Posts by jademarlin26

These channelers really do seem to bring all sorts of nonsense into the mix. Is this particular "entity" presenting itself as Abraham in this instance? Wasn't there some other Abraham who channeled in the best-selling books ever? The whole thing feels quite suspicious, regardless of what the channeler claims. 😁

That aside, does the book actually offer any decent insights? Is it worth reading for inspiration?

Jeffrey Sanchez7 said:I'm talking about the fact that the master traveled all the way from Japan to China to pick up the Zen teachings, eventually bringing them back to Japan in the specific form we practice today—which is quite distinct from the traditions found in other Zazen schools.

It differs from the teachings of other Buddhist sects. "Zazen" is merely the term used for seated meditation. How are you enjoying the film? Have you noticed any parallels?

Jeffrey Sanchez7 said:Sorry for barging in on your peace and quiet without any warning. I was wondering if anyone here has actually sat down to watch the movie "Zen"? Specifically, I'm curious if you all find those historical details important, or if it’s more about just living out your own personal version of Zen as you understand it. Also, one more thing: how much weight do you really give to zazen in your daily life?

Which historical facts are you referring to? As for sitting, it matters to me just as much as standing, walking, drinking, pulling, swallowing, thrusting, sharpening, breathing, or caressing.

Go ahead then, friend. This isn't a place for cowards, and as you pointed out, there is a reward waiting for you in heaven. I will remember you this Christmas while listening to Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart 🙂

Perhaps leave the analysis of book quotes to the theologians; there isn't anything spiritual to be found in that kind of literary criticism. What exactly is your question?

restlessridge36 said:In the States, the Department of Education calls the shots. They coordinate with the authors, and decisions are largely driven by sales figures. If an author is generous enough, their book stays in print for the following year.
I once knew an author who spent years splitting royalties with a guy from the Department of Education who just kept getting greedier over time.

As I see it, educational consultants and teachers have zero influence over textbook selection. Unless, of course, they get a slice of the pie too.

edit: These books are written by professors and subject matter experts, just so no one assumes any random person can bribe a cabinet official.

Teachers actually select their own publishers. The Department of Education maintains a list of "approved" publishers, but they generally stay out of the "local politics" within individual schools.

It’s a flawed system, but that’s how it works. As for the "slice of the pie," that is simply an inevitable byproduct of a competitive market.

Zachary Cook2 said:😂😂😂
Some people might interpret that differently 😂😂😂

But then again, that's just how it feels when you realize you're smaller than a grain of sand! 👍😉

Every single time, it gets heavier—that weight of His presence. I'm a patient guy; nothing really shakes me anymore... or even charms me.

You have a pure connection with Him. The SPIRIT is present with anyone willing to open up, and from what I can see, you definitely are! 👍

I know exactly what I'm waiting for. I'm steady as a rock, knowing that everything and everyone in this incredible world we inherited has the potential to surprise me...

Hmm, technically you don't actually know what you're waiting for. If you set your intention that firmly, though, you'll eventually run right into whatever it is.

Without that realization, life is just a desert, and everything we do is mindless wandering...

👍

When you see the entire world within a grain of sand, as W. Blake suggested, scale ceases to matter because the manifestation of the transcendent within the material becomes obvious. You observe the night sky over a rural town and a shy flower on a dew-covered meadow with the exact same level of awe. What previously seemed like a hierarchy of existence collapses; the high becomes low, the low becomes high, until the very concept of category becomes meaningless. It applies to the heavens and the earth alike. To the external and the internal. Beyond cause and effect.

As for attachment... there is no healthy attachment that isn't tied to a specific script. What actually releases the bound is true understanding—not mere reconciliation or repression, which eventually detonates like a time bomb and manifests externally as "fate."

bluewolf0 said:I’m not asking for anything. Believing in it is your call—your truth, your choice. And if you're worried about foundations, maybe question what you actually consider logical. You could try astral projection or out-of-body experiences. Personally, I'd suggest regression, specifically theta regression. It shows you everything you're looking for, not just past lives, but the gaps in between them too. Past lives don't just vanish; they get blocked during this life, and regression is how you unblock them.
You could meditate or whatever else, and there are plenty of ways to experience something beyond the physical. But there's no point in trying to prove it to me. You'll just believe what you want anyway. It's really about deciding to improve yourself on your own terms.

Forget about past life regression. To me, it is nothing more than charlatanism designed to exploit people facing genuine struggles. We could instead discuss the ethics of lying to someone for their supposed benefit and charging them for it.

bluewolf0 said:I’m not asking for anything. Believing in it is your call—your truth, your choice. And if you're worried about foundations, maybe question what you actually consider logical. You could try astral projection or out-of-body experiences. Personally, I'd suggest regression, specifically theta regression. It shows you everything you're looking for, not just past lives, but the gaps in between them too. Past lives don't just vanish; they get blocked during this life, and regression is how you unblock them.
You could meditate or whatever else, and there are plenty of ways to experience something beyond the physical. But there's no point in trying to prove it to me. You'll just believe what you want anyway. It's really about deciding to improve yourself on your own terms.

I have sufficient experience with non-standard states of consciousness and various methods of inducing them. Belief is not a prerequisite.

bluewolf0 said:I'd go with "entity with human traits," though even that isn't quite right. We only exist with human traits while we're on Earth. Later, we become much more than that. People just don't realize it while they're stuck in the physical world.

When we die, we experience exactly what we expect. A Christian sees a classic heaven, hell, or a saint. A Muslim gets 1,000 virgins, woohoo 🙂. Someone who thinks death is the end gets nothingness. Those expecting divine will get exactly that. Either way, it's all temporary because our superconscious created it and brought it to us. Once that phase ends and we realize there's no more ego or earthly attachments, our spiritual guide comes to pick us up and take us home.
Spiritual guides are just souls at a certain stage of development who decided to help other souls through specific parts of their own growth. It's just a job, like any other. They’re more experienced than most souls on Earth, but still less experienced than those in other dimensions and worlds.
Your guide knows your core; there's nothing about you they don't know. No lectures, no negativity. They're there for one reason: to help you grow.

I'll stop there. I can go broader if needed, or tackle a different question.

Are you asking me to take your word for it? While alive, one cannot truly know what it is like to cease being. You should perhaps remember that you are operating from an assumption that lacks any foundation; the mere poetic beauty of a concept does not make it true.

Feel free to elaborate further. Which agency is this unexpected universal spiritual guide coming from, and where exactly does it lead? Is this guide something akin to a conscience, some other entity with human qualities, or merely a symbol pointing toward something else?

bluewolf0 said:That’s the only thing you’ll end up wondering about.
Even in this lifetime... more than a few times.

And who, exactly, is going to ask?

"A Jewish sect for the uneducated and illiterate"—that is how a contemporary Roman described the rise of Christianity, a death cult that later imposed its influence through sheer force and fire wherever it traveled, systematically dismantling anything that did not bow to their desert God. This isn't just some historical void; it is a black hole in American history.

One really ought to register with the Chinese Embassy before passing away, given that the Chinese government maintains control over reincarnation.

Patrick Sullivan3 said:So, saying "I don't know" is probably the honest truth here, isn't it?

Truth is a paradox; therefore, saying "I don't know" is perhaps the closest one can get to describing it. Throughout history, the sages have remained silent regarding the truth. Anything you claim to know isn't actually it, and IMO, "I don't know" is the nearest approximation if you feel compelled to speak. Furthermore, admitting ignorance maintains a healthy skepticism and encourages a constant pursuit of change. Once you believe you have grasped the truth, you have effectively ceased to grow.

Patrick Sullivan3 said:I find myself part of a group that defaults to "I don't know" whenever the question comes up: "Does God exist?" Even though I grew up in a very strict, deeply religious household, my answer today remains "I don't know." Growing up, I was told that saying "I don't know" is actually worse than just saying "no." They claimed that if you can't give a definitive answer, you aren't a stable, strong, or wise person. But isn't "I don't know" actually the most objective response? Especially when you've weighed both sides and all the subjective evidence out there.

Why is it that we never experience anything concrete enough to be absolutely certain—even though our religious ancestors claim they were? And what if being certain isn't even necessary? Why this desperate need to pick a side right now, while we're still alive? Do those people who swear their faith is unshakable ever, deep down, admit to themselves, "I'm just not sure"?

"I don't know" is the only honest answer; anything else is, in my opinion, mere fantasy and wishful thinking. Saying "I believe" involves a hope for which you have no actual proof. For concepts outside of God, "I believe" might include some sort of statistical probability—like saying "I believe the Sun will rise tomorrow," even though there remains a possibility it won't if something happens to the Earth or its people.

When you truly reflect on the question—once you've studied the evolution of thought through philosophy, the history of science, and the history of religion—saying "I don't know" is the most sincere thing you can offer. When you say "I don't know," you should understand *why* you don't know. When you say "I believe," you don't need a reason. It is enough to point out that a massive number of people believe it, and thus it is socially accepted. Faith is essentially a numbers game, which is either laughable or tragic to someone who actually thinks, yet those numbers and the resulting social laws ensure it must be tolerated. The concept of "political correctness" exists largely because of those numbers.

We live in an era where we possess memory yet lack any real sense of self or understanding of our own circumstances. You are born without a manual for the life you've been handed. You watch others struggle and create drama around their misfortunes, and eventually, you find yourself suffering too. Some even build their entire identities around their trauma, becoming what one might call "professional victims."

Whether it is desirable or not, suffering is a constant. It seems to be an inevitability in this temporal sphere we inhabit, largely because people are too superficial to explore the origins of their pain—which is the only way to actually move past it.

rapidrider3 said:

jademarlin26 I can't even begin to tell you where to start with this one. It’s just... what is it with people lately? Always talking, always making noise, but does anyone actually listen? I doubt it. Probably not. Everything feels like it's moving too fast and yet nothing ever changes. You look around and it's all just noise. Anyway, what was I saying? Right. This whole thing. Just another day in the life, I guess. What do you think? Is it just me, or is everything getting weirder?
Maybe if people just swapped out the word "truth" for "my own little fantasy" or "just my daydreaming," they wouldn't be spitting venom at everyone all the time. Who knows? Maybe that would change things. 🤷

You think so? Honestly, I can already see the "experts" lining up, ready to complain that it doesn't suit their precious sensibilities. There’s always someone, isn't there? Someone who just can't stand anything being done differently.😍

What if someone actually loved another person more than anything else in this world? Just... what if? It’s a heavy thought, isn't it? Most people spend their lives chasing shadows, running from themselves, or getting tangled up in the shallow end of everything. But then you wonder about that one extreme. That absolute, total devotion where nothing else—not money, not status, not even your own survival—matters anymore. Is that even possible in a place like this? Or is it just something we tell ourselves to make the loneliness feel less permanent? I don't know. Maybe it's beautiful. Or maybe it's just another way to break your own heart.And honestly? Instead of some imaginary "friend" popping up out of nowhere... everyone would just be better off. Wouldn't they?

Never! That’s exactly where all the sickness starts.

Which diseases?

rapidrider3 said:@James Kelly9—can you give me a list of what you’re reading lately?

We seem to be on the same wavelength, but I really don't feel like typing out a whole bibliography here. People are just too lazy to actually read, honestly. You try to lay out the truth and they just spit on you for it. So, I usually steer clear of those topics... but this one caught my eye.

I suspect there are plenty more principles out there, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that a person loves God more than anything else in this world. Everything starts and ends right there.

Perhaps if she replaced the word "truth" with "my own little fantasy" or "my imagination," she might avoid all that vitriol. Who knows. 🤷

"Quote:"

rapidrider3 said:@James Kelly9—can you give me a list of what you’re reading lately?

We seem to be on the same wavelength, but I really don't feel like typing out a whole bibliography here. People are just too lazy to actually read, honestly. You try to lay out the truth and they just spit on you for it. So, I usually steer clear of those topics... but this one caught my eye.

I suspect there are plenty more principles out there, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that a person loves God more than anything else in this world. Everything starts and ends right there.

If people prioritized loving one another above all else, rather than chasing some imaginary "friend," the world would be a much better place.

to vigilanty:
Does your yoga practice teach you how to be this intrusive, considering you've already cluttered four different threads?

Jeffrey Gray4 said:If you stood before God at the final judgment, what would you actually say to Him about whether God and the judgment itself even exist?

Tell him to get lost. [Excuse my French for relaying a Promethean message to Zeus using today's vernacular.]

😁