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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John on March 31, 2016 at 2:56pm

Thomas Merton Biography

The above is an overview of Thomas Merton

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John on June 7, 2018 at 1:05pm

Jun. 8, 2018
That every man after the life in the world lives to eternity, is evident from this, that man is then spiritual, and no longer natural, and that the spiritual man, separated from the natural, remains such as he is to eternity, for man's state cannot be changed after death.
--- Emanuel Swedenborg

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Some Definitions from the vocabulary file:

SPIRITUAL HEAVEN = middle of the three heavens (also called the SECOND HEAVEN)
CELESTIAL HEAVEN = third or highest heaven
SPIRITUAL-NATURAL = part of the lowest heaven (which includes angels who are spiritual-natural, and those who are celestial-natural. The spiritual-natural are more intellectual and the celestial-natural more affectional)
SPIRITUAL MAN = 1. person whose life is based on the truth; person who lives from higher principles than merely natural ones; 2. the intellectual part of a person.

The above definitions are from the posted file of Swedenborg's Vocabulary.

See the post on Swedenborg's vocabulary from our site:

Swedenborg Vocabulary file

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John on June 8, 2018 at 3:21pm

Jun 9, 2018
For the judgment was accomplished not only upon all the men of the Christian church, but also upon all who are called Mohammedans, and, moreover, upon all the Gentiles in the whole world.
--- Emanuel Swedenborg

Note:

The Judgement was finished before this quote. There is no Judgement at a later date, i.e. still to come. If one examines the Vocabulary file for Swedenborg, Much of what we know as modern Christianity needs to be examined from scratch, as Swedenborg upends it all.

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Permalink Reply by Unseeking Seeker on September 4, 2018 at 11:47pm

Meditational orientation

If asked whether we meditate we must honestly state that we do not for it is not an activity to be performed but rather an orientation in which we be to become, in, as and one with the love enabling divine energy. Within.

If asked how we meditate we must honestly state that we know not for our meditational orientation is simply a stillness wherein as a poised yet unexpectant receptor, in an aspect of surrender and childlike wonder, we simply observe the void within us fill up with the divine elixir of life, awakening us. Within.

If asked what benefits we derive from the meditational orientation we must honestly fall silent yet once again for the delineation of the ineffable ecstatic experience into language would amount to a misleading distortion of the exalted enablement and expansion of our consciousness which the divine engagement bestows upon us. Within.

Yet, since it will not do if we communicate in mystifying parables about this most basic and natural state of our being, innate to us and our constitution, we must attempt to suggest what the meditational orientation is all about, for the benefit of those who are inclined to reclaim their own pristine soul essence in the here and now.

We begin then by stating what meditation is not and in parallel suggest what we may consider doing whereby our awareness mode is meditational:

A meditational state is not brought about by thought control employing concentration but rather it involves an effortless inward shift of our carefree intuitive attention. Concentration is always with effort implying the presence of a doer and meditation is simply an effortless inward attention shift in focus by an observer observing the observed, both us, in a detached, non doer aspect.

A meditational state is not brought about by specific breathing patterns or postures. Watching the breath is at best a premeditation tool, in that it shifts our attention to a single present moment based activity. However, if we are conscious of our breath, it implies that we are applying effort to regulate our breathing pattern. Yet, it has some merit if we are able to simply observe our natural, unforced breathing from a vantage point in which we are not the breather but just watching it happening automatically and then we drop this observation also. We could do the same with our heart beat too by feeling our pulse for a while and then, our attention free flowing in the continuum of present moments, we just be, without the object of our attention. The fulcrum of our attention is then peaked, poised, object free attention. Likewise, about posture, it has no relevance. We should be comfortable. That’s all.

Meditation is not a sleep inducing hypnotic tool brought about by chanting a mantra or listening to a soothing melody. Awareness is enhanced manifold, not reduced in a meditational state.

While there may be no methods, we can consider some indirect indicative engagements, which may assist us in attaining an intuitive meditational orientation. 

1 Watch a sunset engaged in just observing the subtly shifting hues, the colourations it radiates along the skyline, very gradually dimming, each instant in time being perfect in itself as well as unique in composition. Do not analyse or attempt to memorise. Just embrace and imbibe the essence of beauty as a whole, letting go of each instant while embracing the next, for all moments are perfect.

2 Watch empty space which characterises a room for example, rather than noting the objects in the room. Space is nothing and yet without it, the room cannot be. Imagine that the space is not really empty but alive, radiating an invisible love energising subtle tingling current. Then drop the imaginative thought and simply allow the energy to do its will.

3 Watch thought patterns as they arise and subside within us. Look at them nonchalantly without judgment as an observer would, looking inwards. When they subside or slow down substantially, hold the attentive orientation as it is for as long as we are able.

4 Feel an interconnectedness between our core and the Universe. Do not think. Feel. Delve deep within the feeling in silence.

Our attention may be interrupted owing to habit patterns of old. Do not resist. Resistance encourages association and doership. Yield. Observe. Allow. The interfering thought patterns will pass. Automatically.

While these clues point out the inward way to attain a meditational orientation, the divine energy which is to energise us within our body can do so only if we have created space for it to do so. We must empty our cup, as the zen saying goes. We empty all attachments, fears and desires. These are all manifestations if the ego, the ‘I-aspect’, all that has to do with the external world.

To empty the toxins from our consciousness, we need to undo rather than do. We erase all negativity from our system, piece by piece, brick by brick. Anger, lust, jealousy, hatred, envy, greed, domination, even intellectual pride. All must go. This exercise may take as long as it takes but is mandatory. As long as we are consumed in the gross, we cannot engage in the subtle.

We must first transform, refine our inner self if we wish to obtain the benefits of a meditational engagement. The benefit is the flow of the divine love energising current which we feel within as a lived reality, which transforms us automatically.

With the inner cleansing process, which in itself makes us relatively lighter, the baggage of attachments, desires and fears reduced, thoughts slowed down, mindfulness of others enhanced, we are already, like the beautiful sunset, intuitively changing the colourations of our aura in a manner that makes us magnetic, facilitating a connection between our consciousness and the omnipresent divine energy.

The meditational orientation is then a voluntary choice we make to awaken ourselves within, prioritising the real inner life, which expands our consciousness instead of the illusionary outer one, which narrows it. 

There is no method and none is needed. Our choice is itself the way.

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Permalink Reply by Unseeking Seeker on June 4, 2020 at 4:06am

Stilling not our stillness, let us allow stillness to still our being

Mind-body vaporised, transfixed in rapture of bliss enlivening

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Permalink Reply by Hermes on July 28, 2024 at 2:24pm

Amazingly beautifully written!

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John on June 3, 2023 at 2:08pm

some info:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, shortly before the war's end.  

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