Christianity, Buddhsim, Religious Taoism

[paulno]

[Vmarco]

 

Ill tell you this that real evil exist and i hope you never see it or experience it.

 

Until you experience it then you will truly understand just as i did.

 

I wish you the best.

 

Yes, evil must be a horrific experience to observe. Perhaps post #27 could help with some stategies to subdue them.

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/19746-does-the-reincarnated-lao-tzu-or-lord-buddha-need-an-energy-transmission/page__st__16__p__282113__hl__persinger__fromsearch__1entry282113

 

Wish you the best also.

[Vmarco]

[Vmarco]

It devolves into paranoid rambling almost.

 

Actually, what you see as "devolves into paranoid rambling" is nearly word for word, content from a 2007 International Christian Writing Competition, that won First Place, and which was reviewed by many Religious scholars, without a single negative comment.

 

V

[vsaluki]

 

The story of present-day Christianity is part of a larger mythology.

 

Who cares?

 

 

The evidence suggests that the actual principle of Christ grew out of Memphite philosophyliterally, the Krst, the anointed ones, like the Risen Horus/Apis.

 

Again, who cares?

 

 

Then in the fifth century BCE, the word Christos, referring to an awakened one, crept into Greek subculture, and this word can be found in the works of classical writers, such as Aeschylus and Herodotus, the father of history.

 

Once more, who cares?

 

 

Curiously, this was the same time in which Siddhartha Buddha, the light of Asia, realized that religion is a man-made fabrication and a direct result or consequence of the desire for things to be other than what they are. According to recent research, many ideas in the New Testament were lifted from Buddhism.

 

And many of the ideas of Buddhism where lifted from Hinduism. Again, who cares?

 

Let me repeat for the skimmers,....the actual word Christ is found in fifth century BCE texts.

 

Ditto above.

 

All of this is totally meaningless. What counts are the insights that we can find in words that were attributed to Jesus - regardless of his existence or nonexistence. To those insights all of the studies of all of the scholars are a waste of time. There is deep wisdom in things like the sermon on the mount. Any mystic will recongnize those words, what they mean, and realize that they come from another mystic. Any scholarly investigation that overlooks that those words must come from a mystic is simply wrong.

Edited August 12, 2011 by vsaluki

[Vmarco]

Who cares?

Again, who cares?

Once more, who cares?

And many of the ideas of Buddhism where lifted from Hinduism. Again, who cares?

Ditto above.

All of this is totally meaningless. What counts are the insights that we can find in words that were attributed to Jesus - regardless of his existence or nonexistence.

 

What a great World that would be,...but it is not anywhere near the World of today.

 

It world be great if all Christians were as Liberal Christians,...picking-n-choosing the cool quotes that they feel a their fantasy of a great world would be,...as long as they kept it to themselves.

 

The relative truth is that there are many Conservative Christians who do not play pick-n-choose. As a comparison, just check out some Buddhists on this forum who argue about their scriptures,...for example, "oh, you can't do that, my Pali scripture says so.".

 

The reality is this,....John C. Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said that despite many variations, Christians generally adhere to four core beliefs: the Bible is without error, salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not good deeds, individuals must accept Jesus as adults and all Christians must evangelize.

 

Those Christians are not going to look for insights they find in the words,...they're not interested in insights. Don't you know what Conservative Christians are interested in?

 

"I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good . . . our goal is a Christian nation. We have the biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism..." Randall Terry

 

"The inability or unwillingness to hate makes a person worthless. If we do not hate detestable things, the quality of our character is suspect. The Bible commands that we hate". H. A. (Buster) Dobbs, Church of Christ.

 

"the solution to Islam is for the United States to invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." Ann Coulter 2001

 

"I am fighting for the work of the lord", George W Bush April 11, 2002

 

"I am fighting for the work of the lord", Adolph Hitler, the Mein Kampf

 

And what about the Liberal Christians? Because they are not instructed about the dishonesty, fiction, invention, and lies within their Bibles and belief system, they enable their Christian Fascist brothers.

http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2009/03/do-moderate-christians-enable.html

 

A link which most people will not read because it appears on an atheist blog.

 

SO, WHO CARES? Any decent person that wishes to live in a World where the potential Human Beingness is recognized. Do Christians, as-a-whole care,....absolutely not.

 

As the Washington Journal paraphrased Secretary of the Interior James Watt on Global Warming

"We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand....after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

 

SILENCE is COMPLICITY!

 

V

[paulno]

[Aetherous]

All of this is totally meaningless. What counts are the insights that we can find in words that were attributed to Jesus - regardless of his existence or nonexistence. To those insights all of the studies of all of the scholars are a waste of time. There is deep wisdom in things like the sermon on the mount. Any mystic will recongnize those words, what they mean, and realize that they come from another mystic. Any scholarly investigation that overlooks that those words must come from a mystic is simply wrong.

 

Totally agree.

 

There is actually quite a bit of great wisdom in the Bible (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes in the OT, Jesus' words and James in the NT...in addition to many other areas).

 

Religion is just a shell, anyway...what matters is your personal path.

 

 

...

 

Vmarco,

 

The reality is this,....John C. Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said that despite many variations, Christians generally adhere to four core beliefs: the Bible is without error, salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not good deeds, individuals must accept Jesus as adults and all Christians must evangelize.

 

Stop spreading lies. Your view of things is way off, and the quotes you use are ridiculous. I know you enjoy being the 'heretic', so that's why you're acting the way that you are...but it's not an effective strategy if you're actually trying to get people to agree with you.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Scotty

[Vmarco]

 

Stop spreading lies. Your view of things is way off, and the quotes you use are ridiculous. I know you enjoy being the 'heretic', so that's why you're acting the way that you are...but it's not an effective strategy if you're actually trying to get people to agree with you.

 

Yes,...and like all people of faith,...deny the facts long enough, people believe them.

 

Does it matter that not a single Religious Studies scholar in the World would dispute anything I mentioned?,...no,...all that really matters is that Scotty declares it lies, ridiculous, heretical,...and thus it should be so for everyone.

 

After all,..."Facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[Aetherous]

What a great World that would be,...but it is not anywhere near the World of today.

 

It world be great if all Christians were as Liberal Christians,...picking-n-choosing the cool quotes that they feel a their fantasy of a great world would be,...as long as they kept it to themselves.

 

This doesn't even make any sense. Learn how to spell first of all, then learn how to form a sentence that people will understand, then learn how to formulate thoughts so you can make an actual point.

 

The relative truth is that there are many Conservative Christians who do not play pick-n-choose. As a comparison, just check out some Buddhists on this forum who argue about their scriptures,...for example, "oh, you can't do that, my Pali scripture says so.".

 

That is true...there are people out there who interpret the entire Bible literally. They are a minority but tend to be outspoken.

 

The reality is this,....John C. Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said that despite many variations, Christians generally adhere to four core beliefs: the Bible is without error, salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not good deeds, individuals must accept Jesus as adults and all Christians must evangelize.

 

If you actually got into a conversation with Christians, you would see that they don't necessarily believe the entire Bible is without error, that they think good deeds are necessary because Jesus himself clearly said so, that accepting Jesus isn't enough, and that many of them don't want to evangelize. Once again, it's the outspoken group that you're referring to.

 

Besides, this is just some asshole's opinion of Christianity...did he actually take surveys to come to this conclusion? Nah...he said "in general".

 

Those Christians are not going to look for insights they find in the words,...they're not interested in insights. Don't you know what Conservative Christians are interested in?

 

"I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good . . . our goal is a Christian nation. We have the biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism..." Randall Terry

 

Now, this quote is completely slanted and weird. Christians are NOT like this. This probably represents .0001% of them. And that is already too many, unfortunately.

 

But this is a prime example of you spreading lies, in my opinion.

 

"The inability or unwillingness to hate makes a person worthless. If we do not hate detestable things, the quality of our character is suspect. The Bible commands that we hate". H. A. (Buster) Dobbs, Church of Christ.

 

And if you surveyed all Christians, you'd find that VERY FEW would agree with this. Another example of spreading lies.

 

"the solution to Islam is for the United States to invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." Ann Coulter 2001

 

You'd find very few Americans as well as Christians agreeing with this...especially seeing how hypocritical it is. What can I say? She's a moron.

 

"I am fighting for the work of the lord", George W Bush April 11, 2002

 

"I am fighting for the work of the lord", Adolph Hitler, the Mein Kampf

 

These quotes are meaningless. George Bush is a Christian, yes...so is Obama. So were some of the founding fathers, actually. As well as many of the American presidents.

 

Adolf Hitler wasn't a Christian.

 

And what about the Liberal Christians? Because they are not instructed about the dishonesty, fiction, invention, and lies within their Bibles and belief system, they enable their Christian Fascist brothers.

http://atheistexperi...ans-enable.html

 

A link which most people will not read because it appears on an atheist blog.

 

True, I did not read it.

 

SO, WHO CARES? Any decent person that wishes to live in a World where the potential Human Beingness is recognized. Do Christians, as-a-whole care,....absolutely not.

 

Yes they do. Your view of Christians and their religion is very strange. I view it as a very positive and life affirming religion. The people who are Christian that I know are very virtuous...even more so than the majority of Buddhists, because they actually act on their compassion...as well as define compassion in the CORRECT way.

 

As the Washington Journal paraphrased Secretary of the Interior James Watt on Global Warming

"We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand....after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

 

Once again, a completely odd quote which doesn't represent the actual religion. Completely spreading lies.

[Aetherous]

SILENCE is COMPLICITY!

 

Silence is golden.

 

Anyway, this is about the extent of my patience with you on this subject, Vmarco. Just let me end it by saying this one thing: it doesn't mean you've won the argument when the other person simply leaves you babbling to yourself. It actually means you've been so ridiculous that it's not even worth anyone's time...that the majority of people will see through your bullshit anyway, so who cares.

[C T]

Yes,...and like all people of faith,...deny the facts long enough, people believe them.

 

Does it matter that not a single Religious Studies scholar in the World would dispute anything I mentioned?,...no,...all that really matters is that Scotty declares it lies, ridiculous, heretical,...and thus it should be so for everyone.

 

After all,..."Facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

 

Genius.

[on the path]

Who needs religion when we have the Dao?

 

I think there are enormous differences between religions, which alter our perspectives on life and the value and treatment we then put on other life. If one is taught not to value women for instance and other life, how can that lead to enlightenment? How can the belief in one Male God be equal. Women are our greatest treasures, they give life to the next generations and yet half the worlds religion treat them as second class citizens. In the Dao all things are equal. All people are equal, all life is equal. All life comes from the great source of creativity. I think we should be following this not some stupid religion that takes us away from the source.

[Jetsun]

Who needs religion when we have the Dao?

 

I think there are enormous differences between religions, which alter our perspectives on life and the value and treatment we then put on other life. If one is taught not to value women for instance and other life, how can that lead to enlightenment? How can the belief in one Male God be equal. Women are our greatest treasures, they give life to the next generations and yet half the worlds religion treat them as second class citizens. In the Dao all things are equal. All people are equal, all life is equal. All life comes from the great source of creativity. I think we should be following this not some stupid religion that takes us away from the source.

 

Religions were originally intended to harmonise humanity with the dao, most of them now do the opposite but I believe that was their original intention. Does humanity need religion to do this? Well I think unlike every other animal or plant on the planet we do become unbalanced for whatever reason and most people do need some sort of teaching or training to bring us back into harmony.

[C T]

Religion or not, sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences. -- F. Gannon

[dwai]

I see your point, but mine is regarding True Balance,...stasis is a state of stability, in which all forces are equal and opposing, therefore they cancel out each other.

 

Again,...every object perceived in the universe must be in motion to be an object,...no non-motion objects exist, anywhere. As for light, energy, etc,...that has been discussed in the 'What is Light' thread. However, to summarize,...there is no energy at the so-call speed of light. From Light's point of view, it travels no distance, in no time, and has no need for speed.

 

From Light's point of view, ANY subject that disregards light, is mental masterbation without possibility of orgasm.

 

V

How would light have a pov? Unless of course it too has awareness....

Agreed that motion is always relative but what makes motion motion and nonmotion nonmotion is the observer. As far as masturbation without orgasms go, some would consider that a part of internal alchemy! So you see, lights pov is moot...non sequitur in this as well as all other contexts....

[vsaluki]

 

Those Christians are not going to look for insights they find in the words,...they're not interested in insights. Don't you know what Conservative Christians are interested in?

 

I don't even know what a conservative Christian is. Obviously you have parsed the world into your enemies and your friends. One good indication that you don't understand Tao or Buddhism.

 

"I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good . . . our goal is a Christian nation. We have the biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism..." Randall Terry

 

And here we have a great indication that you have no interest in honesty. You wish to represent this as some kind of typical Christian attitiude. I am not a Christian; but I know many Christians and I would guess that less than one in a hundred would agree with Terry. Again, you are displaying your strong desire for a simplistic division of the world into "those bad guys" and "us good guys".

 

SO, WHO CARES? Any decent person that wishes to live in a World where the potential Human Beingness is recognized. Do Christians, as-a-whole care,....absolutely not.

 

From Chung Tzu:

 

""Tell me," said Lao Tzŭ, "in what consist charity and duty to one's neighbour?"

 

"They consist," answered Confucius, "in a capacity for rejoicing in all things; in universal love, without the element of self. These are the characteristics of charity and duty to one's neighbour."

 

"What stuff!" cried Lao "Does not universal love contradict itself? Is not your elimination of self a positive manifestation of self? Sir, if you would cause the empire not to lose its source of nourishment,—there is the universe, its regularity is unceasing; there are the sun and moon, their brightness is unceasing; there are the stars, their groupings never change; there are birds and beasts, they flock together without varying; there are trees and shrubs, they grow upwards without exception. Be like these; follow Tao; and you will be perfect. Why then these vain struggles after charity and duty to one's neighbour, as though beating a drum in search of a fugitive? Alas! sir, you have brought much confusion into the mind of man.""

 

Basically, it comes down to this, you can't fix yourself, but you want to fix the world. You are caught up in the classical yin, yang struggle, thinking that everything would be perfect if only you could make the yin yang symbol all white. Again, this shows that you have missed the most basic elements of the teaching of Buddha, Lao Tse, Chung Tzu, and Jesus. You have missed the point by focusing on the irrelevant. Your spirituality is simply an extension of your politics. You accuse others of this, but you can't see how strongly it applies to you.

 

I'm wondering, why you are on a Tao forum. Isn't there a Buddhist forum where you can compare the size of your compassion?

Edited August 12, 2011 by vsaluki

[Vmarco]

How would light have a pov? Unless of course it too has awareness....

 

 

The point of view of light would be as if you stepped into light shoes,...that isn't necessarily an "awareness."

 

If you realized the so-called speed of light,...from that point of view,...you would travel no distance, in no time, and have no need for speed.

 

My overall point was,...no attention is more worthwhile than that of understanding Light,...that fact is well recognized in Vajrayana Buddhism (Naropa's 6 Yoga's),...and all historical enlightened beings, as Buddha, the Light of Asia. The Light of Asia is not in reference to an particular narrow band in the electrodynamic field.

 

Amusingly,...on a forum that espouses great insights about the nature of life,...the thread "What is Light" falls into the back pages of the archives,...and attentions focus on mostly useless diversions, and trolling.

 

As I mentioned before,...NO ONE can understand WHO they are, before realizing WHEN they are,...and that problem is understood through Light. Doesn't matter how many lifetimes you try,...you will NEVER understand WHO you are, without realizing WHEN you are.

 

"all matter is frozen or slowed down light" physicist David Bohm

 

"For the rest of my life I want to reflect on what light is". Albert Einstein

 

"clear light is veiled by concepts and ideals" Tilopa

 

"by recognizing the Clear Light of the Void his lifetime, an adept may return to it without difficulty when the shock of death threatens to disorient him." Naropa

 

 

V

[C T]

 

"by recognizing the Clear Light of the Void his lifetime, an adept may return to it without difficulty when the shock of death threatens to disorient him." Naropa

 

The above quote is absolutely correct, but the thing is, you have turned simple spiritual legacies left by past Sages into a sort of pot-luck, entrepreneurial type of self-absorbed, self-defined designations, turn it all upside down, and slap a label on your confusion forwarded as wisdom and then call it "Free Thought Buddhism". How very convenient is that?

 

And when those who know better suss you out, you scream bloody murder like a sissified boy who have been exposed.

 

C'mon, Vmarco, you can do better than this. I wonder what took others so long to wake up to your jingles. I saw through your motives after your 3rd post. Unfortunately, your bells have all been tarnished. There are better ways if your goal is to promote your books here man.

 

 

(definition of Jingle in this context - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle)

Edited August 12, 2011 by CowTao

[Vmarco]

[Vmarco]

The above quote is absolutely correct, but the thing is, you have turned simple spiritual legacies left by past Sages into a sort of pot-luck, entrepreneurial type of self-absorbed, self-defined designations, turn it all upside down, and slap a label on your confusion forwarded as wisdom and then call it "Free Thought Buddhism". How very convenient is that?

 

And when those who know better suss you out, you scream bloody murder like a sissified boy who have been exposed.

 

C'mon, Vmarco, you can do better than this. I wonder what took others so long to wake up to your jingles. I saw through your motives after your 3rd post. Unfortunately, your bells have all been tarnished. There are better ways if your goal is to promote your books here man.

 

 

 

Jingles, susses, sissies,...you do love trolling, don't you?. So, how and why does one spin,...what you agree to be an "absolutely correct, simple spiritual legacy",..into a diatribe about pot-luck, self-absorbed, upsidedown, entrepeneurialship? Talk about convenient. NOW THAT"S CONVENIENT!

 

If you are AFRAID to discuss Light, just say, I'm AFRAID to discuss Light,...or better yet, say nothing at all,..WHICH ULTIMATELY, is what your saying anyway,...NOTHING. Devoid of any meaningful contribution, and out to make certain that no one else can engage in a topic of meaningful contribution,...least you're uncovered for your meaninglessness.

 

The thing I'm not aware of is,...are you Twinners Troll Groupie, or is he yours? He states that you are the Second Greatest Buddhist on TB, which is obviously untrue, because you will not engage in any meaningful discussion on Buddhism beyond the fundamentalist dogmatic quotes from your Lineages point of view.

 

So,...once again,...you show youself as all mouthy diatribe, and no substance. Too bad.

 

If you "think" Naropa's Clear Light Yoga is absolutely true, why not discuss it,...or have you been indoctrinated that it's an ineffable legacy that can only be shared by way of special transmissions of the head of your lineage?

 

Freethought Buddhism is much more simple,...relate with what will never leave you, and from which you can never leave,...that includes so-called life or death.

 

V

Edited August 12, 2011 by Vmarco

[Harmonious Emptiness]

[vsaluki]

1. The inability to distinguish the false as the false, to ascertain an admirable friend, versus a repugnant friend who feigns humbleness as a degree of pride,...is an inability to recognize love.

 

Again, you waste your time parsing the world into "admirable friends" and "repugnant friends". These are relativistic notions that only have meaning that comes from a value system that has missed the point of Tao and Buddhism.

 

For example from the Tao Teh Ching:

 

2: "As soon as the world regards something as beautiful,

ugliness simultaneously becomes apparent,

As soon as the world regards something as good,

evil simultaneously becomes apparent."

 

32: "People do not need to do anything to insure the harmony between Heaven and Earth."

 

38: "When natural virtue is lost, society depends on the doctrine of humanism".

 

Everything that you say shows that you do not understand what these things mean.

 

Of course, love is at the core of everyone,...it hasn't changed, nor will ever change,...but the inability or rejection to tell apart the barriers built against love, will remain barriers unless confronted.

 

More of the same. "We can't love because bad people are stopping us." What nonsense. Only you are stopping you and you are the only one that you can change.

 

If you understood the mystical teachings you would realize that you don't need to go around selling love like a snakeoil salesman sells a cure all. Telling yourself that a certain kind of love is the highest kind of love is also a waste of time. By obtaining a unitary consciousness all becomes Self. Love requires a subject and an object. In unitary consciousness love becomes a non issue, because all is Self. Compassion is, likewise, just so much snake oil. It also requires a subject (the one being compassionate) and an object (what one is being compassionate towards). When one recognizes all as Self, there is no need for compassion. The spiritual snake oil salesmen sell the behaviour of the realized individual as the behaviours needed to become a realized individual. This is a false teaching. Parading your pretenses of compassion as enlightenment is just so much BS.

 

2. This is an excellent statement, and one that dovetails with the bodhisattva's compassion.

 

No, it is a nonsense statement. And if you understood Lao's response you would have understood why.

 

3. If you read my posts outside the topic at hand, you will see that Tao is an essential core of my posts.

 

I don't see any Tao in your posts. I see only Buddhism perverted into political pseudo humanism.

 

Anyway,...with all this talk of love,...what is love? Do you know?

 

Here we go again - "my love is better than your love". Don't you ever bore yourself?

 

"Then there is the amoral intimacy of Conscious Love. This is the Love of the Bodhisattva; the wish for the well being and liberation of all; without predisposition, and indifferent towards the consequences to the lover."

 

"...to ascertain an admirable friend, versus a repugnant friend..."

 

Yeah, I can see how you live what you preach.

Edited August 12, 2011 by vsaluki

[dwai]

The point of view of light would be as if you stepped into light shoes,...that isn't necessarily an "awareness."

 

If you realized the so-called speed of light,...from that point of view,...you would travel no distance, in no time, and have no need for speed.

 

My overall point was,...no attention is more worthwhile than that of understanding Light,...that fact is well recognized in Vajrayana Buddhism (Naropa's 6 Yoga's),...and all historical enlightened beings, as Buddha, the Light of Asia. The Light of Asia is not in reference to an particular narrow band in the electrodynamic field.

 

Amusingly,...on a forum that espouses great insights about the nature of life,...the thread "What is Light" falls into the back pages of the archives,...and attentions focus on mostly useless diversions, and trolling.

 

As I mentioned before,...NO ONE can understand WHO they are, before realizing WHEN they are,...and that problem is understood through Light. Doesn't matter how many lifetimes you try,...you will NEVER understand WHO you are, without realizing WHEN you are.

 

"all matter is frozen or slowed down light" physicist David Bohm

 

"For the rest of my life I want to reflect on what light is". Albert Einstein

 

"clear light is veiled by concepts and ideals" Tilopa

 

"by recognizing the Clear Light of the Void his lifetime, an adept may return to it without difficulty when the shock of death threatens to disorient him." Naropa

 

 

V

 

Pov of light would then become pov of observer and everything would be in relation to the observer's velocity. The observer would then seem stationary while everything else swirled around him/her.

 

But doing so reduces a far more intricate dance into a fox trot...

 

I guess we all have our proclivities and one could interpret a mwtaphoric reference to light literally...which seems to be what you are doing.

Btw, are you fmiliar with bohm's holographic theory of the universe?

[Vmarco]

Again, you waste your time parsing the world into "admirable friends" and "repugnant friends". These are relativistic notions that only have meaning that comes from a value system that has missed the point of Tao and Buddhism.

 

 

2: "As soon as the world regards something as beautiful,

ugliness simultaneously becomes apparent,

As soon as the world regards something as good,

evil simultaneously becomes apparent."

 

More of the same. "We can't love because bad people are stopping us." Here we go again - "my love is better than your love". Don't you ever bore yourself?

 

 

 

First, very little of the world as a whole observes through the message of Tao,...second, why is that? I would say that if I was asked to describe Tao in a word other than Tao, that word would be WELCOME. It's all about welcome.

 

Seeing or not seeing beauty is about Welcome. But perhaps, if the word Welcome is not in one's dogma, then it is rejected out of hand, and the user of such a word hung,...like the Greeks hung Hippasus for mentioning something other than a Natural Number.

 

I found that ACIM nicely articulated how to see beauty:

 

"what about the beauty and goodness in the world? We can see that the so-called positive aspects of our world are equally as illusory as the negative ones. They are both aspects of a dualistic perceptual universe, which but reflect the dualistic split in the mind of Man. The famous statement "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' is also applicable here, since what one deems as beauty, another may find to be aesthetically displeasing, and vice versa. Similarly, what one society judges as good, another may judge as bad and against the common good. This can be evidenced by a careful study of history, sociology, and cultural anthropology. Therefore, using the criterion for reality of eternal changelessness that is employed in the Course, we can conclude that nothing that the world deems beautiful or good is real, and so it cannot have been created by Reality."

 

Now,...did I say "bad people stop us from love",....how could anyone read what I wrote and come away with a thought like that? The answer is an irrationality to allow Welcome.

 

To truly Welcome is to let go of all beliefs. Ah, but you could come back and say I'm neck deep in beliefs. After all, you somehow consider my description of love as someone selling snakeoil.

 

Well, vsaluki,...although I certainly Welcome you, it is obvious you will take what ever I say both out of context, and added to,...that's what people do when they don't understand something, they make things up, so its more palatable. Nothing personal,...I'm simply mentioning a documented communication tactic of ego.

 

So, I will not respond to you post further. On the other hand, you're always Welcome to respond to my posts,...and if its meaningful, that is, without all the superficial stuff, I'll respond.

 

V