Next Radical Oneness topic
The next topic I am going to take a stab at with Radical Oneness is the “problem of evil” and sin.
I’m curious what other folks out there in the Shift Movement think about these things.
My basic premise is that they are both human constructs.
I’d love to hear from anyone.
Love, Peace and Blessings to All
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mmm…. it depends on what you mean by human constructs… define please…
personally, i disregard the concept of sin as defined by Catholics. but i would consider murder, and other acts of violence (including war), as …. mmmm not sure i would use the word evil, but certainly as diconnected, ‘wrong’ acts. wrong in the sense that they sharpen one’s diconnection to the soul, and in the sense that they cause pain and disconnection in the victims. unlike you, i do not think that victims can always escape. some people are not in a physical or economic condition to escape war, for example. or get killed or harmed trying to escape.
I completely agree that sin is a human construct! I saw the MATRIX 100 times or more! Who could forget the training construct where Neo was sparring with Morpheus!
Even in the old Testament we are told that Gods’ eyes are too pure to look upon inequity! So this means to me that if God was actually an older white gentleman with a beard sitting in the clouds, he couldn’t see sin! And since I am a recovering Pentecostal Minister who walked out when i was told that God was sending everyone who did not believe what we believed, to HELL! I obviously believed that sin was not real for a long time! I do believe in the laws of attraction! And i have discovered that we do create our lives whether we cop to it or not! When some hear responsibility, it feels like blame or fault to them! While we are all responsible, we may be faultless! Bail me out Derek!
Bail you out? ^&^ You need no bailing. You’re sailing right, brother in Christ. ^&^ Yes, that is such a difficult thing to understand – responsibility without blame or fear. Even in the law of attraction schools, we recognize contrast of wanted or unwanted, good or evil, etc. This ability to discern is a tool, the categories just categories for discernment. At least that is the way I understand it. There is an existent truth beyond that which is in essence Good – God – Source. That is the oneness that I am trying to discern. Returning to a Biblical perspective, in the creation story, everything created was Good, right?
The thing we tend to do as humans is to attach ourselves to the tools and the categories, and then identify ourselves with them. I think it is time to break the bondage of our attachment to our tools. To recognize them for what they are and recognize ourselves (our one self?) for what we are.
What I mean by human constructs is that they are concepts created by us, the human beings in the physical plane and are not valid out of the human context. In the non-physical realm there is neither evil nor sin. In the physical realm as well, the rest of the natural universe that we can identify has no evil or sin outside of the human sphere – and that they are not even intrinsic truths for humans, but constructed social frameworks – particularly sin. That description still needs some work, but I think you can understand where I’m going with it. I agree with you that there are wrong and even extremely bad and unwanted acts – I’m thinking of evil in the sense of an independent thing – existence – like good and well-being (or even the devil).
The sin portion is also the thing that for Catholics and even Buddhists which can carry over into the non-physical and/or another life. I think that is also a human invention; at least I do so far. Like I said, I’m still working on and trying to clarify my thinking. ^&^
Thank you so much for your input.
Peace and All Good
well, the thing is, if you accept good and well-being as having existence, then you have to accept evil as well. or philosophically it does not stand up. plus, you could argue that because human beings have the ability to reflect/understand what they do, they always have achoice… which is i think what most religions argue – that you as a human can make a detached choice. the idea that you can make a choice implies that there are better and worse choices, and therefore ‘good’ choices and ‘evil’ choices. yes, these are human constructs, but they have become such because we have the ability to construe them: to see what is good or bad (which allegedly animals do not have). buddhists and hindus argue that if you are on the spiritual path, you should always take a moment to reflect and chose that which is beneficial to all, or does not harm. for as long as we do have a brain, and we accept that we can be rational, and therefore have the ability to understand that some behaviours are wrong (killing, harming), then it does not really matter that it is a human construct. i think it is beside the point. on the contrary, the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong is something that makes us spiritually superior to animals, allegedly. and of course you cannot argue about what may or may not exist in other non-physical planes, because you are not there, you are here – so at the end of the day, you really do not know for sure. i am very interested in your answer!!
Dear Cristina,
Let me see if I can explain what I’m trying to say a little more clearly. I do not disagree that there is a quality that we call evil when we discuss actions, results, and things that are very bad, as it were. However I am arguing against evil as an existing, independent thing-ness or being – as in a non-physical entity, a devil. It is possible to accept a pure and all encompassing good with no opposing evil if you can break free of a dualistic point of view, which I think would be essential in an understanding of oneness. I also think that I can, well not argue, but rather explore what could be in other planes. It is what we as humans have been doing since we started thinking about the ideas of soul and spirit. ^&^ And in effect the reason that I am writing in the first place. And then, if we (or really I) can better understand how the Greater relates to us (me) and we (I) relate to it, our awareness and experience of the greater Unity can increase.
Oh, and I differ on one more little point – we are all at once spiritual and physical, so you, I, and everyone else is also in that other plane if we can awaken to it.
point taken on the physical/spiritual, you are right there. but that is a mystical experience that one needs to have. it is very hard to explain or argue the mystical in a rational way.
And yet, that is what I’m trying to do, even thought I haven’t had the mystical experience myself. ^&^
I am reminded of what one of my favorite meditation teachers said: (not a quote ^^) there are many roads to enlightenment, there is the path of love, the path of awareness, the path of compassion, and there is also the path of intellect – they all meet at the same place at the top of the mountain.
I’m taking a shot at the thinking path. Don’t know how far I can go down it yet, but I’m trying.
I really want to thank you again – and without end – for your time, thoughtful responses, and care. You are a great blessing to me.
Yes Derek I think that every one of us may be taking a road less traveled. The truth of the matter is that there are no two identical paths! We are all one and uniquely that! Someone said if the truth doesn’t make you dizzy, you didn’t get it! I’m a little dizzy with all of this! I love and appreciate this opportunity to meet each of you! Thanks for helping me clear my mind so that I can move from 20/20 hindsight to 20/20 insight!
Keep up the good work!