--- In [email protected], "Richard Hughes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >From: TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >--- In [email protected], "Richard Hughes" > ><richardhughes103@> wrote: > > > > > > Or how about three quarters because I doubt these ancient > > > writings are be taken that literally, I would say they > > > are more the history of the consciousness of that > > > civilisation. So, perhaps asking if sat yuga is a > > > fairy tale is not the right question, most human > > > religions have tales of a blissfull life with god > > > before a fall from grace, I like the idea that they > > > symbolise the emergence of self awareness and the > > > resultant seperateness from nature. All our meditating > > > and rituals since then have been an attempt to regain > > > that unity. > > > >And the real joke of it all is that the myth is WRONG. > >There has never been a moment when anyone in human > >history has ever "lost" their unity and "fallen" from > >"grace." They all -- each and every one of them -- have > >always already been enlightened. The entire issue of > >"separation" from nature is a non-issue, an illusion > >based on ignorance of what has always already been > >present. So the myth of "the fall" was developed to > >describe the ignorance and the illusion, *not* to > >describe any kind of reality. :-) > > I think the seperation from nature is the whole issue > with man, not as individuals but as an evolutionary > thing. The seperateness comes from abstract thought, > we are the only animal that knows that it will die. All > other creatures are blissfully ignorant of this and > thus joined to nature by lives of pure instinct.
I'm not completely convinced this is true (about other animals being unaware of their mortality), but it's an interesting idea relating that to abstract thought. I have no opinion on the matter. > Can we go back? Surely enlightenment, the living in > the moment aspect, is paradise regained because we > are at one with the needs of the moment and not > worrying about past/present, but with the added bonus > of total self awareness. But I wouldn't say 'paradise regained' because subjec- tively (at least for me, during periodic episodes) it was more of a realization of something that had always been present and not previously recognized than of "gaining" something "new." There was never any sense of anything "new;" it had always been. > I've never liked the idea that we are already > enlightened as my experience of higher states has > shown me amazing levels of perception and bliss > with a definite progression in that direction > day-to-day. My experience has been different. So it goes... To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
