I have heard the idea that the act of loving others IS the act of loving God. I can see that that is the only way to express it. I've also heard many people claim to love God who don't seem very kind. It could just be me, Alan, but your view of God seems to give him a humongous ego. It may be that your choice of words simply triggers some kind of defense mechanism of mine.

To me, to try and explain or postulate beyond the Self is premature. I try to spend my time here getting to know and experience  me rather than telling others about something we are all completely incapable of understanding. I guess that is the point I want to make. We just see it differently. On a board like this its not so much what you do, but how you discuss it. Some make it sound as if they know something by citing ancient books. Books are proof of nothing in my opinion (Aquinas or Swedenborg). Intention is what drives our journeys. Is my intention to debate another into accepting Jesus as Lord or God as Supreme? Or am I here to better my own Self and explore the realms. I would rather learn how to improve my relations with others than read about how to honor your god. But I certainly don't deny your right to express your opinions. Just know that some of us are going to take issue with what seems like a fundamental agenda. Note I say "seems like". I don't know what your intentions are.

Hi Beau,

For me there are a couple of issues on the other side of the coin.  First, let me preface this by saying that my intent is never to make anyone uncomfortable or feel singled out.  That being said, there is such a thing as being too skittish to discuss any subject that will cause a difference of opinions.  I always advise if you don't like the subject matter, pass it by.  For me, I like the dialogue, whether I agree or disagree.

With regard to your last post, I appreciate your feeling that your purpose here is self exploration.  Some take a different view, and that was my point in the thread.  I have long tried to reconcile self exploration with the selflessness of love and what many have called spirituality.  They can definitely coexist.  But it was always difficult for me to read about merging with the unity of the universe and losing my individuality. 

Until, through exploration, I realized that my individuality would still be there, but part of something bigger.  And my need for self exploration has changed too, when I realized that love of others and love of God meant a "right" action that was not always based in what I wanted for myself in isolation.

This isolation into physical bodies is a "trip" "experience," beautiful at times, and other times heart rending.  It appears, from explorations (both my own and hearing that of many others) that it is a unique experience, being here on earth.  But eventually, at some point, many are ok with evolving their search from exploring oneself, to coming back to be part of the whole.

I cite Swedenborg, because his experience was so well described, firsthand, and in such detail that it makes sense to the reader - whether or not you agree with his christian background (the church didn't agree with him and almost ex-communicated him at the time).  I would never cite a source like him to say "do what this ancient text says!" 

For me, there is a difference between loving one's fellow man/woman and loving both God and one's fellow man/woman - though it may seem like splitting hairs.  From my view, acknowledging the source of PUL (love), that is our foundation, is to say that we are part of it, and so our others, but that this source simply "is."   To deny the source of love, but acknowledge love of other people, seems  somehow incomplete to me (but that is just my take on it). 

This is not in any way to diminish the value and goodness of loving one's fellow human being alone.  Just from my explorations, I feel there is something more.....

Matthew

Hi,

To me there are only two things that make up existence or reality if you like. They are consciousness and matter. Of course not all consciousness are the same, we humans are a minute molecule of matter and consciousness, within the great ocean, or what I like to call it the Superconsciousness/God if you like.

To simply dismiss the idea of God takes away that spark of life that bridges and consolidates all life within our universe and beyond.

Together these two things make up all of reality , mandalas of minds or consciousness merge, swirl consolidate and break up to make new states or dimensions within the heavenly planes beyond our earthly existence. These consciousnesses are not only humans they are all life forces that control and sustain the physical universe

Blessings and Light

Alan

Beau wrote on Dec 9^th, 2010 at 9:06am:


Hi Beau and others!

My idea of the soul and how it fits into our reality and the God soul or mind is detailed below:_


The Soul in relation to the Cosmic Mind =GOD

The brain is not the soul of mind; it is the hard drive, the processor of your mortal body. The mind downloads constantly onto the brain right up to death and a little beyond and that is why some of us remember events from a near death experience

The “the Soul” personalized is an infinitesimal part of God in man. Just as a drop of water from the ocean has all the ingredients in the ocean, this “the Soul” has all the powers of God.

However, just as a drop of water from the ocean does not make up the ocean, the “the Soul” of one person does not make up God’s “the Soul”. All the drops joined together become the ocean; all the “the Soul’s in the universe together make up God’s Cosmic
Soul”.

Our “Soul” is a microcosm and creates the macrocosm universe and more until it all consolidates into the godhead.

. “The Soul” can become part of the environment and embrace the entire cosmos and totally merge with the Divine mind of God, who is himself but he is also us, this is the final step for us this integration of humanity into the superconsciousness some of us call God

I know this is true, because during my NDE I became like god for a few wonderful inexplicable moments outside of linear time and space. (Just thought I was godlike)

The speed of thought transfer I think is more than the speed of light. In a millisecond, “the Soul” can reach the farthest galaxy, billions of light years away.

What is thought what consciousness is??

All known tests, will not find any indication of “the Soul”.

There is no single location for the “the Soul”. The human “the Soul” is distributed throughout the human body and its environment.

Every cell has its own “the Soul” and has the ability to function independently or jointly with all the cells of the body.

For example, a neuron seems to be capable of deciding whether it will transmit information to another nerve cell and, if it will, to which one among the thousands of cells with which it is in contact.

Just as each of the thousand pieces of a splintered mirror will show the same reflection of an object as the whole mirror, each cell reflects our “the Soul” and each cell in the universe we humans etc, reflects the Universal Soul called by us as God

Beau You see we only differ in how we word our beliefs and it is just semantics that separate our thinking

Alan McDougall

It's posts like this thread's initial one that I ignore, but then again it's threads like this that I come to read after it's grown by several pages because by then the conversation and topic has changed enough that it's become an interesting read usually. 

My own use of the word God is truely my own, as I know what it means to me and that it's different from anyone else's.  I've never been religious nor believed in any type of religion.  God just happens to be a convenient word since it was the word I was taught as a young child.  As I grew up, my beliefs have grown and changed too, and I'm still growing, so my understandings and beliefs continue to grow and change. 

I think Beau's message has been saying he allows himself to grow and he accepts whatever that process is.  I am doing the same thing.  People who read my posts here know that I've also adopted words I've learned from Bruce.  Again, it's just a matter of convenience for me.  When you find words that make sense to you and how you believe them to mean, it certainly helps your own growth and thinking processes. 

I don't try to convince anyone of what I believe, but only stick to my guns in my own beliefs up until the point where I learn something new that seems to fit my growth pattern process, which is my own individual thing, and which will change and alter however it will.  And I believe we each have our own growth pattern process no matter what our religious or nonreligious beliefs may be.  There's no point in trying to convince anyone of what your own personal meaning of words, semantics, or beliefs are since we all have to stay on our own course whether we like it or not. 

The only way anyone can change who they are or their pattern of growth is if they allow it to happen in some way.  Most changes have so many parts to the process that any one part, or even the whole process, is imperceptible until a change has already taken place.  Yet, there are some changes that happen because of a conciously-made decision to do so.  Those are probably the most difficult things we do in life, make a decision to change from the comfy-ness of the complacency of who we are. 

When I see anyone defending their thoughts, feelings, or beliefs, it only points out the fact that they are struggling on the inside with their own growth pattern process.  So I let it be.  It doesn't bother me, change me, or make me feel I need to be defensive about my own self. 

Vicky

Thank YOU Calypso! It's really great to resonate with someone.