Why God is inherently right

Science, thinking is equivalent to porn, a sex addiction or any drug addiction. Science hollows Man out then Man turns to the material universe for fulfillment with all his obsessions and addictions…everything to escape his emotions, to escape God’s talking to him.

You’re using the basics of existence to aid your argument? That’s weak when there’s so much greatness you could bring forth from all the sciences.

Phyllo wrote

The soul’s in Hopelessness do not have Hope, God may give them mercy, may.

Yup!

A good dose of French blood + a good dose of English blood + a sprinkling of Indigenous North American blood

What are the possibilities on the French side?
… Napoleon was an Italian masquerading as a Frenchman :slight_smile:
… Hebrew … apparently lots on the southern coast of France in antiquity
… Greek … Roman …

What are the possibilities on the English side?
… indigenous as in Stonehedge peoples
… Celtic as in Irish peoples
… certainly German as in Anglo “Saxons”

What are the possibilities on the Indigenous North American side?
… Inuit as in Eskimo

What a concoction eh!

It’s no small wonder I am so messed up! :smiley:

My last post seems to have triggered a question …

Do blood lineages provide subconscious “windows” to the past?

A fellow Canadian too, eh? Where aboots in Canada are you?

I’m not living der at the moment … spent most of the last 11 years in China … grew up in Northern Ontario … spent most of my adult life in Southern Ontario … never lived in Toronto.

Time zones suggest you live in the West? How many generations your family been in Canada?

Eleven YEARS in China?!? :open_mouth:

dat bealot.

On my dad’s side, I’m the first to be born in Canada. Before that, he was in Iraq. On my mom’s side… oh, lots. I think at least 3. Before that, they were British.

Oui … t’as raison! :slight_smile:

James … I have long … and hard … pondered the purpose of my time in China. Some of the stuff that popped into my consciousness … in no particular order is:

  1. In part an escape from the pain associated with proximity to my family in Canada. I have often thought and stated that my immediate family, friends, acquaintances … ergo … everyone … has consistently rejected and persecuted me. Today I realized I was lying to myself and others. More accurately stated all these people are comfortable living with their “world view” which is diametrically opposite to my own. Hasn’t always been that way … I lived the first 43 years of my life with the same world view. At age 43 my world view was turned upside down … inside out … ergo … shattered. I have countless times tried to go back to my old world view for the sake of my family … it didn’t work. I have found that interacting with family despite opposing world views is simply ‘duty’ … filial piety … and duty is a poor proxy for love. The story of my life is exquisitely stated in the words of Paul Anka’s song “My Way”

  2. In part my fascination with Chinese culture history and philosophy. I arrived with typical preconceived Western notions of China … Chinese people are oppressed … atheists … Communists … ergo … evil. My experience has taught me exactly the opposite. Let me share a taste of the irony … irony for me anyway. October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong became the undisputed leader of China. His famous quote … “today China has stood up” … ergo … before today China was on it’s knees. One of the first things Mao Zedong did was order the construction of an “indoctrination centre” for the indoctrination of future Chinese leaders. His choice of location … Beijing … is not surprising. His choice of location within Beijing is intriguing. He chose the spot that housed the tombs of Matteo Ricci and about 63 of his successors … all of them 16th - 17th century Jesuit missionaries. One would expect given Mao Zedong’s aversion for all things religious … especially Western religion … that he would have ordered the tombs be destroyed or at a minimum relocated. He built the “indoctrination centre” around the tombs … careful not to disturb them. For the past 66 years or so all the Chinese leaders have often walked by these tombs. Most would argue … so what! … insignificant. Yet we all stumble around in the dark … every day … ergo … not a single individual has ever been conscious of Total Reality.

  3. An infatuation with the philosophy of Lao Tzu and Confucius … stemming from my belief in the existence of stunning parallels between Lao Tzu/Confucian thought and Western religious/philosophical thought. Read a story about a well respected Chinese man from Hong Kong. He said … paraphrasing … I converted to Christianity because of Confucius … I converted to RC faith because of Ste Therese of Lisieux.

My recent affection for Zhuang Zi may point to the answer(s) to my dilemma. I was introduced to him many years ago but until very recently I didn’t want to dilute my affection for Lao Tzu … his predecessor. I stumbled on a quote from Zhuang Zi …[b]

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Gib … there has been some discussion in this OP on the issue “know thyself”.

What do you think about the extent “know thyself” depends on the knowledge and scope of one’s genetic/DNA/blood lineage?

“total reality” and “certainty” are very important to you. Why?

Phyllo … I mentioned in another OP that for the past 25 years I have been on a personal quest for the Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is certainty?

Why do you need this Grail? What purpose would it serve?

Let me start by explaining what I mean by “Holy Grail”

the not’s first

not Dan Brown’s Mary Magdalene

not some cup or chalice from the last supper

not the “Round Table” holy grail

the specifics …

the ‘whole enchilada’

the ‘big kahuna’

Some readers may wonder "How will you know if you find it? For me, analogous to the question … "How do you know when it’s time for a poop? … You just know!

Some readers may wonder “What is there to do after you find it?” Hypothetical in the extreme … yet I will offer some speculation. For me … if the ‘whole enchilada’ is revealed to me it … it seems logical that my task would be to ‘help’ others who are on the same path.

Let me explain my use of the word “help” … I use it in this context …

Lifting the ‘veil’ … removing the ‘veil’ … is the purview of the Author of Creation. Those who attempt to usurp this authority are all charlatans.

To your question Phyllo … I would no longer stumble around in the dark … I would walk in the light.

tom wrote

Help how exactly? If you know what God knows, what would you be exactly?

I would be the same entity I am today … no change … simply a “servant”

Wendy … and other interested readers … let me try to bring the abstract comments in my previous post(s) to the concrete … my personal experiences.

Almost 25 years ago I had an “experience” … for the first few years following this experience I would seek help … from time to time. I went to doctor(s), psychologist(s), psychiatrist(s), priest(s) … and one day I was referred to Jack Milan in Guelph … a wise and learned man … a Spiritual Director who operates outside the RC church. Inside the RC church one must obey the appointed Spiritual Director. The very well known … in the global Catholic community … Ste Teresa of Avila … is renowned for her comment … “don’t send me any more stupid priests.”

Jack informed me in the first few minutes of our first chat that he does not accept cases where he judges the problem to be psychological. He said we would have a few sessions after which time he would decide. One day he said to me … “think what you want but don’t act on your thoughts until you consult with me.” I understood this to suggest Jack was thinking my case was spiritual. What Jack didn’t know … I wasn’t honest with him … his comment dealt a mortal blow to our relationship. I have always been too independent and self reliant to submit myself totally to anyone. I stopped seeing Jack a few weeks later … though I my gratitude for his help stays with me to this day.

I think it was 1996 … my first trip to Israel … worked on a kibbutz. One day I decided to give this Spiritual Director thang another shot. I remembered the name of a Franciscan Brother I had met on the phone some time earlier … I remembered his name Maurice Richard because of my fondness for hockey as a child. I wrote this Franciscan a letter asking him about the role and usefulness of a Spiritual Director. To my great surprise he answered me and I actually received his response while still on the kibbutz … see snail mail is OK :slight_smile:

Father Richard told me in the letter there is only one Spiritual Director … the Holy Spirit … the closest another human could get would be a “cheer leader”. I have always remembered his sound counsel.

Okay, continue. O:)

You have a spiritual body and a physical body right now. If you go “in”(behind the veil) with your spiritual body, you will have to make a choice once there to stay and explore or return to your physical body. If you worry about your physical body, you will fall from Grace, essentially kicking yourself out of Heaven. I’ve made that mistake already. Even now, I’m undecided on what I would do should I embark on a return to the Divine before my physical body dies. One moment I love God, the next I’m spitting nails angry with Him. Do I trust? Biggest question there is for me. My answer is WTF?

I think it can help in figuring out what in your personality and behavior is genetic and what is unique to you. For example, if you have a passion for music, does it run in your family or is it something you might ween yourself off of? If it runs in your family, that’s a good sign it’s got its roots stuck deep into your personality and is more or less there to stay. Otherwise, you might think of it as a passing phase, or if it’s been with you all your life, you might wonder what caused it to be there? Some life experience? The environment you grew up in?

Wendy … in my previous posts I shared some concepts I subscribe to … don’t misunderstand me … being a spiritual cheer leader is a much too serious … too dangerous … too risky … undertaking for a numbscull like me.

Having said that … here’s some more anecdotal support. In the late 90’s I made several trips to Medugorje … Bosnia Hertzgovina. On one of my trips I had a brief encounter with a middle aged man from the Netherlands. He had been in India working with a spiritual Master/Guru and apparently hit a “ceiling” so he came to Medugorje looking for help. One of the priests in Medugorje at the time acted as his cheer leader … told him to back home and sit still and do nothing for a year. The man was ecstatic about this counsel. Go figure eh!