Philippians 3:15
Jul 26, 2008
God the revealer
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Jul 24, 2008
Jul 18, 2008
The Yoga philosophy (and other eastern religions as well)
A while back I started reading a book, just out of curiosity and as a response to my missing Italy at the time. In fact the book is the recount of a lady who spent 3-4 months in Italy, 3-4 months in India and the same time in Indonesia. It's kind of a spiritual journey journal. It has nothing to do with christianity, but I was still curious enough to want to read it. And I have to say that reading the Italy part was fun and satisfied want I was longing to read -- a candid description of my culture.
Well, once I read that first third of the book, I put it aside and practically forgot about it, since I knew it was going to go into some hindu/buddhism sort of endeavor and I really didn't feel like diving into that (the part of the book dedicated to Italy was about food.. could I resist??)
The other day I thought I would pick it up again and see if I could finish it. I read a couple of pages and.. uhm.. I already have a question. I wish I had more readers to this blog to see what they thought about it, but as it is there probably won't be much of a response to this question.
Nonetheless, I'll ask it anyway.
Premise.
I'll have to copy a "couple" of sentences about her explanation of the Yoga philosophy.
Here it goes:
The Yogis,.., say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus: "You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."
Now, my question is:
"How divine is a divine that doesn't know it's divine?"
Well, once I read that first third of the book, I put it aside and practically forgot about it, since I knew it was going to go into some hindu/buddhism sort of endeavor and I really didn't feel like diving into that (the part of the book dedicated to Italy was about food.. could I resist??)
The other day I thought I would pick it up again and see if I could finish it. I read a couple of pages and.. uhm.. I already have a question. I wish I had more readers to this blog to see what they thought about it, but as it is there probably won't be much of a response to this question.
Nonetheless, I'll ask it anyway.
Premise.
I'll have to copy a "couple" of sentences about her explanation of the Yoga philosophy.
Here it goes:
The Yogis,.., say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus: "You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."
Now, my question is:
"How divine is a divine that doesn't know it's divine?"
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