Mainstream Christianity, along with other popular religions—if you leave aside their mystic fringes, looks at equality with God as heresy and blasphemy. Culturally, claiming “I am God” is one of the defining characteristics of being crazy. On the surface, this is self-apparent. How can a feeble, simple, temporary human being claim to be infinite, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent? Pure nonsense.
Beneath the surface, things get more interesting. Where does the claim of being one with God come from and who is making it? Does its substance exist in the sound vibrations emanating from the vocal cords, the words and language those vibrations represent, or the ideas those words point to? Does it come from somewhere else entirely, such as a direct awareness and knowing via personal direct experience as an eternal spiritual being? Is it Source saying “I AM” through spiritual (non-physical) vibrations represented as physical matter we experience as a human? Are all the people who have had these direct experiences of existing as dissociated, individuated units of the absolute unbounded oneness crazy?
For me, these authentic “multi-dimensional thinkers” are not crazy. Time in their presence makes it clear to me they have an abundance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The soul that looks out from their eyes soothes. The rhythm of their heartbeat connects with my own, creating a smile that can’t be put into concepts, words, and sound vibrations. It just… is.
To the extent religious dogma keeps people from pursuing this direct experience is the extent I don’t personally want to be associated with religious labels. Those who identify with religious labels often see this as an existential threat to the continued existence of their egoic self. The response can be quite energetic. That’s okay. I was that person for more than a few decades, and I honor the value their identity provides them. I also hope they will never stop their own journey towards greater awareness, to die to self, be reborn, and “pick up their cross daily” as it were. Why? Because the alternative is suffering, the opposite of fundamental wellbeing. If there is no identification with the separation that is the body, who is it that suffers? How can suffering exist?
It’s natural not to want to see those you love suffer. Natural to plead, “Come on in, the water’s great! You’ll love it!” But it doesn’t work that way as no amount of convincing will move the unmovable. Everyone is on their own journey and the journeys are perfect in that they create the story, complete with drama and hardship and overcoming. Everything is perfect.
Enjoy the ride.
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If your own journey has you seeking a deeper experience of existence, here’s a resource you may find useful.
In 2022, I started building a friendship with Jeffery Martin that I now deeply cherish. His work over the past 17 or so years is, to me, so important for humanity.
This 7 and half minute video is a good place to start to feel into what he's saying energetically and decide if this interests you at all:
At about 4:30 he mentions using the methods while discarding the religious and spiritual dogmas, so that may be a bit triggering to hear if you currently identify with religious labels and consider these practices sacred and specific to your religion.
This is the book I read after meeting Jeffery: https://www.amazon.com/Finders-Dr-Jeffery-Martin/dp/1572425563?nodl=1&dplnkId=f50aeaa5-9e1a-4cdc-954a-4f783de99be9
It's on Audible as well.
I took the 45 day course (the evolution of the Finder's Protocol mentioned in the video above) here: https://45daystoawakening.com
If you want to see exactly what's in the course, someone outlined it all here: https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/s/6ptXHFWqk4
I had been doing an hour a day of meditation in the beginning of 2022 before I met Jeffery and did the course. It's great stuff.
If you want to see more from Jeffery to get a better feel for him and the content, here's an interview I watched a long time ago from a really great channel with tons of useful interviews:
If you really want to get into the weeds of the "Martin Matrix" of locations and layers of PNSE, this video gets into it:
I’ve greatly enjoyed the times I’ve been able to spend time and meditate with Jeffery and his colleagues. I do think meeting him and becoming friends with him has influenced my excitement about his work (judge the fruit!), especially the week and a half retreat I did with their team in Rincon last year. He's an amazing resource for anything I want to ask related to people or ideas in the consciousness / awakening space. His research site is here: https://www.nonsymbolic.org/
Please know there are tools available to you right now that can provide a deep down sense of okayness, a persistent wellbeing that is not dependent on your external circumstances. It’s all ready for you as soon as you are done with the phase you’re currently experiencing.
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I think that love is the realization of unity beyond any intellectual understanding. Unity already exists, but we only realize it when we love.
The Bible says: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."
Jesus says: "I and my Father are one".
Nothing more to add.
Love is unity. I agree, it's very simple. :)
Not all mainstream religions deny that. Go to India (Hindu areas) and say you are God and the people might respond with "Hurray!". Hinduism's grand creation myth involves God splitting himself into countless pieces, and we are all those pieces, trying to work out how to come back together again, except we are confused and don't quite realize we are all the same thing, all fingers on the same hand so to speak.
Anyway, I'll go watch that video now.
We Westerners know not much about our own religion and Christian practices but ironically, the non-knowledge and the non-practice led us to reject Christianity, which is funny, for how can one reject something one has rarely ever experienced and practiced.
The new age fashion is still in full swing and "centers for self-transcendence" and such pop up everywhere in the western hemisphere as well as in such nice places like Costa Rica or Bali, etc.
It is strange to look for something elsewhere when the same thing is already available in abundance. Although I understand the search and whoever makes peace with themselves in the process shall have it.
The search is within, indeed.
Well said.
There is a certain irony in rejecting religion and faith and labelling them dogmatic, while at the same time promoting oneself with fashion labels such as "enlightenment" and "awakening". The video above (first one) is a sales video, it works with attributes like "gold standard" and "effectiveness" and "living the most powerful life", just like you do for products or services in an ad.
The gentleman states the obvious, for example that you would not meet a guru in the Himalayan mountains who would put his finger on the centre of your forehead and you would be enlightened forever.
He tries hard to keep God out of his language. The thing is, if you close yourself off to any religious language and your own Christian imprint that you grew up with as a Westerner by wanting to be a non-Christian, you will not succeed in becoming a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Muslim. You will remain a non-Buddhist and non-Hindu etc. for as long as you are a non-Christian.
Converting to another faith can work, probably all the easier if you have a faith of your own in the first place. However, a Christian who is at peace with his faith and the religion he accepts is basically not that bothered about converting as he realises that he recognises a Muslim, Jew etc. within himself.
Claiming Christians recognize every other religion within there's seems a little strange to me. Why the duality of religious or non-religious only? Why not abandon the labels and have your own direct experience?
And yes, it is a sales video and the product being sold applies to everyone without religious language like god. It's a fantastic product I recommend for everyone.
How will you have your own direct experience when it's not embedded in some tradition and custom in the first place?
Say, that you attend a funeral. The habit and structure within Christian heritage provides the order within which a human who died will be buried, what kind of ceremony will be held, etc.
People like, want and need something already experienced by many other human beings in order to feel the coherence of doing the right thing in such a circumstance, do they not?
Imagine, that nothing of that kind would exist already. You'd have to invent all the rituals, sayings, prayers, songs and other related things to arrive at the point where you find a proper tradition to treat your loved ones.
How are you going to agree on anything if you abandon labels? If you believe that the categorisation of differences is unimportant, debate with someone who can't be grasped. No matter what you say, his counterargument can always take the back door of "that's relative".
Without correct labelling and categorisation, you will get the response that things are "subjective". In fact, as soon as you deem labels unnecessary, you can disregard or defend all sorts of things like a flag in the wind, because it doesn't mean anything anyway. Even in Buddhism, from which the sellers get their labels, there is still dogma. It must be dogmatic otherwise its just a commodity.
Every religion has its dogma and could not do without it. Dogma follows a logic within thousands of years of experience, each of which differed from the others and therefore formed their own names such as "Christians", "Hindus", "Muslims", "Buddhists", etc. The dogmas are quite remarkable and worth studying.
Once you have recognised in your own religion the coherence of its historical development within its basic set of rules, it is not difficult to recognise the same for other religions. Hence my statement that a Christian recognises himself in a Muslim or Hindu, because why shouldn't he?
Nevertheless, it is one thing to recognise this in theory, but to prefer to see oneself as a Christian in practice, because the practical differences are there. As well as the difference of language.
Why are you against taking religious language into something which lends its advertisement from a religion, if I may ask?
In the realm of mainstream Christianity and other prevalent religions, the assertion of equality with God is often viewed as heresy and blasphemy. Claiming "I am God" is culturally perceived as a hallmark of insanity, considering the stark contrast between the finite, simple nature of humans and the infinite, eternal attributes associated with God.
However, beneath the surface, the author delves into the intricacies of this claim. The exploration involves probing into the origin of the assertion, questioning whether it resides in the physical vibrations of vocal cords, the linguistic representation of words, or the underlying ideas conveyed by those words. The author contemplates whether such a claim could stem from a direct awareness and knowing as an eternal spiritual being, or if it is an expression of the divine declaring "I AM" through spiritual vibrations manifested in physical form.
The post raises thought-provoking questions about individuals who have had direct experiences of oneness with the absolute unbounded, challenging the notion of their sanity. The author contends that these "multi-dimensional thinkers" are not crazy, emphasizing the profound love, joy, and peace emanating from them.
The narrative navigates through the impact of religious dogma on hindering people from pursuing direct spiritual experiences. The author expresses a reluctance to align with religious labels that impede the exploration of such experiences. There is an acknowledgment of the energetic response from those deeply entrenched in religious identities, recognizing the value such identities hold for individuals.
The post concludes with a reflection on the individual's unique journey and the perfection inherent in diverse paths, each contributing to a story of overcoming challenges. The author encourages embracing the imperfections and enjoying the ride of self-discovery and spiritual exploration.
In a supplementary section, the author introduces Jeffery Martin's work as a resource for those seeking a deeper experience of existence. The content includes video links, a recommended book, and information about a 45-day course aimed at awakening. The author shares personal experiences with meditation and Jeffery Martin's teachings, highlighting the potential for a sense of persistent well-being independent of external circumstances.
Overall, the post invites readers to contemplate the complexity of the claim "I am God" and encourages an open-minded exploration of spiritual experiences beyond traditional religious boundaries.
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Is this a ChatGPT summary of my post?
Indeed. Is there a possibility of my arrest?