Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Do you believe in hell?

"I read in the Times the other day that no one believes in hell anymore - the premise being that its existence is contingent on consensus. Now won't the devil be surprised."
Linda McCullough Moore, An Episode Of Grace, p.34




Saturday, June 2, 2018

Separation from Life leads to hell.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent dignity of every person. The inherent worth and dignity does not come from separating ourselves from the Divine. Our inherent worth and dignity comes from the recognition, acknowledgment, and celebration of that of which we are a part that is bigger than our tiny little egos.

Separate egos do not have inherent dignity and worth. Just the opposite. Separate egos lead to a descent into hell in which we suffer and writhe in anguish.

Osho says, "Either I can exist or God can exist; we cannot both exist together - because if I exist, then I am a separate entity. Then I have my own existence independent of God. But God simply means the total, the whole. How can I be independent of it? How can I be separate from it? If I exist, I destroy the very idea of totality." p. 182 "Ah, This!"

And how the ego wants us to be separate. It is this desire which is the original sin. We stupid humans want to be the author of our own existence. This is ridiculous. People, with their egos, are just ridiculous, Ridiculousness reigns supreme on the earth plane and creates the hell for us which we suffer in.

Surrendering our egos is so scary that most of us avoid even thinking about it. It seems like a crazy idea unless we obliterate our consciousnesses with drugs or other mood altering, mind bending activities like compulsive gambling, pornography, workaholism, compulsive overeating, extreme sports, internet addictions, etc.

Our egos set up a false dichotomy of me against Him. "I don't believe in God" we say because like children we don't like anyone being the boss of me.

But "God" is not a person. God is an energy. Luke Skywalker had it right when he called it The Force. Osho teaches that God is a quality; godliness he calls it.

Neale Donald Walsch teaches that if you don't like the word "God" use the word, "Life." "Life" works just as well. Try it.

Who can deny that they are part of life? Life is what we are in, not hell at all. Hell we create all on own by separating ourselves from Life.



Wednesday, December 27, 2017

What is the nature of this hell we have created for ourselves?

What is the nature of this hell we call our lives?

They mythic answer from the Christian bible and from St. Augustine is it is the original sin when Eve and Adam ate the apple of knowledge in the garden of Eden. The story tells us that God was angry with Eve and Adam's disobedience and so cast them out of the garden into a life of misery and anguish.

Upon reflection, Universalists, have rejected the story and asked, "What kind of a God is this?" They have gone on and said, "This is not my God. My God loves God's creation unconditionally. It all is good."

In A Course In Miracles, it teaches that human beings have done this to themselves by separating themselves from God thinking that they know better and want to be the authors of their own lives rather than acknowledge their radical dependence on the interdependent web of existence. Human beings think that they know better than God, than Life, until their illusions no longer are manageable. Most people become increasingly anxious until they hit bottom and then, if they are wise, they surrender and attempt to discern the will of God for them rather than the other way around.

There is a bumper sticker which says, "If God is your co-pilot switch seats."

We create our hell by believing in specialness. Some things are better and other things are lacking. We are told that judgement is the root of evil and sin. Who, after all, are we to judge? Our perceptions and understandings are faulty and this faultiness leads to mayhem. We would be very wise to recognize and acknowledge that we don't know what we think we do. The answer to our illusional ways is forgiveness. We, first, have to forgive ourselves our arrogance and pride and willfulness thinking that we are in charge of anything. We can all die in the next hour in a car crash, from a heart attack of stroke. Which one of us is really in charge of this thing we call Life?

Forgiving our arrogance and our judgment of our brothers and sisters, we should enjoy the beauty and bliss of the moment. Spontaneity is the elixir of Life when we go with the flow and become one with God and all of God's creation.


Friday, August 4, 2017

Our dramas of suffering and sacrifice create our own hell

Unitarian Univeralism covenants to affirm and promote a principle which is the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This principle is easy to pay lip service to but it is extremely counter theological with the Christian tradition which teachers the inherent defectiveness of every person because of his/her sinful nature.

Andrea was insecure and this is what Greg loved about her. Greg believed that Andrea would love him because he could take care of her and make her feel safe. As Andrea felt more secure and confident, Greg became increasingly anxious and depressed. Greg went to see his doctor who told him he was suffering from depression and gave him antidepressant medication. The medication helped a little bit, but Greg still felt "off" as Andrea seemed to be doing well and didn't need him anymore.

Greg's doctor told him his neurotransmitters were not working properly and were flooded with Serotonin. Whatever the cause, Greg was not feeling much better and decided to see a psychotherapist. The therapist asked Greg after a few meetings if Greg thought that maybe he was suffering from a spiritual problem? Greg responded that he had no idea what the therapist was asking him. What kind of a spiritual problem could it be?

The therapist offered the idea that Greg was dealing with a sense of shame, a sense of innate defectiveness and inadequacy which he tried to overcome by taking care of, what Greg called "love", people so that they would love him back.

Greg acknowledged that this unconscious dynamic may be at play. The therapist then asked Greg where he thought this sense of inadequacy and defectiveness had come from? Greg said he had felt this way since he was a child and his mom and dad divorced when he was three and he missed his father and his mother started drinking and leaving him with a sitter to go out with other men. Greg said that he always wished his mom and dad loved him more and were there for him. He found that by being very good and trying to be helpful seemed to make his mom and dad like him better. Greg said that maybe his whole life was based on a belief that if he was nice to people they would like him so he has striven his whole life to be what his best friend called "being a people pleaser."

The therapist suggested that his whole life has been based on this belief that he is inadequate and defective in some way and that he would be all alone unless he was able to take care of and please other people. The therapist asked if this was the basis of his "love" for Andrea? Now that she was more secure and confident rather than being happy for her, Greg was getting fearful and depressed believing that Andrea wouldn't need him any more and leave him?

Greg started to cry and said, "I'm really messed up, aren't I?"

The therapist said, "Not at all. You are perfect just the way you are, you're just learning that Life wants you to be happy and have a high quality life just because you are alive and part of this wonderful universe."

Greg smiled and said, "Thank you."

The spiritual problem is one of shame which is the innate belief and feeling that we are inadequate and defective in some way. Further we think that it is only a matter or time and circumstances before this supposed fact comes to light and we are found out to be the shameful creatures which we believe we are. As Christians tell us we all our sinners if not for what we have done, at least because of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden for which Jesus died on the cross to assuage the anger of the Father God who is mad about our disobedience.

This belief in our sinful natures which requires sacrifice and suffering for exoneration and redemption is the Great Lie of the ego. The spiritual fact is that God loves us unconditionally and it is we, humans, who create our own guilt and hell because we have separated ourselves from the unconditional love of God by our willfulness and drama.

If we could overcome and rise above our own drama, we could create heaven on earth. Greg has created his own hell believing that he is unworthy and can only be whole if he sacrifices and suffers, what he calls "love.". Nothing could be further from the Truth and it is Greg's false spiritual belief which has placed him in his own hell. Heaven, however, is within his grasp once he realizes that he is okay and will be okay just the way he is. He is loved by his Creator.
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