What can we learn about ourselves?

[Open_Minded]

I'd forgotten this Thomas Merton quote until a few weeks back when it came through on Facebook.

What Merton had to say is very true. Our idea of the Sacred does tell us more about ourselves than about the Sacred. Even our non-ideas of the Sacred tells us much about ourselves. What can you learn about yourself, through your ideas about God, or the Sacred, etc???

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Honestly that I can be powerful and strong is what the gods most inspire in me.

 

[Open_Minded]

This sounds odd to say...

1. I'm a Christian Theist
2. I'm past the point where I have any ideas about God. In fact I actively try to avoid defining God.
3. I'm not sure what that says about me.
   • Accept maybe - that I'm past thinking I've any TRUE answers to anything in life (even God).

 

[Philomath]

This sounds odd to say...

1. I'm a Christian Theist
2. I'm past the point where I have any ideas about God. In fact I actively try to avoid defining God.
3. I'm not sure what that says about me.
   • Accept maybe - that I'm past thinking I've any TRUE answers to anything in life (even God).

I'm with you there, though I'm not a Christian. There are things we think we "know" about God but in reality we really know nothing about him.

 

[Open_Minded]

I'm with you there, though I'm not a Christian. There are thinks we think we "know" about God but in reality we really know nothing about him.

Exactly - then the trick is to not get dug into demanding that this position is TRUTH either.

 

[illykitty]

Hmmm, maybe my belief in panentheism reflects that I care about everyone, even with animals and plants, and think we are all connected in some way.

 

[ChristineES]

We can't really know anything about God. All we can do is imagine what He is like- and putting in traits that we like. So, although I am a Christian, I can say that I agree with the quote.

 

[Open_Minded]

We can't really know anything about God. All we can do is imagine what He is like- and putting in traits that we like. So, although I am a Christian, I can say that I agree with the quote.

And when we "imagine what He is like" it is a reflection of us.

So what does the theology of eternal damnation, hell, etc... say about its adherents, followers, ministers (who preach this 'god' from the pulpit)?????

 

[Badran]

I like power, i like intensity, i'm extremely ambitious and can't easily satisfy my ego. I enjoy attention, and crave it on occasions. I have a lot of empathy for almost everything around me, and it's very extreme that it on many times possibly works against itself.

I enjoy confrontation, detest losing, hate mediocrity and enjoy feeling different. I like having a big purpose in life, being part of 'something important', and working hard to serve that purpose. I love helping people, and anything else i can be helpful towards in general. It's one of the most refreshing things to me. I don't like much of what i perceive of life, and that greatly disheartens me.

That's mostly what i can conclude right now when i think about the god concept i used to have. But it's reaffirmed by other experiences as well.

 

[Philomath]

Exactly - then the trick is to not get dug into demanding that this position is TRUTH either.

That is the trick, I simply don't get caught up in defining God.

 

[1137]

It seems I value individuality, strict adherence to reason, believe people are capable of being much better than what we see on a daily basis, value self empowerment and the ability to stand on your own two feet. On the flip side struggle with arrogance, acceptance of human limitation, meaninglessness, and the fact that all knowledge is inherently flawed. That last one has its pros and cons.

 

[SageTree]

It tells me that....

Even though I do not understand everything about myself,
and can not label every experience in it's fullness,

..... I can I trust in the fact that being a living Love, full of compassion is my True state of Being and the most important knowledge I can have about my Self.

 

[Vouthon]

My idea of God as both transcendent and immanent, tells me that I seek something beyond myself yet within me. It tells me that I don't crave for a God that can be known anthropomorphically, as in through idols or representations. Yet it also tells me that I do not want a God that is distant, removed, cold and separate from me but need that belief in a Being who is the Life of my life, Soul of my soul and the very ground of my existence in whom I "live and breathe and have my being".

My idea of a God who does not send people to heaven or hell (since these are freely chosen states of eternal being in relation to God) tells me that I cannot fathom the rather primitive depictions of deity which attribute to him human-like emotions of anger, rage, vengeance and even noble ones such as justice. I see something beyond all these, the reality above these pious concessions to human weakness, these symbols pointing to the truth.