What's the worst thing one can do to hamper one's spiritual advancement?

I define spirituality as man's relationship to his environment. While I often argue with Lightgigantic about the meaning of God, and how religion interferes with science, I do think having a spiritual life is important. What this means for me is going beyond the concepts and definitions that seem to rule day-to-day life and experiencing the world as it is. Language is a barrier to this, since the things we name are not those names at all, but transcend definition. Meditation and quiet contemplation are beneficial to the mind. I would call this more ordinary than ordinary mind, which is caught up in the business of the world, more and more scattered and confused as the information we deal with comes to us more and more quickly. I have no idea what spirit means, except as a metaphor, or what more advanced means in terms of spirituality. I see it as perhaps a return to a simpler worldview, more animalistic in the best sense, not brutal and violent, but innocent and direct.

 

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Hi Spidergoat,
Yes, I agree. So, by your definition, you would say that most people are spirtitual, perhaps to varying degrees?
O.K. let me make a big leap here. Would you say then, as I think Jung would suggest, that consciously, we really know very little as to what motivates our thoughts and actions?
John

 

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Going back to the original question, I believe lying to yourself is the worst thing you can do.

 

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It is, because spiritual advancement is discovering who we are, or rather, what we are not.

 

no, what needs to be refined is the question.

 

Oh my goodness. An honest-to-god Ad Hominem from the PROVEN idiot that doesn't know what an ad hominem is, but pretends to abhor all those that use what he mistakenly takes to be one!

Irony, sadness, hilarity... this one has it all.


LMBACIFNEKWAAHIT = 27

 

Giventhat spirituality often innvolves the notion of illusion (ie taking what is illusory to be factual) how would one determine whether one is lying to one's self or not - or to put it another way, if one has a contaminated mind/heart/consciousness how can one determine the "truth" of one's self

So where do you look to find out who we are if its often a case of, to quote the yellow kid, "We have seen the enemy and he is us"??

 

We are indeed our own worst enemies. Spiritual work, is defeating these enemies (defeating ourselves) and contacting the divinity within.

If all we are is enemy, or sinners, then no amount of external gods can save us - for there would be nothing to save.

If you want to see salvation, the only place it will be seen (or found) is within.

Vedanta "I am that" (the atma and Brahman are essentially one)
Buddhism "We must acheive liberation by our own effort"
Christianity "The kingdom of god is inside"

 

In Christianity, you must be born again, by His Spirit, as Jesus said.

 

A transcendent god cannot be perceived by the mundane senses, therefore one must look within.

 

Hi,
I never did get a reply to a statement I made in a previous post. It was,
"Would you say then, as I think Jung would suggest, that consciously, we really know very little as to what motivates our thoughts and actions?"
I would really like to know people's ideas on this.
John

 

In some sense, the source of our actions can be mysterious, but most chose to make it obvious. Since thoughts cannot observe themselves, I suppose we won't really know their source in a conscious way. Some motivations are not so mysterious.

 

The majority of people live by instincts and know little of what truly motivates them.

There are a minority of people who take the time to try to understand what motivates their thoughts and actions. By knowledge of history, science, religion and self analysis one can go a long way to understanding what truly motivates us.

But I would say that nobody ever truly understands all that motivates and influences our thoughts and actions, to do this one would need a complete knowledge of the science of how the physical body and brain works, complete knowledge of historical events leading up to ones life and complete spiritual knowledge of such things as past incarnations.

To fully and consciously know what motivates our thoughts and actions - would not omniscience be necessary?

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I like that.

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Hi,
Although I'm reluctant to speculate about what enlightenment might be, my intuition tells me that it's something akin to 'innocence'.
I'm not Christian, but have wondered if this is what Jesus was referring to when he said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Rich meaning worldly. After you lose your innocence, it's nearly impossible to regain it.
John

 

The christian saying I think you are looking for is;

Mark 10:15
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

 

Hi Light Travelling,
That sounds more to the point than what I was saying.
John

 

commit suicide

 

spiritual advancement is the gradual realisation that

We are not special
We are connected to everyone and everything
We are responsible jointly for the drama that surrounds us

 

Thats one of the best explanations I have ever seen.

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