- Oct 13, 2021
- 13
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- 31
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
All my life, I always had a very natural way of understanding Jesus & the Bible because I always trust my direct experience over conceptual belief. One thing that I could never understand is the belief of a Heaven somewhere else. I've always felt that people talk about a heaven because they made a hell of themselves. If people were truly happy, they wouldn't ask about a heaven. The idea that heaven (or a better moment) is somewhere else, is what creates hell. We take ourselves with us everywhere we go. Jesus himself said the Kingdom of Heaven is within. If someone was to ask us, "Would you rather go to Heaven, or have true happiness?" We would pick happiness everytime. So then that means a more accurate definition of heaven is peace, happiness. Some people believe that church is only on Sundays. To me, church is life itself. It's funny when you see people getting out of church and cursing right after from being stuck in traffic.
As for God, I could never understand how God can be separate from everything in the creator-creation model. We think God is separate because we put a label on who we are. We call ourselves humans, people, male, female, etc. But these are just learned concepts and labels. Sure they are useful, but they can never be reality itself. When you go to a restaurant, do you eat the menu itself? No, because the menu is not the meal. In the same way whatever we label ourselves is not who we truly are. I'd say we all play different roles, but there is something deeper than all of that. In order to say that we are anything, we must first say, "I am." Who am I underneath the name and form? When I directly go to the sense 'I am', I don't find any limits there. No matter where I am, it is always here. No matter what time it may be, my experience is always now. That's why I always felt that God dances in time & space as the 'here & now'. Now is eternal, outside of time altogether. Everything that has happened or could happen, takes place now. My direct experience is the proof for that. When you look at a wave, is the wave not one with the ocean? If I had to find something in my experience to equate with God, I would say it is my awareness or consciousness. Without it, I wouldn't know anything. I can't find it as an object, but I know that I am conscious and that is what I really refer to when I say, "I". My awareness is the unchanging element in all experience. My thoughts change, my body changes, but I am none of these. I am the knowing of them. And despite all the different beliefs and opinions in this world, all 7 billion of us can say, "I am aware" or simply "I am". The Bible does say that 'I am' is the name of God. Perhaps we can't see God because God is doing the seeing.
As for God, I could never understand how God can be separate from everything in the creator-creation model. We think God is separate because we put a label on who we are. We call ourselves humans, people, male, female, etc. But these are just learned concepts and labels. Sure they are useful, but they can never be reality itself. When you go to a restaurant, do you eat the menu itself? No, because the menu is not the meal. In the same way whatever we label ourselves is not who we truly are. I'd say we all play different roles, but there is something deeper than all of that. In order to say that we are anything, we must first say, "I am." Who am I underneath the name and form? When I directly go to the sense 'I am', I don't find any limits there. No matter where I am, it is always here. No matter what time it may be, my experience is always now. That's why I always felt that God dances in time & space as the 'here & now'. Now is eternal, outside of time altogether. Everything that has happened or could happen, takes place now. My direct experience is the proof for that. When you look at a wave, is the wave not one with the ocean? If I had to find something in my experience to equate with God, I would say it is my awareness or consciousness. Without it, I wouldn't know anything. I can't find it as an object, but I know that I am conscious and that is what I really refer to when I say, "I". My awareness is the unchanging element in all experience. My thoughts change, my body changes, but I am none of these. I am the knowing of them. And despite all the different beliefs and opinions in this world, all 7 billion of us can say, "I am aware" or simply "I am". The Bible does say that 'I am' is the name of God. Perhaps we can't see God because God is doing the seeing.
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