Truth in religion?

[dgirl1986]

I was sitting near the water attempting to do some mindful meditation but as usual with my ADD brain I get random stuff popping into my head...but one of the random thoughts turned out to have a valid point...

How can there be a a true religion or true god if said divinity has to be taught from human to human, rather than divinity to human? Why is the presence only sensed after the knowledge of the god is learnt? Wouldnt you sense it or communicate with it in some way before you knew what it was? Especially in younger years?

 

[Awoon]

From where did that thought pop into your mind? Outer space, the wind, your own mind revealed it without popping into it, a previous thought not noticed?

 

[George-ananda]

I was sitting near the water attempting to do some mindful meditation but as usual with my ADD brain I get random stuff popping into my head...

That happens to me to. I hate meditating although it's something I really should do. There's no way to measure if your better or worse than me.

but one of the random thoughts turned out to have a valid point...

How can there be a a true religion or true god if said divinity has to be taught from human to human, rather than divinity to human? Why is the presence only sensed after the knowledge of the god is learnt? Wouldnt you sense it or communicate with it in some way before you knew what it was? Especially in younger years?

Good thoughts to address. My position would be that God is the core inside us; He is our Self. That's why in eastern thought we strive for Self-Realization. The challenge is to quiet all the surface chatter and experience God/Self. We advance bit by bit through spiritual practices like meditation.

Older souls (teachers/gurus) can only guide us to what is already in us.

 

[psychoslice]

Yes I have always sensed something beyond the mind body organism, after years of religion and other beliefs I finally fell into an experience of Awakening, in that experience I realized that we are all ONE, that I am not the mind body organism. My life has never been the same sense that experience, I no longer need to believe anything.

 

[Pegg]

I was sitting near the water attempting to do some mindful meditation but as usual with my ADD brain I get random stuff popping into my head...but one of the random thoughts turned out to have a valid point...

How can there be a a true religion or true god if said divinity has to be taught from human to human, rather than divinity to human? Why is the presence only sensed after the knowledge of the god is learnt? Wouldnt you sense it or communicate with it in some way before you knew what it was? Especially in younger years?

People do sense Gods presence before learning about him....thats why they search him out. Its the same reason why you sit down to meditate.

 

[dgirl1986]

From where did that thought pop into your mind? Outer space, the wind, your own mind revealed it without popping into it, a previous thought not noticed?

Perhaps it was something that was sitting in the back of my mind

 

[Awoon]

Perhaps it was something that was sitting in the back of my mind

Could be

 

[dgirl1986]

Good thoughts to address. My position would be that God is the core inside us; He is our Self. That's why in eastern thought we strive for Self-Realization. The challenge is to quiet all the surface chatter and experience God/Self. We advance bit by bit through spiritual practices like meditation.

Older souls (teachers/gurus) can only guide us to what is already in us.

If god is the core inside of us then wouldnt we have a subconscious knowledge of him before being taught about him.

 

[dgirl1986]

People do sense Gods presence before learning about him....thats why they search him out. Its the same reason why you sit down to meditate.

Do they search him out or do other ppl call them to him?

I meditate for good health, mindfulness and well being, not to connect with a divinity.

 

[George-ananda]

If god is the core inside of us then wouldnt we have a subconscious knowledge of him before being taught about him.

Good question.

The spiritual evolution of man is from the animal to the divine through the process of reincarnation. At first man is focused on the physical. Eventually, physical experiences do not satisfy him and he asks deeper questions (the pulling of the God-core within him) and seeks deeper peace and considers the advice of older souls (saints/gurus).

In Hindu terms most people are too entangled in Maya to sense the God within them. Wikipedia:

māyā is the limited, purely physical and mental reality in which our everyday consciousness has become entangled. Māyā is held to be an illusion, a veiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman.


Your next question may be why don't we all just start out Self-Realized.

 

[dgirl1986]

Your next question may be why don't we all just start out Self-Realized.

That would be correct

 

[George-ananda]

That would be correct

In Hinduism the answer would be a concept called 'Lila'. Others can explain better than I but I will try here:

The entire universe is a great drama/play/sport of God. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna (speaking as the Absolute) says....I separated Myself from Myself and became all this (diverse creation).

God creates and in the final end all things return to Him (and become One again). So our little drama ends in victory; Oneness with the divine we always were but didn't know it while entangled in Maya. So he creates this drama with a happy ending. Without Maya there would only be eternal sameness. I would say struggling (with millions of good and bad moments) and succeeding in the end is better than eternal sameness.

 

[LuisDantas]

How can there be a a true religion or true god if said divinity has to be taught from human to human, rather than divinity to human? Why is the presence only sensed after the knowledge of the god is learnt? Wouldnt you sense it or communicate with it in some way before you knew what it was? Especially in younger years?

Yes, you probably would. That is yet another reason why I suspect conceptions of divinity are a hindrance rather than a help to religious practice.

To the extent that it may be true that humans are a divine creation, it is all but impossible to imagine that beliefs play a role in making people "more so".

Ergo, it can not possibly be important for people to have the "right" conception of divinity or to find the "right" religion, because those are all too accidental, all too minor events in one's existence.

The true core of human transcendence and arguable link to divinity must rest at another, far more universal level. One that clearly is closely linked to human perception and rationality. It must be the human capability for moral perception, abstraction and judgement.

 

[nash8]

If god is the core inside of us then wouldnt we have a subconscious knowledge of him before being taught about him.

I would say that we do, but subconscious is exactly what it means. And the core of our being would be the thing that would be most subconciously "hidden" so to speak.

I meditate for good health, mindfulness and well being, not to connect with a divinity.

You should try it sometime, you might get some interesting results. Mindfulness definitely has a ton of positive aspects, but us ADD folks need varying levels and intensities of meditative stimulation, or atleast this ADD folk does. However, mindfulness forms the basis for all of these practices, and if you are well versed in this practice you should be able to gain some intense mindsets fairly easier. Then again, some of the most awe-inspiring meditations I have ever had were using the most simple technique I know.

That would be correct

What's the fun in everyone being self realized from the beginning? It's like playing monopoly with your friends when everyone starts off owning a one property of each color? BOOOOOOO!!! lol.

In Hinduism the answer would be a concept called 'Lila'. Others can explain better than I but I will try here:

The entire universe is a great drama/play/sport of God. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna (speaking as the Absolute) says....I separated Myself from Myself and became all this (diverse creation).

Lol, I always relate it to God's television. Good to know there is a concept of this within a respected spiritual tradition.

God creates and in the final end all things return to Him (and become One again). So our little drama ends in victory; Oneness with the divine we always were but didn't know it while entangled in Maya. So he creates this drama with a happy ending. Without Maya there would only be eternal sameness. I would say struggling (with millions of good and bad moments) and succeeding in the end is better than eternal sameness.

Who doesn't love a game where you always win? Eternal sameness... BOOOOO!!!

 

[Awoon]

In Hinduism the answer would be a concept called 'Lila'. Others can explain better than I but I will try here:

The entire universe is a great drama/play/sport of God. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna (speaking as the Absolute) says....I separated Myself from Myself and became all this (diverse creation).

God creates and in the final end all things return to Him (and become One again). So our little drama ends in victory; Oneness with the divine we always were but didn't know it while entangled in Maya. So he creates this drama with a happy ending. Without Maya there would only be eternal sameness. I would say struggling (with millions of good and bad moments) and succeeding in the end is better than eternal sameness.

On Being God...Alan Watts

[youtube]EKNykrzfgQs[/youtube]
Alan Watts - On Being God - YouTube

 

[Pegg]

Do they search him out or do other ppl call them to him?

I meditate for good health, mindfulness and well being, not to connect with a divinity.

I think the way we are made makes us all atune to something bigger then ourselves.

The fact that you say you meditate for good health and wellbeing, yet your mind was exploring questions about God and religion says a lot about that.

We have a spiritual nature and its that nature which causes us to question and explore and search for things beyond the physical world.

 

[Luke Morningstar]

How can there be a a true religion or true god if said divinity has to be taught from human to human, rather than divinity to human?

Because humans are divine.

Because our path might be too the divine, and God wants to make sure that we can solve a puzzle too complex for Her to solve, and that is how we reach God.

I'm not sure divinity can be taught human to human. I've been helped by other humans, but those huge moments of connecting to something bigger than me always happen when I'm alone, or at least, meditating without much influence.

Do I experience God? Or maybe just a collection of human ideas that come together like God might?

It doesn't matter. They're both the same. It's all illusion. Divinity comes from everywhere. We just have to look.

 

[SageTree]

If god is the core inside of us then wouldnt we have a subconscious knowledge of him before being taught about him.

I might dare say that 'knowing' exists and believe I encountered it again, as I neared my thirties. It is perhaps a more mature reflection of it, but when I 'saw' it... I immediately remembered where I knew it from. And that is more or less the 'knowing' I've meditated on the know and to grow my spirit from there on out. It's best said as an open, non-judgemental awareness of connectedness.... Imminent and at the same Unknowable.

i meditate for good health, mindfulness and well being, not to connect with a divinity.

I might say 'same thing'.
Those energies, imo, are divine in and of themselves.
Being connected can be as simple as being present in the present.
The mundane and the miraculous are one.
Imo, its the synergy we bring to the equation that makes the magic fly.

The socket always has power, but we hold the plug and the end of the chord.