Why do I think this?
Catholics think all protestants are going to hell. Sunni Muslims think all Shiite Muslims are going to hell. Shiite Muslims think all Sunni Muslims are going to hell. Hindus think all Muslims are going to hell.
Do I need to go on?
Religions are obsolete because of paranoia in the human condition. If people slowed down enough to consider their positions more and came out of their paranoia about everything and stopped killing each other over religious positions I wouldn't have to think that all religions are obsolete.
What isn't obsolete?
The human condition isn't obsolete. We as humans mostly need to believe in God or we are likely going to take legal or illegal drugs to mask this need.
However, I have seen people believe in Buddha and Compassion who do not necessarily believe in God and be perfectly happy about compassion too.
So, what do humans need not to kill each other over their religions?
This is the question we all must ask each other.
Because who are the mass murderers killing people in their schools or workplaces every week or so here in the U.S.?
What do they believe in? IS there a common thread?
And are they any different really than terrorists?
What is happening to the human race right now except maybe overpopulation?
And what do humans need to do to stop killing each other?
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
THE PATH ACCORDING TO FRED:
Religion: if you have a religion in your life look to it for the beginnings of discipline and culture in your life.
Truth-If you seek truth look to philosophical inquiry. From Philosophy came all the sciences past, present and future.
Enlightenment-If you seek enlightenment develop compassion for yourself and all beings in the universe and join this with Truth.
If you do all these things you will have the best lifetime possible for you. This is my experience, this is my belief after living 62 years here on Earth.
end quote from:
Intuitive fred888: The Path According to Fred
intuitivefred888.blogspot.com/2011/01/path-according-to-fred.html
Jan 5, 2011 - The Path According to Fred. Religion- If you have a religion look to it for discipline and the beginnings of culture in your life. Truth-If you seek ...Though the above was originally written January 5th 2011 by me at another site, when I go into Intuitivefred888 on another computer than one of my own or in my family, this article is usually the first one that comes up at Google regarding my site. So, when it came up in Google Search once again I decided I should share it again with you. Have a Great Day!
Note: I originally composed this in Firefox. But the computer I'm using right now in Oregon does not presently have Firefox. So, while composing in Google Chrome, the transition is not as smoothe as I would like between them evidenced by all the black stuff there at the top of the page.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Positive Thinking
I used to think positive thinking was baloney and while in my 20s I was always into honesty about everything even if it hurt people's feelings. Then I started to see that honesty wasn't always the best policy because sometimes my honesty hurt people in ways I hadn't intended it to.
Then I started to realize there was something more important than honesty, Compassion.
I realized I had been set on a very critical path and I wanted to stop being truthful and critical of people in my "Honesty".
I saw that many religious paths destroy people around them in the same or other religions subtly destroyed other people's lives.
For example, mostly white religions destroyed the lives of minorities or people who were white but believed different things than they did.
So, I started to see that the same people who talk about Christmas being destroyed were not sensitive to all the people being hurt because they didn't feel okay about celebrating their own religion around Christmas time because in the U.S. Christmas is overwhelming.
However, the other side of this is every majority religion everywhere on earth does this too.
So, what Christians in the U.S. have done to others all other big religions around the world still do the same thing to destroy people in other religions who are minority religions.
Anyway, I digress.
Positive thinking I discovered in my present wife and finally had suffered enough in my 20s and 40s to realize her positive thinking was saving my life: literally.
She was the type of person I was raised to marry growing up but I didn't meet her until she was 39 and I about 46. But, she saved me from myself and I saved her by becoming her knight in shining armor so to speak. And life has been pretty good ever since, even though I almost died in 1998 from a heart virus and in 2015 from a burst appendix. Her positive thinking was one of the reasons I pulled through both times.
So, what I'm saying here is Positive thinking can save your life if applied practically to any situation.
So, my point of view at present is: "I would have already died around age 50 without God sending me my present wife.
I'm really grateful to God for all the many many blessings he has bestowed upon me in my life.
Then I started to realize there was something more important than honesty, Compassion.
I realized I had been set on a very critical path and I wanted to stop being truthful and critical of people in my "Honesty".
I saw that many religious paths destroy people around them in the same or other religions subtly destroyed other people's lives.
For example, mostly white religions destroyed the lives of minorities or people who were white but believed different things than they did.
So, I started to see that the same people who talk about Christmas being destroyed were not sensitive to all the people being hurt because they didn't feel okay about celebrating their own religion around Christmas time because in the U.S. Christmas is overwhelming.
However, the other side of this is every majority religion everywhere on earth does this too.
So, what Christians in the U.S. have done to others all other big religions around the world still do the same thing to destroy people in other religions who are minority religions.
Anyway, I digress.
Positive thinking I discovered in my present wife and finally had suffered enough in my 20s and 40s to realize her positive thinking was saving my life: literally.
She was the type of person I was raised to marry growing up but I didn't meet her until she was 39 and I about 46. But, she saved me from myself and I saved her by becoming her knight in shining armor so to speak. And life has been pretty good ever since, even though I almost died in 1998 from a heart virus and in 2015 from a burst appendix. Her positive thinking was one of the reasons I pulled through both times.
So, what I'm saying here is Positive thinking can save your life if applied practically to any situation.
So, my point of view at present is: "I would have already died around age 50 without God sending me my present wife.
I'm really grateful to God for all the many many blessings he has bestowed upon me in my life.
Gratitude
One of the most important parts of a Spiritual Path is gratitude. Because if you are not grateful for whatever you have now, how do you expect to get more than you already have?
This might sound trite but it is also true, "Gratitude is the motor of life".
Imagine your gratitude is an engine in your car and you need to get from California to New York (Or either way (or from Florida to Seattle) either way for whatever the reason.
IF you want to go there and aren't grateful for what you have already, you are not going to get wherever you are going to.
If you ask me why this is I cannot really tell you. However, I have observed this scientifically throughout my life.
I have a friend for example, that all he would say if you asked him how he was in the last year was something like "Well. I suppose it could be worse but I don't know how?"
Though I understood what he was talking about he has a nice car and owns 1/2 his own house from her parents (his sister owns the other half) and he is unhappy with some of the investments he made the last few years. However, to always lead with being unhappy is only bringing more unhappiness into his life. I'm not sure he sees this.
However, intellectually he is one of the most intelligent people I know. So, what's wrong with this picture? I cannot really say except maybe he didn't expect to be living the life he is living right now and being single.
However, he has also been one of the most important people in my wife and my life for around 20 years and has been very supportive of our relationship and we tried to fix him up with at least 20 female friends of ours to no avail. So, is the problem being single? Is the problem his parents died?
Is the problem something we don't know about?
However, not being grateful for what you do have: Life, car, property, that is paid for I believe isn't really good. Even if your life isn't what you thought it was going to be that isn't good enough.
Only 1/3 of people on earth consider themselves happy by the way. So, that means 2/3 of people are sort of miserable on any given day.
And even I might say my 20s and my 40s were pretty miserable at times. However, since 50 my life has been pretty good so I stay alive for the good times. Will it always be this way? I don't know. I do what I can for myself and everyone I know so they choose to stay alive and try to be happy too.
So, in the end what is the motor of life?
Gratitude and Joy are the motor of life.
So, try to figure out how to generate both Gratitude and joy for what you have rather than be constantly complaining about what you don't have.
By focusing on the good things in your life naturally more good things tend to come to you. If you insist upon focusing only on the bad things in your life more bad things will come to you.
This is how life works and it is actually scientific.
Why is this?
Probably because no one wants to be around someone who is complaining all the time. They don't want to be your friend, they don't want to hire you for a job, they don't want to know you or live next to you.
So, complaining is one way to end your business life, your social life until all you have left to do is to commit suicide and then you are out of your body moaning and making life difficult for those who haven't died yet.
And that's just the road to hell.
So be grateful and find the joy in life so you don't have to go to hell.
This appears to be somewhat scientific for some reason or other.
I cannot explain it but it is the way things actually work here on earth and beyond.
This might sound trite but it is also true, "Gratitude is the motor of life".
Imagine your gratitude is an engine in your car and you need to get from California to New York (Or either way (or from Florida to Seattle) either way for whatever the reason.
IF you want to go there and aren't grateful for what you have already, you are not going to get wherever you are going to.
If you ask me why this is I cannot really tell you. However, I have observed this scientifically throughout my life.
I have a friend for example, that all he would say if you asked him how he was in the last year was something like "Well. I suppose it could be worse but I don't know how?"
Though I understood what he was talking about he has a nice car and owns 1/2 his own house from her parents (his sister owns the other half) and he is unhappy with some of the investments he made the last few years. However, to always lead with being unhappy is only bringing more unhappiness into his life. I'm not sure he sees this.
However, intellectually he is one of the most intelligent people I know. So, what's wrong with this picture? I cannot really say except maybe he didn't expect to be living the life he is living right now and being single.
However, he has also been one of the most important people in my wife and my life for around 20 years and has been very supportive of our relationship and we tried to fix him up with at least 20 female friends of ours to no avail. So, is the problem being single? Is the problem his parents died?
Is the problem something we don't know about?
However, not being grateful for what you do have: Life, car, property, that is paid for I believe isn't really good. Even if your life isn't what you thought it was going to be that isn't good enough.
Only 1/3 of people on earth consider themselves happy by the way. So, that means 2/3 of people are sort of miserable on any given day.
And even I might say my 20s and my 40s were pretty miserable at times. However, since 50 my life has been pretty good so I stay alive for the good times. Will it always be this way? I don't know. I do what I can for myself and everyone I know so they choose to stay alive and try to be happy too.
So, in the end what is the motor of life?
Gratitude and Joy are the motor of life.
So, try to figure out how to generate both Gratitude and joy for what you have rather than be constantly complaining about what you don't have.
By focusing on the good things in your life naturally more good things tend to come to you. If you insist upon focusing only on the bad things in your life more bad things will come to you.
This is how life works and it is actually scientific.
Why is this?
Probably because no one wants to be around someone who is complaining all the time. They don't want to be your friend, they don't want to hire you for a job, they don't want to know you or live next to you.
So, complaining is one way to end your business life, your social life until all you have left to do is to commit suicide and then you are out of your body moaning and making life difficult for those who haven't died yet.
And that's just the road to hell.
So be grateful and find the joy in life so you don't have to go to hell.
This appears to be somewhat scientific for some reason or other.
I cannot explain it but it is the way things actually work here on earth and beyond.
Anger might not be a useful emotion
My friend has a Master's degree in History of Religion from UCLA specializing in Buddhism and Sanskrit. With this he could teach at almost any college or university History in the U.S. However, he would rather live in Mt. Shasta, play music and run a music recording studio for himself and many other musicians he knows from all around the world.
This choice has served him well both as a musician, traveling all over the world playing music and being incredibly free to pursue his spiritual path as an adult.
He was telling me anger is not useful. He mentioned even the Dalai Lama thought that anger wasn't useful. Then he said that when you are angry you poison yourself with bad chemicals.
I remembered how angry I was in the early 1990s when I couldn't get custody of my daughter from my ex-wife. I always attributed my heart virus that I almost died from to this anger. So, here was another bit of evidence going in this direction.
Then I said to my friend, "But when I'm a little angry I'm always the most intelligent. In fact, I could say that all the best things in my life came from me getting a little angry and making changes that made my life an ongoing miracle."
He looked at me and said, "But this isn't the anger of rage that some people experience."
I said, "Yes. That's true."
So, just remember when you are really enraged beyond it being useful to you and your future.
Because poisoning yourself with the enraged chemicals your body makes only shortens your life and the quality of it and likely does nothing to change whatever is wrong to something better.
The fight or flight response is very short term and sometimes (like when a bus is bearing down on you) it's good to run for your life.
This choice has served him well both as a musician, traveling all over the world playing music and being incredibly free to pursue his spiritual path as an adult.
He was telling me anger is not useful. He mentioned even the Dalai Lama thought that anger wasn't useful. Then he said that when you are angry you poison yourself with bad chemicals.
I remembered how angry I was in the early 1990s when I couldn't get custody of my daughter from my ex-wife. I always attributed my heart virus that I almost died from to this anger. So, here was another bit of evidence going in this direction.
Then I said to my friend, "But when I'm a little angry I'm always the most intelligent. In fact, I could say that all the best things in my life came from me getting a little angry and making changes that made my life an ongoing miracle."
He looked at me and said, "But this isn't the anger of rage that some people experience."
I said, "Yes. That's true."
So, just remember when you are really enraged beyond it being useful to you and your future.
Because poisoning yourself with the enraged chemicals your body makes only shortens your life and the quality of it and likely does nothing to change whatever is wrong to something better.
The fight or flight response is very short term and sometimes (like when a bus is bearing down on you) it's good to run for your life.
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava was supposed to have brought Buddhism in it's present form (of Tibetan Buddhism) to Tibet. While I was in Rewalsar, India in 1986 I began to suspect that Padmasambhava was one of Saint Germain's incarnations. I asked Saint Germain whether he was Padmasambhava.
He answered me the next day when I stepped into a protecting building which was protecting his footprints that he had melted into a Boulder up about 2 thousand feet from Lake Rewalsar. I laughed as I saw the footprint was exactly my size foot and put my Vasques Cascade size 14 mountain climbing boot into the footprint. It fit exactly and I laughed. The monk showing me the footprints looked amazed and as we walked outside the sky had turned purple with purple clouds. Then, purple and violet lightning came out from those clouds.
This I knew was Saint Germain confirming that he was Padmasambhava too.
So, I knew Tibetan Buddhism was a creation of Saint Germain as Padmasambhava when he brought it up to Tibet from Nalanda University in India then.
At the time I thought that likely Merlin was an old Padmasambhava. I still sort of think this. However it happened though Padmasambhava was the same soul as Saint Germain.
I no longer have any doubt of this at all.
He answered me the next day when I stepped into a protecting building which was protecting his footprints that he had melted into a Boulder up about 2 thousand feet from Lake Rewalsar. I laughed as I saw the footprint was exactly my size foot and put my Vasques Cascade size 14 mountain climbing boot into the footprint. It fit exactly and I laughed. The monk showing me the footprints looked amazed and as we walked outside the sky had turned purple with purple clouds. Then, purple and violet lightning came out from those clouds.
This I knew was Saint Germain confirming that he was Padmasambhava too.
So, I knew Tibetan Buddhism was a creation of Saint Germain as Padmasambhava when he brought it up to Tibet from Nalanda University in India then.
At the time I thought that likely Merlin was an old Padmasambhava. I still sort of think this. However it happened though Padmasambhava was the same soul as Saint Germain.
I no longer have any doubt of this at all.
What is a Spiritual Path?
On a spiritual path often you might start with a Philosophical question: For example, "Who Am I?", "Why Am I here?", "What is the purpose of my individual life?", "What should I do with my life?"
If you ask priests or ministers of ANY religion often their motivation is to enslave you to their way of thinking.
So, as a person who chooses to be on the spiritual path you might ask: "Why are you trying to enslave me to your path?"
Then they might beat you up or kill you or shun you because you are not acting like a slave or they might not talk to you anymore.
So, my way of describing what a Spiritual Path is would be to say that through your experiences and your scientific proof in your life you are creating your own personal religion. Should everyone join you in this religion? Usually not, because you have proved what you have proved only to yourself. So, they could only honestly join you if they had either proved what you have proved to yourself or they decide to trust you from what you have shared with them already.
The longer you have survived proving these things to yourself and still have your mental and physical health the more likely people will be able to be helped by what you have discovered about life. IN other words, the religion that you have proved to yourself based upon science and beliefs just might be superior to what anyone else has come up with. So, for this reason it might be good if they at least listened to you about what you have discovered.
So, scientifically choosing your path is important to your well being and the potential well being of all around you. As you grow the human race thereby grows to in understanding and awareness and in a greater sense of well being and oceanic experiences that encompass the whole universe and beyond.
For example, if the religion you were raised in answers all your questions in a satisfactory way you might not need a separate spiritual path. But, if you are constantly coming up against hypocrisy and incongruencies in your religion then you might have to embark on a spiritual path that may or may not contain some or all of the religion you were raised in.
You have to be true to yourself and to God if you believe in God.
One of the more remarkable things I experienced in 1985 and 1986 was to be around hundreds of thousands of Tibetan Buddhists in Bodhgaya who were receiving the Kalachakra Initiation from the Dalai Lama. So there were about 500,000 of them there.
Here were 500,000 people who were amazing in their auras and peace and compassion in a way I had never experienced before. Because these were not Theists which means they didn't necessarily believe in God. However, they were precious beyond belief and in many ways more sincere (because their lives often depended upon it) than most Christians and especially secular Christians here in the U.S.
So, I had to deal with this paradox of "Here are 500,000 people mostly not believing in God who are amazing and compassionate and helpful in a new and really wonderful way. Even Atheists likely would be happy with these people simply because they don't believe in God.
And yet, even not believing in God they were amazing people and helpful and loving and compassionate. They were rich and poor, educated and uneducated and all the rest just from mostly different cultures than I came from. And on top of this there were about 10,000 westerners from North and South America, Europe, Japan etc. who were very educated like myself which made this even more interesting.
So, I found a home there in Tibetan Buddhists that I had never found before. Because these people accepted more people the way they were than anyone else I had ever met before on Earth.
They believe in 49,000 paths to enlightenment and more than one of these path includes believing in God. So, I can be a good Buddhist and a good Christian at the same time without rejecting any life on earth human or animal in a spiritual sense which was my original goal. So, I can believe in God, be mystical Christian still and also be a Tibetan Buddhist in practice as well.
This has been a truly wonderful experience.
If you ask priests or ministers of ANY religion often their motivation is to enslave you to their way of thinking.
So, as a person who chooses to be on the spiritual path you might ask: "Why are you trying to enslave me to your path?"
Then they might beat you up or kill you or shun you because you are not acting like a slave or they might not talk to you anymore.
So, my way of describing what a Spiritual Path is would be to say that through your experiences and your scientific proof in your life you are creating your own personal religion. Should everyone join you in this religion? Usually not, because you have proved what you have proved only to yourself. So, they could only honestly join you if they had either proved what you have proved to yourself or they decide to trust you from what you have shared with them already.
The longer you have survived proving these things to yourself and still have your mental and physical health the more likely people will be able to be helped by what you have discovered about life. IN other words, the religion that you have proved to yourself based upon science and beliefs just might be superior to what anyone else has come up with. So, for this reason it might be good if they at least listened to you about what you have discovered.
So, scientifically choosing your path is important to your well being and the potential well being of all around you. As you grow the human race thereby grows to in understanding and awareness and in a greater sense of well being and oceanic experiences that encompass the whole universe and beyond.
For example, if the religion you were raised in answers all your questions in a satisfactory way you might not need a separate spiritual path. But, if you are constantly coming up against hypocrisy and incongruencies in your religion then you might have to embark on a spiritual path that may or may not contain some or all of the religion you were raised in.
You have to be true to yourself and to God if you believe in God.
One of the more remarkable things I experienced in 1985 and 1986 was to be around hundreds of thousands of Tibetan Buddhists in Bodhgaya who were receiving the Kalachakra Initiation from the Dalai Lama. So there were about 500,000 of them there.
Here were 500,000 people who were amazing in their auras and peace and compassion in a way I had never experienced before. Because these were not Theists which means they didn't necessarily believe in God. However, they were precious beyond belief and in many ways more sincere (because their lives often depended upon it) than most Christians and especially secular Christians here in the U.S.
So, I had to deal with this paradox of "Here are 500,000 people mostly not believing in God who are amazing and compassionate and helpful in a new and really wonderful way. Even Atheists likely would be happy with these people simply because they don't believe in God.
And yet, even not believing in God they were amazing people and helpful and loving and compassionate. They were rich and poor, educated and uneducated and all the rest just from mostly different cultures than I came from. And on top of this there were about 10,000 westerners from North and South America, Europe, Japan etc. who were very educated like myself which made this even more interesting.
So, I found a home there in Tibetan Buddhists that I had never found before. Because these people accepted more people the way they were than anyone else I had ever met before on Earth.
They believe in 49,000 paths to enlightenment and more than one of these path includes believing in God. So, I can be a good Buddhist and a good Christian at the same time without rejecting any life on earth human or animal in a spiritual sense which was my original goal. So, I can believe in God, be mystical Christian still and also be a Tibetan Buddhist in practice as well.
This has been a truly wonderful experience.
Dogma?
- noun, plural dogmas or (Rare) dogmata [dawg-muh-tuh] ) 1. an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc., as of a church ...
- Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. [1] It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief ...
- Directed by Kevin Smith. With Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Bud Cort. An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the ...
- Dogma is a 1999 American comedy film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort
The Spiritual Path and why it is important
I was raised as a child to be a minister in my parents church. However, the problem I found with all this I can best describe as dogma. Every religion and church has a certain amount of dogma. This is the problem I ran into regarding religions and churches in general and why now generally speaking I don't go to any church much.
So, what I find is the most important thing is to be looking for a compassionate path through life.
This path is important so you don't wind up killing yourself and or others. It is a path of mutual respect where you realize you need to stay alive but other people have the need to stay alive themselves. So, your path becomes "How do I accomplish this?"
And this is what a spiritual path is.
It is a way to find your way through life without killing anyone or yourself. It is in a way like becoming a scientific researcher regarding all aspects of life.
It is a voyage of self discovery where it might at times include religions or it might not.
It is a path of integrity through life honoring your right to be free and others right to be free.
However, it is also a path where you do not allow others to encroach upon your right to be free and also you help protect others right to worship as they please too as long as they are not harming others in the process.
So, a Spiritual Path is finding a path of integrity and compassion that works for you that includes Right livelihood, often a family, could include owning your own business but might also be about working for others.
A spiritual path is about finding enough meaning in your life to stay alive and to experience your life to it's fullest.
A spiritual path is about finding happiness both in this life and after.
A spiritual path is about the pursuit of happiness
but it is also about helping others pursue their happiness too.
So, it is much like a scientific researcher in the pursuit of happiness and bliss.
So, follow your bliss in life because that is where life has meaning and hope.
A spiritual path is also a path of compassion and hope for yourself and all beings.
So, what I find is the most important thing is to be looking for a compassionate path through life.
This path is important so you don't wind up killing yourself and or others. It is a path of mutual respect where you realize you need to stay alive but other people have the need to stay alive themselves. So, your path becomes "How do I accomplish this?"
And this is what a spiritual path is.
It is a way to find your way through life without killing anyone or yourself. It is in a way like becoming a scientific researcher regarding all aspects of life.
It is a voyage of self discovery where it might at times include religions or it might not.
It is a path of integrity through life honoring your right to be free and others right to be free.
However, it is also a path where you do not allow others to encroach upon your right to be free and also you help protect others right to worship as they please too as long as they are not harming others in the process.
So, a Spiritual Path is finding a path of integrity and compassion that works for you that includes Right livelihood, often a family, could include owning your own business but might also be about working for others.
A spiritual path is about finding enough meaning in your life to stay alive and to experience your life to it's fullest.
A spiritual path is about finding happiness both in this life and after.
A spiritual path is about the pursuit of happiness
but it is also about helping others pursue their happiness too.
So, it is much like a scientific researcher in the pursuit of happiness and bliss.
So, follow your bliss in life because that is where life has meaning and hope.
A spiritual path is also a path of compassion and hope for yourself and all beings.
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