In the Light of Truth (Abdrushin)

[unseekingseeker]

Aug 27, 2022 3:26:38 GMT -5 laughter said:

Aug 26, 2022 22:27:57 GMT -5 unseekingseeker said:

Taking a step back into chapter 13 for a moment, to quote ~ “If, therefore, it is written: “Love your enemies!” Then this means: “Do that which will benefit them! Discipline them if they cannot otherwise come to recognition!” That is serving them. But justice must prevail, for love cannot be separated from justice, they are one!”

Now this is debatable because to talk about justice is to judge and to discipline requires use of force. Love does neither.

Hmmm …

Love and truth are the same. Each is the same absence. The absence of separation. The absence of limitation. There's no way to limit Love, in this sense.

Yes but the point is about (a) justice (requiring judgment) and (b) discipline (requiring use of force). Neither of these activities are in the domain of love, which is an unceasing outpouring, like the fragrance of a flower.

I once received a wisdom download during deep meditation through visuals ~ we can go into the details if you wish; the takeaway was that all conflicts must be resolved by love alone, without use of force.

About justice, during life review, usually after death, we look at cause and effect of thought, word and deed from the lens of love. In other words, we judge ourselves, to correct ourselves, karma being but spherically experiencing the pain we inflicted on the ‘other’. The victim has a choice to forgive* (*taking revenge continues the cycle, life after life with roles reversed) and the aggressor can only exit when he becomes the victim later, usually in the next life and then forgives/transcends, if able. After all, memory is erased ~ ignorance is what makes earth life difficult, needing our reflex instinct to be love inked.

[laughter]

Aug 27, 2022 4:27:44 GMT -5 unseekingseeker said:

Aug 27, 2022 3:26:38 GMT -5 laughter said:

Love and truth are the same. Each is the same absence. The absence of separation. The absence of limitation. There's no way to limit Love, in this sense.

Yes but the point is about (a) justice (requiring judgment) and (b) discipline (requiring use of force). Neither of these activities are in the domain of love, which is an unceasing outpouring, like the fragrance of a flower.

I once received a wisdom download during deep meditation through visuals ~ we can go into the details if you wish; the takeaway was that all conflicts must be resolved by love alone, without use of force.

About justice, during life review, usually after death, we look at cause and effect of thought, word and deed from the lens of love. In other words, we judge ourselves, to correct ourselves, karma being but spherically experiencing the pain we inflicted on the ‘other’. The victim has a choice to forgive* (*taking revenge continues the cycle, life after life with roles reversed) and the aggressor can only exit when he becomes the victim later, usually in the next life and then forgives/transcends, if able. After all, memory is erased ~ ignorance is what makes earth life difficult, needing our reflex instinct to be love inked.

Well, justice, judgment, and discipline are all ideas about what's happening. Mostly cognitive overlays, after-the-fact. That's not to say that they're not useful. Certainly, someone using coercive force to control, either reactively or deliberately, is a pretty good sign that "Love", and "Truth", in the sense we mean here, has been distorted, obscured.

But, in the moment, as action happens, what happens, happens. This morning a kid on a bicycle accosted me, rode a good 50 yards out of his way to ask, rather gruffly, if I "had 25 cents". My response was spontaneous, and he rode away.

[Reefs]

The 10 Commandments

Abdrushin has a really interesting take on every single one of these commandments. Really worth reading in full (see appendix):

www.abdrushin.us/in-the-light-of-truth/

I’ll go thru each one of these. I’ll start with different translations from different version, namely:

Biblia Sacra Vulgata (VULGATE) [406/1546]
Geneva Bible (GNV) [1599]
King James Version (KJV) [1611]
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) [1987]

(a plethora of different translations can be found here: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20&version=KJV)

Then I will give two popular interpretations for each commandment, taken from two of the dummies books:

Bible for Dummies: (BfD)
Catholicism for Dummies (CfD)

And finally, I’ll give Abdrushin’s take on each commandment:

In the Light of Truth (Abdrushin)

[Reefs]

The 10 Commandments

The First Commandment

I am the Lord, thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me.


1) The texts:

(VULGATE)
Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus qui eduxi te de terra Aegypti de domo servitutis. Non habebis deos alienos coram me.
(I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.)

(GNV)
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

(KJV)
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

(ERV)
I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. You must not worship any other gods except me.

2) Popular interpretations:

CfD:
“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any gods before Me.”
This commandment forbids idolatry, the worship of false gods and goddesses, and it prohibits polytheism, the belief in many gods, insisting instead on monotheism, the belief in one God. This commandment forbids making golden calves, building temples to Isis, and worshipping statues of Caesar, for example.

(BfD)
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
This commandment, enjoining Israel to singular devotion to God, is intimately tied to their being delivered by God from Egyptian bondage. In fact, Jewish tradition reckons God’s statement just prior to this command (“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”) as the first of the Ten Commandments. The thrust of this commandment is: Since God delivered you from slavery, you should be loyal to Him.

3) Abdrushin's interpretation:

(Abdrushin)
He who reads these words aright will see what condemnation they express for those who disregard this first and foremost commandment! “Thou shalt have none other gods!” These words are generally taken to mean much less than they really do. Man has made his task easy by restricting their meaning to a narrow field. In the first place his idea of idolatry is worshippers kneeling before a row of wooden figures, each of which represents a particular god, or he thinks of demon-worship and other forms of worship of analogous nature. But it never occurs to him to connect the idea with himself. Look at yourselves and consider whether, peradventure, you do not belong to these!

One man has a child which is more precious to him than all else, for which he is prepared to make any sacrifice and for whose sake he forgets all besides.

Another prizes the pleasures of this world so highly that though he be a well-intentioned man, he would be incapable (as long as he was a free agent) of renouncing his pleasures even if he were requested to do so.

A third again loves his money — a fourth power — a fifth a woman, others again distinction — yet, in them all, it is the love of self that really predominates.

All this is idol-worship in the truest sense of the word!

The first commandment warns men from falling into this sin.

[...]

And woe unto him who does not literally obey it! The punishment for disobedience is the coupling of the soul to the body when it goes over into the world of ethereal matter.

[...]

Unfortunately, man is too apt to give way to some propensity which ends by enslaving him. He makes a golden calf of it and sets it up in the highest place, thus it becomes a deity or idol beside his God and indeed is often considered before him!

[...]

Have a care, therefore, seek to keep this commandment strictly.


In so doing you will be safe from many adverse, unfriendly threads of fate, to disentangle yourselves from which you will perchance not have sufficient time left!

So it looks to me that, essentially, according to A, what this commandment is all about, is - put it into our forum lingo and the largest context - Self vs. self, the real vs. the false, the absolute vs. the relative and non-attachment vs. attachment.

[unseekingseeker]

@ Reefs ~ thanks for summing it up so well. Very few attempt to correct themselves, mostly looking outward. However, the journey from understanding of stated truth (by mind) and actual becoming (of soul/self) requires a shift, aided by this recognition when correspondent direct experience is first imbibed and then gradually assimilated within.

For example, almost all religions and scriptures indicate that we are soul/awareness/presence/consciousness (use any word) and not mind-body. However, to actually know this in definitiveness, a direct recognition which we feel, hear or see needs to be graced. It could be kundalini, our spiritual heart, a telepathic wisdom transfer or a vision, even a lucid dream ~ but without the sensory graphic, in my view, deep down some doubts will remain, since we are caged in by lower mind and cannot accept that there can be awareness without thought. … other than moments of silence and stillness.

This applies to all wisdom shared by sages. Consider oneness, non-duality. The Advaita Vedanta narration of the truth is stated but how may it be accepted? On the other hand, beginning with the here, now, this duality ~ feeling next interconnectedness ~ we then know by so becoming oneness awareness in samadhi. The ah-ha moment, when we become the answer, needing no translator.

Even thereafter, attention oscillates! But the difference now is that we have been, seen and so known in direct experience. Thereafter, the currents carry us, if we allow.

[laughter]

Aug 30, 2022 11:35:49 GMT -5 Reefs said:

The 10 Commandments

The First Commandment

I am the Lord, thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me.


1) The texts:

(VULGATE)
Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus qui eduxi te de terra Aegypti de domo servitutis. Non habebis deos alienos coram me.
(I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.)

(GNV)
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

(KJV)
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

(ERV)
I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. You must not worship any other gods except me.

2) Popular interpretations:

CfD:
“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any gods before Me.”
This commandment forbids idolatry, the worship of false gods and goddesses, and it prohibits polytheism, the belief in many gods, insisting instead on monotheism, the belief in one God. This commandment forbids making golden calves, building temples to Isis, and worshipping statues of Caesar, for example.

(BfD)
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
This commandment, enjoining Israel to singular devotion to God, is intimately tied to their being delivered by God from Egyptian bondage. In fact, Jewish tradition reckons God’s statement just prior to this command (“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”) as the first of the Ten Commandments. The thrust of this commandment is: Since God delivered you from slavery, you should be loyal to Him.

3) Abdrushin's interpretation:

(Abdrushin)
He who reads these words aright will see what condemnation they express for those who disregard this first and foremost commandment! “Thou shalt have none other gods!” These words are generally taken to mean much less than they really do. Man has made his task easy by restricting their meaning to a narrow field. In the first place his idea of idolatry is worshippers kneeling before a row of wooden figures, each of which represents a particular god, or he thinks of demon-worship and other forms of worship of analogous nature. But it never occurs to him to connect the idea with himself. Look at yourselves and consider whether, peradventure, you do not belong to these!

One man has a child which is more precious to him than all else, for which he is prepared to make any sacrifice and for whose sake he forgets all besides.

Another prizes the pleasures of this world so highly that though he be a well-intentioned man, he would be incapable (as long as he was a free agent) of renouncing his pleasures even if he were requested to do so.

A third again loves his money — a fourth power — a fifth a woman, others again distinction — yet, in them all, it is the love of self that really predominates.

All this is idol-worship in the truest sense of the word!

The first commandment warns men from falling into this sin.

[...]

And woe unto him who does not literally obey it! The punishment for disobedience is the coupling of the soul to the body when it goes over into the world of ethereal matter.

[...]

Unfortunately, man is too apt to give way to some propensity which ends by enslaving him. He makes a golden calf of it and sets it up in the highest place, thus it becomes a deity or idol beside his God and indeed is often considered before him!

[...]

Have a care, therefore, seek to keep this commandment strictly.


In so doing you will be safe from many adverse, unfriendly threads of fate, to disentangle yourselves from which you will perchance not have sufficient time left!

So it looks to me that, essentially, according to A, what this commandment is all about, is - put it into our forum lingo and the largest context - Self vs. self, the real vs. the false, the absolute vs. the relative and non-attachment vs. attachment.

Sue explained that she was taught a similar meaning for the first commandment back in the early 90's when we had a series of philosophical and ideological discussions. I would always object to it based on those common, narrow interpretations. It's quite easy to dismiss in that sense. The way she'd been taught at a Presbyterian summer camp was that it meant that everyone has a sort of inner longing, a hole in their soul, that they're going to fill with something: some do it with work, or family or pleasure, or drugs or money or sex ... etc.. But the point is, it's "not God". I think it entirely related to the notion that anyone who hasn't realized the existential truth is a seeker whether they're conscious of the seeking, or not.

[unseekingseeker]

Hmmm ~ chapter 23 on Morality. Disparaging towards women. Who’s written this treatise? Have to disagree with the contents of this chapter. Let’s see what lies in the pages ahead.

[Reefs]

Aug 30, 2022 22:00:51 GMT -5 unseekingseeker said:

@ Reefs ~ thanks for summing it up so well. Very few attempt to correct themselves, mostly looking outward. However, the journey from understanding of stated truth (by mind) and actual becoming (of soul/self) requires a shift, aided by this recognition when correspondent direct experience is first imbibed and then gradually assimilated within.

For example, almost all religions and scriptures indicate that we are soul/awareness/presence/consciousness (use any word) and not mind-body. However, to actually know this in definitiveness, a direct recognition which we feel, hear or see needs to be graced. It could be kundalini, our spiritual heart, a telepathic wisdom transfer or a vision, even a lucid dream ~ but without the sensory graphic, in my view, deep down some doubts will remain, since we are caged in by lower mind and cannot accept that there can be awareness without thought. … other than moments of silence and stillness.

This applies to all wisdom shared by sages. Consider oneness, non-duality. The Advaita Vedanta narration of the truth is stated but how may it be accepted? On the other hand, beginning with the here, now, this duality ~ feeling next interconnectedness ~ we then know by so becoming oneness awareness in samadhi. The ah-ha moment, when we become the answer, needing no translator.

Even thereafter, attention oscillates! But the difference now is that we have been, seen and so known in direct experience. Thereafter, the currents carry us, if we allow.

Yes, direct knowing, and on a visceral level. A mentions that in his comment on the 2nd commandment.

[Reefs]

Aug 31, 2022 8:32:20 GMT -5 laughter said:

Aug 30, 2022 11:35:49 GMT -5 Reefs said:

The 10 Commandments

The First Commandment

I am the Lord, thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me.


1) The texts:

2) Popular interpretations:

3) Abdrushin's interpretation:

So it looks to me that, essentially, according to A, what this commandment is all about, is - put it into our forum lingo and the largest context - Self vs. self, the real vs. the false, the absolute vs. the relative and non-attachment vs. attachment.

Sue explained that she was taught a similar meaning for the first commandment back in the early 90's when we had a series of philosophical and ideological discussions. I would always object to it based on those common, narrow interpretations. It's quite easy to dismiss in that sense. The way she'd been taught at a Presbyterian summer camp was that it meant that everyone has a sort of inner longing, a hole in their soul, that they're going to fill with something: some do it with work, or family or pleasure, or drugs or money or sex ... etc.. But the point is, it's "not God". I think it entirely related to the notion that anyone who hasn't realized the existential truth is a seeker whether they're conscious of the seeking, or not.

Interesting. Yes, the mere face value interpretations of these commandments are in stark contrast to what A is explaining and are too easily dismissed and ridiculed. But A points out a whole 'nother dimension that only few are aware of or even able to fathom. And to me that is not only fascinating but also resonates somehow. 

[Reefs]

Sept 2, 2022 10:09:14 GMT -5 unseekingseeker said:

Hmmm ~ chapter 23 on Morality. Disparaging towards women. Who’s written this treatise? Have to disagree with the contents of this chapter. Let’s see what lies in the pages ahead.

I have some major disagreements with A, too. He is a bit too rigid in general. That's why I can only recommend his take on LOA, karma and its cessation, which is really good.

[Reefs]

The 10 Commandments

The Second Commandment

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain!


1) The Texts:

(VULGATE)
Non adsumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum nec enim habebit insontem Dominus eum qui adsumpserit nomen Domini Dei sui frustra.
(Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.)

(GNV)
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain.

(KJV)
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

(ERV)
You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.

2) Popular Interpretations:

(BfD)
“You shall not lift up God’s name in vain.”
This injunction most likely prohibits people from making oaths in God’s name. Yet, the phrase “in vain” means “for nothing,” and, therefore, some scholars (and parents) understand this commandment to refer to using God’s name in any inappropriate manner, such as when swearing or “cussing.” Today, many devout Jews (and some Christians) don’t use God’s name at all to ensure that they don’t break this command. Moreover, some people, when writing, replace the “o” in the word God with a hyphen (G-d).

(CfD)
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
The faithful are required to honor the name of God. It makes sense that if you’re to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you’re naturally to respect the name of God with equal passion and vigor.

3) Abdrushin’s Interpretation:

(Abdrushin)
A name awakens a conception in a man's mind. He who abuses of a name and ventures to defame it, defames the conception itself. Keep this well in mind!

This plainly expressed commandment, given by the Lord, is the least observed and the most often disobeyed of all the ten.

It is disregarded in a thousand forms.

[...]

But it was not the individual alone who disregarded this commandment...

A briefly goes into some examples of how rulers and the Catholic Church in the past violated this commandment. I'll leave that part out because I am focused here more on the individual and am also assuming that most are familiar with that history anyway. Later his criticism of organized religion turns from specific to more general:

Animosity today is as rife as it ever was, it is only clothed in another more modern form. The inner malevolent disposition has remained the same, and it is that alone that counts before God's judgment seat, never the outer form. The present, apparently harmless form again has its origin in the same unspeakable spiritual pride, the characteristic of the representatives of all Churches. Or if not spiritual pride, it is unfounded presumption building up its pretentions on the temporal power of the Churches. This wrong spirit leads to differences and ill-will in connection with intrigues to extend worldly influence and even ambition to be of political importance.

And all these things they do, calling on the Name of God, so that I would fain cry out the words spoken by the Son of God:
“The house of my Father, which should have served as a house of worship, you have made a den of thieves! You call yourselves the servants of God, but you have become slaves of your pride.”

Every Roman Catholic thinks that he is far better than a Protestant in the sight of God, without having any reason for doing so, and every Protestant considers himself better informed and further advanced, thus nearer to his God than a Catholic is. And yet they all assert that they are followers of Christ and that they mould themselves after His precepts!
Both parties are fools, because they would base their claims on what is of no account in God's eyes.

Just these sin against the second Commandment more grievously than do the adherents of other religions, for they not only sin in words but also in deeds in their manner of living and even in their so-called Divine Service.

To every serious thinker and close observer they verily present a disheartening picture of mental dearth and of meaningless ceremonies! They desecrate the very conception of God in their boundless presumption trying to make themselves and others believe that they possess a place in heaven before the adherents of other religions.

It is not the outward form of church-usages, baptism, etc. that is of consequence. It is the inner man who will be summoned before God's judgment-seat!

[...]

Do not presume to approach your God in prayer unless the words come from your heart and your whole soul vibrates in what you say. Lay aside all empty phrases when you appeal to Him, for otherwise you would be guilty of taking His Name in vain. Before you ask for something, consider well whether it is of urgent necessity. Do not involve yourselves in set forms of prayers to be rattled off at fixed times, a bad custom introduced into all religious exercises. This is not only abuse of God's Name but blaspheming it!

[...]

A man who in daily life is in the habit of calling upon the Name of God on all possible and impossible occasions has never had the faintest idea of Divinity. He is a brute, but no human being. A human spirit must be qualified to perceive, to feel the existence of God intuitively and if it is but for one brief moment in its earth-life. This one moment would suffice to eradicate any inclination thoughtlessly to trespass against the second commandment. The impression that such a man will carry about with him ever after, will impel him to kneel when he utters the word God and he will only dare to do so when his soul is in the highest possible state of purity.

So to sum it up again, according to A, this commandment is about sincerity, genuine religiousness, the kind of contact with the Devine that one feels in ones bones, not the kind for religiousness for show, mechanically performed rituals or prayers mumbled with a mind deeply lost in the consensus trance, just going thru the motions. Put into our forum-speak again, a direct and visceral understanding of THIS vs. an indirect, merely intellectual, hearsay-based understanding. In that sense, A is correct, one moment face to face with THIS would suffice to end all confusion forever, which will also leave one in awe of the Devine so that actually living this commandment will become something entirely natural, as opposed to something one has to be trained to do by threat of severe punishment.

[laughter]

Sept 6, 2022 11:38:28 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Aug 31, 2022 8:32:20 GMT -5 laughter said:

Sue explained that she was taught a similar meaning for the first commandment back in the early 90's when we had a series of philosophical and ideological discussions. I would always object to it based on those common, narrow interpretations. It's quite easy to dismiss in that sense. The way she'd been taught at a Presbyterian summer camp was that it meant that everyone has a sort of inner longing, a hole in their soul, that they're going to fill with something: some do it with work, or family or pleasure, or drugs or money or sex ... etc.. But the point is, it's "not God". I think it entirely related to the notion that anyone who hasn't realized the existential truth is a seeker whether they're conscious of the seeking, or not.

Interesting. Yes, the mere face value interpretations of these commandments are in stark contrast to what A is explaining and are too easily dismissed and ridiculed. But A points out a whole 'nother dimension that only few are aware of or even able to fathom. And to me that is not only fascinating but also resonates somehow. 

Off the Abdurshin topic but continuing this biblical theme ...

Eventually I wound up trying to read the bible from the beginning on my own, about ten years before I picked up Tolle. Reading the Old Testament just reinforced my misconceptions, and I concluded the Romans included it in the cannon as essentially a cautionary tale: "see? look at how rich a culture this is, they've kept track of all this history going back through the centuries. They were warriors, look what happened to them ".

It wasn't until after the shake up - long after - guys like ZD on these forums made nondual sense, especially of the New Testament, which I didn't even bother reading back then 'cause I'd gave up on it.

Then, going to their mass, going along with the program to support Sue, well, nonduality is clearly there, hiding in plain sight, in the communion: all are the body of Christ. Only one unique Jesus though. We lucked out in our priest. Obviously had kensho'd, and if you imagine what it's like doing what they do, performing the same ritual day after day, sometimes multiple times a day, it's either going to blow their minds or turn them into robots. Father Joe would stress, whenever he had the chance, the radical nature of what Jesus had to say: unconditional love, and of the incomprehensible and all-encompassing, all-knowing/seeing nature of God. I had about a half a dozen really improbable synchronicities happen over that time and I shared them with Joe in a few letters, and his reactions to them where always a joy.

There are two scraps of scripture that noone has had to relate to nonduality for me, as they are quite clear. One is "Render Unto Caesar". That one strikes me as similar to "the finger pointing is not the Moon", or "beginner's mind", in that it is very deep water that most people who do have at least some inkling of it seem to take for granted. It's also the precise answer to several of the ongoing mind-loops on the two forums.

[laughter]

Sept 6, 2022 12:42:51 GMT -5 Reefs said:

The 10 Commandments

The Second Commandment

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain!


1) The Texts:

(VULGATE)
Non adsumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum nec enim habebit insontem Dominus eum qui adsumpserit nomen Domini Dei sui frustra.
(Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.)

(GNV)
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain.

(KJV)
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

(ERV)
You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.

2) Popular Interpretations:

(BfD)
“You shall not lift up God’s name in vain.”
This injunction most likely prohibits people from making oaths in God’s name. Yet, the phrase “in vain” means “for nothing,” and, therefore, some scholars (and parents) understand this commandment to refer to using God’s name in any inappropriate manner, such as when swearing or “cussing.” Today, many devout Jews (and some Christians) don’t use God’s name at all to ensure that they don’t break this command. Moreover, some people, when writing, replace the “o” in the word God with a hyphen (G-d).

(CfD)
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
The faithful are required to honor the name of God. It makes sense that if you’re to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you’re naturally to respect the name of God with equal passion and vigor.

3) Abdrushin’s Interpretation:

(Abdrushin)
A name awakens a conception in a man's mind. He who abuses of a name and ventures to defame it, defames the conception itself. Keep this well in mind!

This plainly expressed commandment, given by the Lord, is the least observed and the most often disobeyed of all the ten.

It is disregarded in a thousand forms.

[...]

But it was not the individual alone who disregarded this commandment...

A briefly goes into some examples of how rulers and the Catholic Church in the past violated this commandment. I'll leave that part out because I am focused here more on the individual and am also assuming that most are familiar with that history anyway. Later his criticism of organized religion turns from specific to more general:

Animosity today is as rife as it ever was, it is only clothed in another more modern form. The inner malevolent disposition has remained the same, and it is that alone that counts before God's judgment seat, never the outer form. The present, apparently harmless form again has its origin in the same unspeakable spiritual pride, the characteristic of the representatives of all Churches. Or if not spiritual pride, it is unfounded presumption building up its pretentions on the temporal power of the Churches. This wrong spirit leads to differences and ill-will in connection with intrigues to extend worldly influence and even ambition to be of political importance.

And all these things they do, calling on the Name of God, so that I would fain cry out the words spoken by the Son of God:
“The house of my Father, which should have served as a house of worship, you have made a den of thieves! You call yourselves the servants of God, but you have become slaves of your pride.”

Every Roman Catholic thinks that he is far better than a Protestant in the sight of God, without having any reason for doing so, and every Protestant considers himself better informed and further advanced, thus nearer to his God than a Catholic is. And yet they all assert that they are followers of Christ and that they mould themselves after His precepts!
Both parties are fools, because they would base their claims on what is of no account in God's eyes.

Just these sin against the second Commandment more grievously than do the adherents of other religions, for they not only sin in words but also in deeds in their manner of living and even in their so-called Divine Service.

To every serious thinker and close observer they verily present a disheartening picture of mental dearth and of meaningless ceremonies! They desecrate the very conception of God in their boundless presumption trying to make themselves and others believe that they possess a place in heaven before the adherents of other religions.

It is not the outward form of church-usages, baptism, etc. that is of consequence. It is the inner man who will be summoned before God's judgment-seat!

[...]

Do not presume to approach your God in prayer unless the words come from your heart and your whole soul vibrates in what you say. Lay aside all empty phrases when you appeal to Him, for otherwise you would be guilty of taking His Name in vain. Before you ask for something, consider well whether it is of urgent necessity. Do not involve yourselves in set forms of prayers to be rattled off at fixed times, a bad custom introduced into all religious exercises. This is not only abuse of God's Name but blaspheming it!

[...]

A man who in daily life is in the habit of calling upon the Name of God on all possible and impossible occasions has never had the faintest idea of Divinity. He is a brute, but no human being. A human spirit must be qualified to perceive, to feel the existence of God intuitively and if it is but for one brief moment in its earth-life. This one moment would suffice to eradicate any inclination thoughtlessly to trespass against the second commandment. The impression that such a man will carry about with him ever after, will impel him to kneel when he utters the word God and he will only dare to do so when his soul is in the highest possible state of purity.

So to sum it up again, according to A, this commandment is about sincerity, genuine religiousness, the kind of contact with the Devine that one feels in ones bones, not the kind for religiousness for show, mechanically performed rituals or prayers mumbled with a mind deeply lost in the consensus trance, just going thru the motions. Put into our forum-speak again, a direct and visceral understanding of THIS vs. an indirect, merely intellectual, hearsay-based understanding. In that sense, A is correct, one moment face to face with THIS would suffice to end all confusion forever, which will also leave one in awe of the Devine so that actually living this commandment will become something entirely natural, as opposed to something one has to be trained to do by threat of severe punishment.

To me Tolle nails this commandment with what he writes about how people suffer from various degrees of unconscious reactivity. These will express as "Jesus Fucking Christ!", even by non-Christians. Isn't that amusing that people who have no belief in Christ, or even God, will exclaim this sometimes? The primary Christian prayer includes "hallowed be thy name", which is a call for devotion and reverence. In the "JFC!" moment the individual is lost quite deeply in the dream trance of existential separation. The way I'd paraphrase Abdrushin's observation here is in that moment they are "shaking their fist at God". The cognitive dissonance of a devotee in that instant is an opportunity for them to snap right out of it.

And then Zen plays with this idea, and challenges the sensibilities with the story of the "birdshit Buddha", which is sort of the flip side of the Cigarette Man koan. Those strike me as deeper water for people with relatively quiet minds.

[JustASimpleGuy]

May 27, 2022 0:09:44 GMT -5 Reefs said:

This is pretty clear. The intellect, conceptual thinking, which happens in the context of time and space, will never be able to transcend time and space and therefore will never be able to understand the mysteries of the universe, time and space. This is a point Seth will pick up years later when he talks about the "dream-art scientists" or "mental physicists" and "complete physicians" who are not bound by the intellect, time and space, and so are able to gain a much deeper and more accurate peek into the nature of the universe than our current scientists that are mostly driven by the intellect and the outer (physical) senses and their extensions (scientific instruments) - and ego, maybe.

There’s actually a special chapter on what ‘becoming like children’ means, about 'childlikeness' (Volume I, Lecture 10). So we'll get to that later.

I find this interesting because I'm in IT and my style is very intuitive. From a technical perspective I am very solid however syntax is not encoded in memory and there are others far superior who can recite syntax to the nth degree. I leave that to manuals and documentation. I do have a knack with a non-linear approach, to some extent bypassing more traditional approaches to analysis, design, coding, testing and debugging. Skipping steps because oftentimes I just have a hunch which branches need to be pursued first without having to run through the various scenarios and their ramifications. Maybe it's just experience but it feels like it's something else. I always considered it part technical and part art. It just feels right.

To the more general point I don't consider science and spirituality at odds in and of themselves. We tend to make them so but it doesn't have to be. I would express being more childlike as maintaining some of the innocence, wonderment and curiosity from childhood, add in a good dose of humility and top it off with an acknowledgement or awareness of the Transcendent.

[Reefs]

The 10 Commandments


The Third Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.


1) The texts:

(VULGATE)
Memento ut diem sabbati sanctifices.
(Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.)

(GNV)
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

(KJV)
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

(ERV)
You must remember to keep the Sabbath a special day.

2) Popular Interpretations:

(BfD)
"Keep the Sabbath."
Because God rested on the seventh day of Creation, humans are ordered to mirror God’s behavior. The Hebrew Bible takes this very seriously. As evidence of this, a man is killed for gathering wood on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32–36).

(CfD)
“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.”
The Jewish celebration of Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown on Friday evening and lasts until sundown on Saturday. Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians go to church on Sunday, treating it as the Lord’s Day instead of Saturday to honor the day Christ rose from the dead.

3)Abdrushin’s Interpretation:

Before A gives his interpretation of this commandment, he first explains why these commandments shouldn’t actually be called commandments, but counsel or advice or direction:

The commandments are taught to children at school where they are superficially discussed. The pupil is glad if he has mastered the wording of the text and is able to answer some questions concerning their contents, that is to say, as long as he is in danger of being questioned.

When he leaves school to enter public life the words themselves are soon forgotten and with them their meaning.

This is a conclusive proof that man is not really interested to learn what his Lord and his God requires of him!

Moreover, God does not demand, in His loving kindness. He gives to all men what they so urgently need.

When the erring ways of men came to the notice of the Light, God pointed out the way to eternal life, to the luminous kingdom of the spirit and thus to their own happiness like a kind and faithful teacher, and if they do not obey His behests it is to their own undoing and destruction. Thus properly speaking it is incorrect to speak of commandments. It is not command but counsel that is given; well-meant advice and valuable directions as to the right way to journey through those material spheres that the human spirit desired to become acquainted with.

But man, completely engrossed by his own conceits, was deaf to this grand thought. It made no impression on him. He shuts his eyes and his ears to any views or standpoints that he has not himself conceived and constructed in his paltry worldly wisdom. He does not perceive how matter is enticing him on and on, further and further, till he comes to that boundary line where it is in his power for the last time to decide whether it is to be this way or the other: the decisive moment for his whole future existence. After that he must go to the end of the way he has chosen and there is no return for him.

In that context, A explains the meaning of the third commandment:

It was to help him in such a case and enlighten him in time, in spite of his errors, that God gave man the third commandment, the counsel to keep the day of rest.

[…]

Remember the day of rest to keep it holy! It is for you to make it holy and consecrate it for your own use. This is the plain and simple meaning of the words. The day of rest is the hour of rest — the hour for leaving off work, i.e. the task allotted to you during your life on earth.

You are not consecrating the day of rest nor making it holy if you devote your time to the care of your body or seek diversion in gambling, drinking or dancing. The object of the hour of rest is to give you time for self-examination, time to review your past life: specially the working days of the past week and you must do this with the intention of drawing useful instruction for your future. It is not hard to keep account of six days but easy to forget what happened in a longer period. Do this and your soul will not fail to develop its sensitiveness and soar upwards. You will gradually become a seeker after the Truth.

[…]

You will not be losing your time in reflecting on these questions and in opening yourself to the impressions you will receive, on the contrary, your hour of rest will bring you great profit.

Church-going will never sanctify an hour of rest for him who does not afterwards meditate on what he has heard in church with the intention of fully understanding it and of living according to its teaching. The priest cannot make the day holy if you do not do so yourself. Consider and weigh your manner of life in the balance to see whether it is in harmony with the real meaning of God's Word. In examining your conscience, thus putting it to the use for which it was intended, you sanctify the Day of Rest and make it holy; every such day will be a milestone on your road. The day of rest will react on the other days in which your activity is purely material and give them the importance and significance they should have in maturing your soul. Then you will not have lived them in vain and your advance will be assured and uninterrupted. To keep holy means not to waste. By neglecting this duty you waste the time given you to mature, after the Cosmic Turning Point (the rays or vibrations of which are slowly surrounding you) has been reached; the time left to make good what is wanting will be but short, to do so you will have to summon all the energy at your command.

Therefore, keep the day of rest holy! Whether it be at home or better still in the open air where your thoughts and sensations will be awakened by nature. Obey the Lord's commandment in this way! It will be for your own benefit.

In short, one entire day per week set aside for self-reflection and self-inquiry, to clear the mind, to disengage from the mundane and recalibrate, focusing on the divine. Sounds pretty much like the concept of raising vibration.