PureX
Veteran Member
I did not want to disrupt someone else's thread, so I will post my answers, here.
I also do not perceive Jesus claimed to be God, though I understand people's confusion. He is the living embodiment of God's Divine Spirit in human form. So he was an 'expression' of God, and he understood this, but he also understood that he was not God. And so should we.
People have difficulty understanding the difference between being an expression of, and actually being. But I'm an artist, so I do not have difficulty with that. I understand that my artworks 'express my mind and my spirit', and yet they are not 'me'. It is the same with Jesus as the Christ. He is the human expression of the mind and spirit of God, but he is not God. And this condition is referred to as "Christ". Or as Jesus being 'the Christ'.
The advent of this "Christ", to me, represents a revelation and a promise to humanity. The revelation is that God's divine spirit exists within us all, as we are God's creations (much like my sculptures embody my mind and spirit). And this divine spirit within us manifests as love, forgiveness, kindness and generosity. The promise, then, is that if we will set aside our own petty fears, and desires, and resentments, and allow this divine spirit within us to become us, we will be healed and saved from ourselves. And we can help to heal and save others. And if (hopefully when) we all, or enough of us adopt this way of being, the whole world will be healed and saved (from us). And we will find ourselves returned to "Eden".
I choose to accept this revelation and promise as being true. And so I try to live my life accordingly.
These are the very first lines from the Tao Te Ching ...
"When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever."
This duality is recognized by Jesus as darkness and light. As our fear and desire and resentment driving us to act out in sinful ways, and as that divine spirit within us driving us to act out in loving and healing ways. While Taoism sees that duality in terms of an endless cycle of opposition (maintaining a perpetual balance).
But what's important about Taoism as a philosophy, for me, is that it begins with the realization that we humans are trapped by our own intelligence; and ignorance. We are clever enough to ask questions that we are not wise enough to answer. In Taoism, there are two realms of being. The Divine Realm, and the Material Realm. And we humans are kind of stuck, suspended within and between them both. A part of each, and yet not fully present in either.
And the solution to this dilemma is not to try and understand our way out of it, but to align ourselves with the 'flow' of it. The flow of intent from the Divine Realm, 'above', to it's manifestation in the Material Realm, 'below'. (Remember that 'above' and 'below' are illusions created by our dualistic thought process)
Both Taoism and Christianity are about living via faith. Both are about humbly accepting that we do not have "the truth", and so must align ourselves with it as it flows through us, and all around us.
I am not a religious Christian. I am a philosophical Christian. Mainly because I do not believe Jesus intended to start any religions. He was a Jew, and he remained a Jew. And Jews then, as now, do not believe that non-Jews need to become Jews to understand or relate to God. They believe that everyone can do this on their own terms, and by their own paths.I would love to understand how one mixes Taoism/Christianity?
Jesus claims absolute truth.
He claims to be God and one with God.
I also do not perceive Jesus claimed to be God, though I understand people's confusion. He is the living embodiment of God's Divine Spirit in human form. So he was an 'expression' of God, and he understood this, but he also understood that he was not God. And so should we.
People have difficulty understanding the difference between being an expression of, and actually being. But I'm an artist, so I do not have difficulty with that. I understand that my artworks 'express my mind and my spirit', and yet they are not 'me'. It is the same with Jesus as the Christ. He is the human expression of the mind and spirit of God, but he is not God. And this condition is referred to as "Christ". Or as Jesus being 'the Christ'.
The advent of this "Christ", to me, represents a revelation and a promise to humanity. The revelation is that God's divine spirit exists within us all, as we are God's creations (much like my sculptures embody my mind and spirit). And this divine spirit within us manifests as love, forgiveness, kindness and generosity. The promise, then, is that if we will set aside our own petty fears, and desires, and resentments, and allow this divine spirit within us to become us, we will be healed and saved from ourselves. And we can help to heal and save others. And if (hopefully when) we all, or enough of us adopt this way of being, the whole world will be healed and saved (from us). And we will find ourselves returned to "Eden".
I choose to accept this revelation and promise as being true. And so I try to live my life accordingly.
Yin and Yang are the 'here' and 'there', the 'now' and 'then', and the 'is' and 'is not' of how we humans perceive the phenomena of existing. The term "Tao" means "Way". Specifically, it means the way that existence, exists. Existence is an event taking place, and the Tao is the 'flow of it's being'. The flow of all being. But we humans cannot comprehend the Tao. It's both too simple, and too complex. So our minds break everything into a duality of opposites to try to help us comprehend the Tao. But it does not help. It simply is how our minds function.How do you reconcile Jesus’s truth claims with yin and yang?
These are the very first lines from the Tao Te Ching ...
"The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding."
and then this ...is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding."
"When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever."
But what's important about Taoism as a philosophy, for me, is that it begins with the realization that we humans are trapped by our own intelligence; and ignorance. We are clever enough to ask questions that we are not wise enough to answer. In Taoism, there are two realms of being. The Divine Realm, and the Material Realm. And we humans are kind of stuck, suspended within and between them both. A part of each, and yet not fully present in either.
And the solution to this dilemma is not to try and understand our way out of it, but to align ourselves with the 'flow' of it. The flow of intent from the Divine Realm, 'above', to it's manifestation in the Material Realm, 'below'. (Remember that 'above' and 'below' are illusions created by our dualistic thought process)
Both Taoism and Christianity are about living via faith. Both are about humbly accepting that we do not have "the truth", and so must align ourselves with it as it flows through us, and all around us.
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