posted March 31, 2009 03:03 PM              

But this is to humble the prophets;
For, in the days of Baal,
even the prophets make confessions.

Yea, the prophets ask forgiveness;
for their virtues, as much as their vices;
in a land where false idols are worshipped.

posted April 03, 2009 08:07 PM              

There are three forms of mystical experience: the experience of union with Nature, that of union with the transcendental human Self, and that of union with God. The first kind of experience is that of the obliteration of the differentiation between the individual's psychic life and surrounding Nature. It is this which Levy Bruhl calls "mystical participation", which notion he coined whilst studying the psychology of primitive peoples. This notion designates the state of consciousness where the separation between the conscious subject and the object of the outside world disappears, and where subject and object become one. This kind of experience underlies not only shamanism and the totemism of the primitives but also the so-called "mythogenous" consciousness, which is the source of natural myths, as well as the ardent desire or poets and philosophers for union with Nature (e.g. Empedocles threw himself into the crater of the volcano on Mount Etna in order to unite himself with the elements of Nature). The effect of peyote, mescaline, hashish, alcohol, etc., can sometimes (but not always, and not with everyone) produce states of consciousness analogous to that of "mystical participation". The characteristic trait of this form of experience is intoxication, i.e. the fusion of oneself with forces exterior to one's self-consciousness. The Dionysian orgies of antiquity were based on the experience of "sacred intoxication" due to the obliteration of the differentiation between self and non-self.

The second form of mystical experience is that of the transcendental Self. It consists in separating the ordinary empirical self from the higher Self, which is above all motion and all that which belongs to the domain of space and time. The higher Self is therefore experienced as immortal and free.

If "Nature mysticism" is characterized by intoxication, that of the Self, in contrast, has the characteristic trait of progressively "coming to one's senses", with the aim of complete sobriety. A philosophy based on the mystical experience of the Self, which represents it in the purest way and is least distorted by the addition of hazardous intellectual speculations, is that of the Indian school of Sankya. There the individual purusha is experienced in its separation from prakriti (i.e. all movement, space and time) as immortal and free. Although the same experience is found at the basis of Vedanta philosophy, its followers are not satisfied with the immediate experience which teaches nothing more, and nothing less, than that the true self of man is immortal and free, but they add the postulate that the higher Self is God ("this soul is God" -- "ayam atma brahma", Mandukya Upanishad, 2). The Sankya philosophy, in contrast, remains within the limits of the experience of the higher Self as such and in no way denies the plurality of purushas (i.e. the plurality of immortal and free higher Egos), nor does it raise the individual purusha to the dignity of the Absolute -- Which has resulted in it being considered an atheistic philosophy. It is so, if one understands by "atheist" the frank confession: I have not had experience of anything higher than the immortal and free Ego; abiding by the experience, what can I say in good faith? Sankya is not a religion and therefore does not merit being classified as "atheistic" any more than, for example, the modern psychological school of Jung does. On the other hand, can it be considered as proof of belief in God to attribute to the higher Self of man the dignity of the Absolute?

The third sort of mystical experience is that of the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the God of St. Augusting, St. Francis, St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross in the Christian tradition, the God of the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramanuja, Madhva and Caitanya in the Hindu tradition. Here it is a matter of union with God in love, which implies a substantial duality being essentially at one.

This experience has as its principal characteristic trait the synthesis of the intoxication of Nature mysticism and the sobriety of mysticism of the higher Self. The term coined by tradition to express the state where ardent enthusiasm and profound peace manifest themselves simultaneously is that of "beatitude", or "beatific vision" (i.e. beatitudo, or visio beatifica). Beatific vision implies the duality of the seer and the seen, on the one hand, and their union or instrinsic oneness in love, on the other hand. This is why this term expresses in a wonderfully clear and precise way the essence of the theistic mystical experience: the meeting fo the soul with God, face to face, in love. And this experience is all the more elevated the more complete the differentiation is, and the more perfect the union is. For this reason the Holy Cabbala puts at the centre of spiritual experience that of the Holy Face (arich anphin) of the Ancient of Days, and this is also why it teaches that the supreme experience of the human being -- as well as the highest form of death for a mortal -- is attained when God embraces the human soul. This is what the Sepher Yetzirah says:

And after that our father Abraham had perceived, and understood, and had taken down and engraved all these things, the Lord most high (adon hakol) revealed His beloved, and made a Covenant with him and his seed...
(Sepher Yetzirah vi, 4; trsl. W. Wynn Westcott, London, 1893, pp. 26-27)

And St. John of the Cross spoke of his experiences of the divine Presence in the tabernacles of love only in the language of love.

The three forms of mystical experience have their "hygenic laws", or their "tabernacles" or "skins". They fall under the law of temerence or measure. Otherwise the rage of acute mania, megalomania and complete alienation from the world menace, respectively, their adepts. The breast-plate, the canopy and the crown are the three symbols for the salutary measures pertaining to the domains of experience of Nature mysticism, human mysticism, and divine mysticism.

Now, the "triumpher" of the seventh Arcanum wears a breast-plate, stands under a canopy and is crowned. This is why he does not lose himself in Nature, why he does not lose God in the experience of his higher Self and why he does not lose the world in experiencing the love of God. He holds in check the dangers of rage, megalomania and exaltation. He is sane.

posted April 08, 2009 01:45 PM            

From a tea bag: "The mind must bow to the herat".

From a Dove Chocolate wrapper: "Always give from the heart".

My niece: "She looks like she will be cute." (looking at sonogram of new baby)..

posted April 09, 2009 12:20 AM            

I showed her when you first posted the thread.

posted April 09, 2009 04:03 PM            

Yeah, her pictures have taken over my desktop, phone wallpaper, mantel (aka bookshelf) and refrigerator. I don't care if it seems obsessive.. lol

posted April 27, 2009 09:28 PM            

Gary Zukav on Relationships, Love, Self-Worth, Spiritual Partnership

"Spiritual Partnership.........
... The new female and the new male
are partners on a journey of spiritual growth.
They want to make the journey.
Their love and trust keep them together.
Their intuition guides them. They consult with each other.
They are friends. They laugh a lot. They are equals.

That is what a spiritual partnership is:
a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. "

~ from "Soul Stories" by Gary Zukav ~

posted May 16, 2009 05:19 PM              

~ Irving Mills

posted June 17, 2009 06:41 AM            

"Time, time is a trick...
How many birthdays did you have? One, you had one day of birth.
You continue to count birthdays, your mind gives up, your body deteriorates.
This is the trick of time.
Man was never suppose to die.
We were given everlasting life".

posted June 26, 2009 04:55 PM            

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirious of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the sky..."

posted June 26, 2009 06:19 PM              

A few more worth repeating:

"I fell in love and I learned a life lesson. My whole outlook on life has changed. Once, I used to think that it was so important to just go out on your own and learn as many things as possible and experience as many things as possible, and it is, but in moderation. You can't lose touch with reality because you are chasing a dream. Going off and doing things on your own because you think it's going to expand your mind or something will never be as valuable as being surrounded by people that love you and who you love. It doesn't matter how many places you go, or how much weed you smoke, or how many books you read, or how much you THINK you know, it will never be able to fill that hole in your life that can only be filled by knowing that you belong somewhere.

Everyone has to find out what is important to them in life on their own. I fell in love with a guy, and my outlook on my entire life changed, not just my love life. I appreciate my home and the people that love me so much more. Never take your family and the people that really love you for granted. They aren't something that's holding you back from growing, they are the most important thing that you could ever have in your life.

I just though that I would share that with you guys."

~Battle of Evermore

"To love someone deeply gives you strength.
Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage."

~Lao Tzu

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."

~ Proverbs 25:2

"I am the golden eternity in mortal animate form.
Strictly speaking, there is no me,
because all is empty, I am non-existent.
All is bliss.

This truth law has no more reality than the world."

~ Jack Kerouac

"Only in love are unity and duality not in conflict."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

posted June 26, 2009 06:21 PM              

It was the womb itself, aloneness, alaya vijnana
the universal store, the Great Free Treasure, the
Great Victory, infinite completion, the joyful
mysterious essence of Arrangement. It seemed
like one smiling smile, one adorable adoration,
one gracious and adorable charity, everlasting
safety, refreshing afternoon, roses, infinite
brilliant immaterial golden ash, the Golden Age.
The "golden" came from the sun in my eyelids,
and the "eternity" from my sudden instant
realization as I woke up that I had just
been where it all came from and where it
was all returning, the everlasting So, and
so never coming or going; therefore I call it
the golden eternity but you can call it anything
you want. As I regained consciousness I felt so sorry
I had a body and a mind suddenly realizing I
didn't even have a body and a mind and nothing
had ever happened and everything is alright
forever and forever and forever, O thank you
thank you thank you.

~ Jack Kerouac,
"The Scripture of the Golden Eternity"