Apotheose

I find this metaphor pretty accurate, to be honest. The very process of maturing is composed by those trials, and the child who gradually evolves is bound to fall into the ‘concrete floor’ sometimes, and from that learn. The hardness of the ‘concrete’ is a driving force of change in a person’s mental ambience and daily life, and for that we must be grateful for the tribulations we had. Because if life was too easy for us, we would become somewhat spoiled.

In John 1:5, I’ve noticed two “major strands” of translations of it. And I’d love to see what you think of them. The first one, the most common, is: John 1:5 - “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” Translators vary its form also as “did not overcome” or “did not overpower” or “has not put it out”. In this translation, the meaning is that Light is Absolute; It lights up Darkness, and nothing is “immune” to it; in a sense that if Light intervenes, nothing can avoid being changed and lightened by It. However, the second strand of translations I’ve noticed is: John 1:5 - “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not apprehend it” Translators diversify its form also as: “did not comprehend” or “did not appropriate” or “did not absorb”. This translation, in my personal view, means the exact opposite of the first strand. While the first means Light has Absolute Interference with everything; in the second, darkness has not been intercepted by It. Or it may be intercepted, but Light has not ‘remained’ present in it. What do you think of it? Which one do you consider the best translation?

I remember reading an interesting critique about Stoicism once. The comment was that the Stoics perceived the world in a kind of pessimistic view because one of their very philosophical foundations was that “living is overcoming tribulations”. I’m aware that Stoicism is much more than just ‘overcoming life’s trials’, but it’s crystal clear that that is indeed a strong feature of its philosophy. If you talk to a Yogi, a Taoist or a Buddhist, the chances are high that they are not even thinking about avoiding suffering. They may not be even thinking about suffering at all to begin with. Because their system of belief does not focus so much on it. As a christian, I notice that there are those christians who focus on Christ’s Love, and others that focus on “not being a sinner” and “battling everyday against the temptations of sin”. Man… imagine having your very inner foundation of belief in Sin and expecting not to see Sin everywhere in your life. I personally see it as a matter of awareness. What are you dominantly aware of in your life?

Thank you all for the responses! And a special thanks to @Daniel for the patience to explain the meanings.

I’ve always understood the Philosopher’s Stone as a metaphor for the ‘Journey’ of Alchemy. However, there may be all sorts of different interpretations of it. I fear that Nungali and Cadcam may be discussing two completely different things (two diverse subjective interpretations of their own), while they might be thinking they are talking about the same thing.

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I understand it perfectly. And I share an alike view of it. Recently, I’ve come across a woman - in a social ambience - who is known to have violent behaviour towards other women (envy/jealousy probably, I don’t know). In a certain moment, I remember having strong fluxes of intuition as if she was evil. She wasn’t saying or acting anything violent, but her eyes “talked” in a devilish manner. Her Aura was really, really bad. I was definitely surprised about it. But, as a follower of Christ, Compassion came for me, and I understood that all her hate/confusion was founded on insecurities. So I felt sorry for her, and immediately ‘Loved’ her. People are so immerse in that with is not Salutary, and which is definitely far away from the Perfect Law, that they get nothing but it back in their lives. Life is incredible; all makes sense in the end of the day. And what seems “off” just Seems. Possibly, people are yet to seek the Beauty because they learned not to seek it, and rather just seek money, power and pleasure. I wouldn’t attribute this phenomena as their fault, but rather as human helplessness, abandonment and destitution, as of a societal and parental nature. Wonder why people get so ecstatic when they encounter someone who really follows the Perfect Law. It’s as if they encountered some extraterrestrial being.

You rock this forum man The opposition you made between hebrews and zarathrustrians would be correct in my view. But if we really delve into the ‘causes’ of that difference, I fear we would enter the esoteric. Maybe karmic? As to say that God’s manifestation was a reflection of collective conducts? Love/Sin… Interesting to ponder about. As people got educated in Christ’s Love, and consequently shifted their conducts, didn’t ‘Jehovah’ shift His Will as well? That follows a logic, doesn’t it? John 10:30 - “I and The Father are One”. About INRI, I prefer the 2nd too. Thanks a lot for the links, I will read all of it!

I am so sorry to hear about these problems you had. From your posts, it seems that you are very well grounded to reality, as well as very insightful, so I’m sure you found out your Path. In fact, i had the luck to be aware of these risks since early ages. Firstly I heard of the famous cult stories and how people can easily fall for them. A person I knew entered a cult of extraterrestrial beings. Not that I doubt the existence of the extraterrestrial, but in this case they were really worshipping a man in an E.T. costume. It was really sad; it was something that you would think only a naive child would fall for. Then I heard the bad stories about herbs like Ayahuasca, then about “Yoga’s” mispractices, dubious “spirit incorporations”, risks of semen retention with no guidance, and the list goes on…

It’s the law of cause and effect! People in that era were hugely primitive and brutal. Therefore, they awaken God’s Ire; God’s Wrath; God’s Rage… They were in almost absolute God’s absense, since they did not truly Love. By “God’s absense”, I do not mean that Jehovah did not exist, but that they acted as if He did not exist. Their life were purely based on the pleasures of the flesh, on the oscilations of life’s contingencies, on the most Egoic feelings and actions, on everything but Jehovah’s Truth… So, in Christ people were broadly introducted to Love. They learned that God is Love, and Love is all there is. Then, the need for a societal rearrangement ceased, as people could now live in the Truth of Jesus Christ. God is Love; but if there is a need for a Major Reconstruction, to then Capacitate humanity to be open to Love again via a Revival/Ressurection, the Cosmic will do the necessary work. I.N.R.I. - Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). I.N.R.I. - Ignis Natura Renovatur Integra (by Fire, Nature is integrally renewed. I.N.R.I. - In Necis Renascor Integer (in Death I Am Reborn Intact and Pure).

Jehovah is one form of God’s name in the Bible

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This is a wonderful discussion, as it -similarly to the spiritual - enters the “uncertainty area”. Not even the mind can be fully understood. Are we thinking inside of our heads? Where exactly is the mind (not the brain) located? What exactly is the voice inside our heads, is it the mind or the counsciousness? Our thoughts derive purely from the mind or is it somewhat related to the counsciousness? The mind is just thoughts or is there anything more to it? Are the 5 senses really capable of percieving everything the way they truly are? I don’t want you to answer these, of course, as there is no answer to them. I’m just pointing out some interesting questions

In my view, believing is ‘not knowing’, that’s why it is called “belief”. I know the ‘Oneness’. However, I believe in reincarnation, I believe in souls, I believe in angels, I believe the sephiroth. But I can’t really give you anything more than that. It’s totally subjective, as it is based in one’s whole life of studying and thinking. But, to be honest, I truly wanted to be able to answer rationally your questions.

I believe it because I cannot prove it. And because I feel great believing it.

Exactly, everything gets speculative whether we like it or not.

It’s honestly hard to answer even in my own personal perspective. Anything purely spiritual cannot be explianed by rationality, as it is not based on evidence. I consider the Self as the Pure Counsciouness. The Ego is what the person “learns to be” in life (introvert, extrovert, happy, sad…). By the way, I reckon that C. Jung thought that as well, but I’m really not sure. The soul might be the connection between the Self and the Divine. It’s hard… i don’t know Who knows? What’s your take on that?

In my speculative view, the Self remains after the transition (death). However, the Ego (body and mind) dissolves. The body literally dissolves in soil, and the mind ceases to exist as there is no human thinking anymore (no human values nor even brain synapses to think). Personally, I believe children tend to be more more grounded to/with the soul, and then starts losing its expression as the person begins to develop a materialistic mind.

Beautifully said.

Exactly. Couldn’t say it better. The same goes with Yoga. With its popularization, came its consequent perversion. I’ve heard that these “power yoga” kinds of practices from the Western world are incredibly dangerous, since they utilize mystical practices for purposes that are not mystical at all, but just physical… supposedly to lose weight, get muscular tonus etc. I know little about it, but i heard personally from an yogi that some practitioners seem to have developed violent behaviour after years of these practices.

Wow. Great topic! In my personal view, reincarnation means the process of learning and refining the Phylosopher’s stone. In each incarnation, the soul enters a different body, in a different family, with a different life, to ultimately purify itself. And, of course, this brings up the Divine Justice matter; some experiences in the current life are influenced by previous lives’ actions or lack of actions, in order to learn what wasn’t learned in previous incarnations. However, although I do believe in reincarnation, I would not be disturbed if I discovered that non of these ideas actually exist in the after life (reincarnation,ressurection, purgatory etc.). In the end of the day, these are dogmas; and ultimately, the Oneness is all there is. Notice that when you are in profound meditation, there’s no axioms, dogmas or even duality. All there is is One. So, getting engaged with religious ideas is not necessary, and depending on the level of attachment to it, it can even deviate one from the Path. On the Immortality idea, I personally don’t like it. I understand that your post is merely theoretical, but I’ve noticed that people who are obsessed with Immortality tend to be very afraid of death. It seems to be a defense mechanism. I think of afterlife as something we cannot understand, because we aren’t there yet. In deep meditation and esoteric practices, if one wants to understand the afterlife, one can ask the Cosmic, and probably the answers would not be something plausible or possible to be “translated” to human language. It’s more of an idea, or “feeling”, or “understanding”, rather than a rational concept. There’s probably no “life” in the afterlife as we know life to be, since probably there’s no physical world, so that’s why I don’t like calling it “immortality”.

My objectives are to live and always learn more. Thanks for the advice! By Divine’s Grace I’ve had a good family and character development. No traumas, fortunately. So, for me, personally, “classic” psychological therapies tend to unroll in a superficial fashion; since its whole foundation is that of trauma basis (“to grizzle”). That’s why I find Jung’s works fascinating too. Because he transcended the orthodoxy of Psychological Sciences and understood that the alchemy behind human psychology is the very same alchemy of the existence’s mysteries.

An interesting poem: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.” Khalil Gibran from “The Prophet” (1923)

Wow, that was really intense!

It really resonated with me too, thank you NaturaNaturans. I feel that sometimes we need to utter a ‘Sacred No’ to be able to unlearn what we have learned. This is one thing I’ve found out in my Journey… That unlearning things that we allowed to settle in front of our Pure Consciousness is a secure and inevitable path to the Truth. It takes a ‘lion spirit’ to shout a ‘Sacred No’ to those things that burden us, those same that we used to accept when we were ‘camel spirits’. And we accepted it only because of ignorance (not knowing/or knowing too much maybe?). And to become like a child again (Matthew 18:3) is to become free again. I’ve always been keen on the Psychology Science. And what fascinates me is how children indeed have that very vivid sparkle of Divine Wisdom in them. And that’s probably because they really know nothing; they just ‘Are’. They ‘Are’ just like ‘Thou-shalt’ be.