spiritual_poetry12

Much of prior "poetry,"
progressive partial understandings contained.
Yet each was an aspect of the Source,
other written manifestations of Consciousness.
And now? New insights, clearer/deeper understandings.
Advaita Vedanta versus "pure Advaita"¹
The final answer the mind cannot totally obtain,
   yet never stops trying,
   till it finally stops,
   and the "me" (ego) truly DIES.
Not the functioning ego, but the illusory ego
   as the source of my body/mind organism.
Thus, enlightenment does not happen to "me"
   but THROUGH the instrumentality of my body/mind apparatus.
Even though the above is conceptual
   it, too, is yet another aspect of Source.
But not SOURCE ITSELF
   which is beyond all concepts and understanding.
That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You to Seek²
becomes: that which is causing you to seek
is causing the dissolution of you as seeker.
Such that, compassion is the killer of encrusted false beliefs!
The enlightened instrument knows itself
   as NOT separate from THAT--
Consciousness is ALWAYS present
   in EVERYTHING the instrument does,
   as well as in EVERYTHING.
As instrument, personal involvement ends
   as does the sense of suffering.
Ultimately, my ego is not reabsorbed into Oneness
   since I was NEVER separate from Oneness at any time.
Yet, as an aspect of Oneness, this particular aspect
   ceases to be--with only Oneness remaining.
Most can't stand this thought!
Ego-survival reigns supreme.
The Presence of God in everything
   becomes this body/mind organism's true nature
   overturning its basic genetic structure with
   all its subsequent conditioning.
From limited to UNLIMITED! Yet still not
   separate from existing infinite forms.
Will grace--"the unmerited favor from God"
   cause the enlightenment event to happen
   through your/my form?
"We can only do what we do and
   then see what happens next."
Gratitude arising for Waynes' helpful teachings.

Footnotes:

Advaita Vedanta has become another religion as superfluous as the rest. "Pure Advaita" contains the teachings of "sages" like Ramana Maharshi, Ramesh Balsekar, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Wayne Liquormanand others--see The Advaita Fellowship: www.advaita.org.
The title of a book by J. Shiver.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An Instrument Speaks

First there was the JESUITS
   with Catholic doctrine,
   seeking the will of God.
The first two years: a spiritual honeymoon,
   then intellect took over.
Next, YOGA brought in the body and health,
leading to much bodywork/healing.
ZEN helped see through the mind,
into the void.
Dance/devotional poetry SUFIS offered.
American Indian sweatlodges
reintroduced prayer/ceremonies/nature.
The source of KABBALISTIC wisdom, the Zohar,
a different perspective proposed.
The Greek Mystics, with "incubation,"¹
invited experiences of Presence.
Advaita--non-dualistic teachings--now bring
permanent, underlying peace,²
and Final Understanding.
No more doctrines, only POINTERS.
Everything changes, nothing changes.
Yet more pointers will appear.

Footnotes:

www.NewAgePointofInfinity.com, click onto The Mystical Fellowship.
Not the "peace that surpasses all understanding," but, once you wake up, the peace that you understand! So now, more contentment, more relaxation, more centeredness, more ease and comfort.

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Infinity's Experiment

A dream arose.
Consciousness, through this form(1)
   an experimental space to be created impulsed.
   where Awareness, experiential happenings, brings forth.
Total individual FREEDOM is expressed,
Within a loosely-bound community structure,
   in a stunningly beautiful site.

Allowing Beingness/Source to be honored
   in ALL lifeforms. from the earth
   to rocks/trees, to animals, to homo sapiens.
Feeling/sensing the depths of ALL emotions/body
   sensations, as well as thoughts.
Yet, going beyond the mind
   exploring the totally MYSTERIOUS
   and interconnectedness of ALL manifest/
   unmanifested forms.

Where boundless possibility, boundless FREEDOM arise
   and bless the ground/air in which our forms move.
Love and Gratitude, continually, spontaneously,
   blossom forth and spread their energetic vibrations
   across the land and all who come here.
Hopefully receiving the FINAL/ULTIMATE UNDERSTANDING.(2)

Footnotes:

This form is a body/mind organism, instrument, apparatus, mechanism.

From the "SAGES" mentioned inside the front cover of Confessions of an Ex-Jesuit, Vol.2. See also, the poem, "Culmination of the New Age Movement: A Bibliographical Poem."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Is It an Illusion?

I used to go for a walk.¹
Just YOU and me.
Now, it's just YOU.

At times, I wonder, when this form disappears,
What remains of outside world?
Is it all an illusion? Yes and no.
It still exists without me
and so it's objectively real.
And the consequences in it ARE REAL.

BUT, all of that is just a dream by the Dreamer.
So, ultimately, none of it is real.

A mystic
Gets it and doesn't.
A taste,
Yet passes.

Thus, it matters not what is done²
through your form.
It's just an illusion/dream.

Can you buy it?

Footnotes:

This body-mind organism tries to walk daily for better health, for being a better receiver--just as the impulse to do yoga and practice Presence also arises.
Matters what you do? Yes and no. If seen personally, reincarnation effects. IF there is a "you." Impersonally viewed, only "general" reincarnation. Where do you stand?

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Progressive Understanding

Infinite Potentiality exists.

Without free will, a body/brain/potential mind mechanism created.
A "functional/operating" mind develops for the functioning apparatus.
The organism adopts/adapts according to its environment.
Pure action of senses without thought, plus all involuntary
systems (no free will!).

Around two-and-one half, SOMETHING HAPPENS.
A "working/attributive" mind, called ego, emerges
--the sense of "I" as doer arises, with apparent
free will/choice.

Life continues. We "freely" create our life.
Ups and downs. ALL temporary/impermanent.
Death shows its face.
Things happen, against our will!
Where's free will? We can't even control our thoughts!

Questions arise: Who is this "I"?
What is my true nature?
Am I my ego--or what?
We need understanding, meaning.

Spiritual traditions say: the ego must die, dissolve.
Life is a mystery--beyond comprehension.
Philosophies/theologies arise with answers/"theTruth."
What a joke!

Sometimes, SOMETHING HAPPENS AGAIN.
The falsified/attributive ego dissolves
Remaining is the body-mind mechanism,
baby-like again, only the operating mind functioning.
An instrument of Infinite Potentiality: a sage.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NOTE: Wayne Liquorman's Acceptance of What Is: A Book About Nothing brought forth the following.

Do You REALLY Want IT?

Enlightenment is the topic. It's about Nothing.
So why talk about IT?
IT being: Oneness, Awakening, the Final Understanding,
Totality, Unity Consciousness, Pure Awareness,
God, Beingness, Source, Tao, Wholeness,
Self-Realization, Pure Isness, the I AM state,
What Is, Buddhahood, Union with God, the NOW,
Christ Consciousness--whatever you want to call IT.

What It's not.
It's not permanent bliss (ananda).
It's not a temporary mystical experience--however long.
It's not about the death of the body-mind mechanism,
the "functioning" ego.
It's not about temporary Enlightenment and its stabilizing
over time.

It's not about intellectual understanding.
It's not about anything personal--it's not about "you."
It's not about separation or the "correct" perception.
It's not about "preparing" for It, or "something" you obtain/acquire.
It's not about involvement in this world, nor is It about experience.

It's BEYOND experience, which of its nature, is transitory.
It's BEYOND intellectual understanding, more LIKE
intuitive understanding.
It's BEYOND a sense of doership/authorship--
"you" are not the "Doer."
It's BEYOND desires and disappointments.

IT just happens!--as a "GRACE."
It's a dissolution of the "attributing"/thinking/falsified ego.
It's the impersonality of the universe, the underlying Unity.
It's acceptance of WHAT IS.
It's the "functioning" mind operating while the "attributive"
mind dissolves.

When Enlightened, no personal karma, no personal reincarnation.
No free will, no identification with anything--no "you."
No more whys, no more answers.
"Pure action" exists without a secondary quality of it
being "my" doing.
All that's left is the direct response of the body-mind organism--
like the existence of a two year old.
The Divine Hypnosis is gone!

"The experience of the absence of the experiencer
is the absence of any body-mind mechanism to
experience anything."
"Enlightenment happens when the seeking and the finding
both fall away at the same instant--the whole conceptual
framework, in which the seeker and the sought exist, dissolves."
"THAT is all there is and all of THIS is simply an aspect of THAT."

And so IT seems!
Do you REALLY want IT?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NOTE: These quoted words summarize pages 165-191 of Silence of the Heart: Dialogues with Robert Adams. Enjoy.

Is There a God?

What is God?
What is, is God.

Is the world real?
The world, by itself, is an illusion.
But God, as the world, is real.

As we progress, we find that there never was a God,
so there never was a world.
But, for the sake of talking, because God is, the universe is.
Everything, everything, is God in _expression.
Because God is, everything else is.

There is only God. And everything that exists, EVERYTHING,
is God. There can be nothing apart from God.

There is a Self and the Self is Consciousness (Pure Awareness).
Consciousness modifies Itself, and you have God.
God modifies Itself and you have existence.

Yet, Where did God come from, and Why does God appear
   as all these things? What is Its purpose?
The Self exists as the Self. But It appears AS IF there are
   things in the universe. AS IF there were a universe.
But there is no God and there is no world, and nothing
   is as it appears (false imagination).
What's left? SILENCE.

As long as you believe that things are real, you have to pray
   to God, because God does exist for you.
Ultimately, you'll give up your worship of God
   and you'll become the object of your worship.
Yet, you can pray to God even though there is no God,
   because you do it for the sake of others.
For there's only ABSOLUTE REALITY, the underlying Consciousness.

You look at the world and realize the world is the Self.
I am that Self. There is nothing else.
I AM. Everything else is superfluous.

Always spend time by yourself, sitting alone in Silence,
   being quiet. Be still and know that I am God.
When God is ready for you, God will take you over
   completely. And you'll have absolutely nothing to say
   about it whatsoever.

When you die what happens?
You go according to what you believe. It's all created by you.
You create your world after you die.
But, the ultimate reality is,
no one dies and there's nowhere to go.
You're already HERE. This is it. You are Eternity.
You are Fathomless Space.

The false life you're living now is an experience.
Yet it is all OF THE MIND. In reality there are no experiences.
Transcend the mind and be FREE!

There are some who want to awaken with all their heart and with
all their soul. Yet they always forget that they have to get rid
of the stuff that's keeping them from awakening. The concepts,
the preconceived ideas, the dogmas, the belief system that we've had
for so many years. This has to be given up.

A REALITY VISUALIZATION: Close your eyes. I Am boundless space, infinite like the sky, I Am. Not a person, place or thing, but I Am. I Am choiceless, effortless, Pure Awareness. I Am Ultimate Oneness. I Am Absolute Reality. I Am Nirvana. I Am infinite like the sky. I Am Absolute Consciousness. I Am That I Am. I Am. I Am.
Thus, see yourself as a Divine Being, an Infinite Being,
totally free and liberated.

The correct way to observe this is to look at everything in the world
intelligently without any comments, without any reactions. Do not be for
or against anything. Train yourself to observe, to watch,to look without
any reaction.

Drop your personal I.
Learn whenever you say the word "I," you're not thinking
about your personal self, but Pure Awareness, Absolute Reality.
All you get to do is let go of the personal I by not reacting to the
condition, and automatically the REAL I comes along, for you are
really the REAL I.

You are keeping yourself back because you are involved
in the material world, in your mind. Remember I'm not saying
you have to give up your job or not to do things. You've got
a body and the body is going to do things. BUT mentally, you
have to not be attached to what you're doing. Your body will
know what to do and will do everything that is necessary
for it to do. Be your Self.

The only thing you're giving up is your ego.
Let go of everything. Stand naked before God.
When you can foget about your scripture, forget about
everything you've learned, and become totally empty,
you will then become full.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Deprogramming of Ken Pollinger

After mainstream conditioning, I was indoctrinated into the Catholic
(Ignatian-Jesuitical) programming (The Truth), along with the "objective"
Scientific Method (Ph.D. in Sociology).
After that, some 25 years ago, I tried to study/experience the Course In
Miracles but got turned off by the re-interpretation of Christian terminology
(which also turned me off because of my in-depth study
of both the Old and New Testaments).

At that time, I was drawn into "metaphysical" thought,
especially "pre-history."
The following books opened my eyes
to "alternative" explanations that created
even more problems with both Testaments.

The 12th Planet; The Wars of Gods and Men; The Lost Realms,
all by Zecharia Sitchin (The Sumerinan, Egyptian, Mayan Civilizations)

The Ancient Secret of The Flower of Life, Vols. 1 and 2,
by Drunvalo Melchizedek (Egyptian and Sacred Geometry.

Everything You Know is Wrong, by LLoyd Pye
and many others (see The New Age University's Self-Study Courses
on my website at www.NewAgePointofInfinity.com
The Egyptian/Greek Mystery Schools then attracted my study,
as well as Gnosticism. Such books as:

The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?;
Jesus and The Lost Goddess:
The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians;
Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs,
all by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.(Pythagoras important)

Reality; In The Dark Places of Wisdom, both by Peter Kingsley
(Parmenides, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, Plotinus, Gorgias)

Nag Hammadi Library, by James Robinson (ed.) (Gnostic Gospels)

Books by Elaine Pagels:
The Gnostic Gospels; Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of
Thomas; Adam, Eve, and The Serpent; The Gnostic Paul;
The Origin of Satan
During the last few Years, I seriously studied authors writing about
"Enlightenment" or "Self-realization (not self/ego-realization!)
For example:

- Spiritual Enlightenment, by Jed McKenna,
- From Onions to Pearls and From Seekers to Finders, both by Satyam Nadeen,
- The Power of NOW and Stillness Speaks, both by Eckhart Tolle,
- and finally The Heart of Awareness (a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita), by Thomas Byron.
- These books are a good preparation for Peace and Harmony in Daily Living, by Ramesh S. Balsekar.

The a friend, Jonathan, turned me on to pure non-dualistic teachings

This Is It: The Nature of Oneness, by Jan Kersschot
As It Is: The Open Secret of Spiritual Awakening, by Tony Parsons

Plus, other recommended books in this endeavor:

Invitation To Awakening: Embracing Our Natural State of Presence,
   by Tony Parsons
Nobody Home: From Belief to Clarity, by Jan Kersschot
Acceptance Of What Is: A Book About Nothing, by Wayne Liquorman
Never Mind: A Journey into Non-Duality, by Wayne Liquorman
Awakening to the Dream, by L. Hartong
Radical Awakening: Cutting Through The Conditioned Mind,
   by Stephen and Farcet Jourdain
To Be and Not To Be, by Douglas Harding
On Having No Head: Zen and The Rediscovery of the Obvious,
   by Douglas Harding
I Am THAT: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj,
   ed. by Sudhakar Dikshit
Pointers From Nisargadatta Maharaj: Consciousness and the Absolute, by Ramesh Balsekar
The Doctrine of Vibration: The Doctrine and Practices Associated with Kasmir Shaivism, by Mark Dyczkowski
Silence of the Heart, Vol 1 and 2, by Robert Adams

Also, books by Wei Wu Wei; The Upanishads, by Eknath Easwaran;
The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta,
   by Swami Prabhavananda

Finally, I started seeing through the illusion of it all!!!!!!

Then my present reading: The Disappearance of the Universe, by Gary Renard,a really great book explaining how the Course In Miracles contains pure non-dualistic teachings from a Christian perspective. Gary's book truly makes The Course In Miracles understandable for me, finally!. It took 25 years!!
So, the East meets the West in pure NON-DUALISTIC teachings, and
the ego, the body,the world, and the universe is seen for what it is.

In short, I see the Eastern Non-Duality systems emphasizing a radical
SUDDEN awakening ( ego dissolvement), either by the grace of
Consciousness or through some guru, whereas, the Western Non-Duality
systems seem more based on self-study/self-experiences such as Mystical
Meditation (a la Kingsly: absolute stillness and silence),
or The Course In Miracles,
by working with the Holy Spirit practicing the forgiveness of Jesus--
a more apparent evolutionary approach (ego undone gradually).

Which speaks to you? One or the other, or both, or none?
Do they complement each other? What think you?

This COMING FALL the New Age Center and the Point of Infinity Retreat
Center plans to have a series of Introductions to Enlightenment gatherings
with roundtable discussions. Many of the books mentioned above are
recommended, especially The Disappearance of The Universe (West) and
Acceptance of What Is, by Wayne Liquorman (East)

If any of this interests you, please call Ken at 845-358-6448 or drop a note to newagectr@earthlink.net

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Present Synthesis

To break the godspell(1) under which we live, we must--
especially the Judeo-Christian-Muslim spell.
Yahweh, Mohammed (and Allah) arrogant,
unmerciful killers/murderers(2) with Jesus teaching love.
Yet the Catholic Church kills heretics and tortures in the Inquisition
All in the name of "God."
A start liberal Christianity offers (3)--see beneath the
   literal interpretation of the historical Jesus for the Living Word.
The Gnostic Tradition (4) presents a symbolic, rather then literal,
   viewpoint stressing the teachings, not a physical historical Jesus.
The Sumerian clay tablets (5) the foundation of the Judeo-Christian-
   Muslim origins of man challenges; the "gods" were not mythical!
Ancient cultures/structures (6) --pyramids, stonehenge, Incan Cusco
   Easter Island, Baalbek in Iraq, and many others--
   raise mysterious questions.
WHAT IS MYTH, WHAT IS FACTUAL??
Indian Avaita Vedanta (7) adds a further "non-dualistic" approach
   in explaining the Old and New Testaments.
"Pure" Vedanta (8) transcends the concept of God as understood
   in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim theology--introducing the impersonal
   concepts of "Consciousness"/"Source"/"Oneness."
Enlightenment literature (9) further clarifies the nature
   of Oneness in Western terms.
WHAT IS REAL, WHAT IS UNREAL? Can we ever agree?
What unifying paradigm exists? (10)
Genetic Enlightenment?(11)
Even more complex, how explain planetary history
   since "the beginning"? (12)
Enki/Enlil, bloodline concepts, Brotherhoods, secret societies,
   power elites, secret governments, Federal Reserve
   (with 10 primary shareholders)?
Exists a special bloodline? Members of which were
   Jesus and Mary Magdalene?
This bloodline traced back through the Essene communities
   to David to Israel to Egypt to Sumer, as initiated by Enki
   (The Lord, Adonai); and, Enlil (the Jehovah/YHWH
   of the Hebrew religion) (13)
What make you of all this?
Do you even care?
Contact Ken

Footnotes:

Breaking the Godspell; and, God Games, both by Neil Freer.

The Laughing Jesus mentioned above, pgs. 3-104.

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism; and, A New Christianity for a New World, both by Bishop John Shelby Spong.

The Laughing Jesus; Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom; and, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a "Pagan" God?; and Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians, all by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas; and, The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels. See Confessions of an Ex-Jesuit, by Ken Pollinger, Vol. 1; The Nag Hammadi Library: Gnostic Scriptures ed. by James Robinson; Jesus the Man, by Barbara Thiering (Dead Sea Scrolls)

The 12th Planet; and, The Wars of Gods and Men, both by Zecharia Sitchin.
-see "Planetary History" aphorism in Confessions of an Ex-Jesuit, Vol.1, by Ken Pollinger. Also: see http://www.neilfreer.com appendix A: A Synopsis of the Sitchin Paradigm in Sapiens Rising.

Fingerprints of the Gods, by Graham Hancock. The Amazing Lid of Lord Pacal; and, The Tutankhamun Prophecies; and, The Lost Tomb of Viracocha, all by Maurice Cotterell; The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, Vol. 1 and 2, by Drunvalo Melchizedek.

The Mystic Christ, by Ethan Walker; The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, by Swami Prabhavananda

The Heart of Awareness (a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita), by Thomas Byron.Books by Ramana Maharshi, Ramesh Balsekar, Nisargadatta Maharaj--see www.Advaita.org

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Culmination of the New Age Movement:

A Bibliographical Poem

1. My path: The Way of the Peaceful Warrior¹
A path to Spiritual Enlightenment²
But, which kind? Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment³
Awareness⁴ of my onion-layed being
Thus, From Onions To Pearls⁵
Peeling away the layers
Till: From Seekers To Finders⁶

2. What, pray tell, is a Finder, an enlightened being?
Well: This Is It⁷ Just As It Is: The Open Secret of
Spiritual Awakening⁸
So....I offer you An Invitation To Awaken⁹
Awakening To The Dream¹⁰, with Radical Awakening:
Cutting Through the Conditioned Mind¹¹
To Be And Not To Be¹², that is the answer!
Acceptance of What Is¹³ equals The Power of Now¹⁴

3. Could this NONDUALISTIC TEACHING be the
culmination of the New Age Movement,
the end of the Mayan Calendar,
The Silence of the Heart¹⁵,
by realizing, I AM THAT?¹⁶

4.      Such wonderful books!!

Footnotes:
1.    by Dan Millman
2.        The Damnedest Thing, by Jed McKenna
3.        by Jed McKenna
4.        The Perils and Opportunities of Reality, by Anthony De Mello, S.J.
5.        A Journal of Awakening and Deliverance, by Satyam Nadeen
6.        The Myth and Reality about Enlightenment, by Satyam Nadeen
7.        The Nature of Oneness, by Jan Kersschot
8.        by Tony Parsons
9.        Embracing our Natural State of Presence, by Tony Parsons
10.     by L. Harding
11.     by Stephen Jourdain
12.     by Douglas Harding
13.     A Book About Nothing, by Wayne Liquorman
14.     A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle
15.     Vols.1 and 2, by Robert Adams
16.     Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, ed. by Sudhakar Dikshit

From Confessions of an Ex-Jesuit, by Ken Pollinger, Vol.2 (available in Nirvana Bookstore).

See www.neilfreer.com, especially Sapiens Rising

Same as above. Part III, The New Human

See Sitchin above; Rule by Secrecy, by Jim Marrs, Bloodline of the Holy Grail; by Laurence Gardner; Many of David Icke's books (except dismiss the shape-shifting info and his take on Gardner)

The Genesis of the Grail Kings, by Laurence Gardner.

COMMENT BY KEN: Recently two people told me they were starting Bible study. Immediately I felt compelled to recommend that they see an Overview of the development of the bible before such study, Thus, I whole heartedly suggested John Shelby Spongs two paperbacks: Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism; and, A New Christianity For a New World. I wish I had had these two books in my Jesuit theological training.

NOTE: Obviously these books are just a sampling of a much more extensive list - see the bibliographies and footnotes in each book for more.

FINAL NOTE: Many of you know me by now. One of my greatest desires is to have an ongoing Study/Discussion Group (twice per month) about the topics listed above. If this would interest you, please contact me and indicate the day and hour you are available. Many thanks!

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A Three-fold Jesus?

Jesus, a real physical person and God:
literal fundamentalism (1)

Jesus, a real physical person and NOT God,
but a God-presence shinning forth (2)

Jesus, NOT a real physical person and NOT God,
but a symbolic MYTH (the teachings are important,
not the person) (3)

None of the above?
Something other? (4)

Is any of this important for you? HOW?
"Who do you say I am?", asked Jesus.
AFTER reading books recommended,
WHAT think you?

Footnotes:

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, by John Shelby Spong. A GREAT quick overview of biblical scholarship--challenging.
A New Christianity for a New World, by John Shelby Spong.
Gnostic teachings: the "story/myth" of a physical Jesus for the masses; symbolic teachings for the initiated. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jeus" a "Pagan" God?; Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians; The Laughing Jesus: Relisious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom, all three by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle, especially Chp.7, "Finding Who Your Truly Are."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On Being 72

Sitting here, meditating,
yet there's no here.
And, who's meditating?
72 years ago
   (yet time is an illusion)
Oneness decided to create this bodily form
   called Ken Pollinger
   (yet even this creation is an illusion).
What a trip! --or, is trap better?
Mostly unconscious, yet finally awakened
to who this form really is--
ESSENCE,whose essence is EXISTENCE,
The Background of all beingness¹
Fully god-realized? Established permanently
in the awakening?
Not yet--and why not?
Is it just a flip of the awareness switch?
Always on, while appearing off.
Gratitude arising. Peace remains. Laughter interrupts.

Footnote:

The essential understanding is that in reality nothing is. It is non-being only that is, and there is nothing but that. It is only in function of Non-being that being SEEMS TO BE. Being must be replaced by Non-being--in order that anything may be. For Being is a projection of Non-being. This is the necessary realization, and, perhaps, the ultimate--that Nothing alone is, that there is only Is-not, that Is only by virtue of Is-not--for nothing but Nothing is of itself, and only the isness of Is-not can be. That is the realization of the Void. The Void (Non-Being) alone is complete. Thus we must rid ourselves of the idea of Being as well as of self. See page 45 of Ask The Awakened: The Negative Way, by Wei Wu Wei.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NOTE: Just finished Your Head In The Tiger's Mouth: Talks in Bombay with Ramesh Balsekar, ed. by Blayne Bardo. A thought arose: What's next?

Manifestation

Will Grace get "me" out of the way?
What, perchance, does Consciousness want
to manifest through this body-mind organism?
Thoughts/ emotions arise.¹
In silence, and if receptivity is given,
   then the blueprint emerges.
Yet nothing needs to be done
   for it is ALL maya (illusion).
But what fun observing the process
   till the functioning energies of this form
   return to the pool of Consciousness--
   perhaps again, in another combination,
   pass into a future body-mind organism
   till the process of seeking ends in awakening².
Thus, the key, which is not in this APPARENT form's control,
   is the complete acceptance of What Is.
Decisions have to be made.
Live life AS IF there is free will,
   making decisions with this form's standards of
   ethics, morality and responsibility..
Whatever the decision is will be God's will..
If manifestation is the DESTINY, it will HAPPEN.
The happening is enjoyed!
Yet impatience arises and is observed,
without involvement.

Footnotes:

Page 419: "Thought does not orginate in the body-mind organism, it comes from outside and a split-second later the brain spontaneously reacts according to its conditioning; a thought is an input which brings about an output which leads to causation."
Page 402: "The SPONTANEOUS IMPERSONAL EVENT at the end of the process of seeking in which there is the total, apperceived, intuited understanding IN THE HEART that there is no doer and never was a doer or seeker; the ego, the "me," completely disappears."

Note: The original VEDAS are the most ancient sacred literature of Hinduism which start out as mythical and ritual and culminate in the pure philosophy of VEDANTA, based on the UPANISHADS, with ADAIVTA VEDANTA being the most well known branch, established by Adi Shankara in the eighth century.

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NOTE: My destiny was to find a book of GREAT VALUE. Probably the CLEAREST and most PRECISE investigation of the void and the inner essence, also known as the soul. Essence with The Elixir of Enlightenment, by A. H. Almaas.

Essential Realization

Such a yearning arises
that this body-mind form
"fears" a gigantic explosion/shattering of itself.
Unleasing a non-physical substance within,
returning to its undifferentiated primordial form,
alchemically* transcending into pure consciousness.
Such a BLESSED yearning!

Footnote:

*"The individual has to be steeped in the direct knowledge of essential development in order to understand alchemical texts and to see that alchemy is literally the science of inner chemistry, or the science of dealing with subtle substances." Page 71 of Essence with The Elixir of Enlightenment, by A. G. H. Almaas.

Also, "The truth of substantiality: essence or being is not a state of mind but is an actual and palpable ontological presence." "The essential substance is experienced in its deepest nature as existence. And essence has many precise and definite physical characteristics (aspects). Thus inner development is seen as a transformation of essential substance from one aspect to another, until they are all realized. Essential transformation is TRANSUBSTANTIATION!

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NOTE: For one of the clearest, most precise, and elegant books on enlightenment may I suggest: Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment, by A. H. Almaas. I write the following in honor of two year old Liam, my grandchild.

Essence (the true Self)
versus Ego Identity (the false self)

Essential Presence manifests in the new-born babe/young child.
Innocence, wonderment, newness, the miraculous is seen.
The God within, the Kingdom of Heaven within shines forth.
Essence, our true nature, before conditioning,
exists right in front of us.
What a sight! What delightful attraction!
The young child's REAL Self----before ego/personality develops
(the make-believe, made-up, false self )----beckons to us.

Essence (Life Itself), has many qualities (aspects, characteristics)
   and its nature is to be completely manifest over time.
"The baby knows essence but does not know that he knows."
"The baby is not only born with essence,
   but essence is the baby that is born."
A small child has no ego, no personality,as yet;
   he is what he really is----he IS essence
   (one undifferentiated mass/whole).
Then, somehow, his essence is gradually covered over,
   aspect by aspect, and the personality develops to
   fill the "hole" of the concealed essence.
As baby grows, different aspects of his essence
   dominate in different periods of his development.
At two months to about a year, the essential aspect
   of MERGING LOVE/FUSION¹ with the mother develops,
   yet the baby is still unaware of differentiation between himself and mother.

This symbiotic unity, at times, disappears and
   eventually is almost completely veiled.
When MERGING LOVE is hidden, there is left in its place a vacuum,
   an emptiness, a lack, an absence, a "hole" in the baby
   ---and pain is experienced.
Ego development arises². The child learns to fill the emptiness,
   to cover it up, to bury it,
   by developing certain parts (fillers) of his personality.
Thus, the ego and its identity (self), ego-identity, are formed by the
   organization of "self-representations (fillers)" which function to
   fill the holes of essential disappearances: the false self appears!

In time, there will be very little essence in the child's conscious experience.
Essence becomes repressed, relegated to unconsciousness.
The average person mistakenly believes that his personality is he himself.
The personality is not the being
but is an IMPOSTOR pretending to be the truth.
The deepest nature of the personality is a deficiency, a hole, an absence!!!

"Freedom is first a freedom FROM----from the personality.
Later, it is freedom FOR----for the essence to be."

So, remember: ESSENCE is the TRUE SELF
Ego Identity is the false self
Ego allows the body/mind organism to function.

How can the various aspects of essence be retrieved?³
The answer is read Essence by Almaas

Footnotes

"The "I" is not yet differentiated from the "not-I", and the inside and outside are only gradually coming to be seen as different."
"The ego identity, the self concept, is the organizing center, the apex of the developmental process----the "I." In spiritual and work literature the ego is equated with the ego-identity. The so-called ego-death is the death of the ego-identity; the remaining functional ego allows us to function in the world.
Chapter 4, The Retrieval of Essence; and, especially chapter 5, The Development of Essence.

NOTE: A.H. Almaas, pen name for A. Hameed Ali, born in Kuwait, combines Sufism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Gurdjieff with Freud, Jung, Wilhelm Reich, ego psychology, object relations theory, and self-psychology: the new psychological knowledge is combined with ancient, basic, wisdom to yield The Diamond Approach to inner realization.

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Programming/Deprogramming/Reprogramming

PROGRAMMING

Inherited genetics, plus
Childhood conditioning (socialization)
-believe that I am a person with an ego
-believe that the world is real as sensed through the five senses
-believe that God is the Judeo-Christian Father in the sky (heaven)
-believe in my religious training
-believe that I have free will.

DEPROGRAMMING

Aware of different cultural programming=
relativity of programming
Quantum Physics: I'm more space than solidity
Different religions with different beliefs
(each has THE truth!!) Contradictions abound.
Buddhists don't even believe in God.
Meditation; new emphasis--instead of From Without to Within,
now, From Within to Without (a la Zen)

REPROGRAMMING

A Course in Miracles and Advaita Vedanta (Indian thought),¹
both stressing NON-DUAL TEACHINGS.
The ego and the world are illusions.
Both of these are the dreamt.
Go beyond the CONCEPT of God
to the CONCEPTS of Consciousness or Source.
And even beyond ALL concepts
as they are just POINTERS.
For the Infinite cannot be comprehended!
Realize that there is only this body-mind organism
being used by the Dreamer for Its own design.
Wake up to ONENESS/UNICITY
   (an impersonal awareness),
   there are no objects only Subjectivity,²
   with manifestation WITHIN Itself).
A New Species arising³
The Final Understanding is experienced.⁴
No free will! Just conditioned to believe you have free will.⁵
And Consciousness manifests Its will through
these body-mind organisms.
So Enlightenment and Endarkenment yield to Enlivenment.⁶
The opposites are reconciled
and the illusion as well as the Reality can be embraced.
Is this the culmination of the New Age Movement?

Footnotes:

See the literature listed in the Vision of the Point of Infinity--visit www.NewAgePointofInfinity.com
Ask the Awakened, by Wei Wu Wei.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle.
Your Head in The Tiger's Mouth: Talks in Bombay with Ramesh Balsekar, ed. by Blayne Bardo. "So all that happens is that Consciousness is witnessing whatever is happening among the objects It has created. And that wanting to know Itself is something that is created by Consciousness."
"Nothing can happen unless it is God's will."
The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom, by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.

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NOTE: After my weekly Bodywork session with Ginny Flint (845-353-8332) the following poem presented itself.

Essential Bodywork

Entering, together, into sacred space.
Slowly connecting to the embodied spirit world,
Allowing the deepest emotional stuckness
   to arise, dissapating into the ether.
Original nature appears once again
   -- in the adult body--just as in the
   new born babe it emerged.

True nature floods the cells.
Essence is recovered and relished
while extreme gratitude is experienced.

To leave the world behind, with its challenges,
if only for an hour.
And allow the embedded essential dimension
to enjoy itself.
Is joy¹ beyond words.

Blessed are the Essential Bodyworkers²
And now, back to the world, differently.

Footnotes:

See Essence with The Elixir of Enlightenment, by A.H. Almaas for perspective on "recovering essence"--with joy being one essential aspect of essence.
It's exceedingly difficult to describe Ginny's bodywork since she uses so many modalities while being intuitively guided. Different non-touched parts of the body are finally found, while long-held, really deep-seated knots melt--essence arising-- in her releasing hands, elbows, and unusual bodywork positions. A reference might help: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, 2nd Vol., by Clair Davies--but only experiencing Ginny's Essential Bodywork can capture its importance. What more can I say?

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NOTE: While browsing True Sounds catalog I felt overwhelmed with even more books, audios, and videos appearing. I figure it would take a few lifetimes, full-time, to even dent all that's out there. So, after breathing deeply for a few minutes, my pen composed the following.

Spiritually Underwhelmed

So MANY books to read;
                  audios to hear;
                  videos to watch;
                  spiritual paths to travel.

So MANY meditations to try;
                  bodywork modalities to experience;
                  sacred sites to visit;
                  "readings" to ponder;
                  workshops to attend.

So MANY health alternatives to question;
                  healings to receive;
                  healthy diets to undertake;
                  nightly dreams to explore;
                  therapies to examine/use.

Reviewing the above¹---overwhelmed????
With so much to do, why not just "be."
The Direct Path---Non-Dualism--shows the way.²
The essential thing is to know ESSENCE³

Try being SPIRITUALLY UNDERWHELMED.
Let the false self drop away.
Let all the aspects of ESSENCE arise.
Then, "be" and "act" as guided.

Footnotes:

For someone who did much of the above, see From Onions to Pearls, by Satyam Nadeen, Chp. 2, "Personal Background," pages 7-10.
Enlightenment literature: visit www.NewAgePointofInfinity.com, click onto Point of Infinity, the go to Vision of Point.
For more: The Impact of Awakening; My Secret Is Silence; Emptiness Dancing--all by Adyshanti. Plus his audio: True Meditation: Discovering the Natural..
The End of Reincarnation: Breaking the Cycle of Birth and Death, by Gary Renard. Through the Open Door, by Eckhart Tolle (audio)
The Diamond Approach as taught by A.H. Almaas (many books, audios, videos).

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Essence Arising

Every night we dream
even though many aren't aware of it.
Yet some are and do nothing.
What make of dreams?
Many interpretations---Freudian, Jungian, Sullivanian, etc.
Even within the same system, different meanings.
So----What to do?
One proposal: GESTALT DREAMWORK by Perls.
Various suppressed facets of personality,
hiding aspects of Essence,
Reveal themselves in sleep.
These facets call to be faced/explored.
This inquiry frequently leads to an "impasse"
   --a stuck point, where one fears the awaiting unknown
   as well as desires the security of the known,
   however dysfunctional to Essence growth.
Finally one "death layer" of ego identification
is approached/confronted in Gestalt Dreamwork.
Breaking through this ego-identification-death-layer
the pearl of great price is uncovered:
Another aspect of Essence arises.
No conceptual interpretation, simply experiential elucidation.
Let the LIGHT shine on the diamond-faceted Essence.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Immortality

Closer now to the final years.
The Mystery of Death and Dying arises.
Many the baby boomers (and others)
Tired of the materialistic path
Seek more meaning, more understanding.

Desiring initiations and secret knowledge
concerning immortality.
What new/ancient path to follow?
Books famous: The Tibetan Book of the Dead
and The Egyptian Book of the Dead--
confuse or enlighten?
What to do? What to read? How to understand?

Help is on the way!
The Mystery of Death and Dying¹
And, Initiation in the Great Pyramid²
Present a beginning.

The moment of death offers
an unsought initiation.
The Focus is on three SEED ATOMS----
the emotional (solar plexus chakra),
the mental (crown chakra),
the heart (heart chakra)
FREE WILL is found in the emotional (astral) and mental
while the heart seed atom FATEFULLY ties you
to your karmic past DESTINY.
Thus, 2/3 free and 1/3 fated!

At death, first released is the emotional seed atom vibrations
followed by the vibrations of the mental seed atom,
building the newly born spiritual form.
Finally the heart seed atom escapes the body
carrying the "movie" of your entire incarnation with it.
Next comes the Bardo--where you see yourself as you truly are.
Transitioning to spirit life.

Are you ready?
Prepare thyself.

Yet, relatively speaking, if it's all an illusion,
No need to do anything except have the Final Understanding³

Footnotes:

Title of Earlyne Chaney's book.
Another Chaney book, see pages 1-106, and especially pages 158-227. This book magnificently throws much light on the Egyptian civilization and the meaning of The Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Could teachers like Tolle, Balsekar, Adyashanti and others, be the modern-day Egyptian gods/priests/guides of old? Or, following Almaas and others, is there still the need for much, much more work?

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JUDAS, A Real Friend?

Level I: ABSOLUTE REALITY; Level II: relative reality.
In comparison with level I, level II is an ILLUSION
   (a dream, a Divine play, a drama, UNREAL)
Even though what happens on Level II has real consequences
   on that level,
The question is: Do level II happenings also have real
   consequences on level I?
Advaita Vedanta and the Gnostics would say no
   since everything is ONENESS or PURE SUBJECTIVITY.
Yet reincarnations SEEM to take into account level II consequences.
So, are reincarnations also ILLUSIONS?
As are the "higher" planes of "the Masters."
Many would work to change relative reality--the world--
for the better.
Is this just making for a better illusion/dream?
No need, therefore, to improve the world.
Yet, if you want to, do it--realizing that, maybe,
it doesn't matter.
Enter The Lost Gospel of Judas.¹
Betrayer or favored disciple/willing collaborator?
"If Jesus' death was all part of God's plan, then Judas's
   betrayal was part of God's plan."
Was Judas just playing HIS ROLE in the Divine play?
For as Jesus said: "For you will sacrifice the man that
   clothes me." (Lost Gospel)
So, "in helping Jesus get rid of his physical flesh,
Judas acts to liberate the true spiritual self or
   the divine being within Jesus" (NY Times).
Is what APPEARS as betrayal really a beneficial act?
How possibly judge ANY ACTION?
All level II happenings lead to level I REALITY!
The Gnostics are arising ---AGAIN.²

Footnotes:

"In Ancient Document, Judas, Minus the Betrayal", (N.Y. Times, April 6), by John Noble Wilford; also, "Document Is Genuine, but Is Its Story True?," by Laurie Goodstein

The Secrets of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel, by James M. Robinson "Could Judas have believed that by betraying Jesus he was fulfilling God's plan for the birth of Christianity?"

Note: Mary Magdalene recently went from whore to beloved disciple.
Now, Judas SEEMS to need revision.
Where does that leave Jesus?
See Timothy Freke and Pater Gandy:
--The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a "Pagan God?"
--Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original
Christians
--The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom
Also, see Elaine Pagels:
--The Gnostic Gospels
--Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
and many others.
Plus: The Nag Hammadi Library: Gnostic Scriptures. by James Robinson

Comment from Ken:

Instead of the birth of Christianity interpretation,
   following Fritz Perls, I see the person as an onion,
   to be peeled, layer-by-layer, of bodily-stuck emotions^a
   until the innermost core is reached, where there is
   emptiness/nothingness.
Such that enlightenment happens and Divinity shines
   through our forms.
For me, the true Gnostic teachings of Jesus guide
   us: "the Kingdom of God is within."

Footnote:

(a) Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, by Karol Truman.

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Illusion Upon Illusion

Level I: ABSOLUTE REALITY¹; Level II: relative reality.
In comparison with level I, level II is an ILLUSION
(a dream, a Divine play, a drama, UNREAL)
The above is the PRIMARY ILLUSION created by Source.
Within the primary illusion is a SECONDARY ILLUSION,
created by the "established elite."
However, a debate exists about the secondary illusion
--here "conspiracy theories" predominate.
How recognize the "truth" of the secondary illusion?
(If, in fact, one can arrive at any "truth" concerning these things)
One place to start: The 12th Planet, by Zecharia Sitchin.
In the beginning, man was created not by God but by . . .
Lawrence Gardner's Genesis of the Grail Kings presents
   a detailed prehistory of Sitchin's research,
   especially combining Sumerian, Egyptian and Hebrew connections.
Rule by Secrecy, by Jim Marrs, correlates present-day
   political/economic structures with Sitchin/Gardner research.
Much more detailed investigation is provided by David Icke in:
   . . .And The Truth Shall Set Your Free
   The Biggest Secret (1999)
   Children of the Matrix (2001)
   Tales from the Time Loop (2003) (small autobiography here)
   Infinite Love Is The Only Truth, Everything Else is an Illusion (2005)
Or, try: The Secret History of the World and How to Get Out Alive,
   by Laura Knight-Jadczyk
And, so, we come to one of many updated versions:
"Senate Hearings on Bush, NOW," by Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame)

Footnote:

1. Ask The Awakened, by Wei Wu Wei

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NOTE: The Da Vinci Code exploded on the scene. The movie arrived as did The Jesus Papers, by Michael Baigent. A brief summary of some major points follows.

A Letter From Jesus?

The Jesus of history from the Jesus of faith how separate?
To see the political/religious world within which Jesus,
   his followers and his biographers lived is necessary.
And direct knowledge is always superior to faith or belief.
   (It's one thing for someone to say your hand will be burned
   in a fire (belief); it's quite another thing to put your hand in the
   fire and have the experience (direct knowledge).
So, where does direct knowledge lead us?
Only Matthew and Luke mention the Virgin Birth.
In Isaiah (7:14) the Hebrew language prophesied that an
   "alma" (young woman) would bear a son, called Immanuel.
Yet when translated into Greek alma became "parthenos"
   (a virgin)--so ONLY a young woman was needed!
Church Fathers Origin (self-castrated at 18) and Augustine
   (who hated all pleasures, especially that of sex) helped
   create a cult of virginity. And by 1139 A.D. marriage and sex
   were forbidden to priests in the Roman Church.
Check out Church Father Tertullian below¹
Thus, women in Church services were relegated
   to "silence and at home, consulting their husbands."
After "preaching at the Temple at an early age, Whence Jesus?
To Egypt, to "Zadokite" (Zealots) Jewish Temple in Onias,
   for training by mystical Jewish groups (Therapeutae)²
For details of Egyptian-influenced training see Chp. 9,
   "The Mysteries of Egypt,"
Not theology ("talking about" the gods, i.e., knowledge,);
   but Theurgy ("working with" the gods, i.e., direct knowing).
Especially, travelling to the Far-World though the Underworld.
To do so, INITIATIONS!
The Greek cults were derived from the Egyptian Temple cults.
Plato, though Socrates: correct philosophy "is practising
   nothing other than dying and being dead."
Initiations are all important!³
Plato, however, filtered out all the experiental qualities of the
   Presocratic philosophers, while Aristotle completed the
   filtering, i.e., can only know by means of our reason;
   or truth, through discussion and logical agreement.
Parmenides periodically traveled to the Far-World and
   RETURNED!--see his incantatory poem⁴
The technique of INCUBATION: await in silence/stillness
   a dream or vision, or while sleeping, either on or inside the earth.
Enter another state of consciousness, leave your body in its "Ba"
   form or psyche(soul) and travel to the Far-World.
Thus, our task: "santification": "bringing the spirit back into the
   world to teach others the way to the Far-World."
Is this what happened in the story (dream/vision) of Jacob's ladder?
Ezekiel's vision was derived from an ancient Babylonian text.
The Kabbalisitc Tree is based upon the Assyrian original.
Enoch (raised aloft on the chariots of the spirit) seems to
be a Judaic equivalent of the Egyptian winger Ba.
Jesus, like the mystical Egyptians/Greeks/Hebrews, took a
mystical approach while the Jewush Zealots took a worldly approach.
The mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven--what mean this?
"It is already available to those who know the way.
We cannot see the kingdom--we cannot find it by reason and
   physical observation, for the KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN."
In silence and incubation!
The Gospel of Thomas⁵, a hidden tradition, esoteric and mystical
   teaching (wisdom) being passed on secretly within Christianity.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene: she received some secret teachings
   from Jesus that the others have not--she says to Peter: "I will
   teach you about what is hidden from you."
The crucifixion, Was it the Zealots (not the Jews in general)
   who wanted Jesus executed?
Could the crucifixion have been "faked?"
Hugh Schonfeld in The Passover Plot:
   Jesus was drugged--sedated on the cross
   such that he appeared dead but could be revived later,
   after he had been taken down⁶.
Joseph of Arimathea asks for the SOMA of Jesus (Greek: a living body);
   Pilate gives permission to take down the PTOMA of Jesus (Greek:
   a dead body). But, in the Latin Vulgate, CORPUS ("body" as well as
   "corpse") is used by both Joseph and Pilate.
Thus, the hiding of the secret of the crucifixion was completed.
"To base truth upon a written word makes it vulnerable to all the problems
   of INTERPRETATION and TRANSLATION, to say nothing of religious    distortion."
Enter the Dead Sea Scrolls⁷.
The "son of God" title was now seen to be a preexisting usage.
The original Jesus movement was taken over by a Jesus mythology.
The Jesus tradition is Jewish; the Christ myth is not.
The Jesus of history versus the Jesus of faith.
The myth of Jesus replaced the reality of Jesus.
"Can we ever save Jesus from the dogma within which
he has long been mired?"
Finally, "the Jesus Papers" are presented.
A wealthy Israeli owns two Aramaic letters written to the Jewish
   Court, the Sanhedrin--written by the "Messiah of the Children of Israel":

"This messiah explained that what he meant was not that he was "God" but that the "Spirit of God" was in him--not that he was physically the son of God, but rather that he was spiritually an adopted son of God. . .and everyone who felt similarly filled with the "spirit" was also a "son of God." (page 269)

But the papers are concealed--in private hands and thus,
   NO CONFIRMATION! Yet Baigent claims to have seen them!
The tug-of-war between scholars, dealers, and collectors
   for manuscripts still continues.
So. .. expect more ancient manuscripts to reveal themselves!

Footnotes:

Tertullian ranted against women: "You are the devil's gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law. . . .On account of your desert--that is, death--even the Son of God had to die."
The Therapeutae worship centered on the Self-Existent--a belief in the One Divine Reality. They represented a Jewish version of a widespread mystical tradition that found expression in all lands. They focused on healing, of body AND soul, and on worship.
They healed, they taught, they sang, they chanted,, they wrote and recited rhythmic incantatory poetry, they used sacred ritual, they meditated, they used any technique they knew in order to carry the seeker to the very deepest divine sources of reality.
In The Dark Places of Wisdom, by Peter Kingsley.
Jesus' disciples ask, "When will the new world come?" Jesus replies, "What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it." "The Kingdom is inside you and it is outside you."
See pages 126-131 of Baigent.
The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

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Pandora's Box: Da Vinci Code

For the masses, The Da Vinci Code opened pandora's box:
How? It raised QUESTIONS/DOUBTS about
   the diversity of early Christianity
   the origins of the gospels
   the supression of the Gnostics
   the divinity of Jesus (by a vote in 329 A.D.)
   Jesus surviving the crucifixion
   Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdelene
   the bloodline of Jesus
   the Knights Templar the Cathars
   the Vatican's constant and continuing
      attempt at control over all the above
      (the Inquisition and more)
So, for starters, READ:
   Holy Blood, Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent,
      Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln
   The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels
   Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagles
   Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, by John Shelby Spong
      (A great introduction to Bible studies)
Then try, by Tomothy Freke and Peter Gandy:
   The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original" Jesus a Pagan God?
   Jesus and The Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians
   The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom

   Also, The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-up in History, by Michael Baigent (2006)
Finally, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh
   The Nag Hammadi Library in English, by James Robinson
      (a summary of many "LOST" gospels: fascinating)
   The Inquisition, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh
All of this leads to Mysticism and Enlightenment Studies;
See the titles under www.NewAgePointofInfinity.com,
click onto Point of Infinity, then onto Vision of Point.
On the homepage, check out also: The Mystical Fellowship
- Path of Awakening

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NOTE: After a recent conversation with some friends, Mark inquired:

"Ken, Are You a Christian?"

Not so quick to respond.
Hundreds of conflicting responses floating
around in my mind.
How respond?
Finally: "I'm a Universalist" came out.
And, a sigh of recognition arose.
What, praytell, is my definition of a Universalist?
"I try to investigate ALL the known religions (1) and
   spiritual paths (2), especially the MYSTICAL
   components of each."
Attempting to integrate them into some type
   of synthesis--allowing contradictions, of course.
Maybe "Multiversalist" would be better,
However, Universalist--embracing all as one--
   seems more appropriate.
Thus, Sufism, Zen, Gnosticism, the Kabbalah,
   Hindu Advaita Vedanta, Confucianism,
   Sikhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Jainism,
   Native American Indian perspectives delight
   the heart.
Perhaps, my rendition of Our Father, expresses
   my stance:

Our Father: Ineffable Original Intelligence

Our Father
Who art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy Kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass
against us
And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

Ineffable Original Intelligence
Who exists inside and outside the Void
Nameless One, Blessed Thou art
Gratitude for the Grace that allows us to
    experience Thy Presence
We joyfully accept Thy intentions for
    all sentient beings
On every dimension in all spaces and
    beyond
May we constantly open to Thy unifying
    impulses
Help us to transcend our fabricated self-
    concepts and our individuated
    separateness
Just as we offer unconditional presence
    to others in like manner
Send us the courage to face our blessed
    stuckness
And thanks, always, for Thy desire
    to bring us back into Thy Space
    Consciousness.

Footnotes:

Oneness: Great Principles Shared by All Religions, by Jeffrey Moses.
Such as Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Gurdjieff, Yogic practices, various Bodywork approaches, different types of meditation/breathing paths, especially "incubation." See From Onions to Pearls, by Satyam Nadeen, Chp. 2, pp. 7-10.

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NOTE: The Human Buddha: Enlightenment for The New Millennium, by Aziz Kristof inspired the following.

The Path of Awakening: Dual/non-dual Meditation

AWARENESS, with attention, raising consciousness
   above unconsciousness (the dream of ignorance) in the mind.
Surrendering--letting go--dropping energy into the belly
   leads one into the GROUND OF BEING (The ABSOLUTE)
   where one's roots are (the state of unconditional peace).
The spiritual HEART opens up to expose the SOUL
   where the REAL ME unities with Uncreated Energy (The Source).
Thus, the Heart is the bridal chamber,
   where the search for completeness ends/starts
   -- Existential, not psychological, wholeness.
Presence and Surrender= the inner kingdom of I Am.
Awaken to That Which Is. Watching is replaced by Being Present.
This Path transcends the fundamental limitation of
   identification with the outer.
No longer search for experiences, but seek the experiencer!
It is our destiny/responsibility to co-create our own awakening.
So. . . lose your mind (the artificial separation from the State of Presence)
   to reclaim your mind (from a place of no-mind)
   which is FREEDOM.
"The State of Presence is your FREEDOM,
   thinking is your conscious or subconscious spontaneity."
The Buddha Mind is the Natural State.
Here, your relative Me remains but the experience of yourself
is rooted in the Transcendental State.
"We are not only the witness
but the witnessed as well."
In sum, there are three centers (gateways) to the inner realm:
   AWARENESS, BEING AND HEART.
A true multidimensional Path.
Enlightenment? LIVE every moment of your existence
   (lose your illusions).
To a state of unity from a place of relative separation.
We are awakening from moment to moment to
   the recognition of that which is already present.
May Awareness lead you to Beingness and from there to your
Heart (Soul).

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NOTE: After rereading The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom, by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, the urge to sum up the second part of the book arose.

JESUS Laughs/WE awaken

Lighten up and enjoy the show.
Only Heretics get the joke.
What joke? That Life is but a dream,
with the Life-Dreamer becoming
conscious through creation.¹
So . . . wake up! To what?
To two interconnected levels:
   relative reality and Absolute Reality²
Relative reality is our "persona" (mask, form),
   our APPARENT nature, constantly changing.
We perceive with the it-perspective: see ourselves
   as a body in the world, as a person in the life-dream.
Absolute Reality is our ESSENTIAL SHARED nature,³
   unchanging awareness.
We perceive with the I-perspective: see ourselves
   as an empty presence within which the whole life-dream is arising.
We ARE the life-dreamer.
What a paradox! We are both object and subject.
Fundamentalist Literalists versus Gnostics.
The Literalists adopt the it-perspective;
Gnostics, the I-perspective.
Believing (opinion) versus knowing (experiencing)
Know what? That you are an EXPERIENCER of experiences.
You are awareness witnessing a flow of experiences called life⁴
You are awareness APPEARING as a person.
So are others. We APPEAR to be many but
ESSENTIALLY we are one.
Living Lucidly: be simultaneously conscious of both
   the I- and the it-perspectives.
   Be BOTH the life-dreamer AND a person in the life-dream.
Eschew either/or; adopt both/and!
For the primal polarity is the life-dreamer and
   the life-dream (existence is an essential oneness appearing as duality)
Is the life-dreamer awareness in the process of waking
   up from unconscious oneness to conscious awareness?
Awakening (enlightenment) is consciously
   experiencing our essential nature.
Yet more than enlightenment (identifying with our
   shared essential nature) and endarkenment
   (identifying with our apparent nature).
NOW, ENLIVEMENT: Be BOTH awareness loving
   things as they are right now (Tolle) AND also
   be a person in the world desiring things to get
   better in the future (Freke/Gandy), and ACT
   on those desires.
Embrace life as it is AND seek to transform the
   ugly, inappropriate, and cruel.
Have TEMPORARY attachments as a person in the world
in the life dream whilst knowing that ESSENTIALLY
we are awareness which is not attached to anything.
Therefore, don't fear death. Rather fear your fear of death!
What we experience is RELATIVELY good or bad.
But THAT we are experiencing anything at all is
ABSOLUTELY good.
All experiences are BOTH good and Bad, depending
   on how we look at them.
Our adventure is a journey of discovery
   with a multitude of opportunities to wake up
   and be conscious of all that we are.⁵
Gnosis is knowing that you are one with all.
You ARE all you experience.
So . . be BOTH idealistic AND pragmatic.
BOTH appreciate AND improve.
Do not blindly believe; consciously question,
using BOTH intuition AND rationality.
Remember: doubt is a pre-requisite for waking up.
Embrace radical doubt!

Footnotes:

"What else is there but the one Life-Dreamer dreaming the life dream and experiencing it from infinitely various perspectives.
Ask The Awakened, by Wei Wu Wei.
Usually called: The Christ within, Buddha-nature, Atman, "I", etc.
Awareness is the permanent background of the flux of experience which witnesses all the changes. The underlying presence of awareness versus our experiences which are always changing. Thus, our essential nature is AWARENESS.
We actually want the conflicts and dilemmas of life because this is what transforms us. This is what makes us really FEEL.

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