tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post2259935764793934045..comments2024-02-27T12:41:35.811-08:00Comments on Coming to Terms...: Seeing the LightLisa :-]http://www.blogger.com/profile/02237889098638895390noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post-13484250675969024432011-06-23T13:36:24.814-07:002011-06-23T13:36:24.814-07:00And Augustine was a recovering Manichean; a synthe...And Augustine was a recovering Manichean; a synthesis (according to Wickipedia) of early Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Bhuddism; probably with some early Greek mythology thrown in. Short take? Spritual world filled with light and good. Material world, where we all live dark and not so good, in fact evil. <br /><br />Pelagius reportedly accused Augustine of being more of a Manichean than a Christian. If you believe that the world around you is evil and that all the light is in the spiritual world...........well you aren't going to be looking for the light in anything around you. <br /><br />It didn't help that Augustine was a bishop in North Africa during the barbarian invasions. If he'd had a cheerful disposition to start with it went south as the empire was forced to continually retreat.JACKIEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11883028058826030899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post-27601610363676812162011-06-23T09:25:12.209-07:002011-06-23T09:25:12.209-07:00When I said I don't have theory about what mad...When I said I don't have theory about what made us turn away from the light, I was not considering the control and political aspects of the organizing of religion. Of course that's correct. And today's Christianity does seem to have Augustine to thank for a good bit of throwing a pile of bushels over that light. <br />At some point, someone, or a group of someones, was not satisfied with nurturing the connection to the true character of the Creator. Instead, they could concoct a version of a Power in the Sky, and use it to exert control over large groups of (perhaps) less devious folks, becoming, in effect, gods themselves. (And screwing up scores of others' lives for millenia to come.)Lisa :-]https://www.blogger.com/profile/02237889098638895390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post-89259896910499564982011-06-23T08:58:07.087-07:002011-06-23T08:58:07.087-07:00Powerful post. You should cross post this on Women...Powerful post. You should cross post this on Women on. <br /><br />Sometimes I wish I could take a time machine and drown St Augustine at birth, but someone else would have taken his place. <br /><br />A lot of what Karen posted is true, organized religion is as much about control as it is about faith. And that's where the conflict with the inner light comes in. <br /><br />If we listen to and follow the light where it takes us we're claiming a personal revelation; but the church officially closed that route with the apostles. No more prophets, thank you very much. The conflict between the supporters of Pelagius and Augustine is one of the keys I think. Augustin could command a lot of support. It may not have been as crass as "support my theology and I'll support papal pretentions of authority." <br /><br />You've given me a lot to chew on. Back in a few. <br /><br />Oh, and once the authorities of church and state made it very plain that they were willing to kill to maintain their version of the truth a lot of lights went under the bushel.JACKIEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11883028058826030899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post-71463388414141346502011-06-22T17:38:09.354-07:002011-06-22T17:38:09.354-07:00Your last five lines say it all. Beautiful writin...Your last five lines say it all. Beautiful writing.Cynthiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11641264346663533706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4283072392763163737.post-7170470581805676912011-06-22T15:45:07.610-07:002011-06-22T15:45:07.610-07:00These are questions I've had myself. I read a...These are questions I've had myself. I read and read and read and seek the truth, ask for the truth and I think that slowly the truth is revealing itself to me.<br /><br />Who gains in having a population believing that salvation is OUTSIDE of ourselves as opposed to inside us--that we are powerless on our own, but are redeemable if we believe in an off planet God?<br /><br />Sadly, I've come to believe that organized religions exist to control the masses. This was a difficult truth to realize, however there really is no other sane explanation. We are brainwashed from the time we are born (most of us anyway) and so questioning a belief system becomes something wicked and shameful. I know this because I lived this. No way would I consider hearing that what I had been told all my life was a lie. But then I asked myself why I couldn't accept even LISTENING to another way, and it was because it emotionally seemed to cripple me, I couldn't accept that I might have not been discerning enough, that there was evil everywhere behind what I had believed and I truly live believing the best about all people.<br /><br />But then I allowed myself to listen to other points of view and I realized that I did not die knowing that perhaps I had been lied to. This allowed me to open my mind and heart to everything and I can sift out the truth when I have all the information and not just one point of view.<br /><br />You question humanity and where we went wrong. My thoughts are that there has been a concerted effort to dumb down the true creators in the world (US!!!!) through mind control, poisons in vaccines and our water and our food and sprayed in the beautiful skies above us. I see humanity (most of us)as victims. Our minds have been altered so that we cannot think clearly anymore. Think about how every single ache and pain needs a prescription--how everyone and their brother is depressed, how our children are being drugged from the time they are little children for ADD, ADHD and whatever else they deem necessary to stop kids from being kids. Schools hate the creators! They want robots, not leaders or independent thinkers.<br /><br />But here's where I see hope--despite all the assaults on our physical bodies from the human predators, I see humanity slowly waking up. I am proof positive of this--no one was more clueless or more of a follower than me--and I managed to wake up and search for the truth.<br /><br />We are not our bodies--we are all connected by the superior intelligence of our divine minds. That's what I believe. Those who know this have to work to help everyone else remember.<br /><br />KarenKarenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14760146591305762959noreply@blogger.com