Do you love God?

[zenzero]

friend Pure X,
Tao or God is the same or not depends on ones understanding.
If one has made god into a Static person then what you say is right but if its a concept of dynamic proportion then Tao is the same.
As Lao Tsu said Truth cannot be a matter of debate or discussion. IT SIMPLY IS.
Love & rgds

 

[PureX]

friend Pure X,
Tao or God is the same or not depends on ones understanding.
If one has made god into a Static person then what you say is right but if its a concept of dynamic proportion then Tao is the same.
As Lao Tsu said Truth cannot be a matter of debate or discussion. IT SIMPLY IS.
Love & rgds

To me, the difference isn't about what "God" is, it's about me. I feel it's important that I remember that I cannot grasp "God". And most taoists wouldn't even use that term because it implies that the term, or label, can contain the idea, which it can't. But I am aware that my use of the term "God" implies a great mystery, and does not imply something that I can grasp or understand.

The term "tao", for me, does not refer to the divine source, but to the existential manifestations of that great mystery. The "tao" is the way that existence exists. And I am able, in a way, to recognize, or sense this way of being, or flow of existence, whatever we want to call it, to the degree that I can align myself with it. And in so doing, I can align myself with the divinely mysterious source of existence. That's the best I can do, given my human limitations.

What I find most fascinating about this "process", is that it's automatic. All I have to do is nothing. *smile* Just be.

 

[Atman]

Don't be too concerned. When I first became Christian, I don't think 'love' was the right word. I think it was more amazed respect and honour, but it developed into love.

In my own experience this has been completely true. The love for God is almost like a seed, which slowly begins to bud into affection and respect, before it fully blooms into a beautiful flower of love and astonishment.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

no i do not

 

[Jistyr]

To "love" is to dissolve the walls of identity between "I" and "other" and feel a sense of common being.

Isn't that more of an extreme collectivism?

 

[zenzero]

Friend Pure X,
Tao itoo is a word like god but if you mind mkaes distinctions in understanding each word seperately; SO BE IT. neither is more important than the very mind which creates these distinctions.
find many stating that they love god which they only imagine about but in reality find many worshippers kicking poor dogs, abusing poor souls, etc. If one loves god then he should love everything even inanimate objects which are all differnt forms of the same god concept.
The moot point here is that the love declared for god by those individuals too are mind created love and no real.
love is a quality which should be universal and not selective for the individual's god, parents, siblings, girlfriends, wife, etc.
Love ^ rgds

 

[Godfather89]

Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
- from the Tao Te Ching​

The tao is not "God", but it's the existential expression of "God". It's as close as we come.

The Tao in Taoism is the same as Gnosis in Gnosticism... The powers that be do not realize this thats why the gnostics exist and why the taoist exist, if they did realize than it would be that much harder to break free from the world. Gods love is in everything even the lowest things... you just need to really search for it.

 

[PureX]

The Tao in Taoism is the same as Gnosis in Gnosticism... The powers that be do not realize this thats why the gnostics exist and why the taoist exist, if they did realize than it would be that much harder to break free from the world. Gods love is in everything even the lowest things... you just need to really search for it.

There are some differences, though, I think. Consider this comment:

When a superior man hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.
When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes it, half doubts it.
When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud.
If he didn't laugh,
it wouldn't be the Tao.

Thus it is said:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest art seems unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things.
- from the Tao Te Ching​

Gnosticism, as I understand it, claims that the 'logos' of God can be discerned if we will look closely enough at God's works, and study them deeply enough. But taoism would say just the opposite: that to embody the tao, one must let go of the quest for knowing, and of desire (even the desire to be wise) so one can finally just be. It is through our 'being-ness' that we and the tao are one. Not through our knowledge or wisdom.

In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.

True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can't be gained by interfering.​

 

[Godfather89]

Yes but Gnosticism is concerned with the awareness of being, The "I" that is not ego but timeless, deathless, unchangeable just like the eternal Tao. As St. Francis of Assisi said "What you are looking for is what is looking." From that I concluded being that St. Francis of Assisi had strong gnostic overtones that Taoism and Gnosticism go hand in hand.

I could be wrong all religions seem to have there own different ways of obtaining truth, the great thing about the source is that theres many ways to get back to it, not necessarily the one you are born into.

 

[arthra]

The love of God is what holds the cosmos together... the attractive force that binds and builds and organizes.

So from our own atomic structure to our social environment the love of God is there...

There is the love of God for man, and returning that love, the love of man for God...also the love of man for man is all relfected and revirberating with that love.

So do I love God? Yes...unreservedly.