Religion and Spirituality: "Picking and choosing"

[Ambient]

Everybody in life is picking and choosing; whether your a Jewish zealot or a dogmatic Athiest ontology is universal and everybody is using their intellegence to dsicriminate between experience.

But what about spiritual knowledge?

Many; such as GreyFox say "the day of the single-source guru is over".

But understand the relationship between the guru and the student.

The guru is wise because the guru is realized; the student unrealized therefore unwise.

How is it an unrealized individual has the wisdom to know truth when he/she percieves it?

Today most people are losers; not because they have lost something; but because they themselves are lost and a "picking and choosing" philosophy; the relatavism valued so much in our society;

that is why everyone is lost; that is the problem

How is it that it can also be the solution?

[Resign the King]

People become wise by thinking for themselves. You don't have to listen to some specific persons message and stick to it. That's putting all your eggs in one basket. There's no one person who has all the truth or is fully realized. By exploring different philosophies and ideas you can expose yourself to multiple interpretations of truth and figure it out for yourself.

[Built To Last]

The guru is wise because the guru is realized; the student unrealized therefore unwise.

How is it an unrealized individual has the wisdom to know truth when he/she percieves it?


You know those old zen parables where the master is lecturing his students and then one student questions the master and the master tells him something quite meaningless and then the student becomes enlightened?

Well, I just had one of those moments :). Now, I've been pondering this, not this exact question, but something similar for quite some time. I think you just answered some of the questions I had and maybe I can do the same for you.

How does the student know he is on the right path?

My immediate thought is that there exists an inherency to spiritual knowledge.

The question I've been pondering is that, why should I do good when there is no reason too?

The answer I've come up with is that, there exists no reason (inherency) to be good in the body and ego worlds. But there does in the spiritual world.

My comp time is running out, I'm going to go meditate on this and post some more thoughts later.

[Kamuy]

Too many people are lazy and have religion as merely a lifestyle choice.
Religion is a disease usual symptoms are permanently stunted spiritual growth.

[ArmsMerchant]

'Many; such as GreyFox say "the day of the single-source guru is over".'

Perhaps I failed to make myself clear. What I meant was simply that NO ONE has all the answers, nor is any one person the only reliable source of info. This in contrast , say, to radical Xians who rely solely on Jesus, or radical Muslims who rely solely on the Koran.

Anyone who says "I ALONE KNOW THE TRUTH" is deluded, or a liar.

This is why I quote everyone from Stephen Gaskin--a sixties hippie--to Rumi--a 12th century Sufi poet--to St Teresa--to modern witers such as Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch. I am just one of many people trying to spread the ideas of the Perennial Philosophy.

[Ambient]

'Many; such as GreyFox say "the day of the single-source guru is over".'

Perhaps I failed to make myself clear. What I meant was simply that NO ONE has all the answers, nor is any one person the only reliable source of info. This in contrast , say, to radical Xians who rely solely on Jesus, or radical Muslims who rely solely on the Koran.

This is why I quote everyone from Stephen Gaskin--a sixties hippie--to Rumi--a 12th century Sufi poet--to St Teresa--to modern witers such as Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch. I am just one of many people trying to spread the ideas of the Perennial Philosophy.

So you would say you decide the validity of an idea by whether or not it is accociated with th perennial philosphy?

I think your approach will lead to disenfrachisement amongst spriritual people i.e. a lack of unity.

[Built To Last]

Just found a more concrete answer to your question-

One day while a zen master was giving a lecture on oneness, a student raised his hand.

"Master, how does one come to oneness if oneness is not about picking and choosing?"

The master responded, "It is all oneness in a deeper reality."

"But master," questioned the student, "isn't that still picking and choosing?"

"Fuck you!", the master yelled, "it is all oneness in a deeper reality!"
---------------------------------------------------------------

Point being that, it didn't matter in what tone the monk responded, the message was still the same. In a broader sense, it is only from the world of duality that oneness appears as a choice.

[Struwwelpeter]

Spiritualism is the same as religion and theism, it's all superstition. Every time I get some fearful little narcissistic self-conscious jackass telling me they're not religious but spiritualist I can't help but laugh my ass off, they're quite adamant about doing it to, I'm certain one of them will make such a post soon after I submit this response.

[Eridani]

You will find that those who are ready for fourth density are those who have adopted a unique system of beliefs that is tailor-made to what interests them.

From www.divinecosmos.com. I think this is true, there is nothing wrong with absorbing as many philosophies/religions or whatever as possible and using your intuition or intellect to tell you what is right and wrong for you.

Everyone has a unique relationship with "God" - in this sense I mean how they understand the universe/cosmos. Some will seek it through dogmatic religions. Some will use Science or atheism - it is true science is the new religion - empirical evidence and what we can physically "prove" really means very little (in my opinion anyway). Still others will "integrate" as much knowledge from as many sources as they can to form their own opinions. There is no right and wrong in choosing though, I think all paths contain essential kernels of truth and to a certain extent all are valid.

Also, weren't most religions picked over and certain bits chosen? I don't know if that's the case in Hinduism/Sikkhism and so on but certainly the Bible.

[Ambient]

From www.divinecosmos.com. I think this is true, there is nothing wrong with absorbing as many philosophies/religions or whatever as possible and using your intuition or intellect to tell you what is right and wrong for you.

Everyone has a unique relationship with "God" - in this sense I mean how they understand the universe/cosmos. Some will seek it through dogmatic religions. Some will use Science or atheism - it is true science is the new religion - empirical evidence and what we can physically "prove" really means very little (in my opinion anyway). Still others will "integrate" as much knowledge from as many sources as they can to form their own opinions. There is no right and wrong in choosing though, I think all paths contain essential kernels of truth and to a certain extent all are valid.

Also, weren't most religions picked over and certain bits chosen? I don't know if that's the case in Hinduism/Sikkhism and so on but certainly the Bible.

I dont know about sihkism, but hindiusm most certainly was picked and chosen;

by the British colinizers.

Hindiusm is based on vedic knowledge but it is very selective.

Pretty much the same situation as the councel of nicea/ constantine and catholicism.

Hindiusm is rooted in politics just like catholicism.

[west]

Spiritualism is the same as religion and theism, it's all superstition. Every time I get some fearful little narcissistic self-conscious jackass telling me they're not religious but spiritualist I can't help but laugh my ass off, they're quite adamant about doing it to, I'm certain one of them will make such a post soon after I submit this response.

Meh, we all can believe what we want. My faith comes from Astral Projection or conscious dreaming. W/e you want to call it.

[ArmsMerchant]

"Spiritualism is the same as religion and theism, it's all superstition."

Incorrect, for several reasons. One, spiritualism is the name of a nineteenth-century fad, characterized by seances--many of which were faked, so arguably COULD be called superstition. Few if any of us here and now still espouse that.

What I speak of is spirituality, which differs from religion in many different ways, none of which I think you could comprehend.