Interesting morning at least those attending said it was. Major topics were that there is no external reality as the video on Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. This agrees with all mystics through the ages.
Afterwards we examined the true meaning to some of Christian texts.
The idea that you must find and come to Know Thyself seems so antithetical to not only the message of the Gospel, but also most religious monastic mindsets -- with the added fact that few people would be able to even define what it is about the self that one is required to know. And what this means is that the whole concept of Knowing Thyself, from the perspective of the modern dogmatic and politically correct world, is representative of an incomprehensible enigma. And this great enigmatic void is not only true of the religious world, but is equally true of the educational and scientific institutions that serve as the bedrock foundation of our modern culture. And yet, if the Gospel of Thomas saying of Jesus is correct -- and even representative of the "Q" source that Bible scholars look for -- then it should be disconcerting to the modern believer that Jesus portrays them as dwelling in a great poverty of mind and being -- i.e., "...But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty". But perhaps even more confusing is when this statement to Know Thyself is seen in the context of whoever attempts to save his life will loose it (Matt. 16:26) -- to the degree that one must totally deny one's self: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Thus, the questions must be posed: How can one Know Thyself, and yet must lose one's self? What is there to know, if whatever is of the self must be gotten rid of? By all accounts, this enigma of paradoxical opposites appears to undermine all that most believers think they know about the Gospel message. And if it is true that there is something to know about the self that, if one is ignorant of this reality of self, that one dwells in a state of abject poverty and knows nothing of any real value, then even what a believer thinks they know and believes, will remain in perpetual error. Thus, confirming the long ignored warning: "There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death" (Prov 14:12). Which would confirm the validity of the warning in the Epistle of Peter and James that if this paradoxical enigmatic knowledge is not understood, that "...it will remain even for those who really seek the truth, always to wander in error"!!! Could such a thing be true?
Afterwards we examined the true meaning to some of Christian texts.
The idea that you must find and come to Know Thyself seems so antithetical to not only the message of the Gospel, but also most religious monastic mindsets -- with the added fact that few people would be able to even define what it is about the self that one is required to know. And what this means is that the whole concept of Knowing Thyself, from the perspective of the modern dogmatic and politically correct world, is representative of an incomprehensible enigma. And this great enigmatic void is not only true of the religious world, but is equally true of the educational and scientific institutions that serve as the bedrock foundation of our modern culture. And yet, if the Gospel of Thomas saying of Jesus is correct -- and even representative of the "Q" source that Bible scholars look for -- then it should be disconcerting to the modern believer that Jesus portrays them as dwelling in a great poverty of mind and being -- i.e., "...But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty". But perhaps even more confusing is when this statement to Know Thyself is seen in the context of whoever attempts to save his life will loose it (Matt. 16:26) -- to the degree that one must totally deny one's self: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Thus, the questions must be posed: How can one Know Thyself, and yet must lose one's self? What is there to know, if whatever is of the self must be gotten rid of? By all accounts, this enigma of paradoxical opposites appears to undermine all that most believers think they know about the Gospel message. And if it is true that there is something to know about the self that, if one is ignorant of this reality of self, that one dwells in a state of abject poverty and knows nothing of any real value, then even what a believer thinks they know and believes, will remain in perpetual error. Thus, confirming the long ignored warning: "There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death" (Prov 14:12). Which would confirm the validity of the warning in the Epistle of Peter and James that if this paradoxical enigmatic knowledge is not understood, that "...it will remain even for those who really seek the truth, always to wander in error"!!! Could such a thing be true?
What
if you are not your real or true self? How can this be,
you ask? What if you are what is often portrayed as the
ego-self? Or, what G.I.Gurdjieff, Philip K. Dick and
other mystics portrayed as false-personalities? When
Jesus stated that you must lose yourself, what if he was making
reference to the false-self that is in this world?
And when Jesus made reference to the "House Divided" that
cannot stand, what if he was stating that so long as the person you
are in this world remains divided from your true-self that is not
manifest in the body -- primarily because of the limitations of the
organic physical body -- that is it you in a divided state of mind
and being that cannot stand? What if your true self is
locked deep beneath your being -- at a depth of mind and being that
you cannot readily access because of the limitations of the physical
body-vessel -- and the ancient adage that is proclaimed in the Gospel
of Thomas is a statement of fact that unless the false or ego-self
brings about in inner union or marriage with their true-self that is
not manifest in the body-vessel, that you can have no real permanence
-- dwelling in a state of profound mental and spiritual poverty, as
seen in the words of the Gospel
of
Thomas: "...But
if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you
who are that poverty".
The
person you are at present is the product of the temporal culture and
time-frame in which you are presently living -- and as such, few
people have given any thought to the fact that, if you preserve and
attempt to save that which is temporal and false, that you will have
squandered your life away? What if what is often
portrayed as the ego-self, is the person you are in this world, while
the true self exists at a deeper level of mind and being and cannot
easily manifest in the person whose thinking, mindset and lifestyle
is founded upon the temporal cultures and lifestyles of this world?
And what if when Jesus makes reference to the blind, deaf and those
incapable of understanding with any depth of comprehension, it is in
reference to those who are carnal and anchored to this world -- which
condition of mind is that portrayed as dwelling in what Jesus said
was the "outer
darkness" of
mind and being (see Outer
Darkness)?
And what if beyond the barrier of the inner wall of consciousness
where the true self dwells, all truths were seen and known in the
Light of a naked reality? Why, all of a sudden the
enigmas of knowing one's self, losing the self in this world, and
ones search for the Kingdom within, would suddenly be understood from
a totally different perspective than it is today. Even
the Lord's Prayer where Jesus teaches his followers to beseech the
Lord to bring about the manifestation of the Kingdom (within) -- and
why Jesus commanded to seek the Kingdom first as seen in the
words: "But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you" (Matt.
6:33) -- one would have to conclude that man's present-day dogmatic
poverty is so great, that the modern Church has very little in common
with the original teachings of Jesus and TheWay. If
one is supposed to seek the Kingdom by losing the false-self of one's
carnal nature, in order to permit one's true inner self to manifest,
then the whole dogmatic concept of waiting until you physically die
to see if you will inherit the promise of going to Glory, would have
to be radically re-evaluated in light of countless other original
Gospel teachings and concepts that are largely ignored today.
And while on the surface this may sound radical, isn't this exactly
what Paul stated when he commanded the congregation of
Christians: "Put
to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature" (Col
3:5 NIV). But the problem is that modern man does
not at all understand this biblical reality, because he lacks the
knowledge of his own Cosmology of Mind and Being.
Therefore, he doesn't know that the "...earthly
nature" which
Paul commands to "Put
to death...",
is in fact the false-self that man is in this world. And
that the seeker/disciple must come to Know Thyself, by Manifesting
their True-Self, while still alive in the physical body-vessel.
And if this is true, then what you are about to read could very well
be the most important thing you have ever read in your entire
life.
Hegel's
Geist is not like the transcendent (outside of our consciousness) God
of traditional Christianity. For Hegel God is immanent and when we
have understood that history is the process of Geist coming to know
itself it appears that we are all part of Geist, or God.
