize Satan as an archetype who all humans have some characteristics of, and Satanists celebrate aspects of human nature represented by the Satan archetype. Many Satanists do not worship a deity called Satan, or one by any other name. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes.
Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship in favor of more egoistic worldviews and practices such as magick. Groups or individuals described in some sense or another as Satanic can largely, though incomprehensively, be described as belonging to one of two unofficial sub-groupings: Philosophical Satanism or Religious Satanism.
Commentary: Satanism is more harmless than most Christian sects.
...To the Satanist, One is One's own God, and He disdains rationalist, secular humanistic beliefs which abhor the existence of the supernatural, only to promote a sterile life grounded in the 'real world' alone and in working towards the altruistic advancement of His fellow man while neglecting His own gratification and amusement. Obviously, philosophically Satanic thought has had a long history before LaVey's Church (indeed, self-centered egotism is probably as old as civilization itself), though it was the notion of Satan as the idealistic, self-seeking black sheep which inspired the title in spite of contemporary Christianity (which views him as evil because of these qualities).
Comment: Think of Satanism as magico-religious rationalization called by Ayn Rand, "selfishness".
...the Serpent in Genesis [encouraged] mankind to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, saying "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."*, with the clear implication, coinciding with the beliefs of all Satanists, that mankind should know what is better for itself than any God which would forbid knowledge and self-government. Because of the common position that their faiths are in fact very old, or the oldest, Religious Satanists sometimes refer to themselves as "Traditional Satanists" and Philosophical Satanists as "Contemporary Satanists".
Comment: This is symbolic of Truth.
...The existence of large networks of organized Satanists involved in illegal activities, murder, and child abuse is occasionally claimed, often by fundamentalist religious movements. Those claims have never been substantiated and are widely believed to be false. See conspiracy theories.
Comment: ritual sexual abuse however may occur within the institution of the healthcare system, along with ritual physical abuse not only by doctors and nurses, but also by people in authority. Thus, the conspiracy theory by fundamental Christians of ritual Satanic abuse is actually a repressed memory of abuse within their own denominations and within the Establishment itself.
Thus, Satanism is about the ego, rather than about rising above selfishness to try to get to know Truth in the form of Oneness with God.
The truth that Satan represents is God = Man, rather than the eternal truth that God = Man + "Life, the Universe and Everything."
While both Truths are valid, each in their own way, the Superior man will let his head be his guide on any matters of the heart arising from the synthesis of each of them.
Thesis = Truth of Oneness
Anti-thesis = Truth of Selfishness
Synthesis = Oneness and Selfishness are light and dark aspects of Truth
In various Gnostic sects, the Serpent was praised as the giver of knowledge. Sometimes Satan was also referred to, under the names Lucifer or "the light-bringer". Some Gnostics claimed that the being declared God by Christians and Jews was in fact Satan, known as the Demiurge.
Comment: this gives a less sinister view of Satan than Christians are wont to do.
The Confusion about "Satanic"
There are many groups which are commonly misconceived as Satanic. There are two common definitions of a Satanic religion:
* Any religion that does not follow the Christian religion or recognize Jesus Christ as explained in Christian dogma.
* Any religion that consciously recognizes and worships "Satan," usually referring either to a "dark" deity (similar to the Christian Satan, though usually lacking the evil or unnaturalness associated with it) or a conceptual Satan, often referring to a so-called "true" nature of Mankind.
The first definition is most commonly used by fundamentalist Christians, and is the source of much disagreement about whether a religion should be considered Satanic or not. The most common targets of these claims are Neo-Pagan religions, such as Wicca and Ásatrú.
It is also common to see Christian denominations or even Judaism and Islam referred to as Satanic based on interpretations of the first definition. Among these Christian groups are usually the less traditional ones, such as the Mormons and other smaller sects. Also, it is not unheard of for Catholics to refer to Protestants as Satanic, and vice versa, though this is more uncommon.
Comment: Ignorance is used as a tool to misuse a term out of fear. In the case of Christians using the term "satanic", this has led to a lot of really stupid things like witch hunts.
Within the limited Christian definition, I practice a New Age Satanism by calling my religious beliefs, "Shinto-Buddhist-Hindu-Christian New Age philosophy".
Update March 12, 2013 0716H
What I actually practice is a layer of traditions, none of which are Christian, Jewish or Muslim.
Update December 23, 2013 2120H
Comment: I define satanism as behavior which leads to evil karma e.g. people expressing anti-gay sentiments are behaving like homophobes. This leads to a backlash where pro-gay activists, both gay and heteronormative criticize monotheists who are conservative about sexual mores.
However, my use of the term "satanism" is actually the closest Christian term for evil karma, which arises when confusion and conflict result from actions we do.
My use of the term "satanism" is inaccurate since Buddhists do not believe in satan or God.
Indeed the closest Buddhists get to the archetypes of good and evil is with respect to karma. A person is not inherently evil to a Buddhist. Rather, what we create determines whether the karma is evil or good. Ultimately this is not a judgement call that determines one's path in the afterlife.
Evil karma does not doom a Buddhist to the Hell Realms, nor does good karma lead to the Pure Land. Why? Because one would also have to include the karmic seeds stored in the Alaya Consciousness.
According to Buddhist folklore, a tally of good and evil karma is made by Yama or a representative he chooses to determine the destination of a person after death. However, because each of us does not know the amount of good and evil karma which came with each of us at birth, it would be impossible to determine what awaits us at death.
Speculation about one's destination in the afterlife is moot. It might even keep us from attaining rebirth in a Pure Land, if we cling to the idleness of such speculations.
Hence the term "satanism" refers not to satan or God but to the evil resulting from actions which harm oneself and/or other people. Karma is not such a big deal, be it evil or good. It is more satisfying to meditate on karma than to worry about one's destiny in the afterlife.
This is why for me as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, my destination in the Pure Land of Bliss is guaranteed when I confirm that destination through Nembutsu practice.
Thus the use of "satanism" and "satanic" is to make it easier to understand that evil karma is not sin but the potential confusion and conflict due to the actions a Buddhist creates that harm self and/or others, such as lying, theft, hating someone, and other acts which range from childish to downright vile.
In contrast, good karma is not due to luck but rather, to the potential understanding and "good vibes" arising from moral act such as helpfulness and giving charity.
Thus it is possible for monotheists to act in a satanic manner when their proselyting against homosexuality and common-law marriage leads LGBTIQ people of the rainbow to abandon their religion of birth for a more humanistic lifestyle free of the hangups of religion i.e. conservatism.
My use is to point to the truth of the possibility that Christians, Jews and Muslims might be "worshipping" Satan when their doctrines lead to hate crimes committed against gays and people "living in sin".
E.g. It is satanic for Jews to cheat Gentiles. Likewise it is satanic for Salafis to kill Coptic Christians while excusing their violence as "will of God".
A religionist who kills is only exercising the will of man. That in itself is not satanic. It is when a person who errs hides behind a deity who is apart from man most of the time.
Let's first turn to Wikipedia's definition of Satanism.
May 15, 2005 1403H: Satanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satanism is a religious and philosophical movement whose adherents recognize Satan as an archetype who all humans have some characteristics of, and Satanists celebrate aspects of human nature represented by the Satan archetype. Many Satanists do not worship a deity called Satan, or one by any other name. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes.
Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship in favor of more egoistic worldviews and practices such as magick. Groups or individuals described in some sense or another as Satanic can largely, though incomprehensively, be described as belonging to one of two unofficial sub-groupings: Philosophical Satanism or Religious Satanism.
Commentary: Satanism is more harmless than most Christian sects.
...To the Satanist, One is One's own God, and He disdains rationalist, secular humanistic beliefs which abhor the existence of the supernatural, only to promote a sterile life grounded in the 'real world' alone and in working towards the altruistic advancement of His fellow man while neglecting His own gratification and amusement. Obviously, philosophically Satanic thought has had a long history before LaVey's Church (indeed, self-centered egotism is probably as old as civilization itself), though it was the notion of Satan as the idealistic, self-seeking black sheep which inspired the title in spite of contemporary Christianity (which views him as evil because of these qualities).
Comment: Think of Satanism as magico-religious rationalization called by Ayn Rand, "selfishness".
...the Serpent in Genesis [encouraged] mankind to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, saying "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."*, with the clear implication, coinciding with the beliefs of all Satanists, that mankind should know what is better for itself than any God which would forbid knowledge and self-government. Because of the common position that their faiths are in fact very old, or the oldest, Religious Satanists sometimes refer to themselves as "Traditional Satanists" and Philosophical Satanists as "Contemporary Satanists".
Comment: This is symbolic of Truth.
...The existence of large networks of organized Satanists involved in illegal activities, murder, and child abuse is occasionally claimed, often by fundamentalist religious movements. Those claims have never been substantiated and are widely believed to be false. See conspiracy theories.
Comment: ritual sexual abuse however may occur within the institution of the healthcare system, along with ritual physical abuse not only by doctors and nurses, but also by people in authority. Thus, the conspiracy theory by fundamental Christians of ritual Satanic abuse is actually a repressed memory of abuse within their own denominations and within the Establishment itself.
Thus, Satanism is about the ego, rather than about rising above selfishness to try to get to know Truth in the form of Oneness with God.
The truth that Satan represents is God = Man, rather than the eternal truth that God = Man + "Life, the Universe and Everything."
While both Truths are valid, each in their own way, the Superior man will let his head be his guide on any matters of the heart arising from the synthesis of each of them.
Thesis = Truth of Oneness
Anti-thesis = Truth of Selfishness
Synthesis = Oneness and Selfishness are light and dark aspects of Truth
In various Gnostic sects, the Serpent was praised as the giver of knowledge. Sometimes Satan was also referred to, under the names Lucifer or "the light-bringer". Some Gnostics claimed that the being declared God by Christians and Jews was in fact Satan, known as the Demiurge.
Comment: this gives a less sinister view of Satan than Christians are wont to do.
The Confusion about "Satanic"
There are many groups which are commonly misconceived as Satanic. There are two common definitions of a Satanic religion:
* Any religion that does not follow the Christian religion or recognize Jesus Christ as explained in Christian dogma.
* Any religion that consciously recognizes and worships "Satan," usually referring either to a "dark" deity (similar to the Christian Satan, though usually lacking the evil or unnaturalness associated with it) or a conceptual Satan, often referring to a so-called "true" nature of Mankind.
The first definition is most commonly used by fundamentalist Christians, and is the source of much disagreement about whether a religion should be considered Satanic or not. The most common targets of these claims are Neo-Pagan religions, such as Wicca and Ásatrú.
It is also common to see Christian denominations or even Judaism and Islam referred to as Satanic based on interpretations of the first definition. Among these Christian groups are usually the less traditional ones, such as the Mormons and other smaller sects. Also, it is not unheard of for Catholics to refer to Protestants as Satanic, and vice versa, though this is more uncommon.
Comment: Ignorance is used as a tool to misuse a term out of fear. In the case of Christians using the term "satanic", this has led to a lot of really stupid things like witch hunts.
Within the limited Christian definition, I practice a New Age Satanism by calling my religious beliefs, "Shinto-Buddhist-Hindu-Christian New Age philosophy".
Update March 12, 2013 0716H
What I actually practice is a layer of traditions, none of which are Christian, Jewish or Muslim.
Update December 23, 2013 2120H
Comment: I define satanism as behavior which leads to evil karma e.g. people expressing anti-gay sentiments are behaving like homophobes. This leads to a backlash where pro-gay activists, both gay and heteronormative criticize monotheists who are conservative about sexual mores.
However, my use of the term "satanism" is actually the closest Christian term for evil karma, which arises when confusion and conflict result from actions we do.
My use of the term "satanism" is inaccurate since Buddhists do not believe in satan or God.
Indeed the closest Buddhists get to the archetypes of good and evil is with respect to karma. A person is not inherently evil to a Buddhist. Rather, what we create determines whether the karma is evil or good. Ultimately this is not a judgement call that determines one's path in the afterlife.
Evil karma does not doom a Buddhist to the Hell Realms, nor does good karma lead to the Pure Land. Why? Because one would also have to include the karmic seeds stored in the Alaya Consciousness.
According to Buddhist folklore, a tally of good and evil karma is made by Yama or a representative he chooses to determine the destination of a person after death. However, because each of us does not know the amount of good and evil karma which came with each of us at birth, it would be impossible to determine what awaits us at death.
Speculation about one's destination in the afterlife is moot. It might even keep us from attaining rebirth in a Pure Land, if we cling to the idleness of such speculations.
Hence the term "satanism" refers not to satan or God but to the evil resulting from actions which harm oneself and/or other people. Karma is not such a big deal, be it evil or good. It is more satisfying to meditate on karma than to worry about one's destiny in the afterlife.
This is why for me as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, my destination in the Pure Land of Bliss is guaranteed when I confirm that destination through Nembutsu practice.
Thus the use of "satanism" and "satanic" is to make it easier to understand that evil karma is not sin but the potential confusion and conflict due to the actions a Buddhist creates that harm self and/or others, such as lying, theft, hating someone, and other acts which range from childish to downright vile.
In contrast, good karma is not due to luck but rather, to the potential understanding and "good vibes" arising from moral act such as helpfulness and giving charity.
Thus it is possible for monotheists to act in a satanic manner when their proselyting against homosexuality and common-law marriage leads LGBTIQ people of the rainbow to abandon their religion of birth for a more humanistic lifestyle free of the hangups of religion i.e. conservatism.
20131113
Political Correctness: Symptom of Authoritarianism or Fear of Freedom? (satire)
Political correctness may be a symptom of living in a subtly authoritarian State.
It begins in public schools.
In the end, few people realize they gave away their right to be totally free, mainly because all the kids who exercised their freedom openly were branded "bad" out of fear that they could be a "bad influence" on their socially compliant peers.
Since the exercise of freedom often conflicts with social order, the State is empowered by laws to check the freedom of those people who challenge the status quo.
In a subtly authoritarian State, compliance is still demanded to maintain public order. Those people who fight with the State over this are often maligned and sometimes given too much notoriety by the press. Consequently, some of them may become social outcasts.
While they feel they are entitled to their place in society, such people remain non-compliant with the rules of society, and may develop conduct disorders as a result of their anti-authoritarian behavior.
In a real democracy, there cannot be any distinction between people who do good and people who do evil just because the latter experience delayed character development due to their unwillingness to comply.
People with character defects may be narcissistic, and treat family and loved ones as extensions of their personality.
However, the only help which will deflate the ego of a narcissist is humility. For the character of people who believe the world should revolve around them is defective.
It is important for therapists, teachers and social workers to help the person with character defects to develop in character to face the challenge of a world where the importance of serving the greater good outweighs our potential for great evil.
IMO political correctness is a form of subtle authoritarianism that few of us recognize. It may misdirect people with character defects inclined to follow a path of narcissism but does not cause them to become social outcasts.
Indeed, it is mass media in the form of the press — along with other media such as the Internet and the film, radio and TV industries — that actually "manufactures" the stigma against social outcasts and brands any anti-authoritarian figure as outcast.
In doing so, mass media portrays the socially compliant people as serving the greater good and the social outcasts, as being "up to no good". This portrayal of the People places them in an Us versus Them scenario that is often simplistic and makes it easier to stigmatize the social outcast.
However, I refuse to maintain an Us versus Them mentality regarding compliant people who serve the greater good and people who are self-serving.
Although people have the potential for great evil, they also have the potential for great good.
When their acts are exceedingly self-serving and egocentric, their narcissism leads to them becoming social outcasts when they challenge authority and suffer the consequences without learning humility.
When their acts serve the greater good without fanfare, their service brings them acclaim because of their humility and compliance to social order.
Each person is unique in their qualities such as intelligence, physical health and attractiveness, yet these qualities are accidents of birth. Together the People represent a society that is a blend of distinctive ethnic cultures working together for the greater good.
While we may assume political correctness is always done for the greater good, sometimes our assumptions blind us to its misuse by the State.
This misuse of political correctness by the State is done to "divide and conquer" the People. By dividing society into the socially compliant and the social outcasts, the State does not serve the greater good of the People but only serves the lesser good of the elites.
Thus, the first three words of the US Constitution — "We the People" — refers all Americans, be they the rich and the poor, those of us with homes and the homeless, the mentally healthy and the mentally ill, the able-bodied and the disabled...
Yet "the State" also refers to the servants of the People, duly elected by the People to provide for the People the rights and freedoms that the Bill of Rights guarantees through laws which serve the greater good.
Political correctness not only occurs when the State censures the People, it also occurs when a group of people objects to a person who presents a position which different from theirs and refuses to listen to him lest it compromise their status quo.
In a real democracy, those servants of the People actually serve the greater good. In reality, a great many politicians appear to be self-serving but the few politicians who truly act as servants of the People deserve to represent the State.
This is why the Occupy movement arose, to provide direct democracy in action without a leader to mislead them. For direct democracy is why the Sudbury Valley School produced students who used their experience to innovate creative methods to succeed in college.
Yet mass media propaganda misled the public, predicting the Occupy movement was doomed to failure because it had no leadership. Very little time was given by the talking heads and even less column-inches was given by the press regarding direct democracy.
By omitting that fact mass media has done its version of political correctness by consistently omitting facts to serve the agenda of elites
Commentary from Down Under about the US health care system and American authoritarianism within the political system: http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/07/31/authoritarianism-its-bad-for-your-health/
Example of political correctness in the public school system: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-orders-child-to-remove-god-from-poem.html
The Powers that be (phrase): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_powers_that_be_(phrase)
It begins in public schools.
In the end, few people realize they gave away their right to be totally free, mainly because all the kids who exercised their freedom openly were branded "bad" out of fear that they could be a "bad influence" on their socially compliant peers.
Since the exercise of freedom often conflicts with social order, the State is empowered by laws to check the freedom of those people who challenge the status quo.
In a subtly authoritarian State, compliance is still demanded to maintain public order. Those people who fight with the State over this are often maligned and sometimes given too much notoriety by the press. Consequently, some of them may become social outcasts.
While they feel they are entitled to their place in society, such people remain non-compliant with the rules of society, and may develop conduct disorders as a result of their anti-authoritarian behavior.
In a real democracy, there cannot be any distinction between people who do good and people who do evil just because the latter experience delayed character development due to their unwillingness to comply.
People with character defects may be narcissistic, and treat family and loved ones as extensions of their personality.
However, the only help which will deflate the ego of a narcissist is humility. For the character of people who believe the world should revolve around them is defective.
It is important for therapists, teachers and social workers to help the person with character defects to develop in character to face the challenge of a world where the importance of serving the greater good outweighs our potential for great evil.
IMO political correctness is a form of subtle authoritarianism that few of us recognize. It may misdirect people with character defects inclined to follow a path of narcissism but does not cause them to become social outcasts.
Indeed, it is mass media in the form of the press — along with other media such as the Internet and the film, radio and TV industries — that actually "manufactures" the stigma against social outcasts and brands any anti-authoritarian figure as outcast.
In doing so, mass media portrays the socially compliant people as serving the greater good and the social outcasts, as being "up to no good". This portrayal of the People places them in an Us versus Them scenario that is often simplistic and makes it easier to stigmatize the social outcast.
However, I refuse to maintain an Us versus Them mentality regarding compliant people who serve the greater good and people who are self-serving.
Although people have the potential for great evil, they also have the potential for great good.
When their acts are exceedingly self-serving and egocentric, their narcissism leads to them becoming social outcasts when they challenge authority and suffer the consequences without learning humility.
When their acts serve the greater good without fanfare, their service brings them acclaim because of their humility and compliance to social order.
Each person is unique in their qualities such as intelligence, physical health and attractiveness, yet these qualities are accidents of birth. Together the People represent a society that is a blend of distinctive ethnic cultures working together for the greater good.
While we may assume political correctness is always done for the greater good, sometimes our assumptions blind us to its misuse by the State.
This misuse of political correctness by the State is done to "divide and conquer" the People. By dividing society into the socially compliant and the social outcasts, the State does not serve the greater good of the People but only serves the lesser good of the elites.
Thus, the first three words of the US Constitution — "We the People" — refers all Americans, be they the rich and the poor, those of us with homes and the homeless, the mentally healthy and the mentally ill, the able-bodied and the disabled...
Yet "the State" also refers to the servants of the People, duly elected by the People to provide for the People the rights and freedoms that the Bill of Rights guarantees through laws which serve the greater good.
Political correctness not only occurs when the State censures the People, it also occurs when a group of people objects to a person who presents a position which different from theirs and refuses to listen to him lest it compromise their status quo.
In a real democracy, those servants of the People actually serve the greater good. In reality, a great many politicians appear to be self-serving but the few politicians who truly act as servants of the People deserve to represent the State.
This is why the Occupy movement arose, to provide direct democracy in action without a leader to mislead them. For direct democracy is why the Sudbury Valley School produced students who used their experience to innovate creative methods to succeed in college.
Yet mass media propaganda misled the public, predicting the Occupy movement was doomed to failure because it had no leadership. Very little time was given by the talking heads and even less column-inches was given by the press regarding direct democracy.
By omitting that fact mass media has done its version of political correctness by consistently omitting facts to serve the agenda of elites
Commentary from Down Under about the US health care system and American authoritarianism within the political system: http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/07/31/authoritarianism-its-bad-for-your-health/
Example of political correctness in the public school system: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-orders-child-to-remove-god-from-poem.html
The Powers that be (phrase): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_powers_that_be_(phrase)
20130203
Destroying Samsara
Samsara is the human realm where all sentient beings wish to be reborn.
For the Buddhist devotee needs to develop non-deluded doubts about samsara.
Furthermore, the devotee who develops doubts about Emptiness will damage Samsara's hold over human beings.
Even samadhi leading to Bodhi Mind will not happen due to non-doubt in what the Buddha taught.
Indeed, Buddhism arose to help its followers awaken to the fact that transmigration is not of souls as Hindu define souls.
Rather, the store (alaya) consciousness is what is reborn due to the working of karma, both good and evil.
For me then, the optimal balance of karma ought to be equal amounts since the Middle Way is the pivot between good and evil.
For the Buddhist devotee needs to develop non-deluded doubts about samsara.
Furthermore, the devotee who develops doubts about Emptiness will damage Samsara's hold over human beings.
Even samadhi leading to Bodhi Mind will not happen due to non-doubt in what the Buddha taught.
Indeed, Buddhism arose to help its followers awaken to the fact that transmigration is not of souls as Hindu define souls.
Rather, the store (alaya) consciousness is what is reborn due to the working of karma, both good and evil.
For me then, the optimal balance of karma ought to be equal amounts since the Middle Way is the pivot between good and evil.
20060214
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is not just a word or a discourse by the Buddha, but a meaningful state of mind. It means we have to be here now, in this very moment, and we have to know what is happening internally and externally. It means being alert to our motives and learning to change unwholesome thoughts and emotions into wholesome ones. Mindfulness is a mental activity that in due course eliminates all suffering.
-Ayya Khema, "Be an Island"
For this old fool, mindfulness is a state of mind experienced in the present moment, aware of what is on his mind, in his heart, and happening around him.
As a result, he becomes aware of his motives, and changes harmful thoughts and emotions into beneficial ones.
How so? By meditating on eliminating harmful thoughts as they arise and creating beneficial thoughts.
For harmful thoughts lead to suffering, and beneficial ones lead to happiness.
Eventually, mindfulness eliminates suffering.
Unwholesome thoughts and emotions refers to the unwholesome actions known by the Buddhist term, klesha.
Also included are the five hindrances of desire, anger, sloth-torpor, restlessness-craving and doubt.
Then there is lust and craving.
This is followed by the ten defilements and unwholesome roots; greed, hate, delusion, conceit, wrong views,doubt, torpor, restlessness, shamelessness, and recklessness.
Then comes the round of defilements: ignorance, craving and clinging.
Finally there are the three poisons: ignorance, attachment, and aversion.
According to what the Buddha said, doing these unwholesome actions cause suffering. To change these unwholesome action into wholesome action is to NOT DO THEM.
In their place, the devotee practices virtues such as the Four Immeasurables: loving-kindness or benevolence, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity (compassionate evenmindedness).
With regard to equanimity, it is described as mental stability in the face of changes of a person's circumstances. Regardless of whether she is rich or poor, the devotee displays evenness of mind, an enduring freedom of mind, For equanimity complements the other three virtues.
Klesha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleshas_%28Buddhism%29
Four Immeasurables: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmavihara
Equanimity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upekkha
-Ayya Khema, "Be an Island"
For this old fool, mindfulness is a state of mind experienced in the present moment, aware of what is on his mind, in his heart, and happening around him.
As a result, he becomes aware of his motives, and changes harmful thoughts and emotions into beneficial ones.
How so? By meditating on eliminating harmful thoughts as they arise and creating beneficial thoughts.
For harmful thoughts lead to suffering, and beneficial ones lead to happiness.
Eventually, mindfulness eliminates suffering.
Unwholesome thoughts and emotions refers to the unwholesome actions known by the Buddhist term, klesha.
Also included are the five hindrances of desire, anger, sloth-torpor, restlessness-craving and doubt.
Then there is lust and craving.
This is followed by the ten defilements and unwholesome roots; greed, hate, delusion, conceit, wrong views,doubt, torpor, restlessness, shamelessness, and recklessness.
Then comes the round of defilements: ignorance, craving and clinging.
Finally there are the three poisons: ignorance, attachment, and aversion.
According to what the Buddha said, doing these unwholesome actions cause suffering. To change these unwholesome action into wholesome action is to NOT DO THEM.
In their place, the devotee practices virtues such as the Four Immeasurables: loving-kindness or benevolence, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity (compassionate evenmindedness).
With regard to equanimity, it is described as mental stability in the face of changes of a person's circumstances. Regardless of whether she is rich or poor, the devotee displays evenness of mind, an enduring freedom of mind, For equanimity complements the other three virtues.
Klesha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleshas_%28Buddhism%29
Four Immeasurables: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmavihara
Equanimity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upekkha
20051231
Getting Past the Myth of a Good Buddhist
December 31, 2005: I vaguely recall when I worked last. Over two days I talked to over 20 people, for a brief time, but it was work-related.
...I like work, but these anxiety attacks due to mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) mitigate the stress of having to deal with people who push past me worsens the partial complex seizures.
Perhaps the psychiatric affect of having to adapt to seizures leads to the disorder. It takes time to focus and not go about my day in a daze.
I even may be beset by anxiety, or a delusion, or even tics in the muscles around my right or left eye, or the fuzzy feeling when I know I've talked out of turn in front of my roommate.
This time my mental discipline is such that I can control my mind: this fatigue will not result in emotional turmoil, or guilt, or backbiting or even the habit of self-blame and shame.
I shall be the Good Buddhist.
Even though I may have anxiety attacks, and sometimes go into my own little world temporarily under stress, I feel that little by little, more and more, I am able to both speak the truth and transcend my disability by being quiet yet direct when need be.
That's one of the ways of being a good Buddhist is about: to be quiet yet direct when called upon.
As a Buddhist I also must persevere in adversity.
Adversity is usually the emotional reaction to conflict in relationships.
There's always miscommunication in relationships — until we talk with each other, practising deep listening, and transcend the initial "talking-to", it's a given.
Yet it makes sense to practise deep listening always.
What is deep listening? It's when I stop listening with my ears and thinking with my head, which tries to stay one step ahead of my friends, and start listening with compassion for the person speaking to me.
This is known literally as "listening attentively" and is figuratively called "listening with my heart".
When I listen with my heart, deep listening is the result.
Instead of a quick response to what a friend has told me, when I think I may have misunderstood I listen and ask for clarification.
Later when the circumstances call for it, I may give feedback to the friend which shows a lot of constructive thinking I have done about what he or she has told me.
Feedback occurs when the friend has made it clear in the conversation that he or she values my careful, deliberate yet thoughtful response.
Thus, goodness with respect to being a Buddhist can be defined as being caring and kind, gentle, sensitive to other people's needs yet knowing one's own limits.
In the Serenity Prayer, I know of the concept of limits: serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Limits imply being human, prone to error. This is why the prayer begins with "God grant me", which implies the limits of human action.
"Yes, but you are a Buddhist. What's up with a commentary on the Serenity Prayer?"
As a Buddhist, I am aware that human limitations are a given. So I am using the Prayer as an example of how to accept the human condition as-is, to relieve the suffering that arises.
However, I know that it is the direct action of meditation which grants me serenity.
As a result of a calm and sober mindset, I am able to practise acceptance of things I cannot change: for example, the emotional and physical scars of illness or injury.
In accepting those scars, I am able to develop strategies which encourage me to change the things I can: how I treat those scars i.e. to heal them through patience and the growing ability to forgive and forget wrongs.
Indeed, Buddha Remembrance through recitation of the Nembutsu aids in peace of mind, adaptation (changing the things I can), and wisdom (to know the difference).
For the discriminating mind is wise when moderated by love.
I find no use in trying to stay one step ahead of other people.
My plan is to get to the point where I am in synch with people.
Update:
March 5, 2013: In the past seven years, I have matured to the point where nothing truly bothers me. It becomes easy to adapt to change, and the fears which brought out anxiety are less frequent.
Even when things go wrong, they don't stay that way for long. I've returned to my Buddhist roots, meditate daily, practice breathe meditation occasionally, and Buddha Recitation. Nothing truly bothers me.
A Buddhist is a sentient being, and consequently, the "good Buddhist" is the ideal. For nobody's perfect.
However, my imperfections are many yet I aim for acting nonjudgmental towards all sentient being, acting conscientious in all my affairs and being diligent both at work and at home.
Originally posted: December 31, 205 1807H
Update posted: March 5, 2013 1118H
...I like work, but these anxiety attacks due to mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) mitigate the stress of having to deal with people who push past me worsens the partial complex seizures.
Perhaps the psychiatric affect of having to adapt to seizures leads to the disorder. It takes time to focus and not go about my day in a daze.
I even may be beset by anxiety, or a delusion, or even tics in the muscles around my right or left eye, or the fuzzy feeling when I know I've talked out of turn in front of my roommate.
This time my mental discipline is such that I can control my mind: this fatigue will not result in emotional turmoil, or guilt, or backbiting or even the habit of self-blame and shame.
I shall be the Good Buddhist.
Even though I may have anxiety attacks, and sometimes go into my own little world temporarily under stress, I feel that little by little, more and more, I am able to both speak the truth and transcend my disability by being quiet yet direct when need be.
That's one of the ways of being a good Buddhist is about: to be quiet yet direct when called upon.
As a Buddhist I also must persevere in adversity.
Adversity is usually the emotional reaction to conflict in relationships.
There's always miscommunication in relationships — until we talk with each other, practising deep listening, and transcend the initial "talking-to", it's a given.
Yet it makes sense to practise deep listening always.
What is deep listening? It's when I stop listening with my ears and thinking with my head, which tries to stay one step ahead of my friends, and start listening with compassion for the person speaking to me.
This is known literally as "listening attentively" and is figuratively called "listening with my heart".
When I listen with my heart, deep listening is the result.
Instead of a quick response to what a friend has told me, when I think I may have misunderstood I listen and ask for clarification.
Later when the circumstances call for it, I may give feedback to the friend which shows a lot of constructive thinking I have done about what he or she has told me.
Feedback occurs when the friend has made it clear in the conversation that he or she values my careful, deliberate yet thoughtful response.
Thus, goodness with respect to being a Buddhist can be defined as being caring and kind, gentle, sensitive to other people's needs yet knowing one's own limits.
In the Serenity Prayer, I know of the concept of limits: serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Limits imply being human, prone to error. This is why the prayer begins with "God grant me", which implies the limits of human action.
"Yes, but you are a Buddhist. What's up with a commentary on the Serenity Prayer?"
As a Buddhist, I am aware that human limitations are a given. So I am using the Prayer as an example of how to accept the human condition as-is, to relieve the suffering that arises.
However, I know that it is the direct action of meditation which grants me serenity.
As a result of a calm and sober mindset, I am able to practise acceptance of things I cannot change: for example, the emotional and physical scars of illness or injury.
In accepting those scars, I am able to develop strategies which encourage me to change the things I can: how I treat those scars i.e. to heal them through patience and the growing ability to forgive and forget wrongs.
Indeed, Buddha Remembrance through recitation of the Nembutsu aids in peace of mind, adaptation (changing the things I can), and wisdom (to know the difference).
For the discriminating mind is wise when moderated by love.
I find no use in trying to stay one step ahead of other people.
My plan is to get to the point where I am in synch with people.
Update:
March 5, 2013: In the past seven years, I have matured to the point where nothing truly bothers me. It becomes easy to adapt to change, and the fears which brought out anxiety are less frequent.
Even when things go wrong, they don't stay that way for long. I've returned to my Buddhist roots, meditate daily, practice breathe meditation occasionally, and Buddha Recitation. Nothing truly bothers me.
A Buddhist is a sentient being, and consequently, the "good Buddhist" is the ideal. For nobody's perfect.
However, my imperfections are many yet I aim for acting nonjudgmental towards all sentient being, acting conscientious in all my affairs and being diligent both at work and at home.
Originally posted: December 31, 205 1807H
Update posted: March 5, 2013 1118H
20051122
On God and souls
Since God's greatest creation is the soul, each soul is pure in every way.
He loans out the soul to each of us when we are born, only to have it returned to Him when we die.
Through one's life experience, each person collects karmic debt which -- like dust on a mirror -- obscures the view of the soul as pure and clean.
So, what about evil souls?
Evil is more like a dark shell that covers a person's soul, the darkness being the fears, the guilt, and the suffering caused by an originally conscious decision to remain apart from God's mercy.
For the soul, being God's greatest creation, is also His most precious.
It cannot be touched by spiritual darkness and evil itself, for the soul contains the inner divine light which comes from God.
Through love, fear and anger can be controlled through mindful effort and carefully wielded by each of us for the welfare of us all.
Likewise, love helps shed light on darkness, bringing the wisdom needed to abandon evil.
And this love is inspired by God's love for all His creation.
He loans out the soul to each of us when we are born, only to have it returned to Him when we die.
Through one's life experience, each person collects karmic debt which -- like dust on a mirror -- obscures the view of the soul as pure and clean.
So, what about evil souls?
Evil is more like a dark shell that covers a person's soul, the darkness being the fears, the guilt, and the suffering caused by an originally conscious decision to remain apart from God's mercy.
For the soul, being God's greatest creation, is also His most precious.
It cannot be touched by spiritual darkness and evil itself, for the soul contains the inner divine light which comes from God.
Through love, fear and anger can be controlled through mindful effort and carefully wielded by each of us for the welfare of us all.
Likewise, love helps shed light on darkness, bringing the wisdom needed to abandon evil.
And this love is inspired by God's love for all His creation.
20050717
Universal Responsibility
Adopting an attitude of universal responsibility is essentially a personal matter. The real test of compassion is not what we say in abstract discussions but how we conduct ourselves in daily life.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Imagine All the People"
Just talking about harmlessness isn't enough.
When spiritual practice (meditation) does not lead to reciprical compassion from others, a person's conduct should still be to practise harmlessness.
To feel guilty for past wrongs is not enough - one must strive to learn from one's mistakes.
Even in the Dhammapada it is written to not cling to regrets and worries.
Dhammapada 67-68:
It's not good,
the doing of the deed
that, once it's done,
you regret,
whose result you reap crying,
your face in tears.
It's good,
the doing of the deed
that, once it's done,
you don't regret,
whose result you reap gratified,
happy at heart.
As well, the cure for regrets about wrongs done is simply letting go:
348:
Gone to the beyond of becoming,
you let go of in front,
let go of behind,
let go of between.
With a heart everywhere let-go,
you don't come again to birth
& aging.
Thus what the Dalai Lama says about the real test of compassion is ... how we conduct ourselves in daily life.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Imagine All the People"
Just talking about harmlessness isn't enough.
When spiritual practice (meditation) does not lead to reciprical compassion from others, a person's conduct should still be to practise harmlessness.
To feel guilty for past wrongs is not enough - one must strive to learn from one's mistakes.
Even in the Dhammapada it is written to not cling to regrets and worries.
Dhammapada 67-68:
It's not good,
the doing of the deed
that, once it's done,
you regret,
whose result you reap crying,
your face in tears.
It's good,
the doing of the deed
that, once it's done,
you don't regret,
whose result you reap gratified,
happy at heart.
As well, the cure for regrets about wrongs done is simply letting go:
348:
Gone to the beyond of becoming,
you let go of in front,
let go of behind,
let go of between.
With a heart everywhere let-go,
you don't come again to birth
& aging.
Thus what the Dalai Lama says about the real test of compassion is ... how we conduct ourselves in daily life.
20031018
Saio's Horse
When Great Evil occurs, Great Good will follow.
In China, there once was an old man who lived on the outskirts of a town. He was a little strange for he never got depressed about sad events nor delighted on joyous occasions.
As it happened, one day, his horse escaped. But when his neighbors came to console him, he didn't seem to care much about it saying, "No, it is nothing to be depressed about."
After a few days, his wayward horse came back in the company of a fine horse whose beauty could hardly be matched by any other in the land.
His neighbors joyfully said, "We thought the loss of your horse was a cause for grief, but it turned out to be a reason for celebration." However, the old man did not pay any attention to their reaction saying, "This is nothing to be overjoyed about."
Some time later, the old man's son was out riding the beautiful horse when he fell off, breaking his shoulder. The neighbors once again grieved and tried to console the old man but again he seemed undisturbed by the incident.
Soon thereafter, a revolt broke out in the land and all the able-bodied young men of the village were rounded up and sent off to fight and die. Due to the serious injury to his shoulder, only the old man's son was not conscripted and he alone was left behind and survived.
This parable is the source of the old Chinese proverb "Every happening in one's life is like Saio's horse." "Saio" means "the old man living in the fortress in the north." In truth, it is difficult to judge what is going to be the cause of happiness and unhappiness.
In China, there once was an old man who lived on the outskirts of a town. He was a little strange for he never got depressed about sad events nor delighted on joyous occasions.
As it happened, one day, his horse escaped. But when his neighbors came to console him, he didn't seem to care much about it saying, "No, it is nothing to be depressed about."
After a few days, his wayward horse came back in the company of a fine horse whose beauty could hardly be matched by any other in the land.
His neighbors joyfully said, "We thought the loss of your horse was a cause for grief, but it turned out to be a reason for celebration." However, the old man did not pay any attention to their reaction saying, "This is nothing to be overjoyed about."
Some time later, the old man's son was out riding the beautiful horse when he fell off, breaking his shoulder. The neighbors once again grieved and tried to console the old man but again he seemed undisturbed by the incident.
Soon thereafter, a revolt broke out in the land and all the able-bodied young men of the village were rounded up and sent off to fight and die. Due to the serious injury to his shoulder, only the old man's son was not conscripted and he alone was left behind and survived.
This parable is the source of the old Chinese proverb "Every happening in one's life is like Saio's horse." "Saio" means "the old man living in the fortress in the north." In truth, it is difficult to judge what is going to be the cause of happiness and unhappiness.
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