Concrete Jungle

Jesus was soft!!!

I doubt his tolerance for disrespect was looked upon highly.
Was the savior really a "man?"

Did the protector let the disrespect slide?
WWJD when he got tried? Riddle me that!

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Where GOD exists in possibility.


Sunday service will be the history of religion.

We will be humanist in nature. We will love unconditionally.

Morals and ethics will be taught as respect, integrity, and honesty.

Equal time for every religion, but mostly educated debates of ethical philosophy.

The oneness of the divine creator is a universal aspect of conscious being.

We will highlight similarities and trace religions astrological roots.

The word of GOD will be scheduled classes open to all.

Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Mohamed under one roof.

The church with resources and personal choice.

A cultural crossroads of infinite wisdom,

Knowledge, unity, and community.

GOD is always possible...^ -^

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GOD
is...



THE UNIVERSE
(creation)


is




An infinite ocean




of




a                        b

        s



t
                    r
                         a
      c

  t




POTENTIAL:
po·ten·tial Pronunciation: \p?-'ten(t)-sh?l\
Function:adjective Etymology:Middle English potencial, from Late Latin potentialis, from potentia potentiality, from Latin, power, from potent-, potensDate:14th century

1: existing in possibility : capable of development into actuality
<potential benefits>
2: expressing possibility; specifically : of, relating to, or constituting a verb phrase expressing possibility, liberty, or power by the use of an auxiliary with the infinitive of the verb (as in “it may rain”)http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/potenti
al




is...



GOD

Would you stand ground?

After much research concerning ethical philosophy, I have come to a conclusion. The only thing keeping society from a Utopian state is a Machiavellian philosophy. " A persons morals has no affect on their direct reality." This is true IF you look at the world from a Naturalist standpoint. The naturalist standpoint is directly from human observation of the outside world.
We fit into the mold, but what makes us different is our conscious understanding of said mold. It is a personal decision to be "just human," and not strive for perfection in all aspects of life.
An enlightened awareness has shed hate, greed, violence, and arrogance. An awareness of the Machiavellian philosophy SHOULD make one decide to take the morally ethical road. As a firm believer in karma being universal, good morals are essential in teaching fairness and respect to one another.
Teaching, another human standout from the animal kingdom, more on that later...
I believe the walls of OUR Utopian society are every individuals choice between morals and/or Machiavelli. I would stand ground in a society where I know everyone is intelligent enough to have a worldly conscience , willing to play for the HUMAN BEING team. Letting go of high school drama. Your world is what you make it, and also what you don't.
You have not to renounce your faith to be in a humanist utopia, Just keep it a personal aspect of your life, All we really want subliminally is to have faith in something bigger than us to protect us from the unknown. We should embrace change and strive for perfection.
All is forgiven, must we be forgiven if we are aware of our actions and do the right thing in the first place?
Let us be at one with the universe instead of at war. The beauty of the oneness of GOD is that it is a universal aspect of conscious being. Do not take pride in the hat on his head, the names written in stone or in books, take faith in fairness, and respect towards one another, self-integrity...
Infinitely Large

To infinitely small



Let us evolve our collective consciousness, No more petty bickering amongst ourselves...

Who are we?

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

The lifestance of Humanism-guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience-encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance.

This document is part of an ongoing effort to manifest in clear and positive terms the conceptual boundaries of Humanism, not what we must believe but a consensus of what we do believe. It is in this sense that we affirm the following:

Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. Humanists find that science is the best method for determining this knowledge as well as for solving problems and developing beneficial technologies. We also recognize the value of new departures in thought, the arts, and inner experience-each subject to analysis by critical intelligence.

Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change. Humanists recognize nature as self-existing. We accept our life as all and enough, distinguishing things as they are from things as we might wish or imagine them to be. We welcome the challenges of the future, and are drawn to and undaunted by the yet to be known.

Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Humanists ground values in human welfare shaped by human circumstances, interests, and concerns and extended to the global ecosystem and beyond. We are committed to treating each person as having inherent worth and dignity, and to making informed choices in a context of freedom consonant with responsibility.

Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals. We aim for our fullest possible development and animate our lives with a deep sense of purpose, finding wonder and awe in the joys and beauties of human existence, its challenges and tragedies, and even in the inevitability and finality of death. Humanists rely on the rich heritage of human culture and the lifestance of Humanism to provide comfort in times of want and encouragement in times of plenty.

Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. Humanists long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern, free of cruelty and its consequences, where differences are resolved cooperatively without resorting to violence. The joining of individuality with interdependence enriches our lives, encourages us to enrich the lives of others, and inspires hope of attaining peace, justice, and opportunity for all.

Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness. Progressive cultures have worked to free humanity from the brutalities of mere survival and to reduce suffering, improve society, and develop global community. We seek to minimize the inequities of circumstance and ability, and we support a just distribution of nature's resources and the fruits of human effort so that as many as possible can enjoy a good life.

Humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views. We work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature's integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner.

Thus engaged in the flow of life, we aspire to this vision with the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals. The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone. 

Source: DISCOURSES by Meher Baba, pp. 266-270.

Consciously or unconsciously, every living creature seeks one thing. In the lower forms of life and in less advanced human beings, the quest is unconscious: in advanced human beings, it is conscious. The object of the quest is called by many names — happiness, peace, freedom, truth, love, perfection, Self-realization, God-realization, union with God. Essentially, it is a search for all of these, but in a special way. Everyone has moments of happiness, glimpses of truth, fleeting experiences of union with God; what they want is to make them permanent. They want to establish an abiding reality in the midst of constant change.

This is a natural desire, based fundamentally on a memory — dim or clear as the evolution of the individual soul may be low or high — of its essential unity with God. For every living thing is a partial manifestation of God, conditioned only by its lack of knowledge of its own true nature. The whole of evolution, in fact, is an evolution from unconscious divinity to conscious divinity, in which God Himself, essentially eternal and unchangeable, assumes an infinite variety of forms, enjoys an infinite variety of experiences, and transcends an infinite variety of self-imposed limitations.

Evolution from the standpoint of the Creator is a divine sport, in which the Unconditioned tests the infinitude of His absolute knowledge, power and bliss in the midst of all conditions. But evolution from the standpoint of the creature, with its limited knowledge, limited power, limited capacity for enjoying bliss, is an epic of alternating rest and struggle, joy and sorrow, love and hate — until in the perfected person, God balances the pairs of opposites, and duality is transcended.

Then creature and Creator recognize themselves as one; changelessness is established in the midst of change; eternity is experienced in the midst of time. God knows Himself as God, unchangeable in essence, infinite in manifestation, ever experiencing the supreme bliss of Self-realization in continually fresh awareness of Himself by Himself. This Realization must and does take place only in the midst of life; for it is only in the midst of life that limitation can be experienced and transcended, and that subsequent freedom from limitation can be enjoyed. This freedom from limitation assumes three forms.

Most God-realized souls leave the body at once and forever, and remain eternally merged in the unmanifest aspect of God. They are conscious only of the bliss of Union. Creation no longer exists for them. Their constant round of births and deaths is ended. This is known as Moksha (ordinary Mukti), or Liberation.

Some God-realized souls retain the body for a time; but their consciousness is merged completely in the unmanifest aspect of God, and they are therefore not conscious either of their bodies or of creation. They experience constantly the infinite bliss, power, and knowledge of God; but they cannot consciously use them in creation or help others to attain Liberation. Nevertheless, their presence on earth is like a focal point for the concentration and radiation of the infinite power, knowledge, and bliss of God; and those who approach them, serve them, and worship them are spiritually benefited by contact with them. These souls are called Majzoobs-e-Kamil; and this particular type of Liberation is called Videh Mukti, or liberation with the body.

A few God-realized souls keep the body, yet are conscious of themselves as God in both His unmanifest and His manifest aspects. They know themselves both as the unchangeable divine Essence and as its infinitely varied manifestation. They experience themselves as God apart from creation; as God the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of the whole creation; and as God who has accepted and transcended the limitations of creation. These souls experience constantly the absolute peace, the infinite knowledge, power, and bliss of God. They enjoy to the full the divine sport of creation. They know themselves as God in everything; therefore they are able to help everything spiritually and thus help other souls realize God, either as Majzoobs-e-Kamil, Paramhansas, Jivanmuktas — or even Sadgurus, as they themselves are called.

There are fifty-six God-realized souls in the world at all times. They are always one in consciousness. They are always different in function. For the most part, they live and work apart from and unknown to the general public; but five, who act in a sense as a directing body, always work in public and attain public prominence and importance. These are known as Sadgurus, or Perfect Masters. In Avataric periods the Avatar, as the Supreme Sadguru, takes His place as the head of this body and of the spiritual hierarchy as a whole.

Avataric periods are like the springtide of creation. They bring a new release of power, a new awakening of consciousness, a new experience of life — not merely for a few, but for all. Qualities of energy and awareness, which had been used and enjoyed by only a few advanced souls, are made available for all humanity. Life, as a whole, is stepped up to a higher level of consciousness, is geared to a new rate of energy. The transition from sensation to reason was one such step; the transition from reason to intuition will be another.

This new influx of the creative impulse manifests, through the medium of a divine personality, an incarnation of God in a special sense — the Avatar. The Avatar was the first individual soul to emerge from the evolutionary and involutionary process as a Sadguru, and He is the only Avatar who has ever manifested or will ever manifest. Through Him God first completed the journey from unconscious divinity to conscious divinity, first unconsciously became man in order consciously to become God. Through Him, periodically, God consciously becomes man for the liberation of mankind.
The Avatar appears in different forms, under different names, at different times, in different parts of the world. As His appearance always coincides with the spiritual regeneration of man, the period immediately preceding His manifestation is always one in which humanity suffers from the pangs of the approaching rebirth. Man seems more than ever enslaved by desire, more than ever driven by greed, held by fear, swept by anger. The strong dominate the weak; the rich oppress the poor; large masses of people are exploited for the benefit of the few who are in power. The individual, who finds no peace or rest, seeks to forget himself in excitement. Immorality increases, crime flourishes, religion is ridiculed. Corruption spreads throughout the social order. Class and national hatreds are aroused and fostered. Wars break out. Humanity grows desperate. There seems to be no possibility of stemming the tide of destruction.

At this moment the Avatar appears. Being the total manifestation of God in human form, He is like a gauge against which man can measure what he is and what he may become. He trues the standard of human values by interpreting them in terms of divinely human life.

He is interested in everything but not concerned about anything. The slightest mishap may command His sympathy; the greatest tragedy will not upset Him. He is beyond the alternations of pain and pleasure, desire and satisfaction, rest and struggle, life and death. To Him they are equally illusions that He has transcended, but by which others are bound, and from which He has come to free them. He uses every circumstance as a means to lead others toward Realization.

He knows that individuals do not cease to exist when they die and therefore is not concerned over death. He knows that destruction must precede construction, that out of suffering is born peace and bliss, that out of struggle comes liberation from the bonds of action. He is only concerned about concern.

In those who contact Him, He awakens a love that consumes all selfish desire in the flame of the one desire to serve Him. Those who consecrate their lives to Him gradually become identified with Him in consciousness. Little by little their humanity is absorbed into His divinity, and they become free. Those who are closest to Him are known as His Circle.

Every Sadguru has an intimate Circle of twelve disciples who, at the point of Realization, are made equal to the Sadguru himself, though they may differ from him in function and authority. In Avataric periods the Avatar has a Circle of ten concentric Circles with a total of 122 disciples, all of whom experience Realization and work for the Liberation of others. The work of the Avatar and His disciples is not only for contemporary humanity but for posterity as well. The unfoldment of life and consciousness for the whole Avataric cycle, which had been mapped out in the creative world before the Avatar took form, is endorsed and fixed in the formative and material worlds during the Avatar's life on earth.

The Avatar awakens contemporary humanity to a realization of its true spiritual nature, gives Liberation to those who are ready, and quickens the life of the spirit in His time. For posterity is left the stimulating power of His divinely human example — of the nobility of a life supremely lived, of a love unmixed with desire, of a power unused except for others, of a peace untroubled by ambition, of a knowledge undimmed by illusion. He has demonstrated the possibility of a divine life for all humanity, of a heavenly life on earth. Those who have the necessary courage and integrity can follow when they will.

Those who are spiritually awake have been aware for some time that the world is at present in the midst of a period such as always precedes Avataric manifestations. Even unawakened men and women are becoming aware of it now. From their darkness they are reaching out for light; in their sorrow they are longing for comfort; from the midst of the strife into which they have found themselves plunged, they are praying for peace and deliverance.

For the moment they must be patient. The wave of destruction must rise still higher, must spread still further. But when, from the depths of his heart, man desires something more lasting than wealth and something more real than material power, the wave will recede. Then peace will come, joy will come, light will come.

The breaking of my silence — the signal for my public manifestation — is not far off. I bring the greatest treasure it is possible for man to receive — a treasure that includes all other treasures, that will endure forever, that increases when shared with others. Be ready to receive it.

— Avatar Meher Baba

 

The Universal Message

I have come not to teach but to awaken. Understand therefore that I lay down no precepts.

Throughout eternity I have laid down principles and precepts, but mankind has ignored them. Man's inability to live God's words makes the Avatar's teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion He taught, man has waged crusades in His name. Instead of living the humility, purity and truth of His words, man has given way to hatred, greed and violence.

Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric Form I observe Silence. You have asked for and been given enough words -- it is now time to live them. To get nearer and nearer to God you have to get further and further away from “I”, “my”, “me” and “mine”. You have not to renounce anything but your own self. It is as simple as that, though found to be almost impossible. It is possible for you to renounce your limited self by my Grace. I have come to release that Grace.

I repeat, I lay down no precepts. When I release the tide of Truth which I have come to give, men's daily lives will be the living precept. The words I have not spoken will come to life in them.

I veil myself from man by his own curtain of ignorance, and manifest my Glory to a few. My present Avataric Form is the last Incarnation of this cycle of time, hence my Manifestation will be the greatest. When I break my Silence, the impact of my Love will be universal and all life in creation will know, feel and receive of it. It will help every individual to break himself free from his own bondage in his own way. I am the Divine Beloved who loves you more than you can ever love yourself. The breaking of my Silence will help you to help yourself in knowing your real Self.

All this world confusion and chaos was inevitable and no one is to blame. What had to happen has happened; and what has to happen will happen. There was and is no way out except through my coming in your midst. I had to come, and I have come. I am the Ancient One.

The perfection of consciousness

Darwin's theory focuses only on biological aspects. The Big Bang theory is the beginning of the evolution of consciousness. This creation point is the first urge.

The state of the man's consciousness during sound sleep is literally the same original divine sound sleep state of God.
Latent in this Infinite state is the undifferentiated and unmanifested "Everything". Including the "Nothing".

Enter the Big Bang---- the manifestation of the First Urge. God unconscious aka The infinite Soul ( the vast ocean in which we are but a drop) , in a tremendous shock, experiences its very first gross impression as it identifies itself with the projected Nothingness.

---------Who am I?

In this experience, the first illusory separation (sense of separate identity) takes place in the undifferentiated. The Soul, still not conscious of its true Self, becomes identified with its projected shadow through this very first impression, thus initiating the illusion of duality.


PT 2 The evolution of consciousness


2. Evolution: from stone, to metal , to vegetable , to worm , to fish , to bird, to animal and finally to human.

No voluntary motion, to Upright but dependent, to voluntary motion but horizontal, to movement in water, now capable of flight and somewhat erect, now increasingly erect with more developed attributes, and finally when the human form is reached, consciousness is fully developed and asserts itself through the ideal medium in a fully upright stance.

Throughout this process, every time the soul associates itself with a particular form, it collects, through this medium, and stores impressions of the gross world. When the impressions through association with a particular form have been exhausted, the soul dissociates itself from this form.

Yet the collected impressions must be further experienced and for this the soul starts associating itself with the next more developed form. So when the human form is reached, although consciousness is fully developed, it has a very big collection of impressions that still need to be experienced.

While the soul is no longer in search of a better medium, it has to go through numerous human forms, until these impression gathered through evolution get weakened and finally exhausted.

When the human body dies, the soul retains and further experiences the collected impressions through its identification with the subtle and mental bodies, until it associates with the next human form and takes apparent birth in it.

During the interval between death and birth, the soul experiences intensively an unfolding of the impressions collected, so depending on what quality these impressions have been of (virtue or vice, good or bad), the consciousness of soul experiences either a heaven state or a hell state.

After most impressions have been exhausted, a certain temporary equilibrium is reached and the soul is ready to associate itself with the next human form.

The process of the soul's successive association with human forms is called reincarnation.

PT 3 Liberation

Involution

"reincarnation" refers only to identification and dis-identification with forms conceived in illusion, or association and dissociation with forms.

During reincarnation consciousness tries to liberate itself from the burden of collected impressions. Yet, since it tries to achieve this by associating itself with impressions opposite from the previously accumulated ones, it gets further entangled in accumulating fresh impressions.

Thus the soul experiences itself in a seemingly endless succession of human lives, as a man or a woman, as rich or poor, strong or weak, beautiful or ugly, black or white, in various places, religions, castes etc. It is only after numerous apparent births and deaths, that the range of human experience starts to get exhausted. In this way the soul starts dissociating itself from the gross world, enabling its consciousness to become aware of the subtle sphere

When gross impressions become fainter, consciousness starts turning its focus from the apparent outer world inwards. This marks the beginning of its involution.

Gradually the thinner gross impressions become subtle impressions, through which the soul experiences the subtle world, and as subtle impressions get exhausted, they become mental impressions, through which the soul experiences the mental world.

While doing so, the soul continues to work through its gross medium, seeing, eating, drinking, walking, sleeping, but consciousness is no more entangled with the gross body or world and eventually with the subtle body and world.

when the mental impressions have finally been exhausted, consciousness snaps its connection with Illusion and perceives the Soul directly.

This course of involution is described as the spiritual path. In traversing it, the soul's consciousness crosses six planes, the seventh being its final liberation from all illusion.

PT 4 The Perfect Masters

The first three planes belong to the subtle sphere, the fourth is on the threshold between the subtle and the mental spheres and the fifth and sixth planes are in the mental sphere.

The first plane starts from the threshold of the gross and the subtle sphere.The soul starts experiencing subtle phenomena simultaneously through its gross and subtle senses.It starts hearing subtle sounds and smelling subtle scents, although their nature is far different from their gross equivalents.

Eventually it starts perceiving the subtle world through its subtle body and so comes to the second plane.Here the soul becomes aware of infinite energy. Being not conscious of the gross world,its experience gives rise only to subtle impressions of the sights, scents and sounds of the subtle world.

Further involution of consciousness makes the soul experience the third plane. Here the soul can use aspects of the infinite energy by performing minor miracles.

When consciousness reaches the fourth plane, it finds itself in a very particular state.
It is fully conscious of the infinite potential of energy and can make full use of it and it also becomes aware of the mental world. This new contact creates very strong desires to make use of this huge potential. At this point consciousness finds itself in the biggest danger of its long development. Not being able to control its feelings or thoughts, the soul is strongly tempted to handle infinite energy. If the infinite potential of this plane is misused, consciousness gets completely disintegrated and the soul finds itself back to the stone-form consciousness and has to start again the long course of evolution from there.

If it abstains from using this energy it enters the lower mental plane and if it makes a completely selfless use of it, for the benefit of the spiritual development of others in illusion, it even moves directly to the higher mental plane.

Having abstained from tampering with the energy of the fourth plane, consciousness enters the fifth plane, also described as the lower mental world. This is the inquiring and reflecting state of mind and functions as thoughts mostly. Consciousness on this plane makes one capable of creating or controlling thoughts (but not minds) of gross- or subtle-conscious souls.

Although a soul here cannot yet control its feelings or desires, it is safe from making any misuse of its abilities and is no longer conscious of the subtle sphere and can perform no miracles. With more involution consciousness enters the sixth plane, which is the higher mental world. Here the soul is beyond thoughts and is conscious only of feelings. The soul here sees God "face to face" in everything and everywhere, but it cannot yet see God in itself.

A soul here can master its feelings and desires completely and governs also the feelings (but not hearts) of gross- and subtle-conscious souls. The longing for union with God, or the Divine Beloved, is here in its most intense expression.

Yet the soul cannot bridge this final gap by itself. Only through the grace of a Perfect Master, or Sadguru, can this final union be accomplished. So, in the fifth and sixth planes, predominant is the soul's love for God, as lover of the divine Beloved.

When the soul has gained Self-consciousness, it merges with God in one of three distinct states:

# The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and enjoys eternally His divine attributes of Infinite Power, Knowledge and Bliss, but remains completely unconscious of Creation.
# The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and retains consciousness of Creation but does not use His divine attributes in it.
# The soul becomes conscious of itself as God and uses His divine attributes for the spiritual advancement of others.

Meher Baba says there are 56 God-realized souls on Earth at all times, but only and exactly five hold the office of Perfect Master.

The Avatar appears on Earth every 700-1400 years, and is 'brought down' into human form by the five Perfect Masters of that age to aid in the process of moving creation in its never ending journey toward Godhood.


In spite of his original attainment of God-realization,the Ancient One, is a special Perfect Master, The Avatar.

In ages past this role was fulfilled by Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Gautama Buddha, Jesus, and lastly by Muhammad.


Strike a chord with anyone? I like to be open-minded about stuff and thought it kind of clicked. Opinions?