I thought it would be kind of interesting to end the path of religion blogging with the oh so famous Albert Einstein. A man with a powerful and intellectual brain. A man who realized that he must imagine the impossible. Strive to look outside the box of reality and figure the impossible. He has the science kind of view towards religions. He believes that the real beauty is in our own self and thoughts. That pretty much we must remember that we are part of the entire universe. Just because we are a mere billionth of a molecule of the universe, we are still part of it. All living things exist together and we wouldn't be here if it weren't here for the animals and plants in this world.
"The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self." (191)
That basically he feels that we must appreciate the world and universe and everything around us. From every living soul, if its your next door neighbor, your pet dog, or even the flowers in your front yard. That we get so caught up in our selves that we forget about the beauty of the souls around us. That he feels that our own thoughts causes an illusion that gets us caught up in only our personal desires and a few select around us. That we need to learn to love the world and life and not for get the beauty of life is unimaginable.
"Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature" (192)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Thanks for all the comments this year class, It has been awesome reading all your blogs and getting insights from all of you.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Henry David Thoreau
An interesting writing and a very intellectual individual. Times throughout the writing I had to reread some sentences to understand what he was saying. I'm not sure if i truly understand what is being said, but if you have insights feel free to give your insights in the comments. The first quote that caught on to me was:
"If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. "(182)
If everyone looked at everything at its surface and took it as it appears, we wouldn't fully grasp the meaning. Its like looking at a huge mansion, sure it looks beautiful on the outside, but the inside could be trashed and empty. Same goes with human beings, we have evolved as a society where people often get to caught up on outer beauty. That Henry feels our society can be cruel because we only percieve reality as to what we see. We forget to truly use our brains and hearts and souls to truly see the inner beauty things. That just because societies are growing bigger, richer, prettier, and more independently doesn't mean that God is more or less around us. The inner beauty of our souls have existed will always exist all around us.
" God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages."(183)
I love this quote, because its so true in my opinion. God is still here now and will be thousands of years from now. It doesn't matter if your the prettiest, or the richest, or live on the streets, God is just as divine for every thing and everybody. We tend to forget that live itself is beauty, we lose our imagination and keep a narrow mind towards reality. We have to let our minds think of things that would exist out of reality.
"The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us." (183)
"If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. "(182)
If everyone looked at everything at its surface and took it as it appears, we wouldn't fully grasp the meaning. Its like looking at a huge mansion, sure it looks beautiful on the outside, but the inside could be trashed and empty. Same goes with human beings, we have evolved as a society where people often get to caught up on outer beauty. That Henry feels our society can be cruel because we only percieve reality as to what we see. We forget to truly use our brains and hearts and souls to truly see the inner beauty things. That just because societies are growing bigger, richer, prettier, and more independently doesn't mean that God is more or less around us. The inner beauty of our souls have existed will always exist all around us.
" God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages."(183)
I love this quote, because its so true in my opinion. God is still here now and will be thousands of years from now. It doesn't matter if your the prettiest, or the richest, or live on the streets, God is just as divine for every thing and everybody. We tend to forget that live itself is beauty, we lose our imagination and keep a narrow mind towards reality. We have to let our minds think of things that would exist out of reality.
"The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us." (183)
Friday, October 31, 2008
The Hermetic Writings
I know this writing is very short, but I truly did like how much insight was involved in this quick message. I love how the writing gives the idea of what god is, and that we must think as god as being us to percieve God. It contradicts the other religions in a way, because many other enlightened minds from other religions believed that you cant percieve God and Heaven. But, I like this writing because it doesn't give a real definition of who God is, but that he is everything. He is everything around us, in our thoughts, our sleep, our dreams. That it basically says to percieve god you must think as that anything is possible. It's true though, our mortal bodies and minds can't even come close to that of God. That we must know that God is what we see, what we hear, our powerful mind we think with, our gentle heartbeat that we live with.
"God will come to meet you everywhere, he will appear to you everywhere, at times and places when you don't expect it, while you are awake and while you are asleep, while you are speaking while you are silent; for there is nothing in which God does not exist"(34).
EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, YOU, YOU, ME, ME!!
He is every living soul on this earth, involved with every dead living thing, and like i said everything. I love how it says that don't think god is invisible, basically meaning that what you see with your two eyes around us is God. From the trees to the animals to your best friend that you partied with this week. That basicsally when you realize all this you can percieve God.
"Who is more evident than God? That is why he made all things, so that through all things you can see him"(34).
"God will come to meet you everywhere, he will appear to you everywhere, at times and places when you don't expect it, while you are awake and while you are asleep, while you are speaking while you are silent; for there is nothing in which God does not exist"(34).
EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, YOU, YOU, ME, ME!!
He is every living soul on this earth, involved with every dead living thing, and like i said everything. I love how it says that don't think god is invisible, basically meaning that what you see with your two eyes around us is God. From the trees to the animals to your best friend that you partied with this week. That basicsally when you realize all this you can percieve God.
"Who is more evident than God? That is why he made all things, so that through all things you can see him"(34).
Plato
Life is a wonderful and beautiful thing. I think sometimes we all take that for granted. We live in a society filled with greed, hunger for wealth, physical looks and technology driven. We get so wrapped up in everyday life, sometimes we forget about ourselves. Although, Plato writing is a little tough to read and comprehend ill give it a shot. By reading this short writing, the word beauty just kept repeating itself in my head. We all have our own feelings and definition of beauty. If its the beautiful physical attractions in the opposite sex or possibly the personality of someone. Possibly you look at beauty is being the world around us and everything involved with it. I liked this writing because it talks about beauty coming from within. A constant repitition from religion to religion about coming from within. Its so true, it deals with anything in life, we percieve the world through our own two eyes and our own powerful brain.
Diotima explains that life itself is beauty. Our own living soul that god has gifted us with is beauty. We get so worried about the physical aspect of beauty, that we forget about the beauty of our gentle heartbeat that continues day in and day out. There is one quote that really stood out to me.
"Nor will his vision of the beautiful take the form of a face, or of hands, or of anything that is of the flesh. It will be neither words, nor knowledge, nor a something that exists in something else, such as a living creature, or the earth, or the heavens, or anything that is--but subsisting of itself and by itself in an eternal oneness, while every lovely thing partakes of it in such sort that, however much the parts may wax and wane, it will be neither more nor less, but still the same inviolable whole"(15).
In a way this writing opened my mind up a little bit. That basically the definition of beauty is something that you cant grasp or define. Reminds me of how religions repeatedly say that about heaven and God. That the only way you find the universal beauty, "Heaven", is to find the beauty within ones self. I enjoyed this writing because the time difference is so large and its interesting to read the insights of these great historic figures. We must realize that we won't always find real beauty on the outside of things or materialistic things.
"Man's life is ever worth the living, it is when he has attained this vision of the very soul of beauty"(16).
Diotima explains that life itself is beauty. Our own living soul that god has gifted us with is beauty. We get so worried about the physical aspect of beauty, that we forget about the beauty of our gentle heartbeat that continues day in and day out. There is one quote that really stood out to me.
"Nor will his vision of the beautiful take the form of a face, or of hands, or of anything that is of the flesh. It will be neither words, nor knowledge, nor a something that exists in something else, such as a living creature, or the earth, or the heavens, or anything that is--but subsisting of itself and by itself in an eternal oneness, while every lovely thing partakes of it in such sort that, however much the parts may wax and wane, it will be neither more nor less, but still the same inviolable whole"(15).
In a way this writing opened my mind up a little bit. That basically the definition of beauty is something that you cant grasp or define. Reminds me of how religions repeatedly say that about heaven and God. That the only way you find the universal beauty, "Heaven", is to find the beauty within ones self. I enjoyed this writing because the time difference is so large and its interesting to read the insights of these great historic figures. We must realize that we won't always find real beauty on the outside of things or materialistic things.
"Man's life is ever worth the living, it is when he has attained this vision of the very soul of beauty"(16).
Friday, October 17, 2008
Abu-Yazid Al-Bistami
This very first line kind of caught my eye right away, "Nothing is better for a man than to be without anything, having no asceticism, no theory, no practice. When he is without everything, he is everything. " (75). Sounds a little like Buddhism, doesn't it? I read it over and and over and tried to grasp what he really means by that. I came up with that trying to figure out a theory or what practices you should do will have you running in circles. Find it within yourself, you dont need facts and materials to determine faith. WITHIN ONESELF, over and over, each religion is shouting this out. It was a little tought to understand but I enjoyed reading it. I like it when you really have to go deep in your mind and try and comprehend what these great men are trying to show.
"A single atom of the sweetness of wisdom in a man's heart is better than a thousand pavilions in Paradise"(76).
He probably was referring to his wisdom or something, ha ha just kidding. I agree with that for sure. Great wisdom is like a good song on the radio. If you like the song, you rock out and keep it on the station. If you don't like it you move on to the next station. If you like the wisdom its something that you will keep listening to and will always be in your mind, like the lyrics of the song. To be honest a lot of these little short sayings, confused me. Its hard to fully know what he is trying to get at. I got out of it a bunch of confusion. I could try and tell you what it all means but would fall real short.
I noticed that I seem to enjoy pretty much every reading. Thats why religion is so great, because you can interpret it the way you want. From within your own mind and heart is the answer. This was a good quote, "For thirty years I used to say, "Do this" and "give that"; but when i reached the first stage of wisdom, I said, "O God, be mine and do whatever You want"(76). I liked it because you definitly notice that a lot do ask or say what god should do. The real important thing is to have faith and take God in your heart and expect everything your praying for. Man wouldn't that be great if I could look up and tell god to put a million dollars under my bed in the morning. Thats not what its all about, its about having faith and God will continue doing things, and maybe you won't agree but it doesn't mean to stop believing and loving.
"This thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it".
"A single atom of the sweetness of wisdom in a man's heart is better than a thousand pavilions in Paradise"(76).
He probably was referring to his wisdom or something, ha ha just kidding. I agree with that for sure. Great wisdom is like a good song on the radio. If you like the song, you rock out and keep it on the station. If you don't like it you move on to the next station. If you like the wisdom its something that you will keep listening to and will always be in your mind, like the lyrics of the song. To be honest a lot of these little short sayings, confused me. Its hard to fully know what he is trying to get at. I got out of it a bunch of confusion. I could try and tell you what it all means but would fall real short.
I noticed that I seem to enjoy pretty much every reading. Thats why religion is so great, because you can interpret it the way you want. From within your own mind and heart is the answer. This was a good quote, "For thirty years I used to say, "Do this" and "give that"; but when i reached the first stage of wisdom, I said, "O God, be mine and do whatever You want"(76). I liked it because you definitly notice that a lot do ask or say what god should do. The real important thing is to have faith and take God in your heart and expect everything your praying for. Man wouldn't that be great if I could look up and tell god to put a million dollars under my bed in the morning. Thats not what its all about, its about having faith and God will continue doing things, and maybe you won't agree but it doesn't mean to stop believing and loving.
"This thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it".
Muhammad
Simple words of wisdom can give a great insight. Thats why I liked what muhammad had to say about God. He keeps it simple and something we can understand and grasp. Again seeing the similiarties from religion to religion. God is ALL AROUND US. Hes everything and anything. Hes you, hes your house, hes your everything. Okay, maybe your computer screen is literally not god, but you get what Im going for. That is why I liked this writing, is that i relate and agree with what he had to say. You know i do like to write what i feel about or agree with in the book. But, that doesn't mean Im right or wrong, its about knowing withing oneself.
"All that is the heavens and in the earth magnifies god"(45).
Oh wouldn't those science gurus out there love reading this book. I love this quote because it made me realize something that I don't think about often. God is everywhere, he is everything and the reason I am sitting here writing about the way I feel about him and Muhammad. Another marvelous quote that I enjoyed was, "Whoever knows himself knows God"(46). The reason why, is because its such a simple sentence but it gets your brain flying at a hundred miles an hour. What does he really mean by this? I feel that he is trying to say that it comes from within. If your out searching and questioning everyone else about the knowledge, and never give your chance to really think about it yourself. God is you, he is the reason your here, you finding yourself and knowing who you are and what you believe in, God wants you and your powerful brain to have faith.
We can't always look for exact answers, who knows if the earth is 40 million years old, or what it derives from, there is a reason we don't know. Because thats what faith is all about. If you knew all the answers would everyone be as faithful. I sure don't think so. What I think Muhammad is trying to get across is that God is everything and sometimes we take things for face value. I'm not trying to preach and say that what I'm saying is the way you should think, thats why religion is so great, because you can put it in your own words and thoughts. That is what god wants us to do. FIND IT FROM WITHIN.
"Do Not despise the world, for the world too is god"(46).
"All that is the heavens and in the earth magnifies god"(45).
Oh wouldn't those science gurus out there love reading this book. I love this quote because it made me realize something that I don't think about often. God is everywhere, he is everything and the reason I am sitting here writing about the way I feel about him and Muhammad. Another marvelous quote that I enjoyed was, "Whoever knows himself knows God"(46). The reason why, is because its such a simple sentence but it gets your brain flying at a hundred miles an hour. What does he really mean by this? I feel that he is trying to say that it comes from within. If your out searching and questioning everyone else about the knowledge, and never give your chance to really think about it yourself. God is you, he is the reason your here, you finding yourself and knowing who you are and what you believe in, God wants you and your powerful brain to have faith.
We can't always look for exact answers, who knows if the earth is 40 million years old, or what it derives from, there is a reason we don't know. Because thats what faith is all about. If you knew all the answers would everyone be as faithful. I sure don't think so. What I think Muhammad is trying to get across is that God is everything and sometimes we take things for face value. I'm not trying to preach and say that what I'm saying is the way you should think, thats why religion is so great, because you can put it in your own words and thoughts. That is what god wants us to do. FIND IT FROM WITHIN.
"Do Not despise the world, for the world too is god"(46).
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Gospel of Thomas
Oh, don't we all want to know how to enter the kngodom of heaven. The believe and faith that we all have can vary in different ways. We all like to the sky in hopes that there is a better life when you leave this world. "Recognize what is in your sight, and what is hidden will become clear to you"(29). A quote that may seem a little wonderous when you first read it. I got out of it that we must all realize the reality around us and believe and have faith and the things hidden will come within. We all try and figure out the different ways that will be able to go to heaven. Trying to find answers, but in reality there isn't answers, you do good, avoid evil, and know that god is all around you, you will go. A lot of these short quotes in the writing in a way I had to read them a few times to fully appreciate them.
I basically got of it that all the searching and questioning will get you know where. That we must find our answers from within and know that Jesus is ALL. He is there when we are eating, there at our weddings, basketball games, dinner tables, and funeral. The list would be non stop. Believing and knowing will make you fully comprehend that you will not grasp jesus with your sight but with your heart. I really do like the gospels and thought they were very intelligently written. I know not everyone believes in god, or jesus or whatever religion there is. That's what makes it so special, practically every religion we will experience will say it comes from within. The power of our brain is so powerful, that in a way we all under appreciate how much power we have. If you want Jesus to be there, he will, if you don't he won't. We all have our own chooses and beliefs and one isn't right over the other.
You know growing up I always thought that it was crazy there is so many different religions. In a way it kind of scared me away from religion, because i thought there is no way there could be that many religions. But the more I grow up and learn about religion the more i realize without religion we are nothing. We all have our choices and decisions in life. USE OUR BRAINS, Believe in what you want, but know the spirit is always around us. One of my favorite quotes to pretty much sum up kind of what I was trying to say, "If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is inside you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you"(29).
I basically got of it that all the searching and questioning will get you know where. That we must find our answers from within and know that Jesus is ALL. He is there when we are eating, there at our weddings, basketball games, dinner tables, and funeral. The list would be non stop. Believing and knowing will make you fully comprehend that you will not grasp jesus with your sight but with your heart. I really do like the gospels and thought they were very intelligently written. I know not everyone believes in god, or jesus or whatever religion there is. That's what makes it so special, practically every religion we will experience will say it comes from within. The power of our brain is so powerful, that in a way we all under appreciate how much power we have. If you want Jesus to be there, he will, if you don't he won't. We all have our own chooses and beliefs and one isn't right over the other.
You know growing up I always thought that it was crazy there is so many different religions. In a way it kind of scared me away from religion, because i thought there is no way there could be that many religions. But the more I grow up and learn about religion the more i realize without religion we are nothing. We all have our choices and decisions in life. USE OUR BRAINS, Believe in what you want, but know the spirit is always around us. One of my favorite quotes to pretty much sum up kind of what I was trying to say, "If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is inside you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you"(29).
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