Thanks Barry and Heather
Ted

“Your mind is like a parachute – works best when it’s open.” No truer statement ever made.

Don’t close your mind to any new thoughts or ideas. Always be open. I shudder inside when people poor out endless “God” twaddle.

I always like to ask – where was God when little children were being thrown, still alive, into the ovens in Nazi Germany. On holidays? At a party somewhere and found out too late? Perhaps he was texed but his mobile was flat. Hard of hearing and didn’t hear the screams? God has a lot to answer for.

Think, think, and think again. Never stop asking questions. Question fearlessly.

Cheers,

Doug.

In a way, thinking is not free and is like the functions of the body such as breathing or the beating of the heart. Am I always thinking just like I am always breathing–without consciously willing it all the time? Is ‘thinking’ a part of ‘being’, separate from being, or one and the same thing?

In another way, I don’t have control over thought. Even when I tell myself I’m not going to think. Well, I am still thinking. I’m thinking about nothing. I can’t really ever turn off thought.

There is a sense of freedom in thought because I can choose what I want to think about. I can change the topics from one thought to the next. But there are also times when thoughts just pop into my head without me consciously willing it like daydreaming or ‘aha’ moments.

Ok, I know I’m not discussing the central issue of the statement: “a free thinker is satan’s slave.” It’s because I don’t want to assume what the pastor meant unless I hear it from him. What’s more important for me is the statement got me thinking about a lot of other topics. And I could go on to share some more.

Thanks again for sharing this photo. Thanks for your review of Eckhart’s work, and pointing out some of the dangers of his ideas. I haven’t read the book yet, and I’ve known about the book for some time now through Oprah. I have to read it for myself before I can form any opinions.

Sid and Ron

Many people like to say that Eckhart is just teaching Buddhist philosophy, but the quotes in the report from his book are, obviously, real.

There are many to choose from when you read it, but here’s just one: “Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind.”

And here’s another: “Ego is no more than this: identification with form which primarily means thought forms. If evil has any reality – and it has a relative, not an absolute reality – this is also its definition: complete identification with form – physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms… if the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating fundamentally the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction.”

Right… so “ego” and “evil” have the same definition. But you’re saying he’s not calling the “ego” “evil”?

You’ll probably want to read the book (and the report) before you make any firm assessment on that.

cheers
Barry & Heather

I loved the article on Tolle.

To be honest, I never read his books or saw him with Oprah. I assumed (oh, oh) him to be just another pop star and there is too much to read anyway.

He probably works for the same people that get others to ignore the world as it is in order to distact them from what is going on in it.

For example, churches, as well as the “enlightenment” community look for the quick fix to the present conditions in the world by looking inward … “can’t fix the world unless you fix yourself first” … lay your treasures in heaven … etc.

So, all the “good” people are cloistered in church, or meditating, or doing something to better themselves instead of taking the time and mental effort to create the “ideal” world. If the forces came out of hiding, then we could, with the aid of a democracy, actually create a “good” world, a “new earth”.

Take all of the “good” people, engage them in restructuring the political and economic realities in the world, and it could be a really nice place to live. You would see that the good guys actually outnumber the bad guys.

The “good guys” just want to have a life. They don’t want to make a lot of noise or create psychological discomfort for society. People like regularity or the “status quo”. That is a problem, when change is required.

I can sit down, meditate, and really enjoy myself. But, if the world runs out of oxygen, or has no more food, or someone hits me over the head with a brick, then I am quickly brought down to earth with all of the pain and suffering it has to offer.

Who, of those that did a lot of things to change the world, spent years in meditation, etc., except the spiritual leaders? Who controls the world? Does the Dalai Lama have power over the government in China? Do Americans even have power over their president or over their economic rulers?

Seems to me that an object of meditation is harmony and balance between the two halves of the brain. Shouldn’t the “dualities” also be brought together in a more balanced manner? Shouldn’t the “rich” be only a little richer than the “poor”? Isn’t it the wrong way to go when the dualities get so far apart? Hmmm … imbalance makes things fall down.

People like Tolle want you to accept the duality and escape the real world so the monkeys can steal all the bananas.

Have a nice day,
Michael