[FairfieldLife] Re: Freethinking
Freethinking and orthodoxy.. Anecdotes about Elias Hicks (1888) by Walt Whitman https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anecdotes_about_Elias_Hicks https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anecdotes_about_Elias_Hicks Whitman and Elias Hicks https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_192.html https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_192.html November Boughs essay "Elias Hicks" (1888) An Orthodox Indictment of L. Mott Reguler, The Orthodox indictment of spiritual regeneration movement: The case of L Mott. http://quakertheology.org/issue-10-mott-CEF-01.htm http://quakertheology.org/issue-10-mott-CEF-01.htm .. .. “And this power flowed through him -- he became its agent -- whenever he put himself in a position to receive it. It had drawn him also to the Quakers of New Bedford, who were having a schism and revival in 1828. He visited them often, especially Mary Rotch. “What is this Inner Light?” he asked her. “It is not a thing to be talked about,” she replied. But he drew her out, and she said she had been driven inward, in these years of the Quaker Schism,” The Life of Emerson, Brooks. .. .. Creeds Creed..a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone's actions, a brief authoritative formula of religious belief. a creed is a set of beliefs, principles, or opinions that strongly influence the way people live or work creed is a religion. any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination. any system or codification of belief or of opinion. an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief articles of belief, as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian Creed. . . / “In the 18th and 19th century, many thinkers regarded as freethinkers were deists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deists, arguing that the nature of God https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_nature_of_God_in_Western_theology=edit=1 can only be known from a study of nature rather than from religious ‘revelation’. In the 18th century, "deism" was as much of a 'dirty word' as "atheism", and deists were often stigmatized as either atheists or at least as freethinkers by their Christian opponents.[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought#cite_note-13[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought#cite_note-14 Deists today regard themselves as freethinkers, but are now arguably less prominent in the freethought movement than atheists.” . . W. E. Channing, in Channing’s sequence of time in the coming on of Emerson and others, bringing a closure to Puritanism in New England.. “The divine attributes,” Channing writes, “are first developed in ourselves and hence transferred to our Creator. The idea of God, sublime and awful as it is, is the idea of our own spiritual nature, purified and enlarged to infinity.” “When Channing whistled, if his friends had only known it, that was the end of Calvinism for Boston.” The Life of Emerson, Brooks. . . Freethought is the philosophy that man rules his own destiny, rejecting the notion that there is any kind of divine intervention in life. Belief centers on the idea that nature and Natural Law guide mankind and that the use of reason, epistemology, and science are the means by which life is validated. Freethought came to Wisconsin with the massive influx of German immigrants in the 1850s, particularly those known as "Forty-eighters" who had fled autocratic German states after the failed revolts of 1848. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1926 https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1926 1850’s.. Freethinkers refused to accept political absolutism and the authority of a church, religion, or its supposedly inspired scripture. They insisted on the freedom to form religious opinions on the basis of intellectual reasoning powers and not on blind, unquestioned faith. Freethinking became fashionable in the German state of Prussia during the reign of Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740-53, within a period known as the "Age of Reason." "Freethinkers" Of the Early Texas.. https://ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/1998/april98/scharf.html https://ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/1998/april98/scharf.html Freethought, Vs. the true believer.. true believer. noun. One who is deeply, sometimes fanatically devoted to a cause, organization, or person: “a band of true believers bonded together against all those who did not agree with them” ( Theodore Draper ) : a person who professes absolute belief in something : a zealous supporter of a particular cause ..true believers who fought the good fight even when it was out of fashion. ..it's impossible to argue with those true believers, as they think any counterevidence, is proof of an evil conspiracy. True-believers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer . . “On the other hand, according to Bertrand Russell, atheists and/or agnostics are
[FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
There is no greater Saint walking the planet at this time than His Holiness Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji. He is the living Avatara of Lord Dattatreya, the Adiguru. He is available. Jai Guru Datta Datta Stavam Dattātrēyaṁ mahātmānaṁ varadaṁ bhakta vatsalam prapannārti haraṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu… 1 I adore Lord Dattātreya, a Mahātman, who confers boons and protects the devotees, who immediately removes afflictions from those who remember Him with faith. dīnabandhuṁ kṛpāsindhuṁ sarvakāraṇa kāraṇam sarvarakṣā karaṁ vandē smartr̥gāmī sanōvatu.. 2 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who is a friend of the poor, a sea of compassion, the cause of all causes and the protector of all those who remember Him sincerely. śaraṇāgata dīnārta paritrāṇa parāyaṇam Nārāyaṇaṁ vibhuṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 3 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who is a shelter for the poor and afflicted and grants deliverance immediately to those having firm devotion in Him and remember Him sincerely. sarvānartha haraṁ dēvaṁ sarvamaṅgaḷa maṅgaḷam sarvaklēśa haraṁ vandē smartr̥gāmī sanōvatu.. 4 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who is the destroyer of all useless and harmful things and the giver of all auspicious objects, the remover of all afflictions of those who remember Him sincerely. brahmaṇyaṁ dharmatatvajñaṁ bhakta kīrti vivardhanam bhaktābhīṣṭa pradaṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 5 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who is well-versed in the Vedas, a knower of the essences of religion, who increases the fame of His devotees and who is the giver of whatever is needed to the devotees who remember Him sincerely. śōṣaṇaṁ pāpa paṅkasya dīpanaṁ jñāna tējasaḥ tāpapraśamanaṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 6 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who removes the quagmire of sins, lights up the flame of wisdom, calms down distress and torment of those who remember Him sincerely. sarvarōga praśamanaṁ sarvapīḍā nivāraṇam vipaduddharaṇaṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 7 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who cures all diseases, heals all pain and removes all calamities of those who remember HIm sincerely. janmasamsāra bandhaghnaṁ svarūpānanda dāyakam niśrēyasa padaṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 8 I adore Lord Dattātreya, who is the most excellent and liberates from the cycle of birth and death in this world and who is the giver of bliss to those who remember Him sincerely. janmasamsāra bandhaghnaṁ svarūpānanda dāyakam niśrēyasa padaṁ vandē smartṛgāmī sanōvatu.. 8 Those who recite this eulogy of Lord Dattātreya regularly and with faith, become wise and attain victory, fame, fulfillment of all worldly desires and achievements and finally get liberation from the bondage of life.
[FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
Thanks Rick Archer! I saw it was off upon sending, didn't know how to edit. Will try to do better next time. I have no doubt that you will let me know where I make mistakes.
[FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
Thanks. I knew it was off immediately after sending. Wasn't sure how to edit it.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com On Behalf Of netineti108 Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 2:14 PM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people? >Anyone claiming they are enlightened, are not. Anyone claiming their grammar is correct, am not.
[FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
Anyone claiming they are enlightened, are not.
[FairfieldLife] Re: JBP: why are there so few enlightened people?
Spiritual teachings. Interesting observations, dbraff8. Enlightenment evidentlyappears as rather individualistic in life. One can empathize with the guy (MMY) that while yet in the human body he was yet evolving in his own experience with it, even to the end. Here and carrying on. Brahmananda Saraswati (Guru Dev) spoke to this in his discourses. More recently on the Zen Calendar that is in the water closet to read there is this severe quote from Thomas Merton, the Catholic Trappist saint of the last Century. .. “A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.” Thomas Merton ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Looking at it differently, why are there so many "enlightened" people? Think of all the spiritual teachers out there who claim to be enlightened, and some who certainly seem to have the experiences to validate such claims, example Eckhart Tolle. Then find a Master who really knows the Vedas and refers to the exact Sanskrit terminology that defines and describes elevated states of consciousness. Additionally, among them are Masters of the both the gyan and bhakti traditions, who have different views of "enlightenment", both legitimate. Do the experiences and behaviors of contemporary spiritual teachers match up with what the Indian sacred scriptures describe? Personally, I like Eckhart Tolle and believe he offers a lot to humanity. And there are others, too. But I believe there are many variations of human consciousness that might appear to the experiencers and to their observers to be enlightenment, but are not. I personally had a prolonged experience several years ago, quite a bit different from any I have heard, that, had it continued, might have led me to believe I was enlightened. Today I am of the opinion that true enlightenment is even rarer than we think. And, therefore, not the somewhat readily attainable goal we have expected it to be. Food for thought? Time to dig deeper? On a bit of an aside here, I spent about 11 months in the early 70' s on courses with MMY, usually meeting in a group with him two times a day, sometimes three. It's interesting that he did not use any of the accepted Sanskrit terminology in his descriptions of states of consciousness. And I have not been able to find anything that matches up with his characterization of GC. MMY's accomplishments are huge. I wonder, though, if he may have simplified things a bit, as we were all young and spiritually inexperienced.
