Well if I did ever instill fear in them, that would have been my failing. But should they ever have mocked or unappreciated me, I certainly wouldn't have wished eternal suffering upon them.
These are words to instill fear, fear and faith can never exist together. Jesus, or whoever wrote those words attributed to him was one of the great masters, a great mystic, fear was not part of his message. His message was about love.
Yes it could be said that charity is really self interest masquerading under the form of altruism...it could be just a more refined form of selfishness, but there's nothing wrong with healthy self interest.
I do voluntary work for a local charity taking people with learning disabilities out into the hills. It's a selfish act really...it gives ME great pleasure.
Indeed, choice usually means you are compelled to act in a certain way according to the conditioning of your mind. But true choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and it's conditioned patterns.
The quote is straight from the egotistic mind and born out of fear, and all conflicts have their roots in fear. But the ego loves to strengthen our fear and keep us under it's ever demanding control. The wise may say, "surrender to win."
Not sure I understand that. Who is doing the forcing, how do they stop you from stating the facts you mentioned and are they indeed marginalised or disadvantaged?
As much as you can't tell a person who hasn't felt the surge of electricity through their body what it's like...'I' cannot be explained in words, only felt or experienced beyond thought.
"Reality, God, divinity, truth, love are unknowable, that means they cannot be understood by the thinking mind."
St Thomas Aquinas
"The fact is that you're surrounded by God and you don't see God, because you 'know' about God. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. That is the terrible thing about religion. That is what the gospels were saying, that religious people 'knew' so they got rid of Jesus. The highest knowledge of God is to know God is unknowable.
"Since we cannot know what God is, but only what God is not, we cannot consider how God is but only how he is not. This is what is ultimate in the human knowledge of God...to know that we don't know God."
St Thomas Aquinas
I think this guy was quite high up in the theologian stakes eh?
Actually the body never remains the same, it's constantly changing. In fact every cell in our body changes over a seven year period. So take a look in the mirror, that's not the same body you were looking at seven years ago.
Even more than that, it has been suggested that a strong unconscious emotional pattern could even manifest as an external event that appears to happen to an individual on a regular basis. For example, people who carry a lot of anger inside without being aware of it or are able to express it are more likely to be attacked, verbally or physically by other angry people, often for no apparent reason. They emanate anger (from the mind) that certain people pick up and that triggers their own latent anger.
Yes, the body's reaction to the mind is emotion. The more you identify with your mind, the stronger the emotional charge will be. If you are cut off from your emotions you'll eventually feel them at a physical level, as a physical problem or symptom. This is how many illnesses manifest within the body.
The worlds first dog operated washing machine has just been made available. Great idea, but I'd be even more impressed if the dog could do the ironing also....
I was referring to SG's comment..."if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" This question is 'trotted out' time and time again but the answer to the question, as I mentioned, is readily available for anyone who cares to do a little research. Whether we did evolve from primates is another question, but putting forward the argument that SG has, and many others without even bothering to find an answer or explanation just displays how dogmatism can get in the way of a serious debate.
Learning requires listening, preferably with an open mind.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: a song about the love of God...lyrics that will teach you something new...
A very poignant song, coupled with this video the lyrics perhaps take on a different meaning...