A Good View of God by AnthonyT

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

A Good View of God

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Sunday, April 10, 2011 16:26
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Saturday, April 9, 2011 8:39 AM

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

I have a song in my mp3 collection called God and Man, which I pulled off the Deadwood soundtrack. (There are some winners and strange ducks in that lot. Anyone who can explain Hog of the Forsaken gets my gratitude.)

The song has a strong Christian slant, but it is actually antithetical to most organized religion, and downright blasphemous. It harkens to Eastern Philosophy and old Christian beliefs which were condemned and whose believers were shunned, ostracized, or killed.

That having been said, I think it's a benevolent belief system, and I wish modern belief systems were more like the belief expresssed in this heretical song.

*******************

God and Man

Sung by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

(spoken) In the beginning, there was just God,
So God made man in his own image... a little image that is.
Man asked God, "My God, how great art thou?" And to show
man his great power, they played a game.
Sonny, I'll play the part of the man, and you'll play the
part of God

God and man played hide-and-go-seek.
God told man, "Now man, don’t you peek."
Man counted to ten, and then looked around,
But God was nowhere, nowhere to be found.

Man looked on the mountain. He looked across the sea.
He looked in the stars, in the skies, in the trees.
He looked in the wind, in the sun, on the ground,
But God was nowhere, nowhere to be found.

So man made an image and he gave it a name,
But this man-made god brought nothing but pain.
Man started shouting "God! Where can you be?"
"I’m right here man, inside of thee."

Oh, man was so shocked, he was really surprised.
'Cuz he looked everywhere, but right there inside.
Now when man found God, man found love,
And man found out what we all are made of.

God is in you and God is in me.
To love all of God is to love humanity.
God is in you and God is in me.
To love all of God is to love humanity."

Your Heretical Christian,

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Saturday, April 9, 2011 9:00 AM

TRAVELER

I wish more people would learn that.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Saturday, April 9, 2011 9:37 AM

HKCAVALIER

Hey Anthony,

I think a ginormous impediment to humans having a meaningful conversation about religion is that we continually get religion and spirituality hopelessly mixed up in our minds. That's what happened in the other thread, but quick. And make no mistake, religion absolutely wants it that way. Religion is telling you that religion is the only adequate expression of spirituality. The fundamental heresy in all religions is the perfectly natural human query: "Yeah, but what if that's all bullshit?"

Spirituality is an experience. Religion is a dogma, another man's prejudices handed to you as if by God Himself. Every human being knows this perfectly well, but some choose to ignore and deny it.

Your song is very much in keeping with some Hindu teachings and with the American New Age movement as a whole.

If you were to study past life regression long enough, you would eventually hit very similar information when you regressed back to the time before we were human. You would remember that before there were humans around, spirit would enter the animals of the earth for the pleasure of incarnation. But that was always relatively short lived. The spirit never forgot its true nature, and so, could leave the animal at will to travel the universe. When spirit encountered humans, our psyche was vastly more complex, the sudden evolutionary leap made by the human species was utterly fascinating to spirit.

And what happened next is in your song. Spirit forgot its nature and imagined itself as human; lived and died thinking it was a human being and not this transcendent visitor to earthly flesh. Of course, at this point we can divine a larger intention at work in the universe. The new plan, as of--what? 50,000 years ago, is to INTEGRATE spirit and matter; to achieve a true marriage of the above and the below, the human and the trans-human.

I'd like to at this point refer you to our syllabus and the next book in our course, "The Western Inner Traditions: History of an Experience," 2001: a Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark.

We'll have a quiz on the material on Monday. Have a great weekend everybody!

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Saturday, April 9, 2011 9:39 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Nice sounding fairy tale.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Saturday, April 9, 2011 9:40 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
A religion that teaches you God is something outside the world--something separate from everything you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear--is nothing but a cheap hustle.

Duncan Michaelson, from the book Blade of Tyshalle.

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Saturday, April 9, 2011 12:51 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
I think a ginormous impediment to humans having a meaningful conversation about religion is that we continually get religion and spirituality hopelessly mixed up in our minds. That's what happened in the other thread, but quick. And make no mistake, religion absolutely wants it that way. Religion is telling you that religion is the only adequate expression of spirituality. The fundamental heresy in all religions is the perfectly natural human query: "Yeah, but what if that's all bullshit?"

Spirituality is an experience. Religion is a dogma, another man's prejudices handed to you as if by God Himself. Every human being knows this perfectly well, but some choose to ignore and deny it.

Go Cav!

Raptor, yes, what Anthony posted IS a lovely fairy tale, isn't it...for me, I'm glad it's not true.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Sunday, April 10, 2011 2:04 PM

THEHAPPYTRADER

Quote:
That having been said, I think it's a benevolent belief system, and I wish modern belief systems were more like the belief expresssed in this heretical song.

I agree, I think we all do really, even those that jump at the chance point at out the religions and dogma they disagree with.

If the belief that God is love and lives inside of all of us is heretical, then I'm a heretic too.

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Sunday, April 10, 2011 2:47 PM

CANTTAKESKY

Beautiful song, Anthony. Thank you for sharing.

One of my favorite writers in the world is Anthony de Mello, SJ. His writings pretty much single-handedly converted me to Catholicism. Of course, later on, I found out the Catholic church issued a warning that his teachings do not represent the church. LOL Too late. Anthony de Mello will always represent the best of the Catholic Church to me.

Here is a sample.

Quote:
"How does one seek union with God?"

"The harder you seek, the more distance you create between Him and you."

"So what does one do about the distance?"

"Understand that it isn't there."

"Does that mean that God and I are one?"

"Not one. Not two."

"How is that possible?"

"The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song — not one. Not two."

Quote:
"Help us to find God."

"No one can help you there."

"Why not?"

"For the same reason that no one can help the fish to find the ocean."

Here are more. I hope you enjoy.

http://lazarus.trinityjanesville.org/demello.htm

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Sunday, April 10, 2011 4:18 PM

FREMDFIRMA

I don't agree, actually, but if you want my opinion you'll have to ask for it specifically - ain't my way to push mine on others, ergo, I'm completely content to disagree and leave it be.

It's when that is not reciprocated that offends me.

-F

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Sunday, April 10, 2011 4:26 PM

THEHAPPYTRADER

Frem, I'm not entirely sure I follow, but leaving it at that is fine with me.

I should have said most, not all, that was my mistake.

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