The Gospel according to Epiphany: Jesus says, "I and the Father are one". Jews take up stones to stone him. Jesus says, "Why?" Pharisees say, "Because you blaspheme, making yourself out to be God". Jesus says, "Is it not written in your law, "Ye are gods"? Pharisees say, "Clearly 'Gods' is not refering to divinity but to the leaders and rulers of the world" Jesus says, "Exactly! I and Napoleon are one! Now will you stone me?" Pharisees say, "No, because you will die like mere men, and fall like every other ruler". Jesus says, "Praise the Lord!"
The domain of perception on the other hand, includes very different characteristics. Being Heaven's seeming opposite, perception's attributes offer and include: individuality, form, shapes, specifics, changes, time, separation, division, illusion, wishes, scarcity and death. Although Heaven has no opposite, the idea of an opposite produces death because Heaven is Life. That is what it means to eat of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". This is to believe in opposites. So perception offers a belief in death. Of course, death must be an illusion, giving rise to a cycle where death must be experienced over and over again. By now, the idea of separation is causing some very serious problems for us. They are serious because our actual problems are deeply repressed...so they are unconscious to us. God seems to be outside you now. This is a problem. And it is stuffed. You seem to be separated from God. All of your experience tells you that you've separated from Him. And this is stuffed too. Atheism helps to stuff it. Some religions try to deal with it in their own way as it seeps up into consciousness. Some will look at the physical universe and say, "Godidit". But practically all of your mind is unconscious to you, just like almost all of an iceberg is underneath the surface of the water. And it contains contaminants. Primarily, it feels guilty about making this "god-forsaken" place of physical existence. The perception of the physical universe as a reality is a constant reminder to you that you've committed the act of separating yourself from God. Yes, you like the idea of being an individual with a seemingly separate will. Although this is not possible in reality, the mind has translated this as a sin against God. And this translates to a feeling of guilt on the metaphysical level. Recall the analogy of the iceberg. This is all underwater. At the level of the world you will not always feel guilty...hence, the world as a kind of salvation: a place to go to get away from these feelings of guilt. This is what made the world seem like a good idea at the time. It serves as a place to express individuality and specialness, while simultaneously mitigating some very nasty feelings. Yet any psychologist can explain to you that guilt unconsciously demands punishment. And at the metaphysical level, there is a deep belief that you are about to be attacked and punished by God himself. Think about this and it will explain alot of the phenomenon you see. For example, terrorists preemptively strike at "moral decay" in order to forestall an imminent attack by God upon the entire earth. This all seethes to the surface from the metaphysical, the very level that makes up the world. Ignorance of this perpetuates suffering. And the solution cannot be found in a state of conflict. While ignorance rules, the anticipation of a fate-worse-than-death kind of punishment from God creates fear so terrible you can hardly comprehend it. This fear has led to some seemingly billions of years of running away. The world of time and form has been a place to run away. Everything in it was made simultaneously, even though in a linear dream, things seem to happen separately. Fear is the motivation behind the making of this world, the same motivation that runs it today. And it is ultimately traceable to the fear of God. To say that there is "no God" does nothing to remove the fear and guilt feelings at the metaphysical level of your mind. That is why atheists and such must constantly defend their position. Yet this defense, and all others, are designed to ensure the survival of the ego through your individuality. Meanwhile, the trans-temporal, non-spatial mind remains in a paralyzing state of fear. This has not been explained fully by Buddhism, mainly because Buddha did not go beyond the trans-temporal mind during the Gautama incarnation-bardo. Consciousness is accomplished by the dissociation of knowledge, which is nothing more than a decision to forget. What has been forgotten then appears to be fearful, but only because the dissociation is an attack on truth. Can you be separated from your identification - ie. "know thy Self" - and know peace? Dissociation is not a solution, it is a delusion. The delusional believe that truth will assail them, and they do not recognize it because they prefer the delusion. Judging truth as something they do not want, they perceive their illusions which block knowledge. No one can escape illusions unless he looks at them. Not looking is the way they are protected. Look calmly. They are not dangerous. Merely look honestly for the truth. Look, and you will realize that the universe does not exist. Look again and see that you do not exist on any other level except pure spirit. Individuals are reluctant to learn this because on an unconscious level it is terrifying because it means the relinquishment of any personal identity, now and forever. It means that while you appear to be in a body, you do not believe it...you do not believe the body exists. At that point it would not matter if water ran through your veins, which explains why blood and water seemed to come from my crucified body. Nothing about my body was real, and not much else was "normal". It did not feel pain. It did not feel pain because an innocent mind cannot suffer. Buddhism does not deal with the problem of guilt because it does not deal with God. Buddhism endeavors to alleviate suffering by dealing with attachment and the control of desire. It promotes detachment. This is a step in the right direction as it deals with the mind. Buddhism does not run away from the mind the way what passes for Christianity does. What passes for Christianity attempts to modify the physical rather than the mental. At the mental level it fosters guilt and perpetuates it through a false form of forgivness, and by making the physical realm real and "God-given". But while Buddhism is a modification of thought, it is not a healing of the underlying condition that drives the feelings that drive the reincarnational cycles. Doing mental exercises on your own cannot heal your unconscious mind. I teach how to do mental exercises with Help. This Helper I have called "Holy Spirit", "Comforter", "Teacher", "Guide", "Self", "Greater Self", "I Am", and others. I teach mind training with Help. The principle is this: As you do your part, the Helper does his part to clear out the effects of guilty feelings at the metaphysical level. This is that part of your mind that is unconscious to you, that is so seemingly hard to reach. The Helper knows exactly how to work with this area to heal it...but only as you let guilt go whenever it comes up in front of your face, whatever form it seems to take. This induces a shift in perception in-line with the Helper's way of thinking. This is actually a miracle, and not a modification of thought. Nor is it a modification of form or circumstance. These miracles progress you much farther and faster along your spiritual path than would have otherwise been possible. These shifts in perception are the only device you have available for controlling time. They substitute for learning that might have taken thousands of years. This is simply the truth based on the laws of the mind and the laws of God. Some Buddhists try to avoid reincarnating by practicing lucid dreaming while they're in bed at night - a state where you're conscious of the fact that you're dreaming - in order to train their mind so that when the death of their body comes they can simply decide not to reincarnate. That's very clever, but it doesn't work unless there's a total absence of unconscious guilt. If their unconscious guilt was completely healed they'd be enlightened while still appearing to be in the body, not just afterwards. Let us not confuse the very transitory joy of reported near-death experiences with enlightenment. Enlightenment happens during one of your illusory lifetimes. The body is laid aside once and for all only after your mind awakens from the dream. Reports of near-death experiences are often beautiful. They are beautiful in comparison to life in a the body. Free of all the body's pains and restrictions, the temporary awareness of the larger split mind can be awe-inspiring. But people can't tell you the whole experience, because if they could they would have had the whole experience, and they'd be "dead"! What happens is that the awe eventually wears off because the unconscious guilt that is still within the mind starts to catch up with you. This causes you to reincarnate as a way of escaping your guilt and your fear of God. This always happens to you eventually, unless your mind has been completely healed by the Holy Spirit! Healing induces the waking process. When you really wake up, what appeared to be real before is now recognized as the idle dream that it is. Then it is forgotten, or at least rendered meaningless. There are dreams you had last night that you can't remember. Likewise, your present lifetime and all of the others will disappear. And when everyone reaches the same state of enlightenment, the universe will disappear - leaving only God's universe of Heaven. That is what you are. Call it whatever you like. There are no words there, not even the word "God". So what does it matter? It just "is", and you just "are". Jesus
The role of perception can also be seen in the archetype of the snake who enticed Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The snake's eyes are covered with a layer of skin that's shed with the rest of the skin at each molt. The nasal area contains heat-sensing organs, the tongue is used to pick up scents and the jawbone is used to pick up sounds. In effect, every sense took a step down: the eyes have become the nose, the nose has become the tongue and the ears have become the lower jaw. It's this false sense of perception that gave rise to the lie of duality opposing the truth of the unity of God. I like to imagine what one's perception would be of a finite universe outside of the confinements of space and time. It would appear as though everything in time, from creation to the universe's inevitable destruction, exists in one single moment and everything, from a subatomic particle to a galaxy would be equal in shape and proportion. This is one of the things that made understand how you can be one with Christ, while your initial perception is that you're seperated. While it is true that our fear of God gave rise to our perception of the universe, it also gave rise to our eventual reconciliation to God: The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom. [Psalms 111:10] And of wisdom it's written: "To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind." [Proverbs 8:4] 30 Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. 32 "Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from YHWH. 6 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death." [Proverbs 8:30-35] Wisdom or "Chochma / Sophia" is one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. As a helper she agreed to the creation of man because like everything in this universe, our physical bodies have a dual purpose. Not only were they created as a way to hide from God, they also serve as part of a chariot for the eventual return to God. Because of this we may be called her "sons" as well. In Ezechiel 9 this aspect of our human expierence is clearly illustrated by the man in linen: 11 Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, "I have done as you commanded." The man dressed in white linnen symbolizes a soul who's sense of guilt for upholding the law was purged and returned the Word of God. I think atheism should be seen in the same manner as our bodies; it denies the existence of God, but also paves the way for a reconciliation to God by erasing certain religious believes and practises. I personally think you can compare it to a reset button, allowing the soul to be taught by a new experience. Atleast for me this answers the question: "If there's a God, why are there atheists? "
Mr. I am... Being interviewd. Watch the last 1/2 of the video. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tb1QqUE2Ax8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tb1QqUE2Ax8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/a15KgyXBX24"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/a15KgyXBX24" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> This should clear up any misunderstandings of why there are atheists. Some of us have a grip on what we really are. Monkeys!:eek: