Saturday, February 4, 2012

Misunderstandings

Do you believe in God?

It depends on what you mean with God. Do you mean a person? Do you mean an old bearded man somewhere high in the sky? Do you mean a spirit, like a genie in a bottle, but bigger and more powerful?

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At the entrance to the Apollo temple in Delphi, was a famous inscription, “Know thyself’”. This inscription meant, in those days, “Know that you’re not a God. Know your place.” With time, new meanings and interpretations arose on how to understand this aphorism. Today many people believe that we should have knowledge about ourselves. Some people even believe that we ought to know that we are Gods and that this is our true identity. “Know thyself” can mean anything today.

“The kingdom of heaven is within you.” This sentence is, what I understand, a mistranslation. A correct translation would be, “The kingdom of heaven is among you.” The early Christians believed that the new kingdom was to be found within their group, among those who believed that Jesus was their promised king.

Different spiritual teachers seem to mean different things with the word awakening. They point in different directions when they point out the way to the truth.

You will eventually wake up if you practice meditation diligently and correctly.

Awakening is spontaneous. There is nothing you can do in order to get there.

Get down on your knees and pray. Jesus hears our prayers.

Only the now is real.

The reality you have here in front of you, what you can see, hear and touch, is just an illusion. It is constantly changing. This illusion is called the veil of Maya. Behind this illusory reality, you can find the true reality. The true reality is not changing.

You may talk about apples. Maybe I misunderstand you and think that you mean pears.