[FairfieldLife] Re: Countering a Post-Modern Spiritual Disabling of the Human Being..

[yifux...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]]

Thx, ....there's no clear-cut distinction between materialism and Spirituality, 
since any particular materialistic item or even can conceivably be transmuted 
into something allied toward the goal of Enlightening everybody in the 
Universe. (a Mahayana Buddhist goal).
 OTOH, a materialist can be defined as a person who worships (in a fashion), 
anything/anybody as separate from purusha.  But even that definition breaks 
down since (for example), the Hare Krishnas claim that their conception  of 
Deity involves ONLY the "appearances and pasttimes" of Krishna; and to even 
desire realization of the Impersonal Absolute (purusha) is a heresy.
 Likewise, Fundamentalist Christians are only interested in establishing a 
relative, dualistic relationship between themselves and Jesus, and to even 
consider "Gnosis" is completely out of bounds and would entail shunning and 
exclusion from one's Congregation.
 Similarly, the Transcendentalist Spinoza was kicked out of his local Jewish 
Congregation and shunned.
 ,,,
 The bottom line: Fundamentalists involved in dualistic devotion as an activity 
apparently separate from purusha represent simply : the status of the 
evolutionary condition of those persons; and in terms of raw numbers, there's 
far more Southern Baptists in any middle or small town than the numbers of 
persons that Ammachi can gather together in CA.
 I'm just reporting on the way things are, not the way things "should" be. The 
Fundamentalists would vehemently deny that they are materialists. There must be 
a vast gray area of transitional categories.
 Ultimately, logic fails us in this discussion.  By way of example, when 
Katrina hit LA and other states, how many Quietists showed up on the scene to 
help rebuild devastated homes.  Otoh, large numbers of S. Baptists which tools 
in their hands rushed in immediately before FEMA to voluntarily rebuild homes. 
(and those persons with hammers and nails in their hands are materialists?). 
The definition of Spirituality should be broadened, imo.  Where to draw the 
line?  Nowhere. As soon as you draw the line somewhere, another person can come 
in with an exception or move the line or the goalpost..