Zequatanil

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Posts posted by Zequatanil

  1. I am  beyond shocked! I have not been here for a long while and I this news about  Rev. Al is so deeply saddening  . He was  such a wonderful shining soul- compassionate , understanding and filled with love and  deep wisdom. I loved his insights and words. The world has lost a beautiful soul-and heaven gained a shining one back . I  am thinking of him with much love......many of his wise words are with me.  Blessings dear Al, and may you always be in the light of the "Infinite".   Suzanne

  2. ah...but have you seen what happens to a spider when it stumbles into a wasp's nest? :shok::rofl:

    The bottom line, imho, is Balance, like Von was describing....sort of....if anything (and everything) is out of balance too much one side of the scale or other...everything is unbalanced and not free floating. If all there was was love we would have no concept of "indifference", the same as if everything were hate.

    Like the Universe itself, from chaos comes order, so must our emotions be in balance. Science refers to the "Goldie-locks Zone" when describing the perfect conditions for Life in any solar system...and what is that zone? Balance.

    Therefore, it seems to me that everything from our emotions to the grandest stage of all, the Universe, must be in balance for anything to live, thus we have a physical dimension for our spiritual energy to survive in. When the time comes we are pure spiritual energy, I'm fairly certain there will be an entirely different set of physics we'll have to deal with, but again, I'm dang near 100% certain, it will also be a plane/dimension of balance.

    Blessings of Peace,

    Absolutely-Amen to your insight Al!

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  3. Cradle RC here. Former Old Catholic priest. I have shed my ties to Catholicism in general as I see the underlying patterns as being the same. I do value some things that Catholicism has to offer such as sacramental worship of deity.

    I value my ULC ordination as my only ordination now.

    Silly of me?

    Silly you?? Not at all Rev.JohnG! At times our view changes, and our soul knows. God is not a religion-, though I am a Catholic. But there are many roads to the heart of God.

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  4. I start to realise that Christianity is only one of many opinions of what is 'God', out there. That the scriptures written after the fact, and that whilst containing many spiritually encouraging things are flawed.

    That none of us really know for sure what is going on with this thing called life, and whether we exist beyond death.

    This is why I am no longer strictly Christian.

    It has always been my belief--whatever gets you further towards God, or whomever that Higher Power is. For me any religion is a "wayshower", thought I am a Christian with some other religions inter-mixed. I do not believe one religion is the "one" neither is one better than an other, as long as one practices ones own from the heart and lives according to the "golden rule"-names matter not, following one`s conscience is.

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  5. Interesting topic. The RC Church is against anything that they think goes against their Supreme Laws, that is why they use the words excommunicate. Who is going to do this?, certainly sure the Pope won't and the lower priest crowd cannot, no authority, etc.

    I wouldn't worry about it, do what you believe in.

    That is the problems with any religion, if one moves out from the clan to do something else in a religion they are against it, one should not open their minds to another groups belief. Religions cause grief, wars, and pressures into any family.

    You did what YOU wanted to do, and that is what it is about....FREEDOM of choice.

    REVPO

    Well--a very dear friend of mine was in St Michael`s seminary here in Toronto, about 14 years ago--Very few people get taken as it is almost an elite club-a fast track to the Vatican. He studied with some very prominent theologians in Europe, and came from a Jesuit school. His ideas about Mary were not tolerated--he got a letter from Ratzinger himself, to cease and desist. He didn`t -and got thrown out and got excommunicated after being there for two years.

    So it happens if you are in the light, but for little people like myself--they don`t care at all. Even if they did--what then? As for my friend he still became an ordained minister from a non- Catholic Christian University. But the thing was--he never wanted to be a priest, just a theologian, that was the problem--they were afraid he may poison the minds of the young priests he was planning to teach--or rather open their eyes to some truths.

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  6. I've loved all Rupert's videos I have watched to date. I post them frequently in an Atheist Facebook group called Challenging Christianity. You know he has to be considered one of the crazies though by the scientific community at large.

    He maybe regarded as a crazy, but I really admire the man, and there is a lot of truth to his views. Often people were burnt at the stake for holding to specific ideas, ideals and beliefs--and then later were canonized. Science is very dogmatic and often rather fickle. Then again science may be great as well as technology--but spiritually I feel we are moving backwards. That is the price we are paying-certainly did not come not cheap.

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  7. Well, I asked her and she said she was

    Hi RevRattler-

    Well--in the conversations that I have had with Her, She told me that She is all that "IS". I asked Her name--Her response was" I am all names, call me what you will,I am all that exists--for none can imagine all that which and who I AM". One can interpret that as many things--but the fact remains for me that She exists.

    blessing and peace,

    Suzanne

  8. Do you believe that Mary remained a virgin even after the birth of Yeshua?

    Hi Fawzo-

    To tell you the truth I don`t know at all--but to me it matters not because my ideas of Mary are rather unorthodox. If she was human and we accept the story in the Bible, then yes She was.-However if the Bible is simple a parable, a metaphor or a simple story to understand, then it is a different story.

    For me She is actually fully part of God--"God" infact, part of the complete manifestation, totality of God. If we presume She was the mother of God, then is not the mother equal to the son?

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  9. Being a Catholic--I actually call myself a renegade Catholic, and I shall die a Catholic,in fact my dedication is to our Blessed Mother entirely!--however I have no problems with being here. Even if I were excommunicated by the church,to me it would make no difference--I would still attend church and do what ever what my heart says. No man can tell me what to believe, the relation between God and my self is personal. To me religion is a way--but faith, my belief- is to me God.

    In fact --I have many religions within my heart,and I practice a few within my life- Hinduism, Budhism and a few others--they all lead to God--Our Lady was asked in Medjugorje what is the true religion--She replied , I am paraphrasing: All religions are the same in the eyes of God as long as it is followed properly- for it all leads to God.

    One can be a Catholic, and have other apects that ring true within one`s soul--and as to what the parish priest would say I wouldn`t at all care. They are human, they may have more theology behind them--but they know no more that the peasant woman in Peru as to demonstarting God, the after life, or knowing God`s heart. --to tell you the truth--the truth lies in our hearts--only God counts and what He tells me or you-and how we conduct our lives. I am sure there are more Hindus,Buddhist and other faiths than Catholics in heaven ;-)

    blessingsa and love-welcome!

    Suzanne

  10. Most definitely they do--now I don`t know if it is called heaven, but wherever we go--back into that space,dimension,place whatever whom/what is God. We are all part of the grand scheme of things, all have a place in creation for a reason. I am definitely sure that animals have a soul--and a reason for being, which is part of the "divine purpose". Though I am a Catholic, I would consider myself to be pantheistic.

    blessings and peace,

    Suzanne

  11. I don`t know about angels and if they manifest in physicality. But--"faith" is a very positive energy and everything comes from within that "soul point or oversoul" from within us that knows all. For me, miracles do happen, but we create it ourselves as we are particles of the divine. It is those times that "we create". It is often hard to be in that "zone" for we are very pre-occupied with the material. Seeing or thinking we see angels strengthen our "faith" thus we believe deeper, and creation happens--be that good or bad as Br.Kamen says. They are all miracles of sorts or manifestations of our divine self, as we are within God.

    belssings and peace,

    Suzanne

  12. He wrote over 60 books in his short life. He is one of the greatest spiritual mystics of our age--he was truly human as well as a holy man. How did he die ? Well, he was a huge beam in the eye of the political world as well as the religious. --I am no conspiracy theorist but I do question many things, as do many.

    The Dalai Lama said:"I have never met a Christian in this lifetime as enlightend as Thomas Merton".

    The Dalai Lama
    and
    Thomas Merton

    His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Thomas Merton met in November 1968 in Dharamsala, India where the Dalai Lama was living in exile.

    His Holiness and Thomas Merton had three lengthy meetings during the eight days Merton was staying with the exiled Tibetans. After their final meeting Merton wrote:

    It was a warm and cordial discussion and at the end I felt we had become very good friends ... I feel a great respect and fondness for him as a person and believe, too, that there is a real spiritual bond between us. (1)

    The feeling was undoubtedly mutual. In his autobiography, Freedom in Exile, the Dalai Lama described Merton's visit as one of his "happiest memories of this time" and said that it was Thomas Merton who "introduced [him] to the real meaning of the word 'Christian'." (2) Later, in an interview, when asked the three most influential people in his life His Holiness replied his Dharma teacher, Chairman Mao Tse-tung and Thomas Merton. (3)

    Again and again over the years in his public teachings the Dalia Lama has held up Thomas Merton as a model for interfaith dialog and world peace.

    At the Abbey of Gethsemani in 1996 the Dalai Lama said:

    I always consider myself as one of [Thomas Merton's] Buddhist brothers. So … I always remember him, and I always admire his activities and his life-style. Since my meeting with him … I really follow some of his examples … So for the rest of my life, the impact of meeting him will remain until my last breath. I really want to state that I make this commitment, and this will remain until my last breath. (4)

    Blessings,

    Suzanne

  13. Through his study of contemplative Catholic and pagan mysticism, Merton became a universalist of sorts. Nowhere did he say that Buddhists, Hindus, and Sufis worshipped false gods or that they were hell-bound because they do not believe in the Christ of the Bible. When writing about Zen Buddhists, Merton always assumed that they were communing with the same “ground of Being” that he himself had found through Catholic monasticism.

    Merton said that monks of all religions are “brothers” and are “already one.” At an interfaith meeting in Calcutta, India, in 1968, sponsored by the Temple of Understanding, Merton said:

    “I came with the notion of perhaps saying something for monks and to monks of all religions because I am supposed to be a monk. ... My dear brothers, WE ARE ALREADY ONE. BUT WE IMAGINE THAT WE ARE NOT. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are” (“Thomas Merton’s View of Monasticism,” a talk delivered at Calcutta, October 1968,
    The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, 1975 edition, appendix III, p. 308).

    Merton used the terms God, Krishna, and Tao interchangeably.

    “It is in surrendering a false and illusory liberty on the superficial level that man unites himself with the inner ground of reality and freedom in himself which is the will of God, of Krishna, of Providence, of Tao” (“The Significance of the Bhagavad-Gita,”
    The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, appendix ix, p. 353).

    I think Merton would have made a wonderful family member here at ULC--if the world religions would think as he did we would be in a much more peaceful and serene world--manifesting the ideal, the compassionate and the loving beings that we really are.

    blessings,

    Suzanne

  14. Through his study of contemplative Catholic and pagan mysticism, Merton became a universalist of sorts. Nowhere did he say that Buddhists, Hindus, and Sufis worshipped false gods or that they were hell-bound because they do not believe in the Christ of the Bible. When writing about Zen Buddhists, Merton always assumed that they were communing with the same “ground of Being” that he himself had found through Catholic monasticism.

    Merton said that monks of all religions are “brothers” and are “already one.” At an interfaith meeting in Calcutta, India, in 1968, sponsored by the Temple of Understanding, Merton said:

    “I came with the notion of perhaps saying something for monks and to monks of all religions because I am supposed to be a monk. ... My dear brothers, WE ARE ALREADY ONE. BUT WE IMAGINE THAT WE ARE NOT. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are” (“Thomas Merton’s View of Monasticism,” a talk delivered at Calcutta, October 1968,
    The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, 1975 edition, appendix III, p. 308).

    Merton used the terms God, Krishna, and Tao interchangeably.

    “It is in surrendering a false and illusory liberty on the superficial level that man unites himself with the inner ground of reality and freedom in himself which is the will of God, of Krishna, of Providence, of Tao” (“The Significance of the Bhagavad-Gita,”
    The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, appendix ix, p. 353).

    “Since in practice we must admit that God is in no way limited in His gifts, and since there is no reason to think that He cannot impart His light to other men without first consulting us, THERE CAN BE NO ABSOLUTELY SOLID GROUNDS FOR DENYING THE POSSIBILITY OF SUPERNATURAL (PRIVATE) REVELATION AND OF SUPERNATURAL MYSTICAL GRACES TO INDIVIDUALS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY MAY BE OR WHAT MAY BE THEIR RELIGIOUS TRADITION, provided that they sincerely seek God and His truth. Nor is there any a priori basis for denying that the great prophetic and religious figures of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., could have been mystics, in the true, that is, supernatural, sense of the word” (Mystics and Zen Masters, p. 207).

    In his last speech, Merton called “original sin” a myth (“Marxism and Monastic Perspectives,” a talk delivered at Bangkok on December 10, 1968, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, appendix VII, p. 332).

    Merton rejected the view that non-Christians are lost sinners who are “all corrupted in their inner heart” and deceived by the devil (
    Mystics and Zen Masters, p. 206).

    I think Merton would have made a wonderful family member here at ULC--if the world religions would think as he did we would be in a much more peaceful and serene world--manifesting the ideal, the compassionate and the loving beings that we really are.

    blessings,

    Suzanne

  15. Louisville in 1958, Merton says that he had an epiphany that he described as follows.

    “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut,* in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. ... Then it was as if I suddenly saw the SECRET BEAUTY OF THEIR HEART, THE DEPTHS OF THEIR HEARTS WHERE NEITHER SIN nor desire nor self-knowledge CAN REACH, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. ... I SUPPOSE THE BIG PROBLEM WOULD BE THAT WE WOULD FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP EACH OTHER.

    “AT THE CENTER OF OUR BEING IS A POINT OF NOTHINGNESS THAT IS UNTOUCHED BY SIN and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposses our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is THE PURE GLORY OF GOD IN US. ... It is so to speak His name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. IT IS IN EVERYBODY, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sin that would make all darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. .... THE GATE OF HEAVEN IS EVERYWHERE” (Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, pp. 140-142). (* Walnut was later renamed Muhammed Ali Blvd., and in 2008 the intersection was named Thomas Merton Square.)

    http://www.wayoflife.org/database/merton.html

  16. Why do we forget? Because we have still far too much to learn--and things to work out, we are confused enough :crazyeyes: imagine if we knew and remembered all :derisive:

    As for my religion--I will sum it up in one word: "compassion"--I feel if we have that, then we have unity, -for me that is the thread that ties all living things together. Animal,vegetable and probably mineral as well - imho.

    blessings,

    Suzanne

  17. Unity is a wonderful concept, one I also believe to be of the highest order.

    From the book The Last Great Initiate:

    "To the soul which comes from heaven, birth is a death," Empedocles had said 500 years B. C. "However sublime the spirit be, once imprisoned in flesh, it temporarily loses the remembrance of all its past; once engaged in corporal life, the development of its earthly consciousness is subjected to the laws of the world in which it incarnates. It falls under the force of the elements. The higher its origin, the greater will be the effort to regain its dormant powers, its celestial innateness, and to become conscious of its mission."

    This 'remembering' as it were, follows with Unity. Regardless of our individual origin, high, low or somewhere in between, regaining Unity between and with ALL is our primary goal. Some of us are very conscious about this, some not...but in the long run, it really doesn't matter does it? We'll still contribute what we are suppose to by Divine Will. Unity can not be separated from its purpose.

    Blessings of Peace,

    I love your quote--but above all your answer. Thank you Al.

    blessings,

    Suzanne

  18. Basic instincts tells us cooperation and friendly exchange with people is less threatening than being at odds or at war with others, therefore a simple survival method to be moral, ethical and do good for all rather than bad, thus turning everyone else against you. Over the past 250,000 years we've refined and defined this sense of "moral code" into the highest level of "survival mode". We're at odds with those who do not share our own sense of right and wrong, therefore learn at an early age to climb on the morality bandwagon to gain the highest number of allies. While those that don't may get away with harming others for a time, it usually doesn't last very long.

    Of course we have the Right to be Wrong, it's just not in our best interest to do so. One can not stand against the masses, regardless of what the masses sense of morality may be. It is not necessary to have created gods or God, as it is survival mode to have a moral code, a natural response to Continuation. If "God"/gods had created us, there would be no question our origins would be instilled within us and this would all be a moot point.

    Blessings of Peace,

    Right on--perfect Al! :paladin: Exactly!

    blessings,

    Suzanne