Religion

Talks about what all religions have in common.

Eastern vs. Western Spiritual Traditions

Published on by Jim

The Hindu or the Vedic tradition has been around for at least 5,000 years.  Buddhism has been around for over 2,500 years.  Judaism has been around for over 3,000 years.  Christianity has been around for over 2,000 years.  Islam has been around for about 1,500 years.

Christianity has about 2.4 billion adherents. Islam has about 1.9 billion adherents.  Hinduism has about 1.2 billion adherents.  Buddhism has about 530 million adherents. 

Why have the Western spiritual/religious traditions expanded faster and farther than the Eastern spiritual/religious traditions?

It can also be said that Western traditions are more violent and warlike. Why?

I would say the key reason is PASSION. 

Eastern traditions are about ending suffering and are particularly focused on the individual’s liberation from suffering.  Western traditions are not about ending suffering; they even encourage suffering.   Western traditions are more about community and expanding their influence. 

The Vedic tradition focuses on the liberation from suffering for the individual. Buddhism has the Four Noble Truths, saying it is all about ending suffering, and the Eight-Fold Path is the way to end suffering.  As an afterthought the Buddha added the idea of compassion toward others.

The problem with this is that compassion requires suffering.  The etymology of the word “compassion” shows us that com means with and passion means “to suffer.”  So compassion is the willingness to suffer (with others).  But if your whole tradition is about ending suffering, then you are in conflict. 

The Buddha was wrong.  The goal in life is NOT to end suffering, it is to end the IDEA that we are trapped in suffering. 

Passion motivates people.  It pushes them outward and onward.  Passion encourages change, growth, and expansion.  Discouraging passion discourages that expansion and growth.

This is not to say that Eastern traditions don’t have something to offer humanity or even individuals.  This only means the traditions are not complete. 

Eastern traditions encourage finding inner peace, and that is very attractive for those who are suffering from inner conflicts.

Humans are considered the master species on Earth because they have been so successful at not just surviving but thriving and growing.  So it would seem that the Western traditions are the master traditions because they, too, have been so successful at thriving and growing.

But this may not be true in the long run if the warlike nature of the Western traditions leads to a major war that destroys many of the adherents of the Western traditions. 

Personally, I have found that BOTH traditions have a lot to offer, and by combining the two traditions of passion and peace, one can expedite the process of liberating oneself from the habits that create suffering, but can still use the suffering to motivate one to share that skill with their greater Self.

Life requires one to breathe in AND to breathe out.  So too, it is healthier and more expedient for one’s evolution to develop BOTH skills of passion and peace.  Western traditions have many psychological/philological tools to enable the development of passion.  Eastern traditions have long developed the tools to develop skills of finding inner peace via meditation.  But by adding one western skill/idea to that process, one can expedite the process of finding mental peace and the clarity that that brings. 

Clarity is what enables one to see the truth that sets them free to unconditionally enjoy and love all that life offers. This can be called enlightenment, liberation, Nirvana, or the Kingdom of Heaven.  

And once a person has the clarity, they can share that with others and their greater Self.  

Audio Combining Both Eastern and Western Spiritual Strategies

Published on by Jim Leave a comment

The eastern spiritual traditions are about finding peace; the western traditions are about passion. By combining BOTH strategies we can expedite our spiritual evolution and increase the quality of our life experience.

In this podcast, I talk about how I unintentionally combined the strategies of the east and west and how that profoundly helped me on my journey to Heaven/Nirvana/Enlightenment.

Video Heaven, Nirvana & Enlightenment

Published on by Jim Leave a comment

Ancient words that point at an experience that anyone can have who is open to it. Modern understanding has given us new insights into ancient methods that help a person open up to these experiences or states of consciousness. It is also important to recognize that a large segment of society does not want anyone to experience Heaven, Nirvana or Enlightenment, which is why they condition people to reject the very idea that anyone can experience this.

Outline of conversation:

  • • Most people have heard these words but don’t know what they really mean.
  • • Words that point at something very good
  • • Ancient people have talked about them
  • • Religious and spiritual people talk about them
  • • Often talked about or imagined as impossible to experience
  • • The everyday experience that we don’t realize is amazing
  • • Enlightened people just realize its value
  • • Practice makes perfect
  • • How to practice
  • • A community can help to remember
  • • Mind programmed by society to forget;  Others benefit by our forgetting
  • • NOW is all that is real; thoughts of past or future are distractions from the reality of NOW; ego/survival mechanism over activity motivates us to look at past and future and ignore NOW
  • • Heaven is healthy; relaxes the body and removes dis-ease, tension, and stress
  • • How Neurotransmitters work
  • • How the practice serves humanity, radiating outward that others can feel.
  • • Often to simple for complex minds to accept o Jesus pointed this out when he talked about being like a child to enter heaven
  • • Thoughts as toys to play with and enjoy.

Philosophies and Theologies are Just Words

Published on by Jim

Philosophies and Theologies are just words designed to program humans to have certain general physiological responses to words so that the humans can be control or manipulated.

Philosophy relies on a person’s conditioned responses to various words designed to stimulate general physiological responses in the human instrument.  It is a primitive method of gaining control over humans.  Science is words designed to point the human mind at processes so that mind will have understanding of the process and can therefore use that understand to its own benefit, transcending the external control that philosophies and theologies are trying to maintain.

Love is a general physiological response in the body to a thought in the brain; it feels good because that response is relaxing. One can create this feeling by focusing one’s attention on the center of the body, in the heart area, and by focusing their attention they are sending increased electrochemical activity to that area, thus activating the area and warming it up. The warming relaxes the muscles and nerves of the body giving one a sensation, one that we call love.

The conscious person understands this and practices this behavior so that they can have the positive experience of love whenever they desire, not conditional upon any particular thought pattern or any external stimuli such as a person or object’s presence.

I understand that less than one third of the world’s population is awake enough to understand what I am talking about. But there are those who will hear what I say and be able to use it to improve the quality of their life experience. Many if not most of the other two thirds of the people will resist what I say and take offense.

Look at the story of Jesus. He taught pretty much the same thing but most of the people did not understand him and forgot about what he said. Yet there were some who took offense at him and eventually killed him for his words.   Few if any got free from the power of words to control or manipulate their behavior.  In fact, some of his followers even encouraged the worship of words and their power over people.

This is natural too and part of the reality of life. Yet, we as a species are evolving and humanity is nowhere near as primitive as they were in Jesus’ time. It is science that gives on the understanding of how they human instrument works and how society is designed to manipulate that human instrument so that the individual can gain greater control over their own human instrument to maximize the quality of their life experience.

This advantage is lost to the ignorant masses. The will continue to be manipulated by words or objects so that the ruling classes can have dominion over them; they will be slaves to whoever can push their buttons.

 

Taking Back the Power of Words to Hurt

Published on by Jim

I saw an interview today on CNN’s website where Marc Lamont Hill were saying that we should allow a discussion of the “N-word”.  I find that attitude one of the most open minded I have heard in a long time.  Let me explain why.

I have realized that words do not hurt people; it is people’s reactions to words that cause them harm.  We, as citizens of our society, have been programmed to be reactive to words in such a way that causes us harm.  Once we become aware of this we can take responsibility for OUR behavior (our reaction) and re-train ourselves to not react with such hurtful behavior.

Yet, as long as we keep lying to ourselves (and one another) that it was the word that hurt us and it was the person who said the word who is responsible for our suffering, we will stay trapped in a cycle of abuse.

Words like nigger, faggot, failure, dike, sinner and others still have the power to move people emotionally in a way that they would rather not be moved.  The CONSCIOUS person recognizes this and takes responsibility for their part in this and learns to relax and stop reacting.

But what is the advantage of keeping people ignorant of the truth that will set them free of being offended by words?  Well, one is if you were an owner of slaves in the US south 200 years ago you would want your slaves to be moved emotionally by words so that you could use that to control their behavior.  It is easier to get them to hurt themselves with words then to have to hit them with a whip. Or if you were a racist today would you not want to be able to get someone of a different race to HURT THEMSELVES when you used certain words?  Or what about the parent that wants to intimidate their child with words like “bad”; without the child’s fear of that word you would lose some control over them.

These are only a few of the many examples of benefits of keeping intimidated by words.  What I am saying here is that there are many advantages to some people in society to keep people hurting when stimulated by words.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was all about Blessedness.  One of the things he said was, “Blessed be those who do not take offense at me.”  Yet, many religious people of his time did take offense at him, which is why they killed him.  Jesus also said, “Take cheer, for I have overcome the world” which indicates to me that he was showing that you could not offend Jesus with your words (or actions).  And finally, he said, “I have come to bear witness to the truth.”  To me, this means that he was bearing witness to the fact that religious people have been conditioned to abuse themselves emotionally when stimulated by words (as a means of maintaining control of them).  Yet, if you followed Jesus’ way (not the Christian way) you would overcome the world and its ability to push your buttons and hence control or manipulate you emotionally just using words.

So it is my opinion and experience that by bring this discussion out into the open and talking about it, and putting responsibility where it is due, we can show people that it is possible to get free from ever being hurt by words again.

A lot of the pain some kids are experiencing today from ‘bullying’ is a product of their conditioned reactions to words.  If we teach children the old school yard rhyme, “Stick and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me,” we could end a lot of the bullying that now happens.

Of course, if we do this, those who benefit from people’s habitual emotional self-abusive behaviors will be up in arms about it, just like they were when Jesus was teaching this 2,000 years ago.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Identification Ends Love

Published on by Jim

CNN Exclusive: One conservative’s dramatic reversal on gay marriage – CNN.com.

This story is a perfect example of how a person’s identification with someone or something has limited their love.  Before Sen. Portman realized that someone HE KNEW and loved was gay he was very anti gay marriage.  But as soon as he realized that someone he knew was gay and that sooner or later he would want the same things that the senator wanted, the senator opened his heart and changed his mind to support gay marriage.

If the senator had opened his heart to ALL BEINGS then he would have felt the same desire that he has within them, which is the desire to marry the person of his or her choice.

Sen. Portman identified with HIS family but could really care less with people of other families.  He opposed gay marriage because he did not care about the desires of people he did not identify with. His son’s coming out to him caused him to re-examine his ways of thinking and change his perspective.

To me, this is an example of the biblical concept of removing the heart of stone (the heart of the conservative) and replacing it with a heart of flesh (the heart of the liberal).  [Ezekiel 36:26]

We can see this same thing happening with former Vice-President Cheney, who discovered that his daughter was gay and she wanted to marry her girlfriend.  Because of this Cheney opened his heart and is now pro gay marriage just as Portman.

The point is that our habit of identifying with this or that person, including our own ‘self’ is part of the process of closing ourselves off to or limiting love.

By identify as Spirit one sees themselves as one with ALL beings and the heart become open and we can feel the pain and desires of all beings.  Being one with them you want for them what you want for your Self, which now includes them.

This is what Unconditional Love is and does, it opens you up to the pain and desires of all beings, not just your ‘loved ones’.

Love is a Feeling

Published on by Jim

The dictionary defines love as a an intense feeling of deep affection.

Scientists like Dr. M. Scott Peck define love as “”the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth”. Yet, Dr. Peck admits that he does not know WHY a person has the will to extend one’s self.

That is because Dr. Peck and most people ignore the obvious, that love is something that we FEEL in our bodies.  Feelings, like the feeling of hunger, are what motivate us.

One thing that can be said about love is that it feels GOOD, even when it hurts.  In fact, sometimes the pain or hurt of love is what is so powerful about love.  We can long for union with someone who we are physically with, the longing feeling being the love, and that longing hurts SO good that it is so intense we feel we are going to die or be burned up in the feeling.

We do not have to be limited to this feeling just for a person, we can feel it for a concept like the idea of ‘God’ or country or freedom or just about anything else

The point is that love is a FEELING and the more we are willing to feel that feeling, including the intensity that feels uncomfortable at times, the more love we will have in our life.  From the perspective of the person in the drama of romantic love, this idea can really suck.

Yet, on the other side of this coin, fully going into the pain of love and staying there to long can be physically, emotionally and mentally damaging to the human instrument through which one is experiencing life.  Too much can be a bad thing.

This is where discipline and sensitivity comes in.  We first have to be sensitive in our bodies and mind to know when we are on the threshold of damaging ourselves so that we can then use our disciplined skill to stop the pain.

Without this sensitive and discipline we will continue in the pain until we damage our human instrument or condition it away from love.  You can tell a person who has done this for they are shut down to caring about most if not all people and life itself.  They become what I call ‘conservatives’ for they ‘conserve’ or hold back their love.

Both sensitivity and discipline come with practice.

Sensitive comes from practicing feeling what we are actually feeling in our body, not just the activity in our brain, our thoughts, but what is happening below the neck.  This is not just feeling the gross sensations we normally feel, but also the subtle ones, the beating of our heart, the movement of the blood through our blood vessels, movement of the subtle energies as the body communicates with itself.  Feeling this takes practice being still and watching/feeling what else is going on.

Discipline comes from keeping at it no matter what happens, even if at first you lose your focus and get distracted you go back to the practice.  That is discipline.

If you want love, unconditional love, then you have to develop sensitivity and discipline.

The Happy Atheist

Published on by Jim

It has long been attested by religious people that one needs a god to be happy or to find joy and love in life.  The reality is far from this.

The atheist can be as happy or even happier and have more joy and love than a theist if they recognize that happiness, joy and love is what they want in life.  Any person who recognizes that our emotions are a product of our ways of thinking AND our habitual physiological (emotional) reactions will then practice those positive emotions until they have perfected them.

The theists are taught that happiness, joy and love (God is love) are outside of them or come from outside of themselves so they are always lead to believe that these positive emotions or states are only available under certain conditions, conditions that can be used like carrots on a stick to manipulate and enslave the them.

Of course, not all atheists are happy people.  Many if not most atheists are very materialistic and think that happiness, joy and love comes from material things (pretty much like religious people).  Yet the atheist has the advantage of not being dictated to by some deity flying around in the sky, they can go after whatever makes them happy without worry of the opinion of that deity.

So again, the atheist has a better opportunity to find happiness, joy and love than the theists.

Honesty Leads to Heaven

Published on by Jim

Being honest with yourself leads to a heavenly life experience.  Lying to yourself and others leads to a hellish life experience.

It is so hard to be honest, even with ourselves.  Much of society teaches us to lie to ourselves and to others.  We call this process ‘believing’ and being polite, but it is just lying.

It took me years to break the habit of lying to myself, but when I did I experienced this world as heavenly, perfect.  Even today, I am not always honest with myself and hence I have periods where I experience life as hell.  But when I take the time to stop and get back to the truth,  I again go back to that heavenly life experience.

Recently there was an election and the conservative political party lost.  One of the things I find most startling about this is just how dishonest these conservatives were being with THEMSELVES leading up to the election.  They were all so certain that their candidate was going to win by a landslide even though the polls were showing he was going to lose.  But these conservatives wanted to believe their candidate was going to win so they lied to themselves saying that the polls were wrong or that the pollsters were all liberals and the liberal media was just trying to convince everyone their candidate was going to win so that the conservatives would be discouraged and not vote.

Anyway you look at it, the hell those conservatives experienced on election night and are now experiencing is entirely a product of their own self deception; nothing more.

The dictionary defines religion a a system of beliefs.  If we were to be honest without ourselves we would have to admit that a belief is a lie we tell ourselves.  For example, imagine I ‘believe’ that there is an apple tree around the corner with lots of apples on it, and I believe this because someone told me this, I am lying to myself because the truth is I do not know if there is a tree there  or if I understood the person correctly or whatever.  Such is the case with religion, for we really do not know what the writers of the scriptures meant by their words until we experience what they experienced, and that would only be in the present moment.  By experiencing something in the present moment we are not longer believing in some words about something, we are experiencing it.  Belief is gone.  If we just believe we are saying to ourselves that we do not care enough to find out the truth.

Religious people experience this world as HELL because of their self deception.  This is good for the business of the ruling classes, for they can hold out hope for a better future like a carrot on a stick and the gullible religious people will just keep chasing after that hope as they lie to themselves thinking that heaven is just around the corner.

Heaven is NOT just around the corner; it is here, AT HAND, as Jesus tried to tell people.  The only requirement is that you STOP lying to yourself.

That is a tough requirement; it takes a lot of discipline to stop lying to yourself when everywhere you go the world is encouraging you to lie to yourself.  Which is why some people encourage you to get away from society in order to find the inner peace and clarity that comes with it so that you can see what is real, what is true and you can be honest with yourself about it.

Yet who cares enough, even about themselves, to take the time to go off to a lonely place and find that clarity so that they can see the truth that will set them free to enjoy and love all that life has to offer?  Really?

Is it that people do not care of is it that people do not know HOW to be honest with themselves, they do not know how to find that clarity, they do not know how to stop the lying?

I do not know the answer to this question.  This has been the quest I have had for a long time, to find out the answer to this burning question.  I am hoping that there might be some people out there who will read this with some thoughts and ideas they will share on this here.

What is Love? How to Love?

Published on by Jim

On a search of Google adwords I find that those two topics each get 185 MILLION searches a month. I realized yesterday that those two questions are what I started looking for answers to thirty years ago.  I realize now that I have found the answer to those question, found it to perfections, and so therefore I have something to offer those 185 million people who are still searching for answers.

Which is why I am re-dedicating my website, Yesness.com to answering these question.  Starting today I will just be focusing my blogging efforts on these questions.  I suspect that from time to time I will post on other topics but they will go to my personal blog, JimFreedom.com/blog.

I am sure there are many people out there who might read this and will be wondering why I would think I know something about love, for they might think I have no clue what love it.  After all, I have never had a romantic relationship that has lasted even a year and I have had very few relationships.  PLUS, I am one of the biggest assholes that many people who know me have ever known, so how could I say that I know anything about love?

I think that question is funny.

I imagine going into a Christian church and asking, “Was Jesus a loving person?”  I am sure that virtually everyone there would say that YES, Jesus was not just a loving person but the very incarnation of love.

Yet, if you asked the religious people of Jesus’ time if Jesus was a loving person they would say, “HELL NO”, for to them he was Satan incarnate, he was mad, crazy or possessed by demons.  To use modern language they would say that Jesus was an asshole extraordinaire.  Which is why the religious people wanted Jesus dead, because he kept pushing their button or “bearing witness to the truth” of how they were conditioned to ABUSE THEMSELVES and lie to themselves about it by blaming other people for their own emotional behavior.

Jesus then went on to talk about blessedness, which was the theme of his whole Sermon on the Mount.  One of the things he said there was, “Blessed be those who do not take offense at me,”  which put the onus of responsibility for being offended back onto the one who is offended.  Then Jesus went even further and said, “Take cheer, for I have overcome the world,”  which means that you could not push Jesus’ buttons and piss him off the way he could piss off the religious people’s buttons.

So Jesus was not just pointing out that people had been programmed to abuse themselves emotionally, but he cared enough to show them that there was a way out of that abuse.  He loved those people who were persecuting him, enough to take their hatred yet he still tried to inspire them to get free from the unhealthy/unholy habits.

That is what I do and that is why some people still see me as an asshole who knows nothing about love.  I may not yet be as big an asshole as Jesus was, but I aspire to and to even go beyond where Jesus went.

What I have learned is that when I was like everyone else I would abuse myself emotionally all the time, which lead me to experience this world as HELL, but when I learned to be honest with myself and to love myself I was then able to see, appreciate, enjoy and love ALL that life had to offer, which makes my experience of life heavenly.

I have learned how to love myself in the presence of whatever the world is offering and I feel that skill is valuable enough that people will come to my website/blog to hear what I have to say about it.

I would love to hear what you think about this.  Please post your comments wherever you read this.  Your criticism is VERY valuable to me, for it enables me to improve my method of communication and service to others.

Thank you.