Uncle Dale Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) ... The Divine Source could the The Universe for all I know... .Oh, I suppose that a cube of LSD-laced sugar, accompaniedby and hour or two of Ravi Shankar sitar music, might have eventhe greatest of atheists blabbering about "all things are a unity." Pantheism (I've heard say) is the last great temptation alongthe path to the pinnacle of Mt. Kailash. It "seems" so awe-full. Then, again, I was once told this: >And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved;>and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. -- And whoso>believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.... So -- not only belief in a specific "divine source," but a requirementfor a belief in a specific ordinance, and a belief in a specific priesthood,and a belief in a specific "line of authority," and a belief in a remissionof sins, only at a specific point in that sequence, etc. etc. etc. I "believe" that the square root of 100 is 9 -- or about 9 -- close enoughfor my calculating the sum of my shopping charges at the supermarket. But -- after some reconsideration and experimentation, I'm inclined toreplace "belief" with a firm "knowledge" that the proper number for thatroot is 10. The Brother of Jared seems to have happened upon this same notion:that once "knowing" comes about, "believing" takes second fiddle. Ten thousand -- ten million -- ten billion of my fellow humans say that10 is the right answer -- that they "know" it's truth. And who am I tospit against the wind? But, then again, I hear of "unknowing" -- of transcendental realization.No choral refrain of "we know it's true" to back that sort of thing up. The ultimate subjectivity -- not even a "self" for a witness. Some critic tells The Buddha that he's a charlatan, who never did"experience enlightenment," and Siddhartha answers -- "Correct,there was no experience and there is no experiencer. But I've got avery workable 8-fold path that we can talk about..." Believing -- Experiencing -- Knowing -- Realizing. Are they one in the same? I've heard some F&T Sunday 3-minute talks that made no differentiation. UD Edited March 23, 2015 by Uncle Dale
mfbukowski Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 .Oh, I suppose that a cube of LSD-laced sugar, accompaniedby and hour or two of Ravi Shankar sitar music, might have eventhe greatest of atheists blabbering about "all things are a unity." Pantheism (I've heard say) is the last great temptation alongthe path to the pinnacle of Mt. Kailash. It "seems" so awe-full. Then, again, I was once told this: >And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved;>and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. -- And whoso>believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.... So -- not only belief in a specific "divine source," but a requirementfor a belief in a specific ordinance, and a belief in a specific priesthood,and a belief in a specific "line of authority," and a belief in a remissionof sins, only at a specific point in that sequence, etc. etc. etc. I "believe" that the square root of 100 is 9 -- or about 9 -- close enoughfor my calculating the sum of my shopping charges at the supermarket. But -- after some reconsideration and experimentation, I'm inclined that"belief" to a firm "knowledge" that the proper number for that root is 10.The Brother of Jared seems to have happened upon this same notion:that once "knowing" comes about, "believing" takes second fiddle. But, then again, I hear of "unknowing" -- of transcendental realization. Some critic tells The Buddha that he's a charlatan, who never did"experience enlightenment," and Siddhartha answers -- "Correct,there was no experience and there is no experiencer. But I've got avery workable 8-fold path that we can talk about..." Believing -- Experiencing -- Knowing -- Realizing. Are they one in the same? I've heard some F&T Sunday 3-minute talks that made no differentiation. UDI guess that makes 3. Sorry, no more responses will be forthcoming.
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