A new religion.

[CEMB]

The second kind of mental conditioning is fasting. Fasting gives the mind more control over the body. Book III, Chapter 5 on 'Fasting' explains this in more detail:


The second kind of mental conditioning is fasting. The aim of fasting is to gain greater authority over the body
so that the mind can hear the voice of the soul more clearly and respond to its commands.

Fasting is only effective when the body and the mind fast in unison, when the body rejects the object and the
mind rejects the desire to obtain that object. If the mind refuses to think about drinking alcohol then the body
shall refuse to drink alcohol. If the mind thinks about drinking alcohol then the body shall drink alcohol. Block
the desire to block the action.

There is mental fasting and physical fasting. Mental fasting is to restrain the mind from thinking wrong
thoughts. Physical fasting is to restrain the body from eating meat or drinking alcohol and from performing
sexual acts. Mental fasting cleanses thought and physical fasting cleanses the blood, flesh and organs. The
mind suffers less from the fear and pain experienced by the body the more it establishes its authority over the body.

Blessed is he who can control his desires and thus control himself. He has disciplined his mind and body.

 

[CEMB]

The third mental conditioning is prayer. Prayer reminds the mind and the body of their purpose. Book III, Chapter 6 on 'Prayer' explains this.

The third kind of mental conditioning is prayer. Prayer is performed to honour God and to ask guidance from
God during times of need. It shifts the mind’s attention away from the distractions of the body and towards the
soul and its purpose. It strengthens the connection between the mind, the soul and God.

To pray is to communicate with God. It requires discipline and the utmost respect and reverence from the
mind and the body. Before prayer, wash the body and don clean clothes. Be free of all thoughts of lust, envy,
greed and hate. To bring vice to God is to disrespect God and dishonour oneself in the face of God. The
selfish prayer is dust in the wind.

When praying, place both hands in front of the body, the left palm against the right. Straighten the fingers,
each finger next to the other and all pointing upwards. Bow the head and close the eyes.

Pray once a day and begin with The Prayer of the Straight Path:

Almighty God
My saviour and my guide
Grant me the strength
To walk Your straight path
To seek virtue and to reject vice
To discipline my body and my mind
And to strengthen myself
So I strengthen humankind.​

By praying once a day, the mind is reminded of its soul and God. It is also reminded of its purpose: to walk
the straight path. The mind which prays once a day shall seek virtue and reject vice.

To pray with others is called a guidance. Pray with others when possible for prayer gives comfort and support
to others and to those who no longer see the truth. Through prayer, those who walk the straight path shall help
others to find the straight path again. This pleases God for God helps those who help each other.

When possible seek a holy place to pray. Seek a place free of vice: a temple or a church, a beach or a
meadow. Vice stains all it touches, be it a body or a stone, and distracts the mind when it can. But if a holy
place cannot be found then fall to both knees and pray. Ask and God shall give. Speak the truth and God
shall hear. Even Hell cannot hide the truth from God.

 

[CEMB]

The fourth kind of mental conditioning is learning. Only through learning can the mind and the body achieve their purpose. Book III, Chapter 7 on "Learning" explains this in more detail.

The fourth kind of mental conditioning is learning. Only through learning can the mind and the body overcome mistakes. Only through learning can they begin to understand God’s Creation and achieve the purpose God has set for them.

Learning begins with two lessons. The first lesson to learn is God created the mind to learn. The second lesson to learn is the mind can learn. These are the most important, yet for some minds, the most difficult of lessons. Once the mind has learnt these lessons then all other lessons become easy.

Seek to learn a new thing each day, be it a new word, a new skill or how to perform a task better. To refuse to learn is to stagnate and retard the evolution of the mind and the body.

Seek knowledge from an expert rather than a novice as an expert understands how to properly teach a skill for he has learnt that skill himself. To learn about chemistry seek a chemist, to learn about farming seek a farmer. The wise seek knowledge from the wise. Fools seek knowledge from the ignorant.

Seek knowledge from elders. Elders have learnt much from their experiences. They are wise and want to pass their knowledge on to the young so that the young learn and can avoid the same mistakes which the elders made. Elders yearn to strengthen humanity. Only the fool rejects an expert and turns his back on wisdom.

Learning strengthens the mind and the body. At birth, the body contains only a few memories of its present life, but is full of ancestral memories. Learning is a process of meshing the knowledge from these ancestral memories with the knowledge gained from new experiences.

When a baby begins to walk, he concentrates on placing one foot in front of the other while maintaining his balance with his arms and torso. He learns much from observing his parents and other people walking around him. Yet this is not his only source of knowledge. When he begins to walk, he also begins to remember how to walk.

Each cell of his body contains memories of his ancestors walking. These memories whisper to him, reminding him and directing him to reclaim and improve upon his innate abilities. They direct the growth of his torso, his hands and his arms, his feet and his legs. They fashion his body to walk upright on two legs. His legs know how to walk. They just need to be reminded of their purpose.

Each of us is an individual and a community, a single consciousness and a vessel cradling the memories and experiences of our ancestors. Our purpose is to learn more so as to strengthen ourselves, to add to the knowledge inherited from our ancestors and to pass this knowledge to our descendants. Our purpose is to make our children stronger, quicker and smarter than we are so that they can hear their souls more clearly and are better able to walk the straight path. Our purpose is to continue and quicken our evolution so that humanity survives.

 

[osgart]

far above any person ,me included, I set the truth. i humble myself to it. And than I seek after it and when I find it I give it authority over me and it becomes my rulebook. by trial,and test and by proving it out the truth becomes obvious.
It's far better than any religion I have ever experienced. I set myself as a student before it.

 

[CEMB]

far above any person ,me included, I set the truth. i humble myself to it. And than I seek after it and when I find it I give it authority over me and it becomes my rulebook. by trial,and test and by proving it out the truth becomes obvious.
It's far better than any religion I have ever experienced. I set myself as a student before it.

Our understanding of truth is always growing and evolving. We are always learning more about truth. There are many sources of truth. Science, history and religion contain truth. Children know truth. They know compassion, love and justice. This thread also contains truth.

 

[Riders]

Why is it specifically evil to have a job and to work? Work is not evil, it said its not our path to work oh yes it is mister. Hey man, whew the bible says idle hands are the devils worshop.

Its a scientific psychological fact that addicts drug addicts and alcoholics who get job stay busy working tend to stay sober longer and get past their addictions all together. By staying busy your mind is busy and you don't the time to do evil.

I don't appreciate the demonizing of money and jobs here its a part of my addiction program too. I'm a recovering sex addict and I just got a job at home today in order to stay out of evil,and be productive, hey man this is BS>

 

[CEMB]

Why is it specifically evil to have a job and to work? Work is not evil, it said its not our path to work oh yes it is mister. Hey man, whew the bible says idle hands are the devils worshop.

Its a scientific psychological fact that addicts drug addicts and alcoholics who get job stay busy working tend to stay sober longer and get past their addictions all together. By staying busy your mind is busy and you don't the time to do evil.

I don't appreciate the demonizing of money and jobs here its a part of my addiction program too. I'm a recovering sex addict and I just got a job at home today in order to stay out of evil,and be productive, hey man this is BS>

The Straight Path does not say that ‘work is evil’. It says that ‘work is not purpose’, which is different. It states that our purpose is to walk the straight path and draw closer to God. This is done by learning more and strengthening our minds and bodies through acting virtuously and avoiding vice. Work can help us to achieve this purpose, but work, of itself, is not this purpose. A human is born for far greater things than pushing trolleys in a supermarket.

The Straight Path does condemn those people ‘who obstruct others’ from fulfilling their purpose through enforced labour, worthless baubles or lewd pursuits’. It does condemn those people who enslave or exploit other people. It condemns those people who force others into performing demeaning acts in order to earn the money they need to survive.

Also The Straight Path does not advocate ‘idle hands’. One of its objectives is to encourage readers to act virtuously so as to strengthen their minds and bodies, learn more and become better people. Book II, Chapter 17 on ‘Sloth’ condemns laziness because laziness weakens the mind and the body.


‘…Sloth is laziness. The lazy man sins against himself. He refuses to learn how to grow wheat, ford the river and climb the mountain. He refuses to perform acts that require an effort. He hides from struggle and denies himself the rewards that come from struggle. Struggle strengthens the mind and the body.

Sloth slows the body’s thoughts and movements. The lazy man refuses to exercise his body so his bones grow brittle and his muscles grow soft. He refuses to exert his will so the authority of his mind over his body diminishes. He refuses to heed his conscience and listen to his soul so he forgets truth. He prefers instead to remain on the couch. Sloth drinks the body’s life.

The lazy man confuses the easy with the hard. Every time he retreats from an obstacle and rejects the opportunity to strengthen his mind and body he adds another stone to the wall that stands between him and his purpose. Sloth denies him the straight path…’


Also The Straight Path does not ‘demonize money'. Book II, Chapter 16 on ‘Greed’ states that money is tool that can be used justly or unjustly.


‘…Money is just paper, plastic and metal. It is neither good nor evil as the knife is neither good nor evil. It is simply a tool to be used to achieve a goal. Much can be achieved with wealth when used properly, to help others and rectify injustice. But wealth becomes worthless when used unjustly to weaken others…’



I agree with you that a job can keep a person busy, focus their mind on positive behaviour and action, and through working hard, help them to overcome an addiction. Nobody deserves addiction. I hope you conquer yours.

 

[CEMB]

To walk the straight path, the body must discipline itself. The body disciplines itself through conditioning each of its senses and members. Book III, Chapter 8 on 'Physical Conditioning' explains this:

The organs, muscles, bones and senses grow in response to the actions of the body. They are strengthened when challenged and weakened when not. The eye which refuses to see shall lose its sight, the ear which refuses to listen shall lose its hearing, and the leg which refuses to walk shall go lame. Pity the worker who sits at a desk all day staring at a screen. His muscles atrophy and his sight grows dim. He becomes an old man at thirty-six. Pity those who forget their purpose. May they rediscover their purpose and walk the straight path.

Physical conditioning strengthens the body by submitting the body to the mind and thus the soul. It disciplines the body and gives to the body the strength the body needs to follow the commands of the soul and walk the straight path.

To discipline the body, each part of the body is conditioned in turn: the eye, the ear, the mouth, the nose, the hand, the foot and the torso. And each part of the body is conditioned, not to make it stronger than another body, but to make it stronger than it was before. God has given to each soul the responsibility to strengthen its own body and no other.

Have faith in God and yourself. He has given to you the strength to condition your body and to learn about the universe. Do what can be done. Begin walking slowly and rest when necessary. If taking three steps is too difficult then take two. If taking two steps is too difficult then take one. The more steps taken the easier they become. Fear only inaction, and persevere as the reward is great. For each conscious act to strengthen the body is a step closer towards the straight path.

 

[Hellboy]

Hi. I know that this is a thread about New Religion. But I have amazing pictures of Lord Buddha and little bit of Knowledge to share.
I'm doing this for our good merits in our life!
Lord Buddha. พระพุทธเจ้า.

 

[CEMB]

Hi. I know that this is a thread about New Religion. But I have amazing pictures of Lord Buddha and little bit of Knowledge to share.
I'm doing this for our good merits in our life!
Lord Buddha. พระพุทธเจ้า.

Hi Hellboy,

The pictures were very interesting. Your phrase 'little bit of Knowledge' inspired me to do a little further research. I came across this quote from Kahlil Gibrin (author of 'The Prophet'), which is pertinent for many of us.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

 

[CEMB]

I recently created a blog to document my spiritual journey and my attempts to seek a closer connection to God. Here is the URL:

thestraightpathchristian.com

I would greatly appreciate any comments about it.