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YOUR Belief

Muffled

Muffled

Jesus in me
Gary Sheldrake said:
My inclination to care about something has little to do with whether or not it does me good. The point is not an objective.

All the best,
Gary
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Does that mean that a toothache is worth worshipping? I wasn't able to figure out what you were saying in the last sentence. Are you saying that worship is not an objective. If so I would agree with you and see it as caring at a higher level.
 
Muffled

Muffled

Jesus in me
Gary Sheldrake said:
Absolutely. Why is it then that you hope that such a character rules the universe?

All the best,
Gary
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I believe it is due to the fact that a person benefits from worshipping something worth worshipping and does not benefit from worshipping that which has less worth. I find it worthwhile to have God who rules the universee looking out for what is best for me.
 
Gary Sheldrake

Gary Sheldrake

Member
Muffled said:
Does that mean that a toothache is worth worshipping? I wasn't able to figure out what you were saying in the last sentence. Are you saying that worship is not an objective. If so I would agree with you and see it as caring at a higher level.
Click to expand...

When you worship something you are setting it apart from yourself and setting yourself apart from it. I take it from your tag that you are a Christian, so let's take the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth for instance. Whether or not he was the Messiah or whatever anyone wants to think he was, let's just look at what he had to say. He said that he and God were one in the same. Then he said that he was the vine and that we are the branches, A vine and it's branches are not two separate things. The are parts of a whole, and together they are in fact one thing. As a non religious person, I can see the truth in what he was saying. I am an organism embedded in a larger organism called humanity, which in turn is embedded in a larger organism which is the animal kingdom, which in turn is embedded in a larger organism, which is the planet and so on. I can see that we are part of a nested hierarchy, and it is in fact all one thing expressed as many things.

The act of worshiping creates a separation. It makes a mental image of one thing being an object of worship and another thing the worshiper. I am telling you that I think there is nothing to worship. Therefore I have concluded being is the only purpose and that experience is the meaning behind everything. If you are able to simply accept the act of being, then whatever it is you are doing is your purpose. I am saying that there is little margin in worshiping one thing without worshiping all things,
 
Kirran

Kirran

ॐ
Premium Member
Gary Sheldrake said:
When you worship something you are setting it apart from yourself and setting yourself apart from it. I take it from your tag that you are a Christian, so let's take the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth for instance. Whether or not he was the Messiah or whatever anyone wants to think he was, let's just look at what he had to say. He said that he and God were one in the same. Then he said that he was the vine and that we are the branches, A vine and it's branches are not two separate things. The are parts of a whole, and together they are in fact one thing. As a non religious person, I can see the truth in what he was saying. I am an organism embedded in a larger organism called humanity, which in turn is embedded in a larger organism which is the animal kingdom, which in turn is embedded in a larger organism, which is the planet and so on. I can see that we are part of a nested hierarchy, and it is in fact all one thing expressed as many things.

The act of worshiping creates a separation. It makes a mental image of one thing being an object of worship and another thing the worshiper. I am telling you that I think there is nothing to worship. Therefore I have concluded being is the only purpose and that experience is the meaning behind everything. If you are able to simply accept the act of being, then whatever it is you are doing is your purpose. I am saying that there is little margin in worshiping one thing without worshiping all things,
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Ramana Maharishi, an avowed nondualist, who taught that the Self and God are one and the same, nevertheless encouraged devotional worship.
 
Gary Sheldrake

Gary Sheldrake

Member
Kirran said:
Ramana Maharishi, an avowed nondualist, who taught that the Self and God are one and the same, nevertheless encouraged devotional worship.
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Well, according to Guruji Sri Hanuman Das Gunda Paramahansa (a character I just made up), I think Ramana Maharishi was perhaps offering way in which to cultivate love and adoration. Once you learn how to love one thing, you are in a more auspicious position to move on and learn to love other things. You have to start somewhere I think. Similar to the way in which Sri Anandamayi Ma taught constant awareness and devotion to God, but never really prescribed what particular permutation or iteration of God anyone should worship. I think that approach leaves us open to simply love as much as we can. Maybe it's a way to see the sacredness in everything, and of course if you see sacredness everywhere then I suppose you would start to see it in yourself. I imagine that would be quite a good state of being.
 
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Gary Sheldrake

Gary Sheldrake

Member
Muffled said:
I believe it is due to the fact that a person benefits from worshipping something worth worshipping and does not benefit from worshipping that which has less worth. I find it worthwhile to have God who rules the universee looking out for what is best for me.
Click to expand...

What is best for you?
 
metis

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Muffled said:
I believe then that you have to say that about God because He said the same thing only a little differently.
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You're making quite an assumption in assuming that you know actually what God supposedly said.
 
Sand Dancer

Sand Dancer

Currently catless
I answered before, but lately, I have become more pantheistic, having developed a strong reverence for nature. I do not use any sort of pantheon, but I do look to some folks in every religion as role models.
 
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