The mystic makes contact with the god inside in order to become that god.

[Guest guest]

" One of these documents [found at Nag Hammadi] begins with the

scribal note in the margin, " The Gospel According to Thomas. " And the

first sentence of that document says, " These are the secret words

which the living Jesus taught and which Judas Thomas Didymos wrote

down. " And then they start a total of over 110 sayings, each

introduced by " Jesus said.... " ...

 

Now what is typical about these sayings is that in each instance,

these sayings want to say that if you want to understand what Jesus

said, you have to recognize yourself. You have to know yourself, know

who you are. It begins with a saying about the Kingdom of God, " if

you seek the Kingdom of God in the sky then the birds will precede

you. And if you seek it in the sea, then the fish will precede you,

but the Kingdom is in you. And if you know yourself then you know the

Kingdom of God. " (The Kingdom of the Father, in fact, it always says

in the gospel of Thomas. Normally the Kingdom of the Father, not the

Kingdom of God.) " But if you don't know yourself, you live in

poverty. " And poverty is understood as the ignorance of a life in its

physical existence. Knowledge is understood to be the knowledge of

one's divine origin, of the fact that one has come from the Kingdom.

That we are on this earth only in a sojourn....

 

What does it mean really to know oneself? To know oneself is to have

insight into one's own ultimate divine identity. You can go back to

understand this to Greek models, which certainly exist. " Know

yourself " is a very old Greek maxim... that is, you have to know that

your own soul is divine, and then you know that you are immortal,

whereas the body is the mortal part of human existence. Now this is

radicalized in the Gospel of Thomas into saying that everything that

is experienced physically and through sense perception, everything in

this world that you can perceive in this way is nothing. It is, at

best, chaos and, at worst, it doesn't even exist in reality. The only

thing that really exists is your divine spirit or your divine soul,

which is identical in its quality with God himself. And Jesus is the

one who teaches that. "

 

Helmut Koester, PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE, 1998

(Helmut Koester: John H. Morison Professor of New Testament Studies

and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History Harvard Divinity School)

 

 

The traveler has to knock

at every alien door

to come to his own, and he has to wander

through all the outer worlds

to reach the innermost

shrine at the end.

 

--Rabindranath Taagore, Gitanjali

 

" The difference between ordinary (and in a sense vulgar) religion and

mysticism lies in the fact that mysticism considers the god to be

inside of man and Christian dogma for instance, in its debased form

(of course there are Christian mystics too who tell us another

story), considers God to be outside of creation, and therefore out of

man. Mysticism agrees with this dogma in so far as the boundless

Urgrund of creation, which we call the force, stays apart from and is

not changed or affected by creation. It always stays the same in its

magnificent aloofness, like a saint is unaffected by the misery and

corruption of the world. This distinctness of god with his creation,

as told in Christian dogmatic texts, is confirmed by mystic texts.

But the great difference, which cannot be stressed too much, between

this dogma and the rapports of mystics is the following: in mysticism

the god/ Brahman is at the same time apart from creation (it is the

ever changeless being) and it is creation itself and therefore it is

in man, immo it is man itself. The mystic has come by way of mystical

experiences to the conclusion that he is godlike. He has

experienced , and therefore it is true knowledge to him, what the

poets have written all along, when they described man as godlike.

That was not a hollow dream or a never attainable utopia, it was the

mystic truth they described.

 

The mystic makes contact with the god inside in order to become that

god. By turning inward and by becoming the stillness of the force,

which is like a dormant volcano full of power, intelligence and

happiness, he purifies himself from all imperfections and he becomes

perfect. The glory of the force is that the mystic has only this

simple message: turn inward and you'll become perfect. Because man is

essentially perfect. It is his initial condition to be perfect. All a

mystic wants to do is to go back to that initial phase.

 

In mysticism god is a negative concept. This means that all you can

say about god is a negation: " God is not this, God is not that " . The

mystics mean by this sheer negation of any predicament of god that

the god is ultimately unknowable for the human intelligence and

therefore all kinds of communications about the god fall short of

their goal. It is simply ridiculous to teach theology to people who

have not experienced one way or another religious feelings. And for

people who have had these experiences instruction is not necessary

because they know already.

 

To the intellect the force can only be negated. But not to the

feeling. Man can't say anything to give an adequate description of

the god/Brahman. But in mysticism the great glory comes from the fact

that after a time of inner purification the god is being experienced

in all its majesty and its bliss, the only goal set by the mystic. By

the lapse of time the mystic knows less and less about god, but he

feels it more and more. That's why a truly religious person is not

religious with his intellect but with his soul, with his inner being.

He doesn't like to talk about the god because he can't formulate very

well the words to describe it. This truly religious person -and only

the mystic is truly religious- radiates his religion, he is religion,

he is not religious in words, not even solely in deeds, but religious

in being.

 

It is the goal of ones life to become god. There simply is no other

goal in life. All other goals are mere substitutes and the long way

home. One must make a short cut to happiness. In order to become god

one must become completely empty, a nirvana. One must die his old

worldly life and obtain the spiritual life. One must get rid of his

ego to be a clean mirror of the force of nature. One must become

innocent again, the innocence 'as it was in the beginning'.

 

Every mystic is not a person. I mean person in the Latin meaning

of 'mask'. He has lost its mask, he has cast it away, he has got rid

of it, because it covers and hides the true person he is. He has lost

his ego, because the ego is nothing more than that mask. The ego is

nothing more than a collection of superfluous remnants of the past.

It is a source of great misery. It is ignorance of true reality. For

the mystic in the long run it doesn't exist anymore.

 

Every mystic is a personality. He is so strong and full of love and

inner contentment that everywhere he goes he leaves an impression.

Everyone he meets takes strength from him, because he wears a Holy

Robe, which one only needs to touch to feel happiness. Only the

mystic is the truly happy man, because he 'walks with God'. The

personality of the mystic is the personality of the god/Brahman.

Everything strong, lovable, charismatic, beautiful -in short

everything that makes up a personality- comes from the god. So the

man who has become the god is the personality par excellence.

 

The god/Brahman is the source of everything beautiful in the world.

So everything beautiful and worthwhile has a trace of the god in it.

Where there is hate, misery and ugliness, there the god is absent.

The god stays pure and unsullied amidst the doings of man. It is the

only hope of mankind. "

 

http://www.mysticism.nl/

[Guest guest]

, " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org wrote:

 

" To the intellect the force can only be negated. But not to the feeling. Man

can't say anything to give an adequate description of the god/Brahman. But in

mysticism the great glory comes from the fact that after a time of inner

purification the god is being experienced in all its majesty and its bliss, the

only goal set by the mystic. By the lapse of time the mystic knows less and less

about god, but he feels it more and more. That's why a truly religious person is

not religious with his intellect but with his soul, with his inner being. He

doesn't like to talk about the god because he can't formulate very well the

words to describe it. This truly religious person -and only the mystic is truly

religious- radiates his religion, he is religion, he is not religious in words,

not even solely in deeds, but religious in being.

 

It is the goal of ones life to become god. There simply is no other goal in

life. All other goals are mere substitutes and the long way home. One must make

a short cut to happiness. In order to become god one must become completely

empty, a nirvana. One must die his old worldly life and obtain the spiritual

life. One must get rid of his ego to be a clean mirror of the force of nature.

One must become innocent again, the innocence 'as it was in the beginning'. "

 

Helmut Koester, PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE, 1998

(Helmut Koester: John H. Morison Professor of New Testament Studies

and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History Harvard Divinity School)

 

 

Dear Jagbir and all,

 

It is wonderful to contemplate on the many expressions of 'truth' from the many

different 'knowers' of the truth. One can't help but feel the strong vibrations

of purity, innocence and love flowing, not to mention the indescribable bliss,

that 'truth' generates. This is because 'truth' IS 'love' and can never be

separated. Thank you for this wonderful passage, which is a testament to the

unchanging Divine within, which is the only way to salvation/spiritual

liberation.

 

love to all,

 

violet

 

 

> " One of these documents [found at Nag Hammadi] begins with the

> scribal note in the margin, " The Gospel According to Thomas. " And the

> first sentence of that document says, " These are the secret words

> which the living Jesus taught and which Judas Thomas Didymos wrote

> down. " And then they start a total of over 110 sayings, each

> introduced by " Jesus said.... " ...

>

> Now what is typical about these sayings is that in each instance,

> these sayings want to say that if you want to understand what Jesus

> said, you have to recognize yourself. You have to know yourself, know

> who you are. It begins with a saying about the Kingdom of God, " if

> you seek the Kingdom of God in the sky then the birds will precede

> you. And if you seek it in the sea, then the fish will precede you,

> but the Kingdom is in you. And if you know yourself then you know the

> Kingdom of God. " (The Kingdom of the Father, in fact, it always says

> in the gospel of Thomas. Normally the Kingdom of the Father, not the

> Kingdom of God.) " But if you don't know yourself, you live in

> poverty. " And poverty is understood as the ignorance of a life in its

> physical existence. Knowledge is understood to be the knowledge of

> one's divine origin, of the fact that one has come from the Kingdom.

> That we are on this earth only in a sojourn....

>

> What does it mean really to know oneself? To know oneself is to have

> insight into one's own ultimate divine identity. You can go back to

> understand this to Greek models, which certainly exist. " Know

> yourself " is a very old Greek maxim... that is, you have to know that

> your own soul is divine, and then you know that you are immortal,

> whereas the body is the mortal part of human existence. Now this is

> radicalized in the Gospel of Thomas into saying that everything that

> is experienced physically and through sense perception, everything in

> this world that you can perceive in this way is nothing. It is, at

> best, chaos and, at worst, it doesn't even exist in reality. The only

> thing that really exists is your divine spirit or your divine soul,

> which is identical in its quality with God himself. And Jesus is the

> one who teaches that. "

>

> Helmut Koester, PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE, 1998

> (Helmut Koester: John H. Morison Professor of New Testament Studies

> and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History Harvard Divinity School)

>

>

> The traveler has to knock

> at every alien door

> to come to his own, and he has to wander

> through all the outer worlds

> to reach the innermost

> shrine at the end.

>

> --Rabindranath Taagore, Gitanjali

>

> " The difference between ordinary (and in a sense vulgar) religion and

> mysticism lies in the fact that mysticism considers the god to be

> inside of man and Christian dogma for instance, in its debased form

> (of course there are Christian mystics too who tell us another

> story), considers God to be outside of creation, and therefore out of

> man. Mysticism agrees with this dogma in so far as the boundless

> Urgrund of creation, which we call the force, stays apart from and is

> not changed or affected by creation. It always stays the same in its

> magnificent aloofness, like a saint is unaffected by the misery and

> corruption of the world. This distinctness of god with his creation,

> as told in Christian dogmatic texts, is confirmed by mystic texts.

> But the great difference, which cannot be stressed too much, between

> this dogma and the rapports of mystics is the following: in mysticism

> the god/ Brahman is at the same time apart from creation (it is the

> ever changeless being) and it is creation itself and therefore it is

> in man, immo it is man itself. The mystic has come by way of mystical

> experiences to the conclusion that he is godlike. He has

> experienced , and therefore it is true knowledge to him, what the

> poets have written all along, when they described man as godlike.

> That was not a hollow dream or a never attainable utopia, it was the

> mystic truth they described.

>

> The mystic makes contact with the god inside in order to become that

> god. By turning inward and by becoming the stillness of the force,

> which is like a dormant volcano full of power, intelligence and

> happiness, he purifies himself from all imperfections and he becomes

> perfect. The glory of the force is that the mystic has only this

> simple message: turn inward and you'll become perfect. Because man is

> essentially perfect. It is his initial condition to be perfect. All a

> mystic wants to do is to go back to that initial phase.

>

> In mysticism god is a negative concept. This means that all you can

> say about god is a negation: " God is not this, God is not that " . The

> mystics mean by this sheer negation of any predicament of god that

> the god is ultimately unknowable for the human intelligence and

> therefore all kinds of communications about the god fall short of

> their goal. It is simply ridiculous to teach theology to people who

> have not experienced one way or another religious feelings. And for

> people who have had these experiences instruction is not necessary

> because they know already.

>

> To the intellect the force can only be negated. But not to the

> feeling. Man can't say anything to give an adequate description of

> the god/Brahman. But in mysticism the great glory comes from the fact

> that after a time of inner purification the god is being experienced

> in all its majesty and its bliss, the only goal set by the mystic. By

> the lapse of time the mystic knows less and less about god, but he

> feels it more and more. That's why a truly religious person is not

> religious with his intellect but with his soul, with his inner being.

> He doesn't like to talk about the god because he can't formulate very

> well the words to describe it. This truly religious person -and only

> the mystic is truly religious- radiates his religion, he is religion,

> he is not religious in words, not even solely in deeds, but religious

> in being.

>

> It is the goal of ones life to become god. There simply is no other

> goal in life. All other goals are mere substitutes and the long way

> home. One must make a short cut to happiness. In order to become god

> one must become completely empty, a nirvana. One must die his old

> worldly life and obtain the spiritual life. One must get rid of his

> ego to be a clean mirror of the force of nature. One must become

> innocent again, the innocence 'as it was in the beginning'.

>

> Every mystic is not a person. I mean person in the Latin meaning

> of 'mask'. He has lost its mask, he has cast it away, he has got rid

> of it, because it covers and hides the true person he is. He has lost

> his ego, because the ego is nothing more than that mask. The ego is

> nothing more than a collection of superfluous remnants of the past.

> It is a source of great misery. It is ignorance of true reality. For

> the mystic in the long run it doesn't exist anymore.

>

> Every mystic is a personality. He is so strong and full of love and

> inner contentment that everywhere he goes he leaves an impression.

> Everyone he meets takes strength from him, because he wears a Holy

> Robe, which one only needs to touch to feel happiness. Only the

> mystic is the truly happy man, because he 'walks with God'. The

> personality of the mystic is the personality of the god/Brahman.

> Everything strong, lovable, charismatic, beautiful -in short

> everything that makes up a personality- comes from the god. So the

> man who has become the god is the personality par excellence.

>

> The god/Brahman is the source of everything beautiful in the world.

> So everything beautiful and worthwhile has a trace of the god in it.

> Where there is hate, misery and ugliness, there the god is absent.

> The god stays pure and unsullied amidst the doings of man. It is the

> only hope of mankind. "

>

> http://www.mysticism.nl/

>