Can you explain "why you think I don't understand your reply", and "how you think I understand it", and "what is wrong how I understand it"? [see also spoiler]
Well - first because you said so here:
Have you ever experienced "Bliss"?
Do you experience "Bliss" 24/7?
If "yes" then I don't understand your reply
Second, because you seemed to be interpreting my comments as an attempt to detail a "path" to "blessedness" (I am still not quite sure which word to use here because every possibility I can think of is loaded with specific religious connotations which I do not intend but I'll stick with "blessedness" for want of something more generic) when in fact I was deliberately trying to draw a vague outline of what I perceive as "common ground" that people of different religious backgrounds might agree on - at least to some extent.
Third, you also seem to be reading into my questions some kind of attempt to either recommend or discredit certain "paths" - or even all of them by lumping them together - and that certainly was not my intent. I was looking for common ground in the most general terms not equating one with another in details.
And finally, you seem to be mistaking what for me was a purely intellectual exercise for a spiritual evaluation. I was not attempting to elucidate spiritual truths - I was just comparing very different religious outlooks and noting very general similarities.
OK - now to change tack significantly so that you and I might find common ground (before I go back to the 'intellectual exercise' of drawing very generalised comparisons to see what is "the same" about different religions)...
Bliss = Causeless happiness [I even feel happy "reading this quote", so obviously not Bliss
]
1: If you have never experienced "Bliss" at all, It tells me nothing about "you". It just tells me that you never experienced "Bliss".
Personally I prefer introspection (what it tells about myself) and less (what it tells about you). These quotes come to mind:
*) "Who Am I". We are 3 persons. The one others think we are, the one we think we are and the one we really are.
*) Sath (Being), Chith (Awareness) can result in Ananda (Bliss). But when not resulting in Bliss, Being ("
you") is unaffected.
2: Bliss = Causeless happiness. So it seems there is not much you can do
I must admit, I am struggling a bit with this...if "Being and Awareness" can result in "Bliss" - how is "Bliss" uncaused? If it results from something then it is caused (isn't it?). Perhaps you mean it doesn't have an external cause? Perhaps you mean that "bliss" is an "awareness of being" to the exclusion of all external distractions? I don't know! I really can't follow that.
But I do know what "causeless happiness" is like. I can't explain it though. I can only explain the circumstances and even that is difficult to put into words. Its like when I am sitting with my family - wife, children, grandchildren... by the seaside enjoying a picnic as the sun sinks below the horizon and the smiling moon and venus rise on the opposite side of the sky and suddenly - completely without warning or effort - I am not "there" any more - I am not anywhere - or rather, I am everywhere - and completely elated - for absolutely no discernible reason - I mean its a nice place and nice food and all that but none of that is even relevant, let alone important, any more. I just am and that's it and its perfect. Like I said - I can't explain it - only "know" it - I'm not even sure it is "awareness" - certainly not in the usual sense of the word - its like a prehension not an apprehension. But its not even clear it is me - or even that there is a "me" - doing the prehending - or if it is something into which I am being "assimilated" as a "prehension". There are no boundaries - no me and not me. There is nothing "external" to be the cause of anything.
But it doesn't last. I mean, once you've "been there" it never really "leaves you" and you might "go back again" (i.e. have a similarly profound experience under different circumstances) - but I don't see how one could actually experience "uncaused happiness" 24/7. Maybe, like you said, its just a question of "remembering"?
And that brings me to the final clarification I want to make for now...
You quote me "using the word forgetfulness I used in above reply" and in the same sentence implying that I point out "something is wrong with humans"
Why you write that? I never said there is something "wrong" with humans. I just mentioned forgetfulness of "Bliss" state. I never said my religion offers a path, and definitely I did not say "the path". I never talked about "atonement". I did mention "remember our divinity" or lack thereof.
Perhaps "wrong" is the wrong word. Like I said earlier - it is difficult to choose words that do not carry loaded religious concepts. I simply meant that - in what you seemed to be saying - "forgetfulness" is the thing that separates us from "divinity" and "remembering" is what will reunite us with divinity. Is that right? So when I say "the path" - I am not suggesting a succession of specific religious rituals, I just meant, most generally, that there is "a way" by which our "separation" from "divinity" can be "removed" or "dissolved". It doesn't have to be ritual or formulaic - it could be "uncaused" - as in the sudden "falling away" of the boundaries that demark our everyday "self" from the "greater self" of divine reality?
I have written a lot of words - all the more chance of being misinterpreted. It is really difficult to explain the spiritual realities in mundane language...but...
...the point of my earlier posts was not to attempt what I have just tried in this post - i.e. to attempt to elucidate spiritual truths - but rather, to simply draw general comparisons upon which common ground for attempting to understand one anothers' religions might be based.
I am not a religious person (not for a long time) - but I have certainly had what I would call spiritual experiences - and to me that suggests that perhaps there is something more "common" - and more fundamental - to "religious" experiences than religion itself - let alone specific religious beliefs and practices. And that, finding those fundamental commonalities - to me, is a very important key to unlocking the whole "mystery" of this thing we call "religion". And, if we unlock it as a collective effort - we might even learn to understand each other better in the process (you never know)!
Phew! What a long post (even by my standards). If anybody is still there, please excuse my indulgence. I am - unashamedly - pursuing my own agenda of attempting to figure what this religion thing really is. Thanks for putting up with me.
