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What is Taoism?
Taoism is one of those world religions that sort of isn’t one. Many popular Chinese concepts are connected to Taoism and actually in many ways it’s like the Egyptian faith. The basic principle is acceptance of and living with the natural way. Lao-Tzu was its unofficial founder and one of the immortals that are venerated,…
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Taoist Practice
There are many allegories in Taoism and much like Greek Gnosticism it is heavily experience based, though there are a body of philosophers, referred to as sages, who are viewed as having deep insight into the Tao, like Chuang-Tzu and other students of Lao Tzu. Does Taoism have monks and nuns like Buddhism? No, and…
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A Taoist View
I’ve been asked to describe a normal day of mine, or rather abnormal? My day actually starts in my night. I have some unusual conditions I deal with so taking a Taoist view helps me accept “my way” in life, since I can’t implement “common sense.” I’m autistic among other things. I always dream lucidly.…
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the gods
The energy of the universe is marvellous, but Shivas dance is divisionary. Kali is the uniter. She dances too. The great mother is compassionate whether people like it or not. Perhaps the ultimate “kindly one” and like Isis she is the source of rebirth. Where our lord Shiva treads upon demons and is their king.…
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What is Zen?
It is a commonly mistaken notion that Buddhists see the Buddha as especially divine. There is a school or two that does, but in fact the majority of Buddhist sects are almost agnostic as it regards deities. Zen would be one of these. There are two branches of thought in Buddhism. One is that enlightenment…
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Zen Practice
Ever see Zen art? They use simple ink and they refuse to draw from memory. They seek to trap the sense impression, so the images are very impressionistic. Suggesting the image of say a bird, because in fact as we move about in our normal consciousness, how vividly does anything register on us? Usually not very, and…
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Enlightenment
There are stories where the Zen master says something, and the student is said to be ‘enlightened’. In that moment the words didn’t matter as much as the students thinking, and what will do that for any student differs. This is why you see the symbol of the dorje or lighting bolt in Buddhism, because…
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Path in Hinduism
Hinduism is actually a blanket term for multiple spiritual paths. A common disposition among those who pursue most of the schools is that they don’t have a salvationist view. Most of them are more concerned with understanding as individuals than as a “faith”. Many don’t even see themselves as a faith as it’s defined in…
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Gods and Divine Potential
What is the ‘god’ structure in Hinduism? That differs, but there are some principles across the board. One is the concept of a universal spirit called by many names, but not in a divisive way. More as a recognition of the manifold nature of this universal spirit. It is called by the Brahminists, Brahman, called…
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Names of Satan
How did Satan as a figure get into the Christian story? It stems from a schism in Semitic faiths, and the catholic or “universalist” agenda of early Christianity. This schism in Semitic faiths echoed even in Egyptian religion. This is why there was a conflict between them and the Egyptians. Set was a Semitic deity…
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Form of Faith
What’s my religion, if I have one? Officially I don’t, or perhaps in the strictest sense of the word religion I do. I adopt a Gnostic view and see the spirit and the universe as one, however you choose to characterize these principles. I see neither a reason to anthropomorphize divinity, nor to view it…
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Religion of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian religion can be summarized as shamanism under the influence of nationalism. Like the Native American cultures, they saw the world as a spiritual place and the relationship between the ancient tribes of Egypt changed over time before the organization of the two kingdoms. They didn’t have a Cartesian view like modern thinkers do,…
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Egyptian Soul and Hell
Egyptian religion was both intuitive and rationalistic. Since its focus was so pragmatic the Greeks and Romans actually saw no reason to compromise it, and translated some of their concepts into Greek or Roman terms. Thus the cult of Osiris gave birth to the elusian mysteries, and other imagery became very wide spread. There was…
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Mana and Justice
I tend to use the kahuna concept of mana to evaluate any path. Mana is a concept of “proven effectiveness.” It plugs into the idea that whoever or whatever was more in synch with the over arching order would be stronger and more able than those who worked against it or were just resistant to…
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Personal Experience and Belief
We are overconfident of human independence. Even modern psychological research suggest that it’s a half truth at best. Then you could delve rationalistically into why that is and why we have what subconscious influences that we do. Does that invalidate spiritual experience and make the ancients foolish? Maybe they were more expedient and direct in some ways.…
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Documented Record for Ancient Lore
Literacy is interesting. Previously the only sanctioned literacy was of the priesthood, and only of the sacred texts. The word “talisman” was a reference to magicians marks, or to make marks like a magician. Tally was to make marks on a stick. The Norse did it to count sheep. They made more complex marks than numbers,…
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Backdrop of Confucianism
There were two broad schools of thought in Chinese belief, naturalistic and legalistic. The Taoists were an example of the naturalistic school using nature and allegorical stories to focus on observations of the way the world works in general. Confucianism was more humanistic. Confucius focused on ethics and human concerns with the basic premise that…
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Confucianism Q&A
What were some of the fundamentals about his thoughts or ideas? The analects of Confucius are a collection of works of his basic socio-political doctrines, and his teaching on social justice and compassion. He spoke of the need for loyalty and centralized authority, but not blind obedience. This is why his teachings would later result…
Category: World Belief
On my spiritual path I have studied many world beliefs. While I don’t claim to be an authority on them, I will share some of what I’ve learned in the ‘World Beliefs’ category. Perhaps they will inspire you to seek further.
Those who abandon their faith are not faithless. Perhaps quite to the contrary, their faith has given them the strength to abandon trappings. Religion from the Latin religio meaning practice. We will all have practices. I was very devout myself, and in my devotion I found I could no longer devote myself to that creed. My faith isn’t weak. It motivates my seeking. I don’t subscribe to any specific faith. I find truth in my personal experience which does loosely label me a Gnostic. Many Gnostic schools say the logos indwells our sun itself.
The Buddhas wisdom was put into the context of the greater way as was the only way it could be, but in fact the symbolism is at best intuitively true. The spheres exist within us. Wisdom is simple. It is the sign of true knowing. Not if they can spout arcane jargon, but can they take an arcane topic and make it abundantly clear to the uninitiated.
I will state that these beliefs discussed are not necessarily my beliefs.
“There is not enough religion in the world to destroy the world’s religious.” Friedrich Nietzsche