The Road to God (or similar)

I am attempting to compile a manuscript of all the methods that have been used or are still currently in use in todays world, in which to reach our creator. Whilst I personally do not hold a single religious view, I do hold true to the fact that something is out there that is greater than us. I have grown partial to the buddhist way of thinking. But I believe there is more out there than just meditation and karmic balance.

I think that Buddha had the process down correctly, although the end ideas may have been a little off. That is my personal opinion on the matter.

So I ask all of my fellow ATSers, if they would be so kind as to assist me and anyone else who maybe interested in the path to spiritual enlightenment. Regardless of your views, we would like to hear them. Christian, atheist, muslim, agnostic, jewish, buddhist, hindu. Whatever. Any and all are welcome.

Great Sig!
"What does God need with a Star Ship?" - Capt. Kirk
"Absorb What is Useful" - Bruce Lee

God concept question, I like it. I agree with your position, Buddists seem to have a natural path. I think it's more about the path and the journey itself rather than the pot of God at the end of the rainbow approach.

I'm fairly certain there are just as many different workable roads to God as there are souls. Religion seems to occur at the intersection of mind and spirit - a contextual nightmare of sorts.

I'm not a follower of any path, but act responsibly on the journey.
Just one inspired thought and the destination is achieveable.

gj

.

Reach our creator? Can you define the parameters of reaching the one Infinite Creator? You are never away, it just takes you realizing you're there; everyday. In Heaven or Hell, good, bad, dissappointment, proud.

How do we reach our Creator? By experiencing things, viewing things in good/bad, and choosing Love. Very vague sounding, I know. Random acts of Kindness, meditation, prayer, appreciation, Joy. Physical manifestations are the best; FEELING the emotion so powerfully. See the bus driver and see he looks lonely and miserable in a big town; try to talk to him, bought him a gatorade (2 for 3$), you can see he was happy; taken off guard, but he opened. Learned he's a writer and I got a link to read some of his stuff. What did I just do? Expressed care for random stranger (and when you're on recieving end, it's powerful), was able to give some of my Energy to him, and even helped out physically by buying gatorades. He was given catalyst for love and happiness and peace while I was given the oppurtunity to be of service to him and it felt good; powerful. He God Blessed me upon our departure. I personally feel you get closer to God by being of and for and about Love, in positive way. He loves those who choose to express themselves in negative fashion for we all end up in one place, no matter how long each's path is, or how it was walked, we all end up in same place; with God. The Negative just learn differently. Remember what Jesus said of his enemies and the guards, "O Father, please forgive them for they know not what they do." - how powerful, to forgive on such a level. That's a choice of Love, I think Jesus became closer to God in that choice, with that thought, and emotion.

I feel the 2 main choices are:

either accept and submit to God's will, which we all feel and know; don't steal for example, we all know. You just know...\

or you try and force life into some dream come true, wanting this, wanting to do that. Some submit to God's will for the negative path is hard however, to those dedicated enough, who no act too hideous, no murder unnecessary, every theft worth it, who rape for the fun, who are willing to manipulate, sneak, lie, and fight EVERYBODY for unlimited power, God will still provide the oppurtunity and catalyst for you to pursue the path you so desperately and powerfully seek and this "evil" entity will still be at SAME place you'd be at the end of choosing God on positive path, only reached differently.

So, realistically, the real question should be; in what ways do you more and more connect with God? In what ways do you increase the connection and sharpen your will to that of God's??

Good question/post. My S + F... lot of potential for learning/advancement to occur here.

And as a disclaimer; this is all of MY personal opinon, which while may have basis in learnings from specific writings; I have no religion, label, or type. I read, formulate my own opinions, and integrate everything. So I do not mean infringement, don't wish to "enlighten" somebody who doesn't want to be, lol.

I wish each and all the most Love/Light and Light/Love possible...

[edit on 11/19/2009 by RadiatorOfTheLight]

reply to post by RadiatorOfTheLight


I appreciate your viewpoint on the subject. And do agree with you on the negative vs positive aspect. In that we all end up in the same place. I do not hold a personal opinion that any sort of physical "Heaven" or "Hell" really exists. Although I am open to anyones opinion.

My viewpoint is that no one is negative by choice. NO ONE. By saying that, I give an example"

"Sally finds out her boyfriend cheated on her. Sally slashes his tires and posts inappropriate things on his facebook in return" Now this is negative. So it would seem. However, In sallys mind she was doing the right thing. Making him feel as bad as he made her feel.

Every choice is made with a positive hope. That all the bad you do, will somehow make everything right that YOU believe was done to you. And in that belief, I could say that the path to Heaven is only subjective to the person who believes they are on the correct path. IE everyone.

A psycho does not kill because he thinks killing is wrong. He kills because in some form or fashion he has rationalized it in a way that makes it right.

Thank you for the replies so far and I look forward to hearing more from our members

reply to post by Mr. Toodles


I made a thread about that.

the road to understanding god is paved with intention. Somone must intend to find the correct road inorder to find it. After that you must have faith in causality/god to provide you an anwser through your searching.

Thanks for the thread I am feeling similar. I have tried many things and for a time thought I had found a few things out only to realize I don't really know any thing I just thought I did. So now I am really trying to connect again but it seems as usual now that I have made the decision to pursue this connection to god again so to speak all sorts of things come out of the wood work to get in the way.

It's sort of like the universe is testing you to see if you really want to do it.

Ok so as I mentioned before I think the first step is to make a decision. I think that may be the essence of our existence at least in this life and perhaps beyond that is; everything is decision or we are in fact decision. I learned this from an interesting teacher and friend I encountered in my travels and it rings true but I am questioning everything I ever thought I knew these days so who knows.

Next as the OP said I believe there is something greater then us I can feel it sometimes or I just seem to know. I believe the Kingdom is within as the Christian scriptures teach and the Buddhist also and I am sure others.

So I am pursuing the kingdom within mainly through meditation but not sure what is best. I have tried the binaural beats, the iso-tones, and the solfeggio frequencies. candle,

While they all seem ok I keep feeling like they are a crutch and I need to just do it on my own and see where it leads. But I have a hard time meditating regularly to stay focused so have not really gotten far with it. I also think with the recordings I am looking for a short cut. I do have this inner feeling I need to connect with my spiritual/quantum side and soon but it seems just out of reach...

Anyway that's my story for now, not sure if it helps anyone but maybe it will help me just getting it off my chest ;-)

reply to post by hawkiye


I applaud you in your search. When doing anything in life, just remember basic physics. For every action there is an opposite and equal re-action. Even physics reinforces the karmic laws set fourth by the buddhists.

Hi,
You said: So I ask all of my fellow ATSers, if they would be so kind as to assist me and anyone else who maybe interested in the path to spiritual enlightenment. Regardless of your views, we would like to hear them. Christian, atheist, muslim, agnostic, jewish, buddhist, hindu. Whatever. Any and all are welcome.

But death priest, choked by an angel?????

Who are you?

I will gues you want to know what happens to at least one who is older, 62, and others, who have found, or really have been informed by God that He exists. The last being not the only connection with God there is, but it is one.

One day, I asked several Christian-mystics, their experiences. What struck me is how difficult there lives were in everyday life and how their Christian-mystical experience was just enough to get them through life.

They also, to a person never knowingly, requested this connection. It just happened. I happened to folks who had life that is unbearably to most of us, while they were always trying to be the 'good guys' by doing what they were supposed to be doing. (Even by our human standards.)

In my experience a commitment to "Death before telling a lie." is a requirement. Also, never varying from that stance even when what you hold most dear is on the line. I also, know that slight, fear driven, excursions that are later corrected might be a requirement. After that an unquenching desire to know what is true, provably, and what is false provably helps.

One day, like most of my contemporaries, after hassling with all the believers, one spoke up and said. "Well I hope someday something happens to you that makes you certain." Years later it did. This is 10 years later than that experience.

Rather than my experience, it is the proofs that count. All of what happened is provable by those it happens to in others. It is provable, over and over and over again. Others who have similar experiences can either prove these experiences false or true. Many with mere mystical experiences, those involving mere spirits are easy to prove false by those Christian-mystics with the same gift the other mystics claim to have that they claim are from God.

In general, you have what the society calls a conscience, that is enough for all of us typically. You do not want the other physical issues, or the societal issues that are upon those with what is technically called "A Gift of The Holy Spirit." Those gifts are not fixed anyway in time. They come and go as is needed for various assignments from God, such as helping out a single Professional-Sociopathic-Street-Person. Once the assignment is over some or all of the Gifts for that assignment can be removed, whilst the doer, is recuperating or being prepared for the next task.

Working for God is fun.

...Curt...

One line I've heard from fellow-Christians is "You don't find God- God finds you".
I can see their point, because some of us- including myself- were not conscious of any kind of interest in looking for God before the period when we were "found".

[edit on 13-4-2010 by DISRAELI]

reply to post by curtish


Much appreciated input. To answer your questions. I am Mr. Toodles. My headlines are an expression of how the majority of my life has been. Not in a literal sense of course, more in an emotional or mental sense. Thank you for noticing and inquiring about them.

Your thoughts on the subject matter are exactly what I was looking for. Because as I am sure you can see simply by my headlines and main image, I am indeed in search of some kind of spiritual truth.

I think there are an almost infinite number of ways to reach the divine. "Many roads, one mountain," as the Zen people say.

Recently I've been interested in some of the more mystical strains of Christianity. There's a lot more out there along these lines than people think...in recent years Christianity has been overshadowed by dogmatic, narrow-minded bliblical literalism, but this has not always been the case. Far from it. To quote religious scholar Karen Armstrong:

...It is, for example, crucial to note than an exclusively literal interpretation of the Bible is a recent development. Until the 19th century, very few people imagined that the first chapter of Genesis was a factual account of the origins of life. For centuries, Jews and Christians relished highly allegorical and inventive exegesis, insisting that a wholly literal reading of the bible was neither possible nor desireable.

-Karen Armstrong, "The Bible; A Biography."

There is a lot of emphasis on Gnosticism these days, but even beyond this, Christianity bosts a long and distinguished mystical tradition. A few lesser-recognized examples:

-Eremeticism
-Hesychasm
-The Spanish mystics
-The French school of spirituality
-Quaker mysticism
-Imiaslavie
-Quietism


..and many more. These are just off the top of my head.

Desire is a huge part of it. You must want it with ever fiber of your being. Being granted self realization is the result of this burning desire.

reply to post by curtish
hey all. i found this thread very interesting indeed. first i would like to say that a couple of things you said jumped out at me, and i would like to share how they made me feel. when you read this thread, and decided to post to it...you almost immediately questioned the NAME and therefore PERSON who started this post. you stated his name, then asked "who are you?" to me that felt like calling someone out, and judging them by a label that they themselves did put there, but a "label" none the less. a lot of people are not completely aware of who they are...hence why i believe mr toodles has named himself accordingly. he is seriously on a path SEARCHING for answers in many ways. he is reaching out to us up here, to see if we may hold some sort of insight that may help him reach his life's journey. honestly i think we are all more so looking for what path we are supposed to be on, more than the destination we are to achieve. we are supposed to love everyone NO MATTER WHAT. you may not change them, they may not need to be changed...just maybe guided slightly. what works for one, may not work for another. what makes sense to one, may not make sense to another...would you talk to a child the same way you would an adult? does it mean the child has less or will have less of an impact on society than an adult will? NO...it just means that you have to understand what "level" they are on, and speak to them appropriately. just because someone has a wealth of knowledge that they understand, and a lot of big words to explain it, does not mean they can speak the way they understand it, to another, and get the same result. pretty much like speaking in tongues is a gift from GOD, but if no one understands it, does it really benefit the listener? another thing was that we should ( i believe you said) seek death before lie? something like that. well i think that we are supposed to be honest. but i do not feel that you ALWAYS have to tell the truth, or you are doing something bad...sometimes telling a lie is more beneficial. just like in the bible, there are many parts that have been removed because the people who read it, thought there may be some things in there that some COULD PERCEIVE incorrectly, and act out accordingly. that it could turn them away. it could pose a doubt in their mind, thus hindering them. just like i have on a few occasions lied, when the result of the lie would prevent something terrible from happening. not out of some selfish reason, or a way to make myself look better...i don't care about status, i don't care about labels. but the need and wanting to protect others is out of compassion and stems from love...just because we don't always tell the whole truth, does not mean that our deception is from an evil place. anytime that we set someone back on their "path", i think we are in the wrong, and have done them a serious injustice. i do not feel that everything the world perceives as wrong is completely wrong. and i don't feel that what the world sees as right, is always right either. i think that we all know in ourselves what is right and what is wrong for US. kind of like if you drink 1 glass of wine with your meal, is that wrong? no i don't feel it is. and honestly 1 glass of red wine per day is actually what the world says is healthy for us...so that should NOT be a bad thing. BUT if someone is a recovering alcoholic (they will always be recovering, it never truly goes away) and they fight that battle within themselves to not start back...and you have them over for dinner, and knowing them to be recovering from this monstrous disease, yet you STILL have your 1 glass of wine with dinner...is that wrong then? yes it is. YOU may be able to control yourself and only have one glass...but if they see you, you are essentially tempting them to fall back. perception is key!!! ~thanks

We are the creator. You are at your creator everyday. There is nothing outside of the creator. It all exist within itself.