Be still and know that I am God

wil

wil

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"To say 'I am God' does indeed sound arrogant. It feels like blasphemy. But in fact, what is blasphemy is not to say 'I am God', what is really blasphemous is to say 'I am a person'.

Because in saying 'I am a person', what we're saying is that I am a being with my own independent existence.

We're saying that my being must be separate from God's being. And if my being is separate from God's being, then God's being must be limited.

In other words, to say 'I am a person' is to deny the (omni)presence of God. That is blasphemy.

If infinite being is infinite, it must be the nature of all.

But if we are setting ourselves up as a separate, temporary, finite being, we are denying the infinite being, we are denying God's presence.

That's why it's not arrogant to say, 'I am God.'

To say, 'I am a person.' - that is arrogant."

~ Rupert Spira

"The person is not God, the body is not God, but you are God. The reason you will not accept the fact that you are God is because of your orthodox upbringing. If I tell you you’re God, you think it’s blasphemy. That only shows me that you are identifying with your body. You believe you are a body, and there is a God somewhere up in the sky that you’ve got to pray to, and if he is in a good mood, he’ll give you a boon. If he’s not feeling too good that day, he will throw a lightning bolt at you. People still believe that. God is consciousness. And that is not outside of yourself. It is you. You are that.”

~ Robert Adams
 
Interesting, almost 2 years since I advised that the above is an incorrect translation for Psalm 46 and it gets quoted again.
 
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I would say that both 'arguments' are preaching to the choir, aimed at people who've already bought into the idea and don't question it too deeply.

The Robert Adams quote is so silly its borderline offensive to a thinking religious person.

I'm sure there are those who believe simply and naively, as Adams says – but I am also quite sure you'll find the same simplicity and naivety among his own followers – otherwise they'd have seen through the scam. apparently he owed a lot of people a lot of money ... (Did a quick websearch – seems Adams was a fraud and a narcissist?)

+++

I think this is the classic manipulation of Advaita doctrine. The true Advaita does not say "I am God" the way these pseudo-spiritualists say.

+++
 
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RabbiO said:
Interesting, almost 2 years since I advised that the above is an incorrect translation for Psalm 46 and it gets quoted again.
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What is the better English translation of the kjv: 'Be still and know that I am God' from Psalm 46 @RabbiO?
 
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RJM said:
What is the better English translation of the kjv: 'Be still and know that I am God' from Psalm 46 @RabbiO?
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Allow me to quote myself.

"It’s a great line. It’s not a bad piece of advice. The one thing it is not, however, is a good translation of the Hebrew, especially given the context of the psalm.

The psalm is a battle psalm. The verse in question is a warning to the nations fighting against Israel that Israel is under G-d’s protection and that their efforts will fail. The verse is not saying that the nations need to put aside mundane matters, pause from the ordinary, and instead make and take quiet time for reflection and meditation. It is a warning/command to cease and desist battling Israel and realize that this imperative is coming from G-d."

The better translation of the first word in Hebrew would be "Desist". I sometimes disagree with the translation of Rabbi Rosenberg, whose translation of the Tanakh is the one used by Chabad, but in this instance I concur.
 
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RabbiO said:
Allow me to quote myself.

"It’s a great line. It’s not a bad piece of advice. The one thing it is not, however, is a good translation of the Hebrew, especially given the context of the psalm.

The psalm is a battle psalm. The verse in question is a warning to the nations fighting against Israel that Israel is under G-d’s protection and that their efforts will fail. The verse is not saying that the nations need to put aside mundane matters, pause from the ordinary, and instead make and take quiet time for reflection and meditation. It is a warning/command to cease and desist battling Israel and realize that this imperative is coming from G-d."

The better translation of the first word in Hebrew would be "Desist". I sometimes disagree with the translation of Rabbi Rosenberg, whose translation of the Tanakh is the one used by Chabad, but in this instance I concur.
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Oh, I understand.
Thank you
 
as a strong atheist, god figures nowhere in my beliefs, but i am brahman, the stuff that constitutes all things in the universe. but then, you too are that. all these things are that.
aham brahmasmi, tat twam asi, sarvam khalvidam brahma.
 
We are all stardust... we are all G!d...know I am G!d.

I take a pail to the beach and dip out the ocean... I ain't got the whole ocean in there, they got the ocean in there, but not the whole ocean...sort of in its image and likeness.

I got your G!d in me...not all of it, I am just the outpouring onto this page expressing...

Not blasphemy, but the understanding that comforts me...just as whatever your belief is comforts you...
 
heard of holography? each pixel of the image has the whole image.
each of us things are the whole of brahman.

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invocation in brihadaranyaka and ishavasya upanishads.
 
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Even though the word used in Psalm 46:10 can be used for Stop! or cease striving I personally feel it can be applied to enemies and God's people alike as the Psalms were written for God's people. In that I receive for myself the comfort that God is sovereign.
 
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wil said:
take a pail to the beach and dip out the ocean... I ain't got the whole ocean in there, they got the ocean in there, but not the whole ocean...sort of in its image and likeness.
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To me there's a vast difference between the pail full of seawater, and the ocean from where it originates. The pail cannot say: "I am the ocean."

Ain't no whale in my pail ...
That's the fail, imo?
 
RJM said:
To me there's a vast difference between the pail full of seawater, and the ocean from where it originates. The pail cannot say: "I am the ocean."

Ain't no whale in my pail ...
That's the fail, imo?
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No, but the pail can say "what's in me is the same as what's in the ocean".
 
RJM said:
Obviously. That's not the same?
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I don't know if its the same. On a molecular level, perhaps? Go down that far, and I'm sure it all looks the same...

Standing next to the bucket and the ocean, an outsider would perceive a difference.

Though one could empty the bucket, and they'd be the same again...

(Just meandering.)
 
I don't know.

I contain the divine essence. I am made in the image and likeness. But that doesn't make me God?

All water originates from and returns eventually to the ocean. But a raindrop is obviously not able to say: "I am the ocean"?

A candle is not the sun. A cell of my body can't claim to be me -- wonderful though it is?

Spirit weaves nature

Also meandering ...
 
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RJM said:
To me there's a vast difference between the pail full of seawater, and the ocean from where it originates. The pail cannot say: "I am the ocean."

Ain't no whale in my pail ...
That's the fail, imo?
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oh yes, we have different views, but that never comes between our relationship. :)
the whale too is constituted by electrons and neutrons as are we or water.
 
Einstein and I are both made of atoms. But that doesn't make me Einstein?
 
Aupmanyav said:
that does not change the fact that you and einstein are made of atoms (in layman's language). :)
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Sure. But it is false equivalence to ignore the difference in degree between a garden firecracker and a hydrogen bomb, although they both explode with a bang?
 
I am God?

Bhagavad Gita 11: 38-51 Prabhupada translation
You are the original Personality of Godhead, the oldest, the ultimate sanctuary of this manifested cosmic world. You are the knower of everything, and you are all that is knowable. You are the supreme refuge, above the material modes. O limitless form! This whole cosmic manifestation is pervaded by you!

You are air, and you are the supreme controller! you are fire, you are water, and you are the moon! You are Brahmā, the first living creature, and you are the great-grandfather. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto you a thousand times, and again and yet again!

Obeisances to you from the front, from behind and from all sides! O unbounded power, you are the master of limitless might! you are all-pervading, and thus you are everything!

Thinking of you as my friend, I have rashly addressed You “O Kṛṣṇa,” “O Yādava,” “O my friend,” not knowing your glories. Please forgive whatever I may have done in madness or in love. I have dishonored You many times, jesting as we relaxed, lay on the same bed, or sat or ate together, sometimes alone and sometimes in front of many friends. O infallible one, please excuse me for all those offenses.

You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, of the moving and the nonmoving. You are its worshipable chief, the supreme spiritual master. No one is greater than you, nor can anyone be one with you. How then could there be anyone greater than you within the three worlds, O Lord of immeasurable power?

You are the Supreme Lord, to be worshiped by every living being. Thus I fall down to offer You my respectful obeisances and ask your mercy. As a father tolerates the impudence of his son, a friend the impertinence of a friend, or a husband the familiarity of his wife, please tolerate the wrongs I may have done you.

After seeing this universal form, which I have never seen before, I am gladdened, but at the same time my mind is disturbed with fear. Therefore please bestow Your grace upon me and reveal again your form as the Personality of Godhead, O Lord of lords, O abode of the universe.

O universal form, O thousand-armed Lord, I wish to see you in Your four-armed form, with helmeted head and with club, wheel, conch and lotus flower in Your hands. I long to see you in that form.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, happily have I shown you, by my internal potency, this supreme universal form within the material world. No one before you has ever seen this primal form, unlimited and full of glaring effulgence.

O best of the Kuru warriors, no one before you has ever seen this universal form of Mine, for neither by studying the Vedas, nor by performing sacrifices, nor by charity, nor by pious activities, nor by severe penances can I be seen in this form in the material world.

You have been perturbed and bewildered by seeing this horrible feature of Mine. Now let it be finished. My devotee, be free again from all disturbances. With a peaceful mind you can now see the form you desire.

Sañjaya said to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, having spoken thus to Arjuna, displayed his real four-armed form and at last showed his two-armed form, thus encouraging the fearful Arjuna.

When Arjuna thus saw Kṛṣṇa in His original form, he said: O Janārdana, seeing this humanlike form, so very beautiful, I am now composed in mind, and I am restored to my original nature.
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If hundreds of thousands of suns were to rise at once into the sky, their radiance might resemble the effulgence of the Supreme Person in that universal form ...
 
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