Re: Levels of consciousness (I've been wr )

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: : : Don't neglect the Jokes & Tales www.board where I elaborated on this just recently! : I'll check it out! : The more I read you Johnboy, the more I like you. You are a nut! (That is a compliment!) : .... : : And about the correction being gifted us when the Spirit thinks we're ready ..ahem ... I mean intuits when we're ready ...scratch that ...KNOWS when we're ready ... well I LIKE that. One dynamism I am just positively sure about in the spiritual growth paradigms is that of the cosmos, of the world, of humankind, of spiritkind, of souls, of the Church ..all being "dealt" with in a developmentally-appropriate manner : Yes, Agreed! : : It has occurred to me that some of the truths we come to know through various approaches to awareness (for we do agree there are multiple modalities) are gifted us only when we are ready, when the foundation has been prepared. Thus, even within our traditions there can be the exoteric truths, the pablum or mother's milk, and the esoteric truths, the real food of the "generally" more advanced souls. For the less advanced, it would not be developmentally-appropriate to feed anything but the pablum and, in fact, they could not properly digest the truth in that form. : Yes, Tony DeMello used to say, "You can't teach a pig to sing." No offense intended. A child : cannot read and understand Heidegger. (Neither can I for that matter...hahaha) That doesn' mean they are less than....they simply have not developed the capacity to do so at that point in time. : : Relatedly, Juan de la Cruz makes good use of various metaphors, burning logs, dirty windows, etc So one can imagine telling a truth that, to the receiver, would in effect be a lie. : Yes, and what about Bonhoeffer? The converse is also true. There are times when a lie is the appropriate response....much depends on the situation. : Conversely, we can tell our stories and recite our myths which, while NOT literally true, are true in the truest sense. : Isn't that what myths do? Tell the deepest truths without being literally true.... : ........ : : I will say this and I may not spell the word right, but some early church fathers believed in apokatastasis. And that term basically implies universal salvation, expresses the belief that Christ's salvific action was so utterly and completely and unambiguously efficacious that all will be saved. I am fairly well certain that, while no one need believe this early teaching, that it is NOT heresy to believe it either. While the Church does make definitive claims about whom She thinks is in heaven, at times, it positively does NOT suggest that it has any knowledge whatsoever, that there is anybody in hell. The Church requires a belief in hell, best I have come to understand it, as a theological possibility, as a practical necessity, in order to convey God's Love and Mercy NOT Her wrath! The Church simply wants to leave open the necessity of our radical freedom in saying no if we want to. As I expressed in my Stranger In Paradise poem, I can not conceive, personally (due to my own experiences and intuitions) of there being a snowball's chance in hell of anyone ending up there since...... : (I love this next part John..) : I can not conceive of a soul NOT eventually coming around and responding to God's prodigality, Her wasteful, wanton Love. : : Yes, Yes, Yes....that is it..precisely. The Hound of Heaven. God really does pursue us. From your posts, I am getting the idea that you know this from experience, too. It's kind of embarassing at times. : : : This approach DOES suggest that what goes on in our souls is only an awakening, an eye-opening, and that, once opened, there ain't no going back. : Phil once told me (in reference to something else), "Once you know, you can't not know." (Profound wisdom, eh? :) ) Yep! It's like this the whole way around, isn't it? : : And I have belabored this in an honest attempt to see if I am at all beginning to approach what your intuitions are as regarding the existence of sin. : You are a sweetheart. : : At the very least, just like hell, it would have to remain a theoretical possibility even while your intuitions about its improbability in so very many practical situations is very, very low. At any rate, I throw this out to suggest that maybe there is a way to integrate your intuitions in an orthodox manner not heretical to your Catholic heritage. : Of course there is....we just have to figure it out! : I also acknowledge that such an integration is just not an issue for some. Anyway, I had fun with this and was able to steer clear of ontological stuff like monism! : : I had great fun, too. : I am responding to some of your other posts tonight too. So, be sure to check them out! : : End of Homily : : God's Surpassing Peace : And also with you. : Namaste. : Diana

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