My interesting email conversation

[Stosh]

Its holding the flashlight. 

[Nikolai1]

Hi dawei

 

Can you name a specific book, person, movement, teaching which you most identify with.. or represents something very similar to what you would like to do.

I have been inspired by so many thinkers, writers, traditions, that I can't possibly say.  I know the truth that is within me and I feel I can translate it well into any tradition.  I have no problem talking in terms of sin and salvation if that is what is required. 

 

It is very clear to me that people are at different levels of maturity, and need to hear the truth in different ways.  I see and know the different levels in all the religions.

 

Some people, although adult, are like children and need to be given very strict guidance, often with an accompanying fear of some form of retribution, For these people, religion can be nothing more than a means to keep them from creating harm in the world.  But just like children, these people must be loved, respected and accepted exactly as they are.

 

At the other end of the scale, some people are ready to be told the highest truths about reality.  Namely that they and the the divine principle are one and the same thing.  This is a very radical truth, and will be totally abused by any who are not yet ready to hear it.  Those ready must be fully adult, although chronologically they may be teenagers still.

 

Spiritual maturity can seem like a complete mystery, but once understood fully it makes perfect sense.  The wise person respects the flower of the apple tree and respects the fruit.  The fruit is not more or less than the flower; both are different forms, of equal necessity.

 

Ultimately, we don't take different manifestations of maturity very seriously.  They simply arise in awareness and then pass.  We do not love the mature more than the immature.  This enables us to act appropriately towards them, and in the case of the immature we can simultaneously judge them and never cease to love them.

 

The main reason I ask is that back when I was attracted to Christianity about 25 years ago, the people who I really caught the bug from were not working within the church and their message was much more powerful.

Yes, I'm sure you're right. It has been my fate to never meet such people in the flesh, but I have read and understood their books.