I think we each have our own view of God or not of God and that is a personal thing whereas another can not alter it because we each have our own experience that brings us to our beliefs or lack of beliefs. All one can do is share what they feel and if what they say speaks to another then so be it.

Amen to that. No two person's perceive the same concept exactly the same but it can be fun to play around with the pieces and see what kind of picture we end up with in the end. When ever that's going to be. I guess not until the human race has awakened to full consciousness.

Cindy

QuoteI was simply accepting the premise of the question that "God" does exist in the form most of the West understands Him/Her/It to

I doubt you could get most of the west to agree on that. Now if you used the word "may" instead of does many more would agree.

Quote from: lisagurl on January 01, 2009, 10:01:40 AM

QuoteI was simply accepting the premise of the question that "God" does exist in the form most of the West understands Him/Her/It to

I doubt you could get most of the west to agree on that. Now if you used the word "may" instead of does many more would agree.

The question presupposed that existence through the use of "Does god ... ". As to universality of the "idea of god" in the west, I know there are a fair number of atheists and pagans and heathens and buddhists and ... and ... lots of others, but the West was culturally shaped by a distinctly Judeo-Christian paradigm for almost 2000 years. God as understood within that paradigm still features very much in our psyches, even if not in our beliefs. As an example, I recently had a ... heated discussion with a Heathen with strong views against transgendered people. The kicker was that the guy worships Loki, who regularly cross-dressed, changed sex, etc. Eventually it came back to him being raised Catholic and still carrying that paradigm of moral and ethical values around in his head, despite having rejected the religion years ago.

Mina.

Quote from: cindybc on January 01, 2009, 07:12:20 AMLet us say that Einstein was correct when he said that before time, before void, there was only **thought**

I thought that was St. John who said that. Except he wrote in Greek, and used "Logos" instead of "Thought."

Well it could have been full of energy instead of thought.  Though I prefer to think it was filled only with possibility.

And if everyone has their own god, then its subjective, and not objective, which means its a matter of taste and not of truth.

QuoteWell it could have been full of energy instead of thought.  Though I prefer to think it was filled only with possibility.

Hi Tekla, what you have shared with us reminded me of this short narrative I had documented in my Microsoft Word.

Spirit as Consciousness

By consciousness we mean our level of perception about ourselves and the world around us. The higher the perception, the greater the consciousness. Those who have had the spiritual experience have noted that their state of awareness, i.e. their consciousness, has been elevated beyond the norm, enabling that person to experience existence from a whole new perspective.

Oneness
One of the most common experiences of this spiritual consciousness is feeling of "oneness." Oneness is often experienced as a feeling that everything is part of a whole, or that we all from one common source and share a common spirit. Let's then consider some ways that the spiritual beholder might experiences oneness.

To our ordinary perceptions, the world is a mass of individual life forms each seeking its own destiny. Behind this appearance is the essential nature of existence, the One Divine consciousness. This consciousness expresses itself in the universe in many forms, each with its own will to be. But in fact each form is an expression of the One seeking its infinite joy of existence. All true spiritual realization begins with this new perception of the essential Oneness of all beings and things.

The spiritual experience of Oneness often expresses by the feeling or understanding that we are of one essence or spirit. We experience that the same soul force that we feel in ourselves is there in each person we encounter.

Oneness = All in consciousness experiencing the Oneness of all, or Oneness experiencing all that is in consciousness.



Cindy

Another short entry I found saved in my Microsoft Word, years ago in another time in a different body with very much different perceptions on life.

Dreamer or the Dream.

Does the dreamer experience the dream or does the dream experience the dreamer?

Does the light come over the horizon or does the horizon move under the light?

The sun continues to shine whether you see it or not.

Are you on this side of the wall, or are you on the other side of the wall?

How do you really know if you are here? Where is here?

Yesterday is a past illusion and tomorrow is a vision that does not yet exist.

Is yesterday today and tomorrow a product of the dream or the dreamer?

You are at this very second at the heart beat of eternity.

Cindy