Prime Energy - Source Awareness

Above and below spins the orb of luminosity in a perennial field of awareness; today's recipe comes from Patanjali's Yoga-sutra. Patanjali (150 BCE) synthesized a "yogic summary code" on the basis of the essence of extant traditions coupled by direct contemplative experience. He also understood the cognitive and existential roles of Isvara and Pranava (alias "God" and "Word of God"), two prime roots commonly emphasized in religious traditions featuring faith, prayer and worship as the practice for deliverance.

The following passages are translated from the first chapter ("Samadhi-pada") of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, a discourse on the nature and sequences of Samadhi (luminous union of awareness) that leads to the complete resolution and pristine unification of fragmented human awareness.

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atha yogānuśāsanam ||1||

yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ ||2||

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe ’vasthānam ||3||

"Then, instructions on connection (yoga). Yoga is the cessation of fluctuating awareness. There, pure awareness is understood in its perennial state."

śraddhā-vīrya-smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvaka itareṣām ||20||

tīvra-saṁvegānām āsannaḥ ||21||

mṛdu-madhyādhi-mātratvāt tato’pi viśeṣaḥ ||22||

"For some, realization is preceded by faith, vigor, mindfulness, mental focus and wisdom. Its nearness is proportionate to the ardor of spirit; specifically, as mild, medium or of the greatest measure."

īśvara-praṇidhānād vā ||23||

kleśa-karma-vipākāśayair aparāmṛṣṭaḥ puruṣa-viśeṣa īśvaraḥ ||24||

tatra niratiśayaṁ sarvajñatva-bījam ||25||

sa pūrveṣām api guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt ||26||

"Or by fixation on Master God (Isvara). God is a specific kind of sentience untouched by afflictions or residual imprints of action. In that, it is an incomparable seed of omniscience. Unhindered by time, it was also the teacher of the ancients."

tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ ||27||

taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam ||28||

tataḥ pratyak-cetanādhigamo’py antarāyābhāvaś ca ||29||

"Its utterance is the living sound (Pranava). By its mutterance, its purpose is understood. Then, awareness becomes inbound and obstacles disappear."

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For the Ancients of East, the living sound was the syllable Oṁ (AUM: ॐ), the voice first heard in perennial emptiness; and it was the sound of the breath of God ("prana") that evolved. In accordance with their desires and methodologies, they sought Prime Awareness in diverse intelligible forms and domains, and ultimately beyond the worlds of names and forms, following the inner breath and voice of God.

For the Ancients of West, this self-same living sound echoed at the dawn of emergence; God contemplated over the void, and Amen ("so be it") — the creation came forth and expanded. "These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation." (Rev 3:14) Amen is a Word from God's heart; therefore say /ɑːˈmɛn/ to feel the breath of God and Word of truth in your heart; /eɪˈmɛn/ is a half-hearted twist of sounds.

For the Moderns of East and West, much of the universality of these ancient teachings are lost in a jungle of obsessive particularity. Since the falling of the Tower of Babel, since the dawn of the Age of Quarrel, mankind has struggled to find unity among their manifold concepts and languages. Religious disagreements are generally a result of superficiality and narrowness of perception. Out of the shadows and into the substance — dig in and expand!

Open Letter: Children of the Light!

The following is an open letter to every missionary and messenger of Christ, dated September 1st, 2007. It is translated from the original Finnish version I once wrote in response to a number of fired-up born-again preachers who were targeting me over my "evil oriental beliefs" — which in no way differ from the essence they sought to preach, save and except our vocabularies and their persistent calls for exclusivity to the one and only path, truth and life. This is the same universal message in their vocabulary.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 18:3-4)

Jesus Christ is Universal: Never force his mission into the constraints of your foolish and narrow perspectives, declaring yourself as a true and exclusive messenger, trampling on others without fear or remorse in advancing your faith — very literally your faith, in that you are weak in faith and seek to enforce it through convincing others. This is no preaching — this is violence to others in the name of serving your selfish egoist needs.

I am particularly not fond of listening to sermons by preachers, who are themselves lukewarm in their deeds, lacking a correlation in their words and their acts in fulfillment of the message. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:15-16)

While it is a message of light, love and heaven that Jesus sought to teach, his followers have turned it into a campaign of demons and eternal lakes of fire and damnation, preaching but thunder and storms of fear. Then, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31) Below is a video from the Healing Waters Church, a beautiful illustration of how a universal message can be conveyed with art and fluid expression, in a spirit of healing and balance, as the original intent was.

The soothing wind and water of love and harmony; from the Healing Waters Church.

In the transfiguration of Christ, the old God and prophets of Fire and Thunder

were reconciled and made gentle in the soothing Waters and Winds of Christ.

Then, this is an open letter to all who would pour fire and brimstones unto others, canvassing mankind into the service of a demanding and wrathful God, forcing our choice between Heaven and Hell in nothing but an act of ignorance and immaturity. If you are a messenger or a preacher, then walk your talk or get down from the high horse and be humbled before the sins that still riddle you.

When a humble mule carried the Son of God and the King of Heavens, we are hardly in a position to ride a blazing white horse whilst weaving our sword and throwing our spears about — especially when still far from being humble children of the light who would inherit the Kingdom of Heaven in their hearts!

—o)O(o—

Children of the Light!

Ho, brother, declaring your message of Light to the world! You, who count yourself in the flock of Christ. Be looking into your heart! Do you truly walk the path of the Christ in your deeds, or do you tread the path of flesh and perishness, the pious words but an ornament of your lips? Your words are of God, but truly your heart still dwells in the kingdom of Satan.

Hear this, and hear it well and with your full heart, for I shall speak the words of the Christ. Truly, I shall speak the words of the Christ, a message to uproot Satan's dominion of your heart to its roots; a message to lead you towards the path of truth, holiness, righteousness and light.

You profess to be among the own of Jesus Christ, his message you preach. But does your heart follow his path? Have you given your all — each thought, word and the acts of your hands — to be his own? Have you already risen above blame? For is it not said, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Tess 1. 5:23)

"But none of us is Jesus Christ, free of sin, come from above. In sin we are born, and in sin we are living." May that be so. But your sins are to cease! Remember the words of your Master, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." (Joh 13:15) Jesus would not grant even a moment to be Satan's own, wouldn't waver before the temptation. Then become like him!

Give up, then, the ways of your Satan — walk the path of brightness shown by your Lord Jesus, fulfilling his sacred will. For did he not say, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21)

You will not be delivered by confession alone — you will be delivered when the pristinity of your heart is seen in the deeds of your hands. For there is no room in the kingdom of heaven for Satan, nor for those following his path, carrying Satan in their innermost hearts. As the master said, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matt 12:50) Become his brother and his sister then — walk as holy and free of fear by his side!

Once you have professed the path of the Christ in your past, once it has touched your heart. Do you suppose your confession of the past will carry from here into the evermore? Make your heart blameless at each moment, fill it with divine light. Fill it with freedom from sin, freedom you gain in living forever in the light of Christ.

Gaze towards the sky, raise your arms and kneel. Call with your full heart for the brightness of God to descend into your heart. Call with humility, call with remorse, and call with pathos. Let the tears of remorse wash your face, let them fill your heart; for the stream of tears born of the light of God shall wash away the Satan within you. Call in the morning, call in the evening, call at night and call in the day; call in each moment for the descent of grace and brightness illuminating. Make this call your life, and in Christ you will dwell.

You preach the word of Christ while living under Satan's rule. Where is the power of your message? For it is said, "But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:19) You pure in words but filthy in deeds, you will only reap a hypocrite's fame, distancing the humanity from the message of Christ's light with your fruitless message. Live in the Christ, be filled with his light and love. Your word will become powerful.

"There is much that is dear in the world for me too", we often hear. Know that craving to be of Satan, and know that world to be his. Know its pleasures and allurements as the path of perishment. For the Master said,  "Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (Joh 12:25) Your true life is within in the kingdom of God, in the temple of the Holy Christ to descend into your heart. Live in Christ alone, live forever more. Uproot each and every path of darkness, path apart from the Christ.

If you count yourself among Christ's own, then ponder in your heart these words: "Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ." (Romans 8:8-9) Being filled with the Spirit of Christ, the dominion of flesh would cease. For it is said, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Gal 5:24)

Do not bend before your longing for the world, "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." (Gal 5:17) Understand this, understand your predicament, and lament. Call for the Spirit of Christ in truth into your heart, and call for it evermore. Exorcise the spirit of Satan with the power of holy heaven, and in giving your all in the Spirit of Christ you'd be filled with the holy yourself.

You trade your soul in the world of the living dead, hold its affairs as your own, delight in its pleasures; in the pleasures of flesh, sin, and forgetfulness. But did Jesus not say, "You follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matt 8:22) Walk in the footsteps of your Master towards the world of the living, sow within your heart the seeds of brightness. "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Gal 6:8)

Do not postpone the opportunity of grace you face, walk now without faltering on the path of brightness. For it is said, "Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light." (Joh 12:36) Yet there is an opening before you, so seize it like a drowning man would reach for the last floating straw. Who knows when you'll drown, when your days will meet their count? Truly, may this day be the last of your days in this world.

Live your life in the light of Christ, and fulfill his holy will. Follow his path in sincerity, and make his instructions your all. Be free of sin and attain infinite, everlasting life. Let the Spirit of God fill your all, and fill your world with the light, joy and selfless love of God. Be a child of the light while living! And in the Holy you are to discover your true life.

—o)O(o—

SySpir: Systemic Spirituality - Forming a Synthesis

Madventures in the world of religion and spirituality pave a natural platform for this — an initiative I have long wanted to bring into a more concrete shape — namely Systemic Spirituality. The essence of all holistic and spiritual knowledge deserves a working general frame of reference; for undoubtedly both we and the world at large are a wee bit lost in the seven seas of diverging and hard-to-compare traditions of insight. One cross-connected ocean would be much easier to cope with...

Please visit Systemic Spirituality at SySpir.com and join the talks at LinkedIn.

∞   Synthesis and Systemization of Existential Systems and Mental / Spiritual Methodologies   ∞

Advancing the synthesis and systemization of ancient and modern existential systems and mental/spiritual methodologies. Participate and contribute towards the systematic rediscovery of the ontological and operative principles of existential frameworks, proto-sciences, cultivation methods, and spiritual disciplines.

Systemic Spirituality (SySpir) is a non-profit initiative that seeks to expand the scope of available human knowledge in a systemic and cross-referencable generic format, facilitating ease of study and practical application for everyone seeking to expand their limited spheres of consciousness and cognition.

The Systemic Spirituality group at LinkedIn advances the synthesis and systemization of ancient and modern existential systems and mental/spiritual methodologies. If you are already at LinkedIn, please join the open group and start contributing. If not, it takes but a minute to create an account — so if you're interested, don't shy away, log in and dig in.

If you have a background or an interest in systemizable traditions of knowledge with universal relevancy, you're welcome to hop onboard and start sharing your perspectives — or asking your questions. In the spirit of the group's name, let's keep our discussions orderly and logical to ensure all participation counts and is constructive. Be sure to invite your network of contacts to expand our shared sphere of wisdom!

Strictly no ideological spam propaganda welcome: No one system held in the human mind is the ultimate truth. A synthesis of all systems and perspectives is an approximation of the sum-total of human wisdom — and the aim is to have them all fit on a single grid and complement each other, not to highlight some to the exclusion of others.

The SySpir.com website is currently in basic information mode. Once the project facilitator's desk is cleared of ongoing code production, the evolution of the site will begin to unfold. If you have ideas or other feedback you feel might be beneficial in advancing the shared goals of the SySpir project, please feel free to share!   ∞

The Banishment of the Watch-Maker

"You can't talk about karma without God, for every law needs a law-maker!" Or so I was told by someone who had read my earlier article discussing universal and Buddhist concepts of karma. Do we really need to have an intelligent designer for each and every minuscule aspect of existence, or does the world turn every bit as well without a cosmic architect?

Despite my sincerest efforts, it just didn't add up in the end.

Foundational Fallacy

It is quite meaningless for someone to just say that every law or principle requires a law-maker. A hypothesis employing deductive analogy is far from a conclusive standard of evidence. Analogy meaning the hypothesis that the principles of our human world would be identical to those of any second dimension, of which we may deduce that just as every law of human world is made by a human maker, so every principle in existence requires an intelligent designer.

Does this make sense? Is it logical? Of that, we have little evidence. Our experiences in the human world may be manifold, but the human world is not an archetype from which to derive and reconstruct any and all higher dimensions of existence. After all, in the human world all things come to an end, and grief is inherent in existence, but the supposed god and his domain are invariably in breach of these fundamental principles.

It is really rather naive to assume that our form of existence would be the only extant form of conscious life, thence creating the myth of how exceptionally rare a coincidence it is that we should exist as we do. This ill-assumed exceptionality again gives rise to theories of intelligent design, and culminate in concluding that the great intelligent designer must be akin in principle to those now considering themselves the created. Ladies and gentlemen, the anthropomorphic creator god is now seated on his throne.

Had god had a sense of humor, two plus two would equal five.

Self-evident Principles

When a man opens his palm holding an apple, the apple falls. Do you need a law-maker for that? The intrinsic properties of the variables bring about a certain conjoint effect by their own natures. Gravity exists in a situation where objects with mass attract each other. Where these conditions don't exist, the said phenomenom does not occur. We happen to be in a place where objects with mass attract each other, hence the apple invariably falls to the ground. Should we shift our location to outer space, for example, the apple would no longer fall owing to different coefficients.

You don't need a law-maker to decide whether 2+2=4 or not. The intrinsic values of two identical variables add up to a combined result of twice their value, automatically and without need for divine design or intervention. Everything is the way it is in the human world because the variables happen to be right for a particular variety of existence. In other conditions, the variables would either create a foundation for a different variety of existence, subject to the effects of the interacting variables, or none at all if their current synergy would be too weak to effect such, in which case they would remain latent pending a change in surrounding effectors.

Moreover, causes and effects require no will of their own to interact. Any given effect is the only possible outcome of the exact interacting causes in the exact environment of variables. Theoretically, knowledge of each intricate aspect contributing to a situation would give a passive observer, who knows the potentials of each aspect, the ability to foresee any given event or series of events with perfect accuracy. Advanced capacity in recognizing variables and patterns is what the ancients called omniscience, while omnipotence was the derived capability for intricate manipulation of variables to effect the desired outcome.

Why would you possibly need a watch-maker, a compassionate watcher, a passionate interventionist or a dutiful maintenance man for any of the above to function as it already does?

The beginningless dance of infinite co-efficent factors

Beginningless Redundance of Creator

The concept of an original law-maker-cum-creator is every bit as flawed in the light of Vedanta as it is before plain logic. The Brahma-sutra states that existence is anadi or beginningless. Beginningless by its very definition indicates that there has never been a dawn of existence where principles of interaction would have first been established, rendering the necessity for a god or a law-maker entirely redundant. If the wheel of existence has been turning without a beginning, the concept of an original creator becomes a paradox by its very definition.

The principle of causality, then, is a beginningless field of coefficient exchange requiring no designer or supreme intelligent coordinator for its functioning. Everything is in a constant state of flux, each factor in motion and shaping the other, two causes giving birth to a new effect that naturally follows. The momentum of each factor escalates its contacted surroundings, giving rise to infinite new causal chains, even as the sum total of energy remains constant. I call it the dance of the universe, as also the great weaving of cosmic fields. If there must be a god, let him be the symmetric caleidoscope of the universe.

Continued: The God Who Created the God Who Created the God »

Religions Re-weighed

Some evolutions since the last time around, taking BeliefNet's Belief-O-Matic. Frankly I wasn't expecting Theravada to show up first, I assumed my views to be too cynical and universal to get a proper orthodox score. It's a wonder in its own right that anything crossed the 90% line! Among the interesting movers since May 2004:

Rising:
Theravada: 59% -> 100 %
Mahayana: 90% -> 99%
Taoism: 43% -> 77%
Nontheist: 16% -> 40%
Secular Humanism: 29% -> 57%

I wonder what marked the 1% difference between Theravada and Mahayana! I suppose I am a bit of a transvehicular hitch-hiker. Shared field with Tao is steadily growing; the integrated flow of the universe is more vivid by the day. Nontheism is nontheism, which I suppose is a milder way to say atheism, and secular humanism is, well, secular humanism.

Falling:
Hinduism: 100% -> 69%
Sikhism: 94% -> 70%
Islam: 45% -> 30%
Baha'i Faith: 65% -> 45%
Orthodox Judaism: 64% -> 43%

Hinduism took an unavoidable dive with god-concepts and ritualism reassessed, Sikhism, Islam, Baha'I and Judaism following its trail. You can't really start explaining to the quiz machine how the god-symbols, skillfully understood and stripped of anthropomorphic superimposition, parallel the enlightenment, the emptiness and the absolute of non-theistic traditions. Understood at face value, the theistic symbols can at times be less than helpful. Understood on a meta-level, the boundaries between theism and non-theism begin to disintegrate.

Of course, responding to series of questions with narrow options can only yield a result with limited nuances, missing details that can turn the lists upside down. For example, with Islam ranked at 30% in the test, there are yet aspects of it that rank it, as a method of cultivation, quite well on my scale, and we are not talking about Sufi, but plain old Islam. Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the desert fathers' heritage and all, also deserve a higher place on the carts.

May 2008:

1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (99%)
3. Neo-Pagan (88%)
4. Jainism (82%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (80%)
6. New Age (78%)
7. Taoism (77%)
8. Liberal Quakers (73%)
9. Sikhism (70%)
10. Hinduism (69%)
11. New Thought (60%)
12. Secular Humanism (57%)
13. Reform Judaism (56%)
14. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (55%)
15. Orthodox Quaker (55%)
16. Scientology (54%)
17. Baha'i Faith (45%)
18. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (44%)
19. Orthodox Judaism (43%)
20. Nontheist (40%)
21. Islam (30%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (30%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (23%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (20%)
26. Roman Catholic (20%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (10%)

May 2004:

1. Hinduism (100%)
2. Sikhism (94%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (90%)
4. Neo-Pagan (87%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (77%)
6. Jainism (68%)
7. New Age (68%)
8. Baha'i Faith (65%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (64%)
10. Liberal Quakers (61%)
11. Reform Judaism (61%)
12. Theravada Buddhism (59%)
13. New Thought (52%)
14. Scientology (48%)
15. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (46%)
16. Islam (45%)
17. Taoism (43%)
18. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (34%)
19. Orthodox Quaker (34%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (32%)
21. Secular Humanism (29%)
22. Eastern Orthodox (29%)
23. Roman Catholic (29%)
24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (26%)
25. Seventh Day Adventist (21%)
26. Jehovah's Witness (20%)
27. Nontheist (16%)