"Salvation" and "Enlightenment"

  • Thread starter CobblersApprentice
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muhammad_isa said:
Indeed .. that seems to be a major problem with the world these days, regardless of religion.
People are becoming more divided and less caring about others.
Of course, the ultimate distrust of others is war.

I have a love & hate relationship with the world. I like to withdraw from others and tread a path of what makes sense to me..
..and yet .. there is no "pure land" without being part of society. Life sometimes seems like walking a tight-rope
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"Be not conformed to this world" (St Paul) and seeking to respond with love towards the world is certainly a fine question of balance!

I have heard it said that when God looked upon the world and declared it "good", such meant "suitable for purpose" rather than it being perfect in any sense. Saying this world is the Pure Land?
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
So this is a pet peeve I have, so I have to ask, do you think there was a time where people was not this divided?
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Yes .. the past is not all romance .. but there were certainly golden times in many civilizations.
It is highly disturbing where the world is heading now .. but then the prophets warned us of this.

Air travel .. climate change .. flood, earthquake, famine, drought, disease .. nationalism and self-centeredness :eek:
 
muhammad_isa said:
Certainly not a person :)
He is nether male or female .. does not have relatives, such as uncles, mother, father, sons and daughters.
He is unique. He is responsible for the creation of space-time i.e. the universe, and is never weary of maintaining it.
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Thank you for the reply.

For me it is confusing that God is Absolute yet ... He has no qualities.

We temporal individuals all have uniqueness that is absolute and specific to our individual selves.

Even dead people have their own unique grave stone with dates and names.

How can God be absolute yet his description is impersonal.

I know God as having relatives, such as uncles, mother, father, sons and daughters.

And I know of God's attributes as being the original of Person-hood.

Is being absolute mean there is no Persona?
 
Bhaktajan II said:
Thank you for the reply.

For me it is confusing that God is Absolute yet ... He has no qualities.

We temporal individuals all have uniqueness that is absolute and specific to our individual selves.

Even dead people have their own unique grave stone with dates and names.

How can God be absolute yet his description is impersonal.

I know God as having relatives, such as uncles, mother, father, sons and daughters.

And I know of God's attributes as being the original of Person-hood.

Is being absolute mean there is no Persona?
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I remember a poster on another forum saying once that while God is not a person, Reality has the nature of "peopling".

But don't mind me......:)
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
These don't feel very new to me tho.
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I must admit to being a bit of a Jeremiah about the future, yet I see this as being the consequence of the vast capacity of our technology to currupt the eco-system, rather than human-kind becoming more degenerate as such.

The more I learn about history I can find no particular "golden age", perhaps occasional pockets of learning and artistic flowering. But as far as general human nature, not much changes.
 
CobblersApprentice said:
The more I learn about history I can find no particular "golden age", perhaps occasional pockets of learning and artistic flowering. But as far as general human nature, not much changes.
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This is my thoughts also, measuring a specific property at a specific time at a specific geographical location will give us some admirable peaks. But then some really low points in other properties and geographical locations.
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
This is my thoughts also, measuring a specific property at a specific time at a specific geographical location will give us some admirable peaks. But then some really low points in other properties and geographical locations.
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In a slightly different context, if asked if we would like to have lived in any other age, perhaps we would think of the great age of discovery, seeing ourselves as Columbus. Not below decks with scurvy. Maybe the golden age of Athens, strutting up and down the forum, debating. Not one of the many more slaves who served them. And so on.

Good grief, when I look back on my own life, when all around the world there have been so many wars, terror and natural disasters, my own life has been blessed. How on earth have I avoided it all? Giving something back seems more an obligation.
 
If a beautiful woman walks by ---what does the modern western mind think?

If President Donald Trump walks by ---what is the modern western mind think?

It appears now [via the media] that only 50% are interested in the woman and 50% are envious of Trump.

The lack of consensus is due to envy imo.

The greatest generation grew up in very envious times.

Coveting what the neighbor has [and you don't have] is "envy".

Maybe the pain killer epidemic is meant to stop one's enviousness?

Maybe the illegal migrants are saying "Yes, we envy you! Help us curtail our hour of envy! Help us cure our envy"!
 
CobblersApprentice said:
..The more I learn about history I can find no particular "golden age", perhaps occasional pockets of learning and artistic flowering. But as far as general human nature, not much changes.
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Perhaps you expect too much. Human beings are weak .. yet have tremendous potential.
We can see the good and the bad in the world today .. universities, welfare benefits etc.
I for one, can see the good things we have achieved through churches and mosques.

..but what goes up, must come down .. a sad fact of life .. a product of our weakness, which is compounded by "worldly success"
 
muhammad_isa said:
..so G-d is an alien who breeds?
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God is a Person. Personhood originates with God.

All life forms from microbes to insects to kings to celestial beings all do the same four things:

Eat;
sleep;
mate;
defend.

But only the honest non-envying individual will approach God.

The scribe wrote:
Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger,
the "asura" becomes envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
who is situated in his own body and in the bodies of others,
and blasphemes against the real religion.
Chapter 16, Verse 18
 
FYI:

Chapter 16, Verse 19
Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.

Chapter 16, Verse 20
Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence.

Chapter 16, Verse 21
There are three gates leading to this hell-lust, anger, and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.

Chapter 16, Verse 22
The man who has escaped these three gates of hell, O son of Kunti, performs acts conducive to self-realization and thus gradually attains the supreme destination.

Chapter 16, Verse 23
But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.

Chapter 16, Verse 24
One should understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should act so that he may gradually be elevated.
 
Bhaktajan II said:
God is a Person. Personhood originates with God.
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Not sure what you mean by a person..
Most people I know are not capable of being aware of every leaf that falls from every tree from the creation of the universe to its destruction .. RIGHT NOW at this very moment! :)

Any moment in fact .. The created are not comparable to the One who is not limited by the illusion of passing time and appears to us as infinite
 
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