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Tidbits From The Sages
Everyone is guilty of
something
Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.
Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly
while everyone else repeats it
Murphy's law taught me
everything I know.
When one steadily examines and clearly sees a rope, the fear that it is a
serpent is destroyed.
Knowledge is gained by discernment, by examining, by instruction, but not by
bathing, nor gifts, nor a hundred holdings of the breath.
Freedom isn't doing what you can do, as much as it is deciding what not to do.
The true measure of a person is determined not by what they do, but what they
would do if they knew no one was watching.
___________________________ Some Definitions ___________________________
Monotheism:
The belief that only one god exists.
One of the central beliefs of Hinduism is that there is one God who is without
characteristic or form.
The exclusive worship of a single god; introduced by the Jews into Western
civilization
The belief that there is only one God in all places at all times. There were
none before God and there will be none after Him.
***
Pantheism:
(Greek: πάν ( 'pan' ) = all and θεός ( 'theos' ) = God) literally means "God is
All" and "All is God".
A doctrine which confounds God with the universe, representing them as one and
the same being, and admitting only one substance, whence all things
If in the beginning there was nothing but God, and God decided to make heaven
and earth and ALL things, what did God make them from other than himself?
***
Hylotheism:
Theory equating matter with God or merging one into
the other. Doctrine of belief that matter is God, or that there is no God except
matter and the universe
***
Hylozoism:
The concept that everything, inanimate matter includeds, is in some sense alive.
A philosophical doctrine espousing that all or some material things possess
life, or that all life is inseparable from matter
Matter and life are inseparate and inseparable, the Unit, made up of numberless
units, each a manifestation of Wisdom Devine....
The Gathas Of Zorathustra
***
Animism:
A philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not
only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as
thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of
the natural environment, a proposition also known as hylozoism in philosophy.
***
Sabellianism:
The nontrinitarian belief that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy
Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God, as perceived by the believer,
rather than three distinct persons in God Himself.
***
Nontrinitarian:
Christian belief systems that reject as non-scriptural, wholly or partly, the
doctrine of the Trinitythe doctrine that the God of the Bible is three distinct
entities in one being, and that these three entities are eternal and equal in
nature, authority, and knowledge.
***
Mysticism:
The pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an
ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience,
intuition, or insight.
***
Monolatrism or Monolatry:
The recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship
of only one deity.
***
Messianism:
The belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah
concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi,
the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant. The state
of the world is seen as hopelessly flawed beyond normal human powers of
correction and divine intervention through a specially selected and supported
human is seen as necessary.
(Political movements, such as Marxism and Religious Zionism, may also contain
messianic concepts, in which religious aspects are replaced with "scientific" or
"historical" beliefs).
_____________________________Quotes______________________________
When men shall ask of thee, to what country dost thou belong, say ye not that
thou art of this country or that, for of truth, it is only the poor body which
is born in one small corner of this earth. But thou, 0 Child of Light, belongeth
to the Brotherhood which doth encompass all the heavens and beyond, and from thy
Heavenly Father hath descended the seeds not only of thy father and grandfather,
but of all beings which are generated on the earth. In truth, thou art a son of
God, and all men thy brothers: and to have God for thy maker and thy father and
guardian, shall not this release us from all sorrow and fear?..
The Gospel of
the Essenes
Go towards the high growing Trees, And before one of them Which is beautiful,
high growing and mighty, Say thou these words: Hail be unto Thee 0 good living
Tree, Made by the Creator... The Gospel of the Essenes
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" The esoteric doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahminism, and even the
Kabala, that the one infinite and unknown Essence exists from all eternity, and
in regular and harmonious successions is either passive or active. In the
poetical phraseology of Manu these conditions are called the " Days " and the "
Nights " of Brahma. The latter is either "awake " or " asleep." The Svabhavikas,
or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul),
speculate only upon the active condition of this "Essence," which they call
Svabhavat, and deem it foolish to theorise upon the abstract and "unknowable"
power in its passive condition. Hence they are called atheists by both Christian
theologians and modern scientists, for neither of the two are able to understand
the profound logic of their philosophy. The former will allow of no other God
than the personified secondary powers which have worked out the visible
universe, and which became with them the anthropomorphic God of the
Christians—the male Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning. In its turn,
rationalistic science greets the Buddhists and the Svahhavikas as the
"positivists" of the archaic ages. If we take a one- sided view of the
philosophy of the latter, our materialists may be right in their own way. The
Buddhists maintained that there is no Creator, but an infinitude of creative
powers, which collectively form the one eternal substance, the essence of which
is inscrutable—hence not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher.
Socrates invariably refused to argue upon the mystery of universal being, yet no
one would ever have thought of charging him with atheism, except those who were
bent upon his destruction. Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret
Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from
within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the
phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of
cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the
passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place,
and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The
visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed ; and ' darkness
' solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the ' deep.' To use a
Metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea still more clearly,
an out- breathing of the ' unknown essence ' produces the world ; and an
inhalation causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all
eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had
no beginning and will have no end."... The Secret Doctrine - Helena P. Blavatsky
(1831-1891)
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Thought in the mind hath made us.
What we are by thought was wrought and built.
If a man's mind hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel the ox behind.
If one endure In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow sure.
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The undiscerning who are engrossed
in the letter of the Veda, 0 Partha,
and declare that there is nothing
else, speak flowery words....MMY; Bhagavad-Gita
_________________
He who is able, even here, before
liberation from the body, to resist
the excitement born of desire and
anger, is united with the Divine.
He is a happy man.
He whose happiness is within, whose
contentment is within, whose light is
all within, that yogi, being one with
Brahman, attains eternal freedom in
divine consciousness
The seers, whose sins are destroyed,
whose doubts are dispelled, who are
self-controlled and take delight in
doing good to all creatures, attain
eternal freedom in divine consciousness.
Disciplined men, freed, from desire
and anger, who have disciplined their
thoughts and have realized the Self,
find eternal freedom in divine
everywhere.
..MMY; Bhagavad-Gita
___________________
36 -Master, which is the great commandment
in the law?
37- Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 -This is the first and great commandment.
39- And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. (St Matthew 22)
___________________
"Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world;
Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes The less one knows. "
___________________
Information about the Nahuatl alphabet and pronunciation
Sample text
Nochi tlakamej uan siuamej
kipiaj manoj kuali tlakatisej, nochi san se totlatechpouiltilis uan
titlatepanitalojkej, yeka moneki kuali ma timouikakaj, ma timoiknelikaj, ma
timotlasojtlakaj uan ma timotlepanitakaj.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
____________________________________________________________________
Ask, and it shall be given to you;
Seek and ye shall find;
Knock and it Shall be opened unto you.
***
Hinduism
Brahma is Absolute Being.The question whether the universal substrate, or
Brahma, should properly be called being (sat) or non-being (a-sat), already
agitated the Vedic poets , and passed through the schools of the Brāhmaṇas to
those of the older Upanishads. The debate, however, was merely over words. As
Brahma is beyond all the limiting conditions of phenomenal being, either term
may be applied to it; it is at once metaphysically existent and empirically
non-existent.
The Vedic brahma, "prayer" or "spell," is naturally a function of intellect; and
when it had risen to the rank of a cosmic Force, it retained this character. It
is the universal subject of thought; but as it is itself the universe, and there
is nothing beside, it is also its own object, like the Aristotelian ν'ησις
νο'σεως; and as it is above the conditions of space, time, and causality, we can
say of it only that it exists, and is Thought.
***
Jainism
The religion which enjoins adoration and worship of Jinas or the religion
which is propounded by Jinas is knows as the Jain religion.
Jina means one who has
conquered the internal enemies and impurities of the
soul like attachment (raga) and hatred (dwesha). He
is known as Parmatma (the
great soul), Sarvajna (omniscient), and Savadarshee (omnipotent). Such Jinas
have been in existence from times immemorial. No beginning can be traced for
them, and the Jain Religion has also no beginning. It is a very ancient
religion. It teaches us to become Jina and those who follow it are called
Jains.
***
Taoism - Lao Tzu
Tao (pronounced "Dow") can be roughly translated into English as path, or "the
way". It is basically indefinable. It has to be experienced. It "refers to a
power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and
non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the
Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love
without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)"
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as
darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery."
"Heaven and Earth last forever.
Why do heaven and Earth last forever?
They are unborn,
So ever living."
***
The Tao is the source of all things. The Tao is reality. Tao continues
to keep the universe working through the release of its energy. Nature is
understood as the natural and proper way of all things. The movements of
the Tao are of continuous interplay between opposites, yin and yang. When
one recognizes the relativity of all things one becomes enlightened.
***
Guided by love, moderation and humility one can live in harmony
with the world. When one sees the Tao in oneself one can see the Tao in
others. When ones thoughts and actions are moderate one takes whatever
presents itself as the simplest and most natural way to follow. When one
realizes that one cannot help others by directing their actions one comes to
understand humility.
***
Judeo - Christian
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is,
and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty. Rev 1.8
***
Islam
Tawhid is the concept of
monotheism in Islam. It holds God (Arabic: Allah) is one (wā'id) and unique (ahad).
The Qur'an asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends
the world; a unique, independent and indivisible being, who is independent of
the entire creation. The indivisibility of God implies the indivisibility of
God's sovereignty which, in turn, leads to the concept of a just, moral and
coherent universe, as opposed to an existential and moral chaos. Similarly, the
Qur'an rejects the duality of God arguing that both good and evil generate from
God's creative act and asserting that the evil forces have no power to create
anything. Islamic theology rejects the doctrine of the Trinity where "the one
God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" as
believed in mainstream Christianity and professed in the Nicene Creed. God in
Islam is a universal god, rather than a local, tribal or parochial oneis an
absolute, who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.
Tawhid constitutes the
foremost article of the Muslim profession. The first part of the Shahada is the
declaration of belief in the oneness of God. To attribute divinity to a created
entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an. Muslims believe
that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid.
There is an uncompromising monotheism at the heart of the Islamic beliefs which
distinguishes Islam from some other major religions.
***
Baha'i
The Bah' writings describe a single, personal, inaccessible, omniscient,
omnipresent, imperishable, and almighty God who is the creator of all things in
the universe. The existence of God and the universe is thought to be eternal,
without a beginning or end.
If you
do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
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