Hi Jeffrey,
Thanks for the info. Personally I haven't related to the catholic analogies
for many years.
Catholicism has some right ideas, and some wrong ideas, just as every religion has its good side and it nonsense. Those who wish to make progress spiritually, just need to use some critical thinking to toss out the nonsense and keep what works. Central to the nonsense of most religions is they either do not value the contemplative life, or they claim they do, but in reality they don't. Catholicism is an example of the first, and Buddhism is an example of the second.
I've always viewed Christ as a mystic and friend, not as
my lord and master.
Well, I think you are onto something here, because I too believe that Jesus, Buddha, and the rest were mystics, so they would make good friends. Whereas, the lord and master, and only begotten son of God, who was born of a virgin, walked on water, parted the seas, everywhere he walked lotuses bloomed, etc. is the nonsense we can dump.
I must admit contemplating the Holy Spirit/ The Father/
The Son, still gives me comfort.
Well, the training goes deep in religion, because most parents start us off young with the nonsense. However, Trinitarianism is paganism, and not the monotheism of Judaism, so it would not at all have been what Jesus would have taught.
Someone looking out for you, who has all the
answers, usually makes that happen. I guess the old programming from the
catholic beliefs still works.
Well, for many years I took comfort in a father-god, or mother-god concept. It helps, especially when neither of my genetic parents were someone I should want to rely upon, nor could I.
This brings up a really good point. So, how do we Enrich the Religious Experience if we are not going to drag all of the garbage of religion along with that Enrichment process?
Humans are a species of animal, and we have our social behavior that is most accessible to us, so it is reasonable to consider that we have a narrow range of experience upon which to draw from for Enriching the Religious Experience. I guess this is going to take some discussion among contemplatives to come up with a consensus, but I also think it is up to every individual what relationship with the sacred works for them.
I really do not think that just dismissing the spiritual dimension wholesale, and just looking at the charisms as an odd collection of weird phenomena will help. I found Enriching the Religious Experience helped me a great deal. That Enrichment shifted over time as I developed depth in meditation.
I found there certainly is no anthropomorphic entity, nor an individual god-head, on the spiritual dimension looking after any of us, let alone me. What I found was the entirety of the heavenly host who sang with the sweetest sounds of bliss, joy and ecstasy of the purest love, which resonated with the various charisms in a multidimensional and multi-sensory, chorus; but I could have starved to death if I waited for them to send me a bowl of soup. And, God, if you want to use that terminology, was the sum total of that heavenly host. So, when I saw that, then they became my "God" which I enriched my religious experience with, and through my daily practice of mediation I eventually became the whole of that heavenly host.
So, I suppose it is up to each person to Enrich, or invest, the Religious Experience with whatever furthers that experience, and know that as one meditates deeper, then one's understanding of the sacred is going to evolve.
Moving on to meditation, I have a question. When I turn my awareness
to a phenomena of the Jhana states, I notice I have to "observe" and
"not observe", at the same time, in order for the phenomena to peak,
diminish, then a different bells/whistle will show up and so on.
What is your opinion on this balancing act? Is the "stillness" between
the attention given to phenomena a needed characteristic?
Later,
Kimo
Hmm, that is interesting. I just attend to relaxing deeply, and stilling the mind, and keeping it still; while filling my awareness with all of the dimensions of the charisms; which, as I said above, is multi-sensory.
Depth in meditation for me is saturation in that multi-sensory experience of the charisms. The meditation session goes on as long as it is going to, and when the charisms wane is when I get up and have breakfast, or whatever; however, the charisms, the avoiding tension and stress, and the stilling of the mind, are nonetheless with me all day long. But, that is all jhana, not beyond jhana.
However, I do not mentally engage with the charisms. I do not try to make them do anything. So maybe you are engaging with them with your mind.
