Sharing some thoughts about unity

[DharmaCatLamp]

Howdy!

We like to divide the world up into categories. This is to simplify communication among other things. If we had to be exact with our words in every case communication would take a ridiculously long time. The issue is that the categories and meanings we have in our heads tend to not all align. They may be similar but you have to rely on the other person interpreting your words for a statement to make sense.

Ultimately everything we are communicating to one another is based on interpretation and that has varying degrees of accuracy. So when we say something is a car for example we can think of a rather wide variety of vehicles which fit the word car. Simple enough but this extends to most things including God, religion, morality etc.

What does it mean to be a Christian? We could sit here and have some elongated debate about beliefs and what forms the canon of Christian belief. The truth is that no definition we came up with could truly embrace every single person who might call themselves a Christian, it’s short hand for communication.

I would extend this to all people though. God is ultimate reality and God is everything. The moments of sheer joy we feel and the moments of utter despair. Every breath we take is a gift from God and every step we take brings us closer to divine reality in one way or another. To me this means, at least in part, that every path can take us to God if we really strive to get there.

It also means that we all come from the same source. The very ground of being is God as Meister Eckhart would say. Everyone is a brother or a sister or sibling. We are all of one essence and all have the same master ultimately. Funny enough we are that master.

Even if you are an atheist and believe in no god at all I still wish to treat you as family. Pagans, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Confucians, Taoists whatever your creed might be I will accept you as a person. I may try to steer you in one way or another if I think it’s best for you but ultimately I know Shakti has a relationship with all of us and I am not one to judge.

If you see the divine form as Jesus Christ then I am pleased that you do so. If you see the divine feminine in Athena or Baast that is wonderful. If you worship no deity at all and think this is a bunch of hooey then may God bless you regardless. Her love is infinite and even in the darkest suffering I can still see her light.

We live in crazy times, the divine lila has certainly been interesting but we should always remember to take care of one another. We are here to help and to embrace love. Let your brothers and sisters have their creeds and stop wrongdoing wherever you find it.

I think we spend too much time segregating each other. I don’t think that all of our problems will just go away if we start acting nice to one another but I do believe we can build a better more harmonious community. I just thought all of that should be said.

"Castes are folly, names are folly. All creatures have one shelter, that of God. If a man calls himself good, The truth shall be known O Nanak, When his actions are accounted tor, Under the Guru's instruction Regard all men as equal, Since God's light is contained in every heart."

Guru Nanak



“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

“Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.”

RamaKrishna

 

[stvdv]

God is ultimate reality and God is everything. The moments of sheer joy we feel and the moments of utter despair. Every breath we take is a gift from God and every step we take brings us closer to divine reality in one way or another. To me this means, at least in part, that every path can take us to God if we really strive to get there.

Great, thanks. A new one for me.
Another proof that all Paths lead to God

Even if you are an atheist and believe in no god at all I still wish to treat you as family. Pagans, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Confucians, Taoists whatever your creed might be I will accept you as a person. I may try to steer you in one way or another if I think it’s best for you but ultimately I know Shakti has a relationship with all of us and I am not one to judge

I think we spend too much time segregating each other. I don’t think that all of our problems will just go away if we start acting nice to one another but I do believe we can build a better more harmonious community. I just thought all of that should be said.

Wonderful OP. I Love it, and fully agree

See Unity in Diversity is my favorite also

Thank you for sharing these

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I think we spend too much time segregating each other. I don’t think that all of our problems will just go away if we start acting nice to one another but I do believe we can build a better more harmonious community. I just thought all of that should be said.

"Castes are folly, names are folly. All creatures have one shelter, that of God. If a man calls himself good, The truth shall be known O Nanak, When his actions are accounted tor, Under the Guru's instruction Regard all men as equal, Since God's light is contained in every heart."

Guru Nanak

"One Planet, One People, Please". "The Earth is but One Country and Mankind it's Citizens".

Regards Tony

 

[PureX]

There are a significant number of people that do not want a harmonious culture or society. They see their own advantage in fostering disharmony. Or they are hurt and angry and want everyone else to suffer, too. I wish it weren't so but it is. I wish I knew how to curb this inclination within some of my fellow humans but i don't.

The only solution I can think of is that we need to recognize this ugly fact of human nature and develop ways of keeping these people away from any positions of power or decision-making. To minimize their ability to generate chaos and do the harm that they desire.

 

[Quintessence]

I get the desire to appeal to human unity through various means, but I don't agree with the approach as a pluralist and a polytheist who strongly values diversity.

One can just as easily tell the narrative that no, we are actually not all walking up paths to the same mountain, have very real and significant differences, and that this produces rich and beautiful diversity that we can learn to appreciate and honor for what it is.

There is no need for narratives of "unity" and "oneness" if one simply starts with valuing diversity.

 

[Nakosis]

Howdy!

We like to divide the world up into categories. This is to simplify communication among other things. If we had to be exact with our words in every case communication would take a ridiculously long time. The issue is that the categories and meanings we have in our heads tend to not all align. They may be similar but you have to rely on the other person interpreting your words for a statement to make sense.

Ultimately everything we are communicating to one another is based on interpretation and that has varying degrees of accuracy. So when we say something is a car for example we can think of a rather wide variety of vehicles which fit the word car. Simple enough but this extends to most things including God, religion, morality etc.

What does it mean to be a Christian? We could sit here and have some elongated debate about beliefs and what forms the canon of Christian belief. The truth is that no definition we came up with could truly embrace every single person who might call themselves a Christian, it’s short hand for communication.

I would extend this to all people though. God is ultimate reality and God is everything. The moments of sheer joy we feel and the moments of utter despair. Every breath we take is a gift from God and every step we take brings us closer to divine reality in one way or another. To me this means, at least in part, that every path can take us to God if we really strive to get there.

It also means that we all come from the same source. The very ground of being is God as Meister Eckhart would say. Everyone is a brother or a sister or sibling. We are all of one essence and all have the same master ultimately. Funny enough we are that master.

Even if you are an atheist and believe in no god at all I still wish to treat you as family. Pagans, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Confucians, Taoists whatever your creed might be I will accept you as a person. I may try to steer you in one way or another if I think it’s best for you but ultimately I know Shakti has a relationship with all of us and I am not one to judge.

If you see the divine form as Jesus Christ then I am pleased that you do so. If you see the divine feminine in Athena or Baast that is wonderful. If you worship no deity at all and think this is a bunch of hooey then may God bless you regardless. Her love is infinite and even in the darkest suffering I can still see her light.

We live in crazy times, the divine lila has certainly been interesting but we should always remember to take care of one another. We are here to help and to embrace love. Let your brothers and sisters have their creeds and stop wrongdoing wherever you find it.

I think we spend too much time segregating each other. I don’t think that all of our problems will just go away if we start acting nice to one another but I do believe we can build a better more harmonious community. I just thought all of that should be said.

"Castes are folly, names are folly. All creatures have one shelter, that of God. If a man calls himself good, The truth shall be known O Nanak, When his actions are accounted tor, Under the Guru's instruction Regard all men as equal, Since God's light is contained in every heart."

Guru Nanak



“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

“Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.”

RamaKrishna

Four things I generally don't care about when dealing with people. I don't care about your religion, I don't care about your politics, I don't care about your race, I don't care about your gender. Then about 97% of all people I run into, I get along fine with them.
They may talk about these things but mentally/emotionally none of it affects me.
I listen to them but generally don't engage.

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

I get the desire to appeal to human unity through various means, but I don't agree with the approach as a pluralist and a polytheist who strongly values diversity.

One can just as easily tell the narrative that no, we are actually not all walking up paths to the same mountain, have very real and significant differences, and that this produces rich and beautiful diversity that we can learn to appreciate and honor for what it is.

There is no need for narratives of "unity" and "oneness" if one simply starts with valuing diversity.

Ah but you are misunderstanding what we mean when we say unity. We can approach the divine in numerous different ways and the divine can communicate with us in different ways. No one is saying that that teachings of Hermeticism are exactly the same as lets say Kabalah or Vedanta. The idea is that the divine is such a vast and wide concept that it wouldn't make any sense for there to be only one path, the diversity of paths is the beauty of it.

The perception of many religious traditions is narrow in the sense that most would argue there is only one path. What I am saying her is that there are many paths to many mountains but ultimately we are all on a path and that the divine doesn't seem to care that much what we choose.

 

[Quintessence]

Ah but you are misunderstanding what we mean when we say unity. We can approach the divine in numerous different ways and the divine can communicate with us in different ways. No one is saying that that teachings of Hermeticism are exactly the same as lets say Kabalah or Vedanta. The idea is that the divine is such a vast and wide concept that it wouldn't make any sense for there to be only one path, the diversity of paths is the beauty of it.

The perception of many religious traditions is narrow in the sense that most would argue there is only one path. What I am saying her is that there are many paths to many mountains but ultimately we are all on a path and that the divine doesn't seem to care that much what we choose.

If I'm "misunderstanding" things, could you clarify what you mean by "the divine?" Do you intend for that term to be inclusive of polytheism in spite of being in the singular?

As a polytheist, I don't really worship "the divine." I worship "divines" (plural). It's a subtle difference to many, but consistently referencing the gods in the singular implies a "unity" I don't... hmm... well, it's often used by monotheists to undercut the theological distinctiveness and diversity of non-monotheist traditions and replace those narratives with their own. I get the jist of what you're saying, I've just seen that sort of thing to much to not raise a bit of an eyebrow.

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

If I'm "misunderstanding" things, could you clarify what you mean by "the divine?" Do you intend for that term to be inclusive of polytheism in spite of being in the singular?

As a polytheist, I don't really worship "the divine." I worship "divines" (plural). It's a subtle difference to many, but consistently referencing the gods in the singular implies a "unity" I don't... hmm... well, it's often used by monotheists to undercut the theological distinctiveness and diversity of non-monotheist traditions and replace those narratives with their own. I get the jist of what you're saying, I've just seen that sort of thing to much to not raise a bit of an eyebrow.

When I say the divine I mean in all aspects. Polytheist, Monotheist etc. From what I have gleaned from my mystical experiences as well as my studies to see that God / Gods manifest themselves in incredibly varied ways across the world. We interact with divinity in such a way that one person might say for instance that Islam makes the most sense to them. They practice it and they commune with divinity in that way. You can have another person who embraces lets say Norse Heathen traditions. They worship their gods and interact with divinity in that way.

To me, the divine / divines / divinity is a greater principle that is not bound by any one religion. We form the distinctions for ourselves. This is not an entirely wrong thing to do mind. Having traditions and methods and particular ways you visualize or commune with divinity is great for us as people because we are interacting with divinity which is far beyond us in many ways. The thing that is interesting is that it's also ultimately very close as well.

I do not mean to tell you that you are incorrect or that there are not multiple divinities. My thought is ultimately they are all part of the same overarching divine principle but that does not mean they are not their own thing. I worship the great transcendent/imminent divine mother. I see her in the form of Kali but I also see her in the form of Krishna, Christ, Odin, Surya, Athena etc.

When you praise your divines I praise them with you, when I go to a mosque I praise divinity as Allah etc. To me they are all the same ultimately connected principle. I am not trying to undermine your polytheism and your devotion to your gods though. I am sorry if it came off that way.