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**SageTree** · 03-09-2009, 08:05 PM

I don't know if I would say baptist way. Maybe you could just keep it at the level of Christianity if you want to revisit your early years.

Once I went to hear a monk speak about Buddhism, which I mentioned was my major achoring point. He said somethng that changed the next 7 years of my life. He told a story about a man that went to India to meet a Master and live in a monastary ect.... The master said to him

"For him to grasp his new commitment that he must first understand the faith that was his first spiritual language."

This really was astounding and kind of upset me. What is next is a REALLY long story and alot of reading many many books.

The first one that I picked up was 'Living Buddha, Living Christ' by Thich Nhat Hanh: Amazon.com: Living Buddha, Living Christ 10th Anniversary Edition: Thich Nhat Hanh, Elaine Pagels: Books

I felt this book was a good place to start because Jesus in the Gospels is all that really mattered to me about my faith growing up. And Buddha was a person I felt drawn to, as well as seeming to exhibit a manner which i felt was very close to the Jesus I knew. The book was very helpful and had some good quotes. One major one was that the more we understand other reason for religion/path, the more we are bound to understand our own. Which made me think about when did I feel good about being spiritual in my life, and when did that happen in the Methodist Church? Viewing myself as a child living the precepts I felt close to. These two things sent me on a quest to learn about as many relgions and ideas/philosophies ect, that I could lay my hands on, in the thought that this will help me learn to read things i agree with about these books as well. Which was very true and I feel that I can express My inclinations in people's spiritual understanding and making a better conversation over all I believe. After a really long time I finally was reading the fictional work 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and this got be thinking so large in metaphore that when I had finished the book, around easter, I got up and did a reading of walking out of the tomb in the morning of the resurection. Now I by no means still had any idea how to make sense of that part of christianity. However I honoured a part of Sunday Church that I genuinly love, which was the Sun rise service on Easter Morning. Around that same time I picked up a book that talked about the writings about Jesus and their perennial realation to Hindu Philosophy, which I find great understanding and Union of mind. One of the things he talked about was Jesus being one more master to show that mind can overcome bodily death. Simply stated I had found a means of understanding that finally fit my personal beliefs.

And also simply stated I'm saying maybe find a book that relates your understanding of goodness, to a biblical perspective. Another thought is that you might just enjoy reading something like the book I read or a writing by Depak Chopra on Jesus. Both of these people write for western understandings and it will just give a somethng to see in writing that might be how you feel about spirituality in general and seeing it realated in a new way to you. These guys both have a very open and universal way of explaining, and their ideas sound like they might make sense or jive with somethings that you feel.

Remember if anything made you feel good about your youth. Any time you felt happy about church even if it wasn't about church, just AT church. Maybe a ceremony you liked. Or a verse that always made sense. or song anything. And just think about it. What are the larger good things in it? What things drive people to work FOR a church, and you will get to that larger place. I don't believe in my heart of hearts that people are really there to fuck up people lives, and that they see some goodness in what they are doing.

Second, Find an outside perspective of christianity in any form, or something about what people think god is. 'What the bleep do we know' while has some controversy surounding it is interesting to hear a liniar picture for a while. Just consider, because i think you know, there are bigger ways of looking at spirituality, so apply that large understanding to that little book.

Personally the Gospels are THE universal part of the Book, the first part is mostly history with some good large metaphores in, like Exodus and "aren't we all in motion looking for promised land." Genesis 'Don't we all want to know where we came from" The Judges "This is why we made the laws" Psalms and Solomon/Ecclessiastis " Good stuff, read large" The Prophets " Larger social justice stuff here" And then everything after the gospel " This is the radical and weird ways we messed up everyhing Jesus taught and Revalation " This is some fucked up stuff to scare people and make them suspicious, unless they can read the metaphore in a huge way here. Which leaves us with the Gospel. That's what I'd read and get comfortable with, if you want to re-relate.

I can't tell you what to do though and expect you will, so these are just my recommendations and sight tangent

Basically I found the love/social code in the Gospel, that Breaths the same Breath that I find and feel in alot of other texts. The Bible/Gospels aren't my main source by anymeans, however I still feel that I can read goodness from it, and is part of my reading meditations. The Bhagavad Gita is my main source of inspiration on Living as well as the Upanishads and Buddha's teachings. But finally this last October after reading some of Paramahansa Yogananada's writtings on the Gospel's I finally was past a large mile marker in my realationship with Jesus.

Hope these words helped. Sometimes it better if I just tell my story, instead of preaching to you

SageTree

03-09-2009, 08:05 PM	#13 (permalink)
SageTree ~Kalyāṇa-mitrā~ Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In Love Posts: 22,591 Blog Entries: 26 Thanks: 11,476 Thanked 5,704 Times in 4,020 Posts	I don't know if I would say baptist way. Maybe you could just keep it at the level of Christianity if you want to revisit your early years. Once I went to hear a monk speak about Buddhism, which I mentioned was my major achoring point. He said somethng that changed the next 7 years of my life. He told a story about a man that went to India to meet a Master and live in a monastary ect.... The master said to him "For him to grasp his new commitment that he must first understand the faith that was his first spiritual language." This really was astounding and kind of upset me. What is next is a REALLY long story and alot of reading many many books. The first one that I picked up was 'Living Buddha, Living Christ' by Thich Nhat Hanh: Amazon.com: Living Buddha, Living Christ 10th Anniversary Edition: Thich Nhat Hanh, Elaine Pagels: Books I felt this book was a good place to start because Jesus in the Gospels is all that really mattered to me about my faith growing up. And Buddha was a person I felt drawn to, as well as seeming to exhibit a manner which i felt was very close to the Jesus I knew. The book was very helpful and had some good quotes. One major one was that the more we understand other reason for religion/path, the more we are bound to understand our own. Which made me think about when did I feel good about being spiritual in my life, and when did that happen in the Methodist Church? Viewing myself as a child living the precepts I felt close to. These two things sent me on a quest to learn about as many relgions and ideas/philosophies ect, that I could lay my hands on, in the thought that this will help me learn to read things i agree with about these books as well. Which was very true and I feel that I can express My inclinations in people's spiritual understanding and making a better conversation over all I believe. After a really long time I finally was reading the fictional work 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and this got be thinking so large in metaphore that when I had finished the book, around easter, I got up and did a reading of walking out of the tomb in the morning of the resurection. Now I by no means still had any idea how to make sense of that part of christianity. However I honoured a part of Sunday Church that I genuinly love, which was the Sun rise service on Easter Morning. Around that same time I picked up a book that talked about the writings about Jesus and their perennial realation to Hindu Philosophy, which I find great understanding and Union of mind. One of the things he talked about was Jesus being one more master to show that mind can overcome bodily death. Simply stated I had found a means of understanding that finally fit my personal beliefs. And also simply stated I'm saying maybe find a book that relates your understanding of goodness, to a biblical perspective. Another thought is that you might just enjoy reading something like the book I read or a writing by Depak Chopra on Jesus. Both of these people write for western understandings and it will just give a somethng to see in writing that might be how you feel about spirituality in general and seeing it realated in a new way to you. These guys both have a very open and universal way of explaining, and their ideas sound like they might make sense or jive with somethings that you feel. Remember if anything made you feel good about your youth. Any time you felt happy about church even if it wasn't about church, just AT church. Maybe a ceremony you liked. Or a verse that always made sense. or song anything. And just think about it. What are the larger good things in it? What things drive people to work FOR a church, and you will get to that larger place. I don't believe in my heart of hearts that people are really there to fuck up people lives, and that they see some goodness in what they are doing. Second, Find an outside perspective of christianity in any form, or something about what people think god is. 'What the bleep do we know' while has some controversy surounding it is interesting to hear a liniar picture for a while. Just consider, because i think you know, there are bigger ways of looking at spirituality, so apply that large understanding to that little book. Personally the Gospels are THE universal part of the Book, the first part is mostly history with some good large metaphores in, like Exodus and "aren't we all in motion looking for promised land." Genesis 'Don't we all want to know where we came from" The Judges "This is why we made the laws" Psalms and Solomon/Ecclessiastis " Good stuff, read large" The Prophets " Larger social justice stuff here" And then everything after the gospel " This is the radical and weird ways we messed up everyhing Jesus taught and Revalation " This is some fucked up stuff to scare people and make them suspicious, unless they can read the metaphore in a huge way here. Which leaves us with the Gospel. That's what I'd read and get comfortable with, if you want to re-relate. I can't tell you what to do though and expect you will, so these are just my recommendations and sight tangent Basically I found the love/social code in the Gospel, that Breaths the same Breath that I find and feel in alot of other texts. The Bible/Gospels aren't my main source by anymeans, however I still feel that I can read goodness from it, and is part of my reading meditations. The Bhagavad Gita is my main source of inspiration on Living as well as the Upanishads and Buddha's teachings. But finally this last October after reading some of Paramahansa Yogananada's writtings on the Gospel's I finally was past a large mile marker in my realationship with Jesus. Hope these words helped. Sometimes it better if I just tell my story, instead of preaching to you SageTree __________________ YaHooka is.... Cannabis lovers from around the world pulling up a comfy chair, picking up a vaporizer, a bong, a brownie, a pipe, or a joint, getting high, stoned, buzzed or healthy. Uniting our minds in conversation...While Portraying a Positive Image of marijuana and marijuana users to the world. Treat your fellow YaHookans with kindness,respect and tolerance. 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