Ramanuja

Deity at the Sriranganathar Perumal Temple: Dilip Muralidaran

Ramanuja (1017-1137 CE) was an important Hindu sage and philosopher who believed that Vishnu was supreme and challenged the ideas of Sankara and the Saivites (followers of Siva).

Ramanuja developed the system of Visistadvaita or qualified monism.

Specifically, Ramanuja challenged Sankara’s claim that only the Brahman is real and individuality is illusory (maya).

For Ramanuja the Brahman is real and beyond pain and suffering but individual souls (jivas) emerging from and ultimately resting within the Brahman are also real.

While the Brahman is beyond the law of karma, the individual soul (jiva) is not.

As a result, the jiva experiences the pleasure and pain of earthly life.

Liberation from samsara, the round of rebirth due to karma, is gained through individual effort as well as the grace of God (as Vishnu).

As a consequence of his religious and philosophical innovation, Ramanuja was persecuted by a rival Hindu who happened to be a Saivite ruler.

+ Add / Edit / Opinion

Reincarnation

Second hand reincarnation: shaggy359

Also known as metempsychosis and transmigration, reincarnation is a manmade theory based on beliefs found in different philosophical systems and religions, including ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jain, African and New Age perspectives.

Reincarnation usually involves ideas of karma and grace. It’s believed that after the death of the physical body, the soul (or in some schools, temporary personality attributes) returns for another birth.

In most traditions the self is on an evolutionary path from unconsciousness to consciousness–that is, from lower to higher, or gross to subtle forms of consciousness.

In some branches of contemplative Hinduism, the soul is said to begin in the mineral world and then move upward to the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Eventually it takes birth as a human being. After learning about and practicing good ethics from innumerable human incarnations, the soul may reincarnate in astral and heavenly realms before reaching ultimate liberation, awareness and bliss.

But bad ethical choices send the evolutionary process into reverse. If a human being abuses their freedom, they may reincarnate backwards into the animal kingdom or possibly further down into one of various temporary hells.

According to popular wisdom it’s often said that God provides perfect punishments and rewards for one’s deeds. So generally speaking, if one makes good ethical choices in an embodied life, one gains merit and reincarnates into a more auspicious life the next time around.

However, if one makes bad ethical choices, one returns to a less auspicious life. Again, the alleged purpose of reincarnation is to instruct the soul, preparing it for an ultimately perfect, eternal existence. The exact nature of this perfection is described differently among various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism.

Once complete liberation is achieved, the soul (or temporary personality attributes) no longer returns to a body, gross or subtle. This idea is expressed in an old Taoist tale, paraphrased as follows:

A man had led a dissolute life and reincarnates as a horse. After a few years the horse grows weary of being whipped by his masters, refuses to eat and dies. He then returns as a dog. Despising this incarnation the dog bites his master’s leg who has him destroyed. He returns as a snake. By now he’s finally learned his lesson. One must play out the hand one is dealt, patiently seeing it through to learn how to be virtuous. As a reformed soul, the snake avoids doing harm to other animals by eating berries and tries to keep itself out of danger. But one day the snake mistakenly dies under the wheel of a cart. Pleading his case before the King of Purgatory, he finds himself reborn a man—a reward for his good intentions (Raymond Van Over, ed. Taoist Tales, New York: Meridian Classic, 1973, pp. 52-53).

According to this view, suicide is like ‘skipping school’ (in the cosmic sense) and causes regression to a less desirable birth.

But not all believers in reincarnation would take this attitude. Some believe that the very same kind of life situation would arise again, as if the suicide is forced to repeat the same cosmic classroom he or she didn’t pass the first time around.

Meanwhile some New Age thinkers say that every life is consciously chosen prior to birth.

In most Asian religions God’s grace can mitigate or even erase the effects of bad karma, a fact often overlooked in specious critiques of reincarnation.

African pre-colonial tribal beliefs about reincarnation differ from Asian variants. African ancestors are believed to reincarnate into one or several descendents to give a particular family more power. Somewhat similar to the Asian idea, however, the African Ibo believe that one chooses between two bundles before birth – one bundle holds auspicious fortune, the other inauspicious. While the spirit tries its best to choose a favorable incarnation, a formerly evil person undergoes a difficult incarnation as a human or animal.

More variants of reincarnation are found within ancestor cults. And in The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare’s character Gratiano suggests that Shylock is a reincarnated wolf.

In contrast to the belief in reincarnation, the Old Testament says that evil actions are repaid with evil, but not through reincarnation. Evil begets evil through one’s offspring:

The Lord…a God merciful and gracious…forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:7).

In Catholicism, St. Thomas Aquinas refutes reincarnation on the basis of Romans 9: 11-12:

For when they were not yet born, nor had done any good or evil…not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger.

The Christian New Testament view of the body and its relation to the afterlife is expressed in I Corinthians 15; 51-52; 2 Corinthians 5:1; I Thessalonians 4:14; John 3: 4-7.

Some suggest that the Catholic notion of purgatory was created as a Christian counterpart to the temporary process of punishment and purification as found in non-Christian theories of reincarnation.

At Earthpages.org:

• Articles about reincarnation and karma.

» Anatman, Anthroposophy, Avatar, Cayce (Edgar), Chinmoy (Sri), Deva, Fenris, Free-John (Da), Gawain (Shakti), Hell, Hermes Trismegistus, Karma, Meno, Origen, Ram Dass, Parvati, Plato,  Ramacharaka (Swami), Republic, Roberts (Jane), Samsara, Skandhas, Theosophy, Transmigration, Werewolf, Pythagoras

+ Add / Edit / Opinion

Ramakrishna, Sri

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa - Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore: Chetan Hegde M

Sri Ramakrishna (1836-86)

A once obscure and conventionally ‘uneducated’ village boy, Gadhadhar Chatterji, who became a prominent Hindu holy man, emphasizing non-contradiction and unity among all religions.

Ramakrishna claims that he practiced all faiths and discovered that they all lead to the same spiritual place (i.e. they produce the same kind of numinous experience and attitudes toward God, other people and the meaning of life).

Just how thoroughly, however, one can effectively rid oneself of one’s cultural and religious biases remains open to question.

By way of analogy, it almost sounds like a rabbit saying, “I tried being a bird, a fish, a cow and a snake… and all are just the same.”

This phenomenological issue aside, biographers say Ramakrishna often fell into extended ecstatic raptures. These trances were extreme to the point that even Ramakrishna himself sometimes wondered if he’d gone mad.

At such moments the Blessed Mother, Kali, apparently would appear in a mystical vision and console him with her graces.

Before marrying Sri Devi, Ramakrishna prayed that Kali would “root out” all of her sexual tendencies. Not surprisingly, their marriage was never consummated. While this may seem strange to many who can’t see beyond material techno-sexual culture, the two reportedly were united in a purely spiritual sense, making sexual union redundant, perhaps even distasteful.

The Gospel of Ramakrishna, based on the writings of his direct disciples, is widely available in the West. Essentially it’s a wisdom book, full of pithy sayings and examples. In one analogy Ramakrishna notes, for instance, that bad tomatoes rot faster when bashed up and thrown in the garbage heap, referring to the idea that the soul may be purified of ungodly attitudes (i.e. bad tomatoes) through holy suffering (see » Bhagavad Gita, Alchemy).

Conforming to the idea of karma transfer, an Indian biographer writes that Ramakrishna apparently:

had a vision of his subtle body…[with] a number of sores on the back. He was puzzled by the sight, but it was made clear…profane people had caused the sores on his body. They themselves had been purified, but they had left the suffering arising from their own sins with him.¹

This well represents some of the central beliefs regarding the dynamics of Hindu mysticism.  Similar but not identical beliefs can be found in the Christian mystical tradition–e.g. that souls close to God suffer for the liberation or salvation of less pure or holy souls (see » Faustina Kowalska).

Further on this point, the common worldly critique that “prayer does nothing” might, from the perspective of a bona fide saint, be seen as an unfortunate misunderstanding perpetuated by ignorance or sin.

On a more publicly visible level, Ramakrishna’s disciples founded the international charity organization known as the Ramakrishna Mission. And his most beloved disciple, Swami Vivekananda, became another pivotal Hindu religious figure.

—

¹ Swami Tejasananda, A Short Life of Sri Ramakrishna, Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama [Publication Department], 1990, p. 92.
PDF (downloadable) version: https://advaitaashrama.org/downloads/A%20Short%20Life%20of%20Sri%20Ramakrishna.pdf, p. 105.

» Brahman, Contemplation, Hinduism, Mental Prayer, Spirit, Vocal Prayer

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion

Suffering

Thank you for your suffering: Locace / Lena

Suffering

Life usually involves some degree of suffering but human beings have interpreted the experience in diverse ways.

Some believe that suffering is meaningless and something to be avoided. This view is prevalent in Buddhism, where meditation is said to eradicate suffering.

For many Hindus suffering is a necessary teacher. As we work through our personal karma the unpleasant aspects of life can teach us not to do the ethically bad things that, so Hindus believe, caused the suffering in the first place.

Epicureanism attempts to minimize suffering through a life of prudence and termperance.

John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism minimizes suffering through a cost-benefit analysis of all actions, a position which Mill felt was ethically equivalent to Kant’s categorical imperative.

Freud saw suffering as an inevitable aspect of the human condition. He wrote that “Psychoanalysis can cure neurotic suffering but not normal human unhappiness.” For Freud individuals are, in effect, the walking wounded.

Catholicism recognizes the value of suffering, i.e. unavoidable suffering permitted by God, but doesn’t condone persecution nor advocate the pathological role playing of ‘victim’ or ‘martyr.’ For Catholics suffering may be redemptive and lead to increased purity and wisdom.

This notion of redemptive suffering differs from sheer depair or destitution in that the grace of God enables one to embrace one’s particular ‘cross of suffering’ with dignity and, with some exceptional persons like St. Francis of Assisi, even gladness and joy.

Along these lines, Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer, a prayer accepted by Catholics, asks God for a reasonably happy life here and a supremely happy one in the afterlife.

The idea of redemptive suffering has been further institutionalized by an organization called Knights at the Foot of the Cross (KFC) based on the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died by lethal injection of carbolic acid in a Nazi death camp after willingly accepting the torture of a starvation bunker in place of another prisoner. KFC is an offshoot of The Militia of the Immaculata, an international evangelical movement founded by St. Kolbe in 1917 (http://www.consecration.com/).

Last, we have those positively-minded people who may hold no particular spiritual belief other than the idea that wisdom can come from suffering.

» Alchemy, Book of Job, Buddhism, Candide, Dukkha, Eightfold Path, Eve, Evil, Four Noble Truths, Karma Transfer, Kowalska (Maria Faustina Helena, St.), Magnetizers, Mental Illness, Nirvana, Ramakrishna (Sri), Sacks (Oliver), Skandhas, Teresa of Ávila (St.), Visistadvaita, Voltaire

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion

Spirit

spirit catcher: Rannie Turingan

Spirit

One definition of the word spirit points to an incorporeal being which may not be seen, as compared to a ‘ghost’ which allegedly is seen by a living person.

Spirit has several other meanings, such as an animating or vital force within life, the soul or some some kind of invisible force or presence that permeates the created universe.

Spirit arguably becomes an ambiguous concept if assessed merely from a conceptual level of analysis.

Many New Age thinkers, for instance, equate the notion of spirit with that of matter/energy. This is a dubious analog when we consider Rudolf Otto and C. G. Jung’s treatment of the term numinosity and, moreover, the Christian understanding of The Holy Spirit.

It almost seems as if those who haven’t experienced any difference between the perception of matter/energy and spirit tend to automatically equate the two, just as one might equate any seemingly similar variables without having had a significantly direct experience of them.

By way of analogy, if one had never drunk white wine they might look at its color, recognize it as a liquid and say white wine is equivalent to apple juice or perhaps urine. And so it is, many mystics content, with the experience of spirit. Those who know, they claim, realize that spirit’s character may vary significantly, not only because spirit is passing through psychological and cultural filters, but also because of the differences inherent to spirit itself.

serpent spirits: Jeremiah Ketner

Since the experience of ‘the spirit’ may be associated with a ‘particular spirit,’ as in the opening definition, we have the notion of ‘pure and impure,’ ‘holy and unholy,’ ‘good and evil’ spirits, along with their respective abilities to influence human beings for good or ill.

This tremendous diversity as to the meaning of spirit is not just found in Christianity but in most world religions. But again, some well-meaning but arguably unknowing individuals tend to simplify this diversity by making unsupportable claims, as did Sri Ramakrishna, that all paths involve the same type of spirit, lead to the same place, and so on.

This may have been Ramakrishna’s belief when dabbling in different religions from his master perspective of Hinduism but it certainly isn’t everyone’s.

» à Kempis (Thomas), Abyss, Active Imagination, Afterlife, Alchemy, Alice in Wonderland, Alien Possession Theory (APT), Ancestor Cults, Angels, Animism, Anselm (St.), Anthroposophy, Apollinarius, Aquinas (St. Thomas), Archangel, Arius, Ashram, Aurobindo (Sri), Avesta, Ba, Blake (William), Bowie (David), Brown (Michael), Castanada (Carlos), Celibacy, Chakras, Channeling, Clairaudience, Class, Collective Unconscious, Confirmation, Demons, Dionysius the Areopagite, Divination, Eleusinian Mysteries, Evil, Faeries, Fallen Angels, Fasting, Feng Shui, Grace, Hawking (Stephen), Heaven, Hegel, Hell, Henry of Ghent, Intercession, Jedi, Jinn, Kabbala, Karma Transfer, Kundalini, Lennox (Annie), Madness, Mana, Mental Illness, Michael (St.), Miracles, Mysticism, Near Death Experiences (NDE), Obsession, Paranormal, Pollution, Prayer, Psychosis, Quiddity, Randi (James), Roberts (Jane), Samkhya, Shaman, Shapeshifter, Siva, Soul Loss, Soul, Spiritual Attack, Swedenborg (Emanuel), Talbot (Michael), Tantra, Teresa of Ávila, (St.), Third Eye, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Totem, Totem Pole, Tradition, Tramp Souls, Transubstantiation, Trickster, Trinity (Holy Trinity), Underhill (Evelyn), Vampires, Virgin Mary, Voodoo, Wach (Joachim), Wave, Weber (Max), World Tree, Yoda, Yoni, Zombie

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion

Soul

All Souls Night in Gdansk: Robin Hamman

Soul

The idea of the soul has innumerable meanings around the world and throughout history.

A distinction is often made between an individual soul and a world soul. Some regard the soul as a multiple entity, as in ancient Egyptian religion or the contemporary views of the trance channeler Jane Roberts/Seth.

Others insist the soul is single.

Some say the soul is the conceptual “I” that apparently remains constant throughout life.

Plato viewed the soul as single but containing multiple functions.

Aristotle saw the soul as a partly rational and partly irrational function governing bodily needs, desires and actions that disappears at death. Soul is also envisioned as a spiritual, self-motivating and eternal agent or substance.

St. Thomas Aquinas insists it is united to the body but not of the body. For Aquinas it “operates through corporeal organs” with its “proper function” being “in the understanding.”

In much of Hinduism the soul reincarnates, ultimately to merge with God, as a drop of water returns to the ocean from whence it came. In this sense, individuality is temporary at best. Ramanuja’s Visistadvaita school of Hinduism is an important exception to this idea. For Ramanuja individual souls (jivas) emerge from and ultimately rest within God (Brahman), retaining  some aspect of their individuality, existence and, therefore, reality.

The anatman doctrine of Buddhism contends that the idea of a soul is just a conceptual illusion and, in reality, does not exist.

Catholics believe that the soul is created by God at the moment of human conception, a view that has sparked intense debate among pro-life and pro-choice groups. Concerning death and the afterlife, Catholic believers say the soul rises to heaven or is purified in purgatory in preparation for heaven or descends to eternal hell.

In music “soul” refers to a form of music originating in America that blends gospel music with rhythm and blues. Although soul music was created by black Americans, its contemporary offshoots are composed and performed by anyone, anywhere.

» Afterlife, Anatman , Arjuna, Atman, Augustine (St.), Ba, Bhagavad-Gita, Brahman, Carvaka, Dhammapada, Evil, Faith and Action, Fasting, Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand), Heaven, Hell, Hermes, Intercession, Jainism, James (William), Jin, Jiva, John of the Cross (St.), Ka, Kabbala, Karma, Karma Transfer, Kowalska (St. Maria Faustina Helena), Leibniz (Gottfried, Wilhelm), Magic, Mantra, Meno, Michael (St.), Moksha, Mortal Sin, Origen, Orphism, Plato, Platonism, Pollution, Postmodernism, Proclus, Psyche, Purgatory, Pythagoras, Radha, Ramakrishna (Sri),Reincarnation, Religion, Republic, Sacks (Oliver), Saint, Samkhya, Samsara, Shaman, Song, Soul Loss, Spirit, Tramp Souls, Transmigration, Venial Sin, Visistadvaita, Voodoo, Winnowing, Yoga, Zombie

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion

Solitude

La Solitude by JL62 / Jean-Louis

Solitude

In the positive sense, solitude refers to a peaceful experience that comes from choosing to be alone for some uninterrupted time period.

Western culture tends to champion individuality but, ironically, also tends to marginalize and even stigmatize individuals who prefer their own company.

It’s almost as if one is ‘weird’ if one doesn’t fit in with the crowd. At least, this is often the implicit or explicit message we hear in today’s society.

By way of contrast, saints and mystics from various world traditions say that, as one progresses in a contemplative path toward God, direct interaction with others becomes increasingly tiresome.

For many contemplatives superficial talk is a distraction from the source of true happiness, which they say is God.

Contemplatives may engage in everyday talk; they may even be quite gregarious if they believe such actions are in accord with God’s will.  But socializing is rarely done for its own sake. And when contemplatives do socialize it’s ideally in a state of spiritual detachment–i.e. being mindful that God is first and God’s creation is second, which in Hinduism is the ideal of karma-yoga.

Put differently, solitude is a way for some spiritually-minded persons to recharge their spiritual batteries. Providing one’s withdrawal isn’t based on an unresolved psychological complex, solitude should be not merely be valued but treasured.

In the negative sense, however, some perhaps neurotically play the social role of the solitary saint or hero. They may deceive themselves and others into supposing they are more spiritually developed than they really are. They may also try to manipulate, exploit or cheat those gullible enough to be fooled.

We’ve all met these kinds of frauds somewhere along the line. Upon close inspection their words and actions rarely meet up. Indeed, it seems reasonable to distinguish healthy solitude from a neurotic or cultic type of seclusion that could possibly lead to insanity, sociopathy and violence.

An example of positive solitude would be the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-86), who withdrew from society at age 23, preferring solitude to the company of others. Her outstanding verse of over 1000 poems has had a lasting and profound influence on modern literature.

Another example would be the highly influential American Catholic monk and writer Thomas Merton. Merton gained permission from his monastic order to live the simple life of a hermit. His efforts to promote interfaith dialogue have become a model for many Catholics and non-Christians following in his footsteps. Sadly, Merton met an untimely death in Bangkok while on tour visiting several Asian religious leaders in 1968.

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion

Siva (or Shiva)

Shiva: true2source

Siva / Shiva (Skt: kind, friendly)

A major Hindu god who, according to the dominant theory, evolved out of the mythology of the conquering Aryans in the Indian sub-continent.

A bit of a latecomer, Siva nevertheless replaced the earlier Vedic storm god Rudra by becoming part the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma, Visnu and Siva.

In popular folk mythology, Brahma is said to have created the universe, Visnu preserves it and Siva, through his cosmic dance, destroys it.

But this is only a general outline, for Siva first created Brahma and Visnu. And instead of merely destroying, Siva also regulates the universe.

In an incident with the Pine Forest Sages, Siva breaks the sages’ excessive meditation by literally seducing their wives. Otherwise, the tapas (Skt: heat, or spiritual force) generated by the sages’ prolonged and intense concentration would have disrupted the cosmic balance.

While sexually enticing their wives, Siva quite intentionally angers the Sages, disrupts their meditation and diffuses their excessive spiritual power.

Siva is not only a trickster, however.

The Other Side of Siva: Taran Rampersad

With his third eye, depicted vertically on his forehead, he emits deathly rays of fire, not unlike the ‘phasers’ of Star Trek. Siva’s death ray incinerates demonic opponents residing in highly volatile spiritual realms.

But Siva’s third eye has a more passive aspect, symbolizing the locus of spiritual ’seeing’ and peace. Siva’s third eye is sometimes, perhaps inaccurately, equated with Jesus’ teaching, “Let thine eye be single” (Matthew 6:22, Luke 11:34).

Siva is often depicted in temple carvings ityaphallically (i.e. with erect phallus). His linga (Skt: phallus) symbolizes his control over his divine creative power, just as in Hinduism the female yoni (Skt: vagina) represents the cosmic source or life-giving aspects of the divinity.

Siva also rides the sacred bull, Nandi and has a blue throat due to his partial ingestion of a poison which otherwise would have destroyed the universe.

His wife is Parvati and he’s said to reside at Mt. Kailasa in the Himalayas.

Siva Thandavam: Velachery Balu / Balasubramanian G Velu

In Hindu devotional cults and Western popular spiritualism, Siva is, perhaps uncritically, identified with supposedly ‘active male energy’ that must be united with the Shakti – ‘passive female’ energy – to effect a union of these complementary cosmic energies within an given individual or couple–i.e. balancing the Shiva-Shakti.

» Aliens and Extraterrestrials (ETs), Anima, Animus, AUM, Chakras, Death and Resurrection, Ganesha, Homeopathy, Kali, Karma Transfer, Linga, Nandi, Parvati, Ramanuja, Shakti, Tantra, Tapas, Underworld, Vishnu, Yin-Yang, Yoni

On the Web:

• Other excellent CCL pics of Siva / Shiva (so many we had a hard time choosing for the above!):  http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=shiva&l=cc&ss=2&ct=6&mt=all&w=all&adv=1

Add more, report errors or voice your opinion by commenting

true2source

Self

sTURM UND dRANG (Self Portrait) by Artwerk / Yanko

Self

The human self, being the basis of personal identity, has been variously understood.

Some say the self is the agency that says “I.” This is the conceptual, reflective part of ourselves that apparently remains unchanged from the first time to as long as one can think of the idea of “I.”

In psychological terms this is the ego, not to be confused with egotism or egoism. Theorists subscribing to this view often reject any kind of transcendental, unchanging core to selfhood.

Others suggest that individuals possess multiple selves. Here the self is viewed as “the personality or organization of traits” (J. P. Chaplin, Dictionary of Psychology, Bantam 1985, p. 414), another view that rejects an eternal, unchanging aspect of the self.

From a Western philosophical standpoint the question of self belongs to ontology (the study of being) and phenomenology (the study of experience). Ontology and phenomenology, however, are arguably influenced by cosmology (theories about the character of the universe) and ethics (questions about right and wrong).

The psychologist Freud’s theory about the self is limited to two main factors–nature (instinctual drives of sex, aggression, love and death) and society (parents, significant others and social institutions). This is because Freud viewed God and any notions of an afterlife as illusions created to satisfy unconscious psychological desires and wishes, and his restricted worldview had a significant effect on his outlook.

Meanwhile Freud’s star pupil, Jung, took psychoanalytic theory a step further by suggesting the possibility of archetypal aspects of the self (i.e. eternal aspects existing beyond yet connected to the everyday world). For Jung, the self, itself, is an archetype of wholeness.

In Biblical Christianity, the true, essential self is not of this world but created to enjoy otherworldly, everlasting heaven:

If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Matthew 16:24-25).

Hindus in agreement with Sankara tend understand the true self (atman) as identical with an invisible, underlying aspect of creation (brahman). Once liberated, the self loses all sense of individuality.

Ramanuja’s school of Visistadvaita presents another Hindu perspective where the true self is said to ultimately retain some sense of individuality as it rests in the godhead.

A branch of New Age believers say we have many slightly different selves coexisting in parallel or multiple universes, all unified by an oversoul existing above, beyond and yet within those multiple realities. A good example of this point of view can be found in the Seth Books by Jane Roberts.

In a witty and regal vein, King William III (William of Orange) was among those who’ve pondered the nature of the self:

As I walk’d by my self
And talk’d to my self,
My self said unto me,
Look to thy self,
Take care of thy self,
For nobody cares for Thee.
I answered my self,
And said to my self,
In the self-same Repartee,
Look to thy self
Or not look to thy self,
The self-same thing will be.

» Alchemy, Anatman, Archetype, Archetypal Image, Atman, Blake (William), Brahman, Buddhism, Collective Unconscious, Conscience, Defense Mechanism, Dennet (Daniel), Ego, Fromm (Erich), Hero, Hinduism, Individuation Process, Karma Transfer, Leibniz (Gottfried, Wilhelm), Maslow (Abraham), Mead (George Herbert), Numinous, Persona, Pollution, Postmodernism

Add more, report errors or voice your opinion by commenting

Saint

Calling all Saints... by CHILDREN AT RISK FOUNDATION - CARF

Saint

(Latin sanctus = sacred ) The word saint has several meanings.

In everyday usage, saints are unusually kind, ethical people who perform good works on a local or grand scale which most everyone can appreciate.

The term also denotes the faithful Jews of the Bible and the body of Christian believers.

Moreover, saints may be Buddhist arhats (monks having achieved Nirvana) and bodhisattvas (monks forgoing entry into Nirvana in order to help others reach that threshold).

Saints also refer to Taoist, Confucian and Hindu sages and gurus (Skt. guru = teacher), African and Amerindian elders, as well as the Shamans of Central and Southeast Asia, Oceania, North America and the Arctic.

In Islam the righteous departed are said to mediate between heaven and Earth.

Robert Ellsberg regards great figures like Galileo Galilei, Leo Tolstoy, Stephen Biko and Dante Alighieri as saints in his book, All Saints.

Some believe that all public figures called “saints” are equally holy but this view arguably is more of a human hope than God’s assessment of individual holiness.

In Catholicism, the canonized saint leads an exceedingly holy and humble life serving God, is often persecuted, may be martyred and performs by the power of God at least two verified miracles.

Catholic sainthood often involves the idea of intercession. Intercession is the belief that God’s divine power and grace may be mediated by one soul to other souls on Earth, purgatory and hell.

Catholics also believe in the communion of saints, the idea that all souls, except for the damned, are united in a “mystical body” with Christ as head. From this we can see that the idea of interconnected souls is not necessarily something of the occult (unless one views Catholicism as a Satanic cult, which some do).

Another essential element of the Catholic faith is the belief that individuals cooperate with God’s Plan of Salvation through vocal and mental prayer (i.e. interior contemplation).

Prayerful saints cooperate with the Divine Plan but do not effect salvation through their own power.

Some Protestants object by saying that the Catholic saint is just a manmade god or goddess. Catholics reply to this charge that saints are friends and servants of God, not a god nor God.

Many Protestant Christians pray for other people yet object to the Catholic idea of interceding saints. To this Catholicism replies: If someone on Earth can pray for another on Earth, why can’t someone in heaven pray for another person on Earth?

According to Catholic teaching there are many unrecognized saints. These unsung heroes of the spirit are said to achieve a great degree of spiritual purity without ever having set foot in a monastery or abbey.

This is good to remember. Otherwise we might misunderstand some individuals in contemporary society not primarily concerned with sex, wealth or raising a family.

Considering the great diversity of individuals and spiritual paths throughout the world, to insist on rigid criteria for sainthood seems both arbitrary and, considering the world today, unwise.

» Brahman, Clairaudience, Confucianism, Faith and Action, Fasting, George (St.), God, Goddess vs. goddess, Great Mother, Guru, Heaven, Hinduism, Holy Rosary, Icon, Intercession, James (William), Jewish Mysticism, Karma Transfer, Koran, Meditation, More (St. Thomas), Mysticism, Numinous, Social Darwinism, Solitude, Targ,  Taoism, Russell, Vivekananda (Swami), Wisdom, Yogi, Yogini

Add more, report errors or voice your opinion by commenting