Last Night and God Outside

[Guest guest]

16/10/03 5:34 AM +0000 mallela_srkrishna mallela_srkrishna wrote:

> If I call IT God I somehow look up to the skies

> and address a Force that exists outside me.

It is interesting that this limited understanding concerning the word God being

concerned only with outer realms. I see frequently see this cited, especially

by converts away from Christianity. Others say God is rejected as a foolish

notion. I wonder why people who turn away from Christianity in their own

culture, cite this as a reason, because it never was the understanding

entertained by the populace through history. Rather, disputes raged over

whether God had any presence in the outer world.

It is interesting that in the age of neo-classicism materialism ran rampant and

traditional stewardship lifestyles on Earth were abandoned with the support of

Christian clerics (though not all). This was because doctrine was interpreted

to mean that this earth is ungodly, a hostile place to be tamed and overcome by

man. Thus thereupon, a dead thing, mere object and lacking subjectivity or

natural symbolism. Shortly prior to that time of change, the outer world was

had been likened to a clockwork machine set up by a creator who remained

outside of it (mechanical clocks were an early invention). Beforehand, this

outer world was viewed as a personal and living symbolic and transcendental

realm as a manifestation of God's works.

But I know that IT is

> omnipresent and that it exists in every cell of my vibrant frame. If

> I need a word that will direct my mind inwards and help me try to

> seek IT what should be that word? Atman is the sanskrit word coined

> by ancient indian enlightened masters.

One main difference I find concerning God and Atman in religious sects, is the

notion of whether or not people can commune with God only through a lineage of

ordained preists, or without them. The former bears relationship to the

function of a guru as associate, in some Indian quarters.

I speak here from U.K., when perhaps in U.S.A. there are other disaffections

concerning Christian institutions. I imagine that many dissaffected with with

modern worldly power-structures and needing religion, reject Christianity for

mistaken reasons which then prejudices their conceptions of God. A healthier

state of balance between western Christianity and western-style materialism

would prevail If people were happy to join in an reverence of God and Atman,

rather than distinguish them as essentially different conceptions. I am not

alone in this, as Indian teachers do not generally make devisive distinctions.

Also, spiritual seekers in the West across traditions and at any age would be

better led, any less dismissed.

Regards,

John Plum