The 4 Stages of Spiritual Growth (atheism > fundamentalism)

Originally posted by SpaceJ
Why does god always have to be personified? That was my biggest problem with religion even since I was a child. I couldn't understand why, if there was a god, why "god" would possibly be personified? It just is not logical to me.

I think it's because most atheists assume, based on what the masses have believed regarding the exoteric meaning, which still propogates the separate, materialist monist viewpoint of the human being and the reality we inhabit.
But what I'm come to realize, or am beginning to, is that, at the most fundamental level, life is spirit, and eternal life, happiness.
From what I've come to understand, to a degree, is that the world isn't the way we think it is, and that instead of a materialist monism (matter is primary), we actually live in a non-local (Bell's Theorem) holographic universe (Bohm and others) who's "frame" is a Monistic Idealism (consciousness not matter, is primary), and furthermore, this is the only framework which is capable of resolving all the quantum paradoxes.
Jesus then represents the emodiment of this principal, actualized, and so it could be said that he was filled with the spirit in fullness, and when we see him taking on all the sin (karma) of the world (everyone), we recognize something rather astonishing, which is a love capable of taking on the whole depth and breadth of suffering, with the full conscious awareness of what he was doing, or with 100% free will.
It is a representation of a love transcendant, a higher will.
And it also makes a statement about the true nature of the human being in the creation.

Unfortunately in these matters, most atheists have already made up their mind, and some even approach these issues, not only with assumptions, but with contempt, prior to any further investigation.

And in the end, it's all about the liberation of the human being in the fullness of time and history, and through the gap between what is and what ought to be.

It's a model of authentic leadership, and authentic love, that's what Jesus personifies or embodies as a principal and as a manifestation of the spirit of God, which is already always the actual condition of the human being, when all delusion vanishes, and a new reality opens up, that is all inclusive and expansive, where we are supposed to be liberated for the sake of freedom, that we might be free to freely love.

It takes some thought, study, and deep contemplation to even begin to "grok", but once you "get" it, you can't unget it, and my oh my what an extraordinary thing it is, what a gift!

Originally posted by klaatu4711

When we are uninformed as we are, the natural tendency is to be miserable & insecure because we feel we are separated from the divine(I want to avoid using the word God, I'm not sure why) & when insecure & miserable, we tend to do strange & nasty things.
Thank God I'm an atheist.

Yes - the guilt trip - I'm not good enough - born a sinner etc.

To me is insane - - creates prejudice - judgment and hate. It interferes with human nature and other natural tendencies.

The big one - - that you need a god to be "good" - - is beyond ridiculous.

Once freed, cleaned up, and cleared from the past (and we all have one in some form or another), the twin dragons of should and shouldn't, are slayed, as we move forward; our right thinking, being, and action, born not of trying to be good, in order to, not be bad, but to ah "be good for goodness sake", not because we should, but because we want to, since no one (or very few) want to do bad or to generate negative karma for themselves or others. It's guilt free living in a realm of domain of absolute freedom, and of limitless possibility, where the opportunity arises, for true life, and for true love, of the authentic variety. And as for our sexuality, which cannot be denied, that can then be expressed within the appropriate framework between a husband and a wife, with generosity.

Sin and evil is simply a sickness generated by delusion and the accumlation of karma, which propogates itself in wrong thinking, being and action.

To be freed for the sake of Christ, is to be free indeed, because it is to be freed for the sake of the freedom to freely love, no longer bound under the law, since the law is no longer needed, to bind, accuse, or punish.

"Love, and do as you will."
~ St. Augustine

I must smile right now for I usually post at the end of interest in a thread, thus I usually am the last and feel no one reads what I post. But you know what,, that is fine for to care is to value the ego.

I view the fundamentalist as young and so I parallel yourself here, a way to go to maturity. I to was dragged into these churches for a while when an orphan kid, each of these folks attempting to "save me". This never worked for I remained myself, even as a very young person, a skeptic. Being at this stage at say seven years old, did not put me into an atheistic class, for I had deep feelings that what I was experiencing as a kid was right, so perhaps already I had matured, or had I matured before coming here, for I also had memories of being someone else, thus, I and others cannot be classified.

When 9 years old and weeks away from death from starvation, cold without winter clothing and on a street in a mid western small town, not a city. A woman in gray came up to me and asked, are you angry because all the other children have more and eat better than you? That kid whom I once was, answered wisely which surprises me even to this day, He told her "no, I am more lucky than all the other kids because I am learning faster than they are". Be clear, this was a spiritual learning for I could not read nor write nor tell time at that point, I was just surviving, but learning about life rapidly.

I put this out there for classification doesn't apply to all, some are born into the spiritual, not the religious for I still feel that is misleading and fought those idiots for my whole career as a teacher, they would have taken myself and my classes into the dark ages.

Good post, and we all grow and some must go through some stages for the security it provides. Standing alone and finding answers on your own is slow and can make one insecure along the way as well as not belonging to any group or believing anyone in this area that claims to have the answer. Stay happy and spiritual, science has proven you will have a true higher frequency for doing so.

I attempted a topic such as this and it was basically an epic fail although it was made in haste.

Congrats on conveying this subject with alot more reason and grace than I could have...

I called my topic "Evolution of Being" then later found there was a book with that exact same title

I am a lame brain but I am gravitating towards the right sphere.