Regarding the "within"

[teopakees]

The Speaking Silence;Inner Space by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan;

A -brief- word study to show that "seeking within" is not exclusive to one group or way and to illustrate that people of "faith" / "spirit" do not necessarily follow blindly and that "reason" need not be discarded to "believe".

The Hebrew word Chashmal is explained in the Talmud as the "Speaking Silence";the meditative quietness of the mind out of which the Divine speech comes as -glimpsed- in Psalm 46:11 "Be still and know that I am God."

This post is a responce to recent decrees I have read on this site. Thank you.

[mwight]

The problem with scripture and religions that require you to accept scripture as true without evidence, is that there is no way of really knowing if it has any truth to it at all. If you start out already accepting that said scripture represents an absolute truth even when you really don't know if it does or not, any mystical experience you might have is going to be viewed in light of your existing belief system, and may not reflect the actuality of the experience.

 

I think the best policy is to quit pretending that scripture or its claims are a known truth. They aren't. Instead exercise some self-honesty and admit you really don't know the ultimate truth, scripture doesn't contain it either (at least not for certain), then seek truth within, and see what you find. It's my opinion that inner experiences are vastly superior to faith in two thousand year old scriptures.

 

If you want to find God, go to God directly. Don't waste your time with men, and their writings.

 

 

Even science doesn't offer absolute truth, everything is theoretical and subject to revision if new evidence is discovered. Thats how religion should be. We should not just accept things because our holy men, or scripture says so. We should investigate things on our in, both internally and externally and never give up the pursuit of truth.

 

Its scary to admit that you really don't know, and that all your beliefs are just theories, but in reality thats all any of us have, just theories. I'd argue some theories make more sense based upon their evidence and reasoning, a belief backed solely by scripture and faith in my opinion makes a lot less sense than a theory based on inner experiences a person had, and the evidence available to them in the physical world.

 

Thats my $0.02

Edited December 27, 2008 by mwight

[Duifang]

There is a history of inner, esoteric practices by those following in the Abrahamic faiths (Jadaism/Christianity/Islam). Certainly in the case of Christianity these practices had been largely suppressed by the church so that today they are very difficult to find and to learn. Nevertheless they exist. Then, of course there are Sufism and the Kabbalah.

 

It does seem like there is an element of dogmatism in a few of the posts on this site, particularly regarding Taoist practice and about how teachers make a living. Ironically, dogmatism is contraindicated by Taoist philosophy.

[Mak_Tin_Si]

I think most of you have mistaken and mix up the meaning of "scripture" and "bible in christian"

 

Maybe that is why all of you kind of against scriptures, chantings and fu... But I will be talking about it more later on so maybe whoever want to know ill get to know the truth behind.

[mwight]

I think most of you have mistaken and mix up the meaning of "scripture" and "bible in christian"

 

Maybe that is why all of you kind of against scriptures, chantings and fu... But I will be talking about it more later on so maybe whoever want to know ill get to know the truth behind.

 

Mak_Tin_Si,

 

I think a lot of us reject things like that because of our culture. Here in the USA everything is a sales pitch, everyone wants to sell you something. Everything is a commercial, everywhere there are advertisements trying to sell you more crap that you really don't need. Buy Buy Buy... Sale... Sale... Sale...

 

I myself am very jaded, it's so hard find anything that is true or meaningful in this society of ours. Everything is about money, thats what everyone cares about.

 

 

I'm open to the possibility that fu's and chanting might work, its just I've never seen anything like that work in person. I have had a lot of friends who have been obsessed with magic, they drew seals and signets, and patterns, and used ritual and candles and potions etc to try to accomplish their goals, I never saw anything come from any of their efforts.

 

To be fair their may be some systems of magick which work, FU's might work, I don't know. I'd be interested to see.

[mwight]

[Creation]

I think the best policy is to quit pretending that scripture or its claims are a known truth. They aren't. Instead exercise some self-honesty and admit you really don't know the ultimate truth, scripture doesn't contain it either (at least not for certain), then seek truth within, and see what you find. It's my opinion that inner experiences are vastly superior to faith in two thousand year old scriptures.

 

If you want to find God, go to God directly. Don't waste your time with men, and their writings.

Thats my $0.02

 

Truth or falsity of propositions is not the only thing at stake here. People have a lot of beliefs about the way things are and the way things should be coming from their parents, friends, cultural patterns, personality, etc. that are not reducible to x is true/false or right/wrong or good/bad. These are mental filters and obstacles that block our vision at least as much as creedal propositions.

 

May I suggest that ancient scriptures written by wise and holy men are a great way to unmask these parts of yourself, if you let them, and don't make things about cut and dry information?

 

The Bible, Bhagavad Gita, etc. can be just as spiritually illuminating as the Dao De Jing, if you approach them in the right way.

[teopakees]

Once a man asked a preacher to prove that God exists. The preacher said to the man,"Do you love your wife?"The man said, "yes". The preacher said,"prove it". The man was an honest man and a thinking man. He said to the preacher, "I know it to be true that I do love my wife but I cannot prove to you that I do. I can however, show you and anyone else who uses his eyes for seeing,and his ears for hearing that I do by my words and deeds. I can live it, within and without."

[.broken.]

No religion requires anyone to believe in anything, it is the interpretation of the teachings by the individual that imposes such a requirement upon themselves.

 

The realisation of ignorance is a difficult path. Most walk with their eyes shut.

 

People who fight for 'reason' have the same misunderstanding of the word as followers of the 'truth' have of itself. Fighting itself is in conflict with both.

 

I've put my sword down by the river. I ain't gonna study war no more.

 

Yours humbly,

James

[Creation]

Hi teopakees.

 

How about us posting here at exactly the same time? Right when I clicked post the forum said mine was not the latest post in this thread. Synchronicity?

 

I'm very glad to see a Jewish perspective on this site. That's not something I have gotten too deep into, other than reading a fair amount of the Tanakh in translation.

 

Since you have quoted a him a couple times, do you follow Lord Yeshuah? If so, merry (late) Christmas.

 

Best regards,

Tyler

 

p.s. You are welcome for the post on the quantum. I'm always eager to clear up the confusions I that I perceived being caused by the popular science media.

[teopakees]

Hi teopakees.

 

How about us posting here at exactly the same time? Right when I clicked post the forum said mine was not the latest post in this thread. Synchronicity?

 

I'm very glad to see a Jewish perspective on this site. That's not something I have gotten too deep into, other than reading a fair amount of the Tanakh in translation.

 

Since you have quoted a him a couple times, do you follow Lord Yeshuah? If so, merry (late) Christmas.

 

Best regards,

Tyler

 

p.s. You are welcome for the post on the quantum. I'm always eager to clear up the confusions I that I perceived being caused by the popular science media.

Hi Tyler.

I enjoyed your exposition;it seems there is as much misunderstanding and misuse in scientific inquiry as in spiritual questing. I dont mean to say that they are separate searches; we(human beings) need to understand as well as breathe.

Yes,I am learning to walk with Messiah as did the first century followers. Thank you for asking. I came out of western protestant mindset and am learning, for example;the older testament feasts and the weekly Sabbath vs. man made hol(y)days. I know just enough Hebrew to be dangerous but it is an amazing language.

Shalom, Bob