Posted by Philip St. Romain on September 27, 19100 at 17:15:04:
In Reply to: Re: True Self, False Self. . . Bernadette Roberts posted by Diana on September 27, 19100 at 17:13:37:
: Oh, I see our Christ self as something very different from enlightenment. Our Christ self
: involves consciously realizing our divinity. I wasn't trying to equate the two.
You do not possess divinity, so it is not yours to "realize."
You can realize your soul's connection to divinity, and that's enlightenment, but divinity's experience of itself is given by grace. It's not something your consciousness can "get" as you can get into your memories, for example. It's a gift given by God.
So, given that understanding, I'm not sure what you mean by your Christ self. Nor does your explanation of sin as somehow missing the mark of Christ self make much sense to me unless I know what you mean by Christ self. To my knowledge, the only Christ self I have is Christ, who is not me, but who has integrated me into His Being through grace. If you are saying that you think your real self is divine, and that you can somehow "realize" this as something you possess ontologically rather than by grace, then count me out. That's Hinduism, and I just don't buy it.
Peace,
Phil
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