Rob_Roy
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Mairlyn,
I will look into Unity. I live now in a remote area and I don't think there are any Unity congregations here. No spiritualists groups either.
Everyone:
Aldous Huxley wrote about the Perennial Philosophy, which he described as the highest common factor at the core of the world's major religions:
At the core of the Perennial Philosophy we find four fundamental doctrines:
First: the phenomenal world of matter and of individualized consciousness-the world of things and animals and men and even gods-is the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being, and apart from which they would be nonexistent.
Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing ABOUT the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize its existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.
Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an external Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature with the spirit.
Fourth: man's life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.
He wrote this around WWII, so please forgive his lack of gender inclusive language.
I think what he says about intuition is very important. I think most people wholly underestimate their potential abilities.
I don't agree with the Fouth. I understand that we are here to learn thru a variety of experiences unique to physical existence.
Huxley notes that orthodox Christianity does not identify the Spark as being identical with the Divine Ground, rather, as something that when perfected, is merged with the Divine Ground through Grace.
With this bottom line in view, and knowing that several Acended Masters have come and gone to tell us this and more, I find it difficult to accept the idea that religions are mere human inventions, at least at their core. I think theologies are, though.
Even the most liberal groups would still, I think, be populated by many who are accepting of others but still differ in their particular understanding of wider reality. No matter where one may turn, I think, there will still have to be compomise and the occasional turning of the proverbial deaf ear.
I though I would throw this in here. Thoughts?
with Love, Bob
Source: Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God Trans: Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. Intro by Aldous Huxley. Signet Classics, 2002.
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