Go to Twelve Steps to Becoming Moderately Okay
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One More Thing...
...getting through these Steps is an ordeal only the first time. The actual results of a sincere first-time effort will bring about the spiritual awakening that everyone seems to be seeking. What they end up with all too often, however, is a revival kind of emotionalism. This kind of worship only empowers the ego to stay stuck in the same groove like a broken record.
Jesus can not do for us what we can do for ourselves. Just as in the case of the Prodigal Son, Jesus comes to those who need Him most, leaving those of us who only feel like we need Him more out in the relative cold. Not because He does not care for, or love, us, but because imposing one's will on a brother when our brother is capable of taking the next step in spiritual growth is unkind. Growth and evolution are clearly what Life has always been about. And on this point, alone, organized religion fails those who earnestly seek to do God's will each day -- if you're not in the middle of two spiritual extremes, organized religion can not help you.
posted by
Volaar
on December 6, 2004 at 2:00 PM
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Sly...
...I think Jesus would have suggested that you stop anthropomorphizing Him and get that the Christ within Him is the same Christ that is within YOU.
Where we fail to connect with this life force is in our assumption that Christ is merely a tool for the ego's use. When we get fixated by the use of a word, or a name, or even an idea, we end up in line for the same ass-kickin' that Job went through. Idolatry can take many forms.
Piety leads to Justice, but only after we realize that piety has served the purpose of making the conditions right for the entrance of truth. Piety tills the soil and plants the seeds, but that is not all that is required to grow a field of grapes for many years to come.
Ritual and conceptualization are the algebra of spiritual development. But algebra alone is a static language. Calculus is an algebra that is put into dynamic motion; prayer and meditation are the Calculus of spirituality. Do them often enough and the ritual has served the purpose: thought and therefore ego, are no longer required to engage the power of the Body of Christ.
posted by
Volaar
on December 6, 2004 at 9:19 AM
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There comes a time when anybody says enough! Toil and do the best you
can. Jesus will help you if you ask Him.
posted by
SlyCy
on December 6, 2004 at 7:04 AM
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