Christian Mysticism - Why ?

[John D]

It was not my intention to bring Setianism into this thread,
but as to keep the inertia of my own story relevant to the larger conversation,

I'll ask...

do any of you, who consider yourselves christian mystics,
find that your views are of a more LHP bent than
"non mystic" christians?

Also... if christianity is not (normally) about the direct (mystic) union with god...
what IS it about?

Here are a few Quotes on what LHP is. I'll give my comments after the quotes.

"Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the flesh, the mundane, the carnal - all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path"

The Satanic Bible, Book Of Lucifer 3: Paragraph 30​

In the Koran and the Christian Bible the elect and God's favourite sit on its right hand side, and the damned on its left. In the Gospel of Matthew the author has Jesus place God's followers (the sheep) on its right and the goats (non-followers) on its left hand side (Matthew 25:33). The Catholic Church held for over a thousand years that being left handed made you a servant of the Devil and that anything left-handed was evil. [Gooch, 1984] Muslims forbid the touching of any holy scripture with the left hand. Jesus sits on the right hand of God. In pictures of the Last Judgement the Christian God shows his disciples their new heavenly abode with his right hand, and points with his left to hell. The Left Hand Path, therefore, being the demonic, the diabolical and the Earthly path to Hell.
Pasted from <http://www.dpjs.co.uk/lefthandpath.html>



Left-Hand Path belief systems generally share the following properties:

• The conviction that individuals can become (or already are) akin to gods.
• The conviction that there is no such thing as a selfless act. Fulfilling one's desire is acknowledged to be selfish, at the least reaping an individual sense of satisfaction. Altruism is considered self-deception, created and fostered by conventional religions.

It is clear to me that Christian mysticism,as I practise it, can never be of the LHP.
It is the totally opposite and can not be mixed.

 

[blackout]

There are slightly differing takes on the matter
but Wiki offers this as a start anyway.







Right-Hand Path belief systems generally share the following properties:

• Belief in a higher power, such as a deity.
• Obedience to the will of a higher power.
• The belief that there is an absolute definition of good and evil that applies to everyone.
• Esoteric belief in a supernatural mechanism like divine retribution or the Threefold Law, which entails the assessment of moral decisions made in one's lifetime.
• Eschatological beliefs, resulting to salvation for some and to damnation for others.

Left-Hand Path belief systems generally share the following properties:

• The conviction that individuals can become (or already are) akin to gods.
• The conviction that there is no such thing as a selfless act. Fulfilling one's desire is acknowledged to be selfish, at the least reaping an individual sense of satisfaction. Altruism is considered self-deception, created and fostered by conventional religions.
• A less rigid definition of the self; a purported realization that there are sometimes collective identities which can also, just as validly, have the label "self" applied to them.
• An exoteric interpretation of concepts like karma, divine retribution, or the Threefold Law, resulting in flexible rather than rigid codes of ethics.
• The conviction that the individual is preeminent, and that all decisions should be made with the goal of cultivating the self (though not necessarily the ego).
• The conviction that each individual is responsible for his or her own happiness, and that no external force will provide salvation or reward actions which do not advance one's own happiness in this life.
• The conviction that the forces of the universe can be harnessed to one's personal will by magical means, and that power gained and wielded in such a manner is an aid to enlightenment, to self-satisfaction, and to self-deification.
• A Platonic view of deities as "first-forms." If deity is perceived as having consciousness, then all relationships with the deity are in the form of a partnership, or an alliance which does not require subservience. Some practitioners of Left-Hand Path belief systems summarize this concept with the statement that "prideful deities like prideful partners."

John D. If you read my posts 98 & 99, do you see what I mean though?
Not expecting you to agree. Just wondering if you see it.

Gnostic Christianity often leans to the left.

Interpretation changes everything.
A Pantheistic/Panenthiestic view of gOd also alters one's view.

How can gOd be seperate then?
What is everything else that is not gOd?
These sensabilities are Pantheistic in scope.

I do think it's possible to be Pantheistic AND Christian,
though again, it requires differing interpretations.
(to which mainline doctrinal christianity of course, will not "give" even potential creedence, or recognition.)

 

[A-ManESL]

UV, none of the links in the above post are working.

Regards.

 

[John D]

UV, none of the links in the above post are working.

Regards.

Try this one:
Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia