Aetherous

I didn't want the thread to be about gender wars, so much as about exploring the potential truth about this subject...so I kept it out of the men's and women's subforums, and brought it up to general discussion for religious discussion. I'm open to learning about feminine aspects of Divinity, and hope that others end up making some scriptural arguments for that. The fact that wisdom personified was definitely female, and existed prior to the creation of heaven and earth, is very interesting in that regard. Also: I almost responded to you in the other thread, with a small sampling of scripture that used "he" for the holy spirit. But I looked into it a little deeper, and realized how difficult this subject really is. I might lean toward one side for certain reasons, but it's definitely not cut and dry.

I think this is the primary argument for why the holy spirit would be considered feminine...because of ruach being a feminine word in Hebrew. A side argument could be for the extra-Biblical word, shekinah, being feminine, and Judaism as a whole having this kind of concept (of God's presence being female) as a foundation for Christianity. But what if in the case of ruach, it was never actually meant to indicate femininity? Similar to what this article described, which I'll quote briefly here, What if the authors of the New Testament knew this, and therefore intentionally didn't use any feminine words in Greek when writing about the holy spirit, but actually sided toward masculine words to describe it (or him)? As opposed to the idea that they made a mistranslation.

One clear reference to gender, is that of wisdom being personified as female in Proverbs (and here in Proverbs as well...note that what's described here is taking place even before Genesis 1:1. Note that in Genesis 1:2 speaks of the spirit of God, perhaps the same as the holy spirit...in which case, Proverbs may be speaking of this wisdom as being a separate thing from the holy spirit of God). Christians later contested whether Jesus, the Son, was to be associated with wisdom or not. Note what John said about the beginning, that the Word, aka the Son, was there in the beginning too...and sounds quite similar to what wisdom was saying about itself in the beginning, in Proverbs. Notions of the trinity always trip me up, personally...this stuff is super hard to understand, but at least for me, kind of fun to try.

Here's a description from the Bible of what it was like for the apostles to receive the holy spirit. Note that the "speaking in tongues" involved speaking actual languages, which were understood by others who spoke those languages, and wasn't incoherent babbling. This page gives some scriptural ideas of what this "holy spirit" does and is all about.

Here's a little exploration of deriving ideas about gender from the grammar used. This site makes a case for the holy spirit being personified, rather than being called "it"...because it has to do with the "personal relationship with God" that Christians speak of. Here's a Catholic priest addressing the question of the holy spirit's gender fairly well. Besides the authors of the New Testament using masculine terms to describe the holy spirit, there's also the fact that the spirit proceeds from the Son and Father...and does it make sense for a female to proceed from two males,? This site explores the concept of the holy spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son further.

This site contains many "early church fathers" and other early Christian sources, which thought that the holy spirit was feminine. Note that just because these were early church fathers, doesn't mean they were more correct due to being closer to the source, or even that they necessarily agreed with one another. For instance, Origen, who is the first one quoted on that site, was later considered to be heretical.

That's pretty funny, Phoenix.

I have big goals for gardening. Fresh is best! edit to clarify for all: omnivore here, who thinks that dietary fads which ignore health signs and symptoms are a horrible idea. Check out what the American Dietetic Association has to say about the necessity of supplementing for vegan type diets.

I once read a Rinpoche saying that tummo causes all of the channels to collapse. Anyone know more of that idea?

In my limited experience of these side channels, not related to specific practices which deal with them like the 9 purification breaths (which I've also done, and enjoy)...it seems like these side channels really deal with the entire one side of the body (and not just a line), all the way up to the crown. I think we can activate one side by placing our hand on the side of the head, like basically over the parietal bone of the skull toward the top, or otherwise slightly off center from the crown. Or, when one side has a lot more activity and openness, we can notice that it's open or active up at the side of the crown. The nose seems like it was used as another powerful means of controlling these side channels. Although for a one sided blockage, where there are always issues in various body parts on only one side, I haven't come across a side channel method that truly clears it. Maybe over a long period of time, alternate nostril breathing could. Ever hear of swara yoga? It's a science (sort of) which deals with the fact that one nostril will be more open than the other at various times throughout the day, which activities best suited to different nostrils, and methods to change the flow to the opposite nostril. They also teach that at sunrise and sunset, when the flow changes from one nostril to the other, there is a period of time in which the central channel is activated, which is the best time for meditation.

First of all, comprehensively stretch the: hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, adductors, IT band, and piriformis. All of these need to be super limber. If that doesn't help, then see someone who specializes in Muscle Energy Technique for the pelvis and sacrum.

He shows a slightly different version of the Jin Shin Jyutsu mudras, compared to what https://www.jsjinc.net has in its books.

They teach you how to do this in Buddhism. There are also many books on the subject.

I'm definitely interested in physical health for the purpose of spirituality. Looking forward to your discussions here.

Yep, these methods are the first steps on the path to the dark side.

I personally think it would require a knowledge that the tongues were truly from the holy spirit, and then rejecting or opposing it. It's possible for someone to lie... or someone to be fooled, themselves... and to claim to you that their incoherent babbling is the real speaking in tongues. In which case, there's no problem doubting that and speaking against it. Perhaps the holy spirit would even direct people to speak out against the fake thing. So how do you know the difference between a fraudulent case, and a true case of speaking in tongues? In my personal interpretation, the determining factor is having true knowledge of what the holy spirit is and how it works. Being able to discern the true from the false case. If you don't really have that knowledge, and you don't truly discern, then can it truly be said that you committed that sin? "And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." - Luke 23:34 ESV At least I would hope that would be the case. Who knows. Maybe one still does commit it in ignorance. Regarding the eternal sin being about Jesus, there is this verse: "And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." - Matthew 12:32 ESV. It might not be about accepting Jesus, and it seems that it's about opposing the holy spirit. Did the Pharisees in the verse have knowledge that Jesus' exorcisms were done by the power of the holy spirit? Who knows. Perhaps he just gave them a stern warning to not oppose the power of God. Or perhaps they did know, to some extent, and were trying to slander him for their own purposes, such as maintaining religious authority...in which case, they were consciously acting against God.

Some in depth exploration on the topic of Melchizedek.

This is not an excuse, but "all fall short". It's not within human nature to be the perfect Christian, although Jesus did say to try. For some people, they might not be so on fire about the teachings, and might be basically a simpleton...but going to church reminds them of ways they can be a better person, or connects them to God/the Holy Spirit, and goodness ends up showing in their lives more or less. Hopefully not less. For me personally, I see that society thinks there is a free pass to denigrate Christians in every moment, so being a rebel, I tend to stand against that and want to speak positively of them. But I do think it's true: many don't read their own book enough, and if they do, they just give it lip service and don't truly take it seriously. However, it's very easy to say that about them...but a little harder, and more fruitful, to say that about myself.

If you think the methods are beneficial to people, and you enjoy sharing them, then you should do that. And be honest about how you learned, and where you think the methods truly come from. Honesty is the best policy.

I think it's fair to defend oneself and society against the onslaught of actual identity politics, by having discussions about it. The movement to get male-to-female trans people competing against women (or similar crazy things) is actual identity politics, and opposing it is just what sane people do. (People who were born as) men have an unfair physical advantage against (people who were born as) women. Sure, let's respect trans people and make them feel welcome in the world, but let's also understand what respect is...versus what going overboard trying to appease antagonistic people is. Unlike freeform, I do not believe that shedding one's identity is spiritual cultivation.

https://www.amazon.com/Daoist-Dietetics-Livia-Kohn/dp/1931483140/ https://www.amazon.com/Early-Daoist-Dietary-Practices-Examining-ebook/dp/B00DTDW89G/ https://www.amazon.com/Taoist-Cookbook-Michael-Saso/dp/0804830371/

I personally find it interesting how society views, and tells us to view women...versus how they can sometimes be. Also, I wasn't saying that women are abusive and men aren't, by any means. Just sharing a real life experience which the OP caused me to remember, which when you have enough of them, can shake you out of your cultural programming.

When I was a live in property manager, we got a new female tenant...and within the first month, one night we all hear this wailing sound at 3 am. I roll over in my bed, try to wait for the ghost or whatever it is to shut the hell up so I can get my rest, but it keeps wailing, and then I get a knock at my door. It's the new female tenant, and she asks me to help remove her abusive boyfriend from the premises. Oh, okay, the sound isn't a ghost I guess. Solves that mystery. I go into her room to find the "abusive boyfriend" sobbing on the floor, with drool and snot dripping from his face into a puddle. He's incoherent, and I continually tell him that he's got to get out, as I'm under the impression that he hit my new tenant. It takes about half an hour to convince him, and we step outside to talk. Anyway to shorten this up a bit...come to find out that she beat him. She had done it before, and it happens every once in a while if he doesn't appease her. He stays with her because he cares about her, even if it hurts him. Men should never let their girlfriends or wives be abusive to them, just as it is vice versa, where women should leave their abusive male partners. People need to have some self respect. Honestly, if a girlfriend is pouring boiling water on you, it's way past time to defend yourself and then leave her in the dust. How can someone be so weak and submissive, so as to let it happen to themselves? They all need to practice some zhan zhuang and learn to stand on their own two feet!

At least we know that you're not a vampire now!