Most of us believe in God, but there are a growing number that are fast becoming atheists.
Thank God for that!!
Let’s not confuse being agnostic and being an atheist.
People who are agnostic don’t believe in religion as a mean to reach God, they prefer a more direct path. Most people believe in the big guy above [with due apologies], but in a different way. The problem is in the concept of belief and worship…. Idol Worship, temple, church, monasteries…this is where the argument is
People who believe in a higher power, in a controlling force, in destiny usually tribute every one of their actions to God…. That is sometimes fear and excuse….Mainly because, most of the wrong actions that lead to pain are ONLY because of their own wrong doing and there is NO punishment from above… The wrong doing can also be done as a good deed only to realize later…that was bad…
The flaw is that when you completely give up everything to God that basically means that you have no control over your own actions, over your own sense of morality. This way any action would be justified as an act of the ‘Big Chief’. Pretty much meaning that anyone can get away with murder by believing that the decision was made by the man above. This is not to condemn those good people… but it is just a personal viewpoint….. Just that service is above everything else.
Obviously, all roads lead to the asylum after that.
In the middle of all this, there is a lot of confusion and most of the time it is here where people are completely lost, and thus people like those guys who teach you the Art of Living, and those evangelical priests who make very forceful speeches, make money. They also need a living!!!
They provide you answers to go from the gray to the black and white again.
Belief is something that can’t be taught…. A new born doesn't trust in his own body, until he is cognizant or as you say until his brain is completely in control of it…. that’s all there’s to it.
The logic is pure, and the rationality of thought also, but what atheists fail to explain, is that voice inside. What is that single force that unites us all in so many different ways makes every human similar?
There is something within us which blossoms only when we are cognizant and we have a fuller understanding of ourself. In other words, by believing God is within you, inside you, is the most powerful force on earth, only you might not call it a God.
That kind of belief is true power, a power to achieve any goal.
He ain’t gonna be upset, that’s for sure. Phew.. It gives him an opportunity to take a break!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Metaphysics and Jnana Yoga
METAPHYSICS AND JNANA YOGA
Coming from the Greek, Metaphysics can be translated as "that which comes after physics, matter, or nature."
Thus Metaphysics is looking for the permanent Reality, the unchanged Beingness, and the stationary Existence as the Base for everything that shows constant change.
The "theorizing" mind gives this being the name God.
The "practical" seeker experiences this being as pure Awareness. The theoretical side of Metaphysics seems to belong now to the academics. And, to be quite fair, they have done an outstanding job and there are now many metaphysical systems and positions.
However, theorizing about pleasure or pain does not give us the actual experience.
That is where Yoga comes in: Yoga is the tool with which we can go all the way if this is our true desire.
With regard to finding balance, our Western approach to healing is still in its nursery stage as we still have a lot more to learn. Often without a chance of healing, pharmaceuticals are the remedies of choice.
Quite a few of these chemicals are known to mask only the symptoms of one disease while producing additional problems with more symptoms that have to be treated by more of these chemicals. This has lead to bizarre pictures of treatment where older people were sometimes digesting up to 50 different prescriptions a day for all kinds of health problems. As a result, some of these people had to be hospitalized while others have died as a result of unwanted side-effects. The constantly growing costs are no more than an observable sign of an imbalance in our health system.
To properly treat a disease it is important to know what is missing or what is out of balance.
Ayurveda, for example, tries to reestablish a balance of the three basic types of the human constitution which are called Kapha, Pitta, and Vata.
Traditional Chinese Medicine seeks to restore the flow of Qi by balancing the Yin and Yang.
Yogis know this supreme energy, called Qi, as Kundalini and Yin and Yang as Ida and Pingala.
Everything in the Universe exists because of the two opposite forces and the universal balancing act. Thus the mixture of positive and negative forces shape everything from the atom to our character and health.
If we desire a warm temperature we have to balance hot and cold. In order to feel healthy we might have to either add or subtract a vitamin, mineral or amino-acid.
Most important is the precise knowledge of what is missing or unbalanced.
In regards to the right vitamin or mineral level, we are now seeing more and more test kits made available which will make it a lot easier in the future to gain this precise knowledge.
In short, all it needs is the genuine interest and a certain amount of courage, even so the fear we encounter on the way is nothing but being afraid to look at our Self. Going back to the origins of the word metaphysics, it is said that it was first used to name untitled manuscripts of Aristotle. It is curious, that most philosophical text books cover an area starting with the Greeks Plato, Aristotle, etc., but leave out earlier philosophies from India.
However, there is enough evidence that the philosophy of the Greek and Iranians was heavily influenced from these earlier philosophies of India. At any rate, at least some of the Greek philosophers had a very clear understanding of Reality-as-such. They agreed with earlier Indian philosophies as well as with Scientists of our time that the world as we perceive it is of an illusionary nature. As Parmenides and Zeno pointed out, only what is Permanent and Unchanging is real. The rest is an illusion either experienced or created by our mind. Paramenides: "Being is, Non-Being is not."
We now know that all matter is energy.
But we also know the we are aware of matter. All we have to do is to find out what Awareness is in its clear state of Being and, believe it or not, all our questions are answered and all our fears are dissolved. To get to this state of Being is the ultimate goal of all genuine spiritual exercise including Yoga. So, intellectual understanding of Beingness, as a result from studying Metaphysics, can lead to intellectual enlightening, while the practice of Yoga can lead to direct knowledge.
A more modern interpretation of Metaphysics includes psychic phenomena in all its variations including parapsychology the scientific investigation of these phenomena.
Beingness, as the nature of God, is expressed when we hear American Natives refer to God as the "Great Spirit". "Jahwe" (JHVH \ Jehovah), the Jewish name for God, translates as "I am who I am".
Beingness, then, is the nature of God, in fact, Beingness is God.
Since God is self-reliant and the world is a manifestation of God's energy, we could call God.
Self-energetic Beingness. From the accounts of the many Saints, Sages, and Self-realized persons, who have encountered this condition of Being, we may add that this condition is a blissful state of Being.
In other words, Jnana Yoga is practical philosophy / metaphysics; it is both theory and practice.
Coming from the Greek, Metaphysics can be translated as "that which comes after physics, matter, or nature."
Thus Metaphysics is looking for the permanent Reality, the unchanged Beingness, and the stationary Existence as the Base for everything that shows constant change.
The "theorizing" mind gives this being the name God.
The "practical" seeker experiences this being as pure Awareness. The theoretical side of Metaphysics seems to belong now to the academics. And, to be quite fair, they have done an outstanding job and there are now many metaphysical systems and positions.
However, theorizing about pleasure or pain does not give us the actual experience.
That is where Yoga comes in: Yoga is the tool with which we can go all the way if this is our true desire.
With regard to finding balance, our Western approach to healing is still in its nursery stage as we still have a lot more to learn. Often without a chance of healing, pharmaceuticals are the remedies of choice.
Quite a few of these chemicals are known to mask only the symptoms of one disease while producing additional problems with more symptoms that have to be treated by more of these chemicals. This has lead to bizarre pictures of treatment where older people were sometimes digesting up to 50 different prescriptions a day for all kinds of health problems. As a result, some of these people had to be hospitalized while others have died as a result of unwanted side-effects. The constantly growing costs are no more than an observable sign of an imbalance in our health system.
To properly treat a disease it is important to know what is missing or what is out of balance.
Ayurveda, for example, tries to reestablish a balance of the three basic types of the human constitution which are called Kapha, Pitta, and Vata.
Traditional Chinese Medicine seeks to restore the flow of Qi by balancing the Yin and Yang.
Yogis know this supreme energy, called Qi, as Kundalini and Yin and Yang as Ida and Pingala.
Everything in the Universe exists because of the two opposite forces and the universal balancing act. Thus the mixture of positive and negative forces shape everything from the atom to our character and health.
If we desire a warm temperature we have to balance hot and cold. In order to feel healthy we might have to either add or subtract a vitamin, mineral or amino-acid.
Most important is the precise knowledge of what is missing or unbalanced.
In regards to the right vitamin or mineral level, we are now seeing more and more test kits made available which will make it a lot easier in the future to gain this precise knowledge.
In short, all it needs is the genuine interest and a certain amount of courage, even so the fear we encounter on the way is nothing but being afraid to look at our Self. Going back to the origins of the word metaphysics, it is said that it was first used to name untitled manuscripts of Aristotle. It is curious, that most philosophical text books cover an area starting with the Greeks Plato, Aristotle, etc., but leave out earlier philosophies from India.
However, there is enough evidence that the philosophy of the Greek and Iranians was heavily influenced from these earlier philosophies of India. At any rate, at least some of the Greek philosophers had a very clear understanding of Reality-as-such. They agreed with earlier Indian philosophies as well as with Scientists of our time that the world as we perceive it is of an illusionary nature. As Parmenides and Zeno pointed out, only what is Permanent and Unchanging is real. The rest is an illusion either experienced or created by our mind. Paramenides: "Being is, Non-Being is not."
We now know that all matter is energy.
But we also know the we are aware of matter. All we have to do is to find out what Awareness is in its clear state of Being and, believe it or not, all our questions are answered and all our fears are dissolved. To get to this state of Being is the ultimate goal of all genuine spiritual exercise including Yoga. So, intellectual understanding of Beingness, as a result from studying Metaphysics, can lead to intellectual enlightening, while the practice of Yoga can lead to direct knowledge.
A more modern interpretation of Metaphysics includes psychic phenomena in all its variations including parapsychology the scientific investigation of these phenomena.
Beingness, as the nature of God, is expressed when we hear American Natives refer to God as the "Great Spirit". "Jahwe" (JHVH \ Jehovah), the Jewish name for God, translates as "I am who I am".
Beingness, then, is the nature of God, in fact, Beingness is God.
Since God is self-reliant and the world is a manifestation of God's energy, we could call God.
Self-energetic Beingness. From the accounts of the many Saints, Sages, and Self-realized persons, who have encountered this condition of Being, we may add that this condition is a blissful state of Being.
In other words, Jnana Yoga is practical philosophy / metaphysics; it is both theory and practice.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Xanadu Atlantis
A year ago the UAE was fondly regarded by Western governments and bankers as a potential saviour of capitalism.
Last month, as the major economies shed jobs and marked down growth forecasts, a South African billionaire hosted the “party of the decade” to open a vast, pink hotel on the palm-shaped island constructed from poured sand and concrete a short helicopter ride from Dubai's new international airport.
But elsewhere on the island, villa owners were being told that their properties had lost 40 per cent of their value in two months. Construction of another colossal artificial island was quietly being shelved, and speculation grew that Dubai as a whole, for nearly a decade the world's most exuberant symbol of the fruits of globalisation, might have to sell off assets to service its debts.
Recently, the Government of the United Arab Emirates was forced to confront that speculation. The chairman of a committee set up to lead the UAE's response to the global downturn said that Dubai's debts were dwarfed by its assets and that “the Government will step in to assist if needed”. Only that implicit guarantee held fears of a default at bay. The stock market was unimpressed. Having lost nearly two thirds of its value this year it promptly lost another 5 per cent
Whatever said and done is that I like Dubai, but what I like are the people that who make Dubai – how much ever they crap, they make it even better, particularly the English (no harm please, all in good fun)
Listed below is a poem penned by an English friend (who unfortunately didn’t do justice to Samuel Taylor Coolidge’s Xanadu by Kubla Khan )
In Jumeirah did Big Sheikh Mo
A massive great hotel decree
Where streams of sacred sewage ran
Through beaches uninhabitable by man
Down to a polluted sea
So twice five dozen top celebs
Did mingle with the local plebs
And there were fireworks bright with flashing stars
Apparently they could be seen from Mars
The only ones that didn't party or rave
Were some newly captured Pacific dolphin slaves
A sheikh with a kandoora
In a vision once he saw
It was an Abyssinian maid
Overworked and poorly paid
And with fireworks loud and grand
He did build that Dubailand
That massive mall! Those slopes of ice!
And we all thought them very nice
But all should cry, Beware! Beware!
This sandy land is not so fair
And now financial storm clouds grow
It might be time to pack and go
For we on honey-dew hath fed
It's time for some real life instead
Lets face it - superlatives alone cannot shield the Middle East's financial hub from crisis
courtesy : http://justpolitics-cat.blogspot.com/2008/12/xanadu-atlantis.html
Last month, as the major economies shed jobs and marked down growth forecasts, a South African billionaire hosted the “party of the decade” to open a vast, pink hotel on the palm-shaped island constructed from poured sand and concrete a short helicopter ride from Dubai's new international airport.
But elsewhere on the island, villa owners were being told that their properties had lost 40 per cent of their value in two months. Construction of another colossal artificial island was quietly being shelved, and speculation grew that Dubai as a whole, for nearly a decade the world's most exuberant symbol of the fruits of globalisation, might have to sell off assets to service its debts.
Recently, the Government of the United Arab Emirates was forced to confront that speculation. The chairman of a committee set up to lead the UAE's response to the global downturn said that Dubai's debts were dwarfed by its assets and that “the Government will step in to assist if needed”. Only that implicit guarantee held fears of a default at bay. The stock market was unimpressed. Having lost nearly two thirds of its value this year it promptly lost another 5 per cent
Whatever said and done is that I like Dubai, but what I like are the people that who make Dubai – how much ever they crap, they make it even better, particularly the English (no harm please, all in good fun)
Listed below is a poem penned by an English friend (who unfortunately didn’t do justice to Samuel Taylor Coolidge’s Xanadu by Kubla Khan )
In Jumeirah did Big Sheikh Mo
A massive great hotel decree
Where streams of sacred sewage ran
Through beaches uninhabitable by man
Down to a polluted sea
So twice five dozen top celebs
Did mingle with the local plebs
And there were fireworks bright with flashing stars
Apparently they could be seen from Mars
The only ones that didn't party or rave
Were some newly captured Pacific dolphin slaves
A sheikh with a kandoora
In a vision once he saw
It was an Abyssinian maid
Overworked and poorly paid
And with fireworks loud and grand
He did build that Dubailand
That massive mall! Those slopes of ice!
And we all thought them very nice
But all should cry, Beware! Beware!
This sandy land is not so fair
And now financial storm clouds grow
It might be time to pack and go
For we on honey-dew hath fed
It's time for some real life instead
Lets face it - superlatives alone cannot shield the Middle East's financial hub from crisis
courtesy : http://justpolitics-cat.blogspot.com/2008/12/xanadu-atlantis.html
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Arab And The Genie
An Arab had just spent many days crossing the desert without water.
His camel had died of thirst and he was crawling through the sands, certain that the end was close when all of a sudden he sees a shiny object sticking out of the sand several yards ahead of him.
He crawls to the object, pulls it out of the sand, and discovers what looks to be an ash tray from an old car. He opens it and out pops a genie...
But this apparently is no ordinary genie. He is wearing a polka dot bow tie and a sport coat with a dog-eared little book in the breast pocket with a blue cover and has a pencil tucked behind one ear.
"Well, kid," says the genie. "You know how it works. You have three wishes."
"I'm not falling for this." says the man. "I'm not going to trust a used car salesman!"
"What have you got to lose?”
"You've got no transportation, and it looks like you're a goner anyway!”
The man thinks about this for a minute, and decides that the genie is right.
"OK, I wish I were in a lush oasis with plentiful food and drink." ***POOF*** The man finds himself in the most beautiful oasis he has ever seen. And he is surrounded with jugs of wine and platters of delicacies.
"OK, kid, what's your second wish."
"My second wish is that I was rich beyond my wildest dreams." ***POOF*** The Arab finds himself surrounded by treasure chests filled with rare gold coins and precious gems."
"OK, kid, you have just one more wish. Better make it a good one!"
After thinking for a few minutes, the Arab says: "I wish that no matter where I go, a beautiful woman will want and need me." ***POOF*** He's turned into a tampon.
The moral of the story?
If a used car salesman offers you anything at no cost, there's always going to be a string attached somewhere!
His camel had died of thirst and he was crawling through the sands, certain that the end was close when all of a sudden he sees a shiny object sticking out of the sand several yards ahead of him.
He crawls to the object, pulls it out of the sand, and discovers what looks to be an ash tray from an old car. He opens it and out pops a genie...
But this apparently is no ordinary genie. He is wearing a polka dot bow tie and a sport coat with a dog-eared little book in the breast pocket with a blue cover and has a pencil tucked behind one ear.
"Well, kid," says the genie. "You know how it works. You have three wishes."
"I'm not falling for this." says the man. "I'm not going to trust a used car salesman!"
"What have you got to lose?”
"You've got no transportation, and it looks like you're a goner anyway!”
The man thinks about this for a minute, and decides that the genie is right.
"OK, I wish I were in a lush oasis with plentiful food and drink." ***POOF*** The man finds himself in the most beautiful oasis he has ever seen. And he is surrounded with jugs of wine and platters of delicacies.
"OK, kid, what's your second wish."
"My second wish is that I was rich beyond my wildest dreams." ***POOF*** The Arab finds himself surrounded by treasure chests filled with rare gold coins and precious gems."
"OK, kid, you have just one more wish. Better make it a good one!"
After thinking for a few minutes, the Arab says: "I wish that no matter where I go, a beautiful woman will want and need me." ***POOF*** He's turned into a tampon.
The moral of the story?
If a used car salesman offers you anything at no cost, there's always going to be a string attached somewhere!
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