From most of the well traveled people I've spoke to, New Zealand (might get to see it one day) seems to be the best. For the most spectacular, Pakistan would get my vote...
Once more, the word God is presenting a barrier to that which it is supposed to be directing us towards.
The word God is limiting, apart from thousands of years of misrepresentation and misuse, it suggests God is a separate entity other than you. God is being itself, not a being.
Words are a distraction when we try to understand God.
St Thomas Aquinas put it simply...
" About God we cannot say what he is, but rather what he is not. And we cannot speak about how he is but rather how he is not. The highest form of talking about the Trinity is to know that one does not know. The highest form of the knowledge of God-to know God as the unknown. Reality, God divinity, truth, love are unknowable, that means they cannot be comprehended by the thinking mind."
Now this is not an Oriental Zen master speaking. This is a canonised saint of the Roman Catholic Church, the prince of theologians for centuries. I personally can relate to his way of thinking.
I too have put my life in serious jeopardy in order to save a complete stranger, but that was a different kind of love. That was instinctive... love that is in us all, our true selves, without thought, without reasoning. The moment you add thought, self interest comes into play.
Don't fool yourself, for almost all of us, everything we do is in our self interest...everything.
There are however the very few amongst us who are capable of agape, sometimes called disinterested love, that is, love wholly invested in the well being of another, without the shadow of self interest lurking beneath the surface...but that is rare. For most of us we always expect some form of payback, even if we don't realise it.
I don't like you, nor do I dislike you, I'm totally indifferent.
But who are you? Who's living in you? You think you are an individual, a free thinker, but there probably isn't a gesture, a thought, an emotion, an attitude, a belief in you that isn't coming from someone else...and you don't know it. All you say on here is simply a conglomeration of your past experiences, your conditioning and programing. Watch yourself as you would watch others, you'll see, you'll notice the labels you are using, even the labels you use for yourself. Find out who the 'I' is, once you do that, you'll realise we are all individuals and we all sing different tunes...just for you to label.
When we can say, "Not this person, nor any other, can ultimately give me what I want, only I can," then we are able to enjoy a relationship for what it can give. As individuals, we must be able to accept the tension of opposites that are always present in any relationship. Bringing those tensions into consciousness require a great will on behalf of both parties requiring selflessness, but acknowledgement of each others individuality.
The highest task of a bond between two people is that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: Around the world with pictures!
Green Tortoise Hostel San Francisco (off the web) stayed there 2008