Friday, January 19, 2007

Heaven Scent Messages

Okay, so why does God destroy humanity, anyway? Maybe it's just a joke. I remember an old Bill Cosby routine, where he mentioned that when his father was really pissed off at him, he'd say, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!"

But if one really wants to explore possible answers to this question, it isn't hard to do. There are countless inspired rabbinical commentaries on the matter, and if one truly wants to understand scripture, it is absolutely necessary to acquaint oneself with at least a few of these. It is no different than the great enlightened gurus of Hinduism, who traditionally demonstrate their wisdom by writing commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads. Scripture does not "speak for itself," but must be "lit up" from the inside out by inspired interpretation. In my book, I compare it to the reflector lights on the back of a car, which are only illuminated by the light that is shined into them. In the end, the Bible can only be illuminated by your own head's light, or not at all. But the fact that this is even possible is, in my opinion, a genuine mirrorcle.

It is critical to bear in mind that the primary concern of scripture is always the inward, not the outward, i.e., the soul. It is trying to impart lessons about life that address multiple levels of our existence -- both horizontal and vertical -- everything from conjugal relations, to child-rearing, to how to treat your fellow man, to how to relate to God, to how to regard death. To cite just one example, last summer I did a series on the esoteric interpretation of the ten commandments, starting with the observation that the first five commandments are vertical and have to do with man-to-God relations, while the second five address the horizontal -- or the vertical "prolonged" into the horizontal -- through proper man-to-man relations.

So it is important not to get "hung up" on what Maimonides and Eckhart called the "outer kernal" of scripture, because at the very least, scripture addresses four levels, 1) the literal, 2) the symbolic, 3) the moral, and 4) the mystical. As Schuon writes, "God cannot contradict himself in essence, but He can appear to contradict Himself within forms and levels." How can contradiction not occur, if God, the distant Abbasolute father, is to manifest in a user-friendly format to his relative children? I'm trying to imagine a good analogy. I hope it isn't a banalogy. But what if you were to try to play Beethoven's Ninth on a... on a Jew's harp, shall we say? What would that sound like, to have something so majestic transposed into a rudimentary human instrument? Obviously, some imagination is required to intuit the substance behind the form.

But to extend the analogy, I am reminded again of that outstanding Howlin' Wolf documentary I saw the other day. I was thinking about this yesterday, and realized that I do not really like music. Rather, I only like artists, because music that is not channelled through the medium of a true artist -- not a mere virtuoso -- is merely sound. Bach was not an artist because his music was great. Rather, his music was great because he was an artist. Certain people will no doubt object to the comparison, but the same is true of someone as "primitive" as Howlin' Wolf. Thousands of people perform the blues, but only a handful are artists, so the gulf between them is more or less absolute. Only a few can make the hair on your arms stand up.

Now, much of the old testament is written in rather rustic language and speaks of rather mundane matters. And yet, it is obviously possible to intuit the "force" behind it. Schuon, for example, writes that "We are always astonished by the fact that unbelievers and even certain believers are strangely insensitive to the direct language of the sacred Messages: that they do not perceive from the very first that the Psalms, the Gospel, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, could only come from Heaven, and that -- from the point of view of credibility -- the spiritual perfume of these Books dispenses with all theological analysis as well as with all historical research." In fact, "Personally, even if we were neither metaphysician nor esoterist, we would be a believer without the least difficulty; we would be convinced at the outset upon contact with the sacred in all its forms."

Schuon is, of course, talking about our highly developed coon scent or soulfactory organ with which we are able to "sniff out" the divine from miles away. In fact, this is also how we are able to detect false prophets -- sharpies, frauds, and spiritual con-men of various types. They either have no scent at all, or a particularly acrid one (i.e., Deepak Chopra, who burns our sensitive soulfactory membranes).

But let us say that you are a rank and file (possibly even rank and foul) earthling with neither coon vision nor coon scent. What if you are a complete skeptic, trapped within the human state with no lifeline to the suprasensible? Then what?

First of all, few people are truly that spiritually disabled, at least innately. Rather, there is usually some easily recognizable mind parasite responsible for the disability -- pride, anger, resentment, narcissism, a spirit of rebellion, arrested adolescence, spiritual trauma during childhood, even just plain stupidity. But the human soul is miraculously proportioned to the Divine, which easily proves the existence of both -- for why would the soul be so adequately proportioned to something that does not exist? It would make no sense. As one grows spiritually, one's understanding increases exponentially. How is it possible to understand that which cannot be understood? Let alone deeply understand, for how does one deeply understand nothing, unless one is a leftist university professor?

Even so, if you approach scripture with an open mind and no preconceived agenda, it is possible to appreciate its depths solely on a rational basis. This is what Leon Kass, a University of Chicago professor, has been doing for a couple of decades. The fruit of this approach is a fascinating book entitled The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis.

What is so fascinating about this book is that Kass and his students approach the old testament with no preconceptions whatsover, regarding it solely as a work of philosophy with potentially good or bad, deep or shallow, universal or parochial, wise or unwise, lessons to impart. They literally proceed line by line, verse by verse, attempting to mine the deeper meaning from the text. In the end, students realize that, at the very least, the Bible presents a coherent anthropology and compelling philosophy that "rivals anything produced by the great philosophers," including profound and timeless insights into "the problematic character of human reason, speech, freedom, sexual desire, the love of the beautiful, pride, shame, anger, guilt, death, the arts, the hazards of unity and aloneness, the meaning of the city and its quest for self-sufficiency, and man's desire for fame and immortality."

To paraphrase Kass, you might say that Genesis doesn't just explain what happened once upon a time long ago, but what happens every time. And once you make this rational conclusion, it leads you directly to the threshold of something transcending reason. For what possible rational explanation is there for these chosen barbarians to have known so much more about you than you will ever know about them?

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another nourishing draught from the Raccoon fountain. Ahhhhh....

Sehoy
[searching for raccoons in Tennessee]

Anonymous said...

Nourishing, Indeed. I finally decided that it might be a good idea to actually read the Bible myself (again - it's been a mighty long time, though), as opposed to simply waiting around for somebody else to do the heavy lifting. One of my difficulties (or reasons for procrastinating) in reading, however, has been translations - in my case, I don't particularly want the most modern version, but rather that which most closely fits the original texts. In newer translations, I always suspect that whoever has done it has left things out, particular to that particular translator's worldview (for instance one of the newer versions, I have heard, has in many passages put in gender neutral phrases in places they never existed before).

Anyway.

So I stumbled across Young's literal translation, and suddenly the poetry is there. I'm not sure if it's a literal translation of the Christian Bible or the Hebrew Bible (which I would prefer), but right away it works for me in a way that newer, pre-digested versions don't. Yes, it's a little "harder" to read, but I don't feel as though somebody is putting a particular spin on any given word, just because they wanted to freshen up the context.

I just thought I'd mention this, in case anyone else out there has my particular quirky taste in scriptural reading.

Anonymous said...

I like the King James version for the poetry of the language. The strangeness of the arcane language lends a presumed "height" and adds to the message as though one were reading the recitation as handed down. Yes, there are literal difficulties, but it somehow hits my brain in a dinstictive manner. I especially love hearing good recordings of it. The poetic and musical nature of it somehow makes memorizing it easy.

Standard English versions are almost too familiar to leave an impression, but are good for certain study and comparison purposes. The New Jerusalem Bible is a wonderful translation that holds the beauty of the versing while being a reasonable update in language.

But to study it--to mull the wine, so to speak--is a delicious luxury of time that we seldom appreciate as we run here and there. But the ancients had lots and lots of time on their hands, so I'm not confounded or amazed that they saw so much, experienced and considered so many things. Far from being "in the dark" about things, I think the daily mundanities and routines are what lent them incredible insight.

When I used to habitually go for a walk every morning at the same time, I learned more about stars and seasons in the sky than any book could ever show me. A simple sundial is likely the cleverest first clue to our world, and yet today it's lost on most folks. I'm not so much amazed at the Pyramids' construct of line, angle, placement, etc. I'm guessing that was easier than we think. But having the time, the routine, the observant skills to implement such an idea seems to me to be the extravagance that all of our progress has denied mondern man.

The time to consider, meditate, ruminate, just to think is a key, I think, to true learning and wisdom. Apparently, the ancients had more of it than we.

No wonder we put thinking folks in tanks. If we saw them out in the open, we'd call 'em slackers!

NoMo said...

Juliec – Having read and studied numerous versions over the years, I have come to conclude that, unless you want to become a biblical scholar and study Hebrew, Greek, etc., one should read whichever version most encourages continued reading (and is generally respected for its scholarship). Lately, I’m reading the TNIV – I know, “Today’s New International Version” sounds like “the latest thing”, but the scholarship behind it is solid.

Today’s post took me in this direction. Knowing about those "chosen barbarians" is to know about us. The Bible seems to sustain a continuity critical to knowing about God and man. Assuming that humans are still running around in another 1,000 years, do we know more about them than they will know about themselves? Given that the Bible is so firmly and deeply entrenched in the world, will it ever be left behind? What if it IS “The Script”? Questions, questions.

Anonymous said...

>> . . . even if we were neither metaphysician nor esoterist, we would be a believer without the least difficulty; we would be convinced at the outset upon contact with the sacred in all its forms." <<

And I think that should we recognize the sacred in the great texts - "the Psalms, the Gospel, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita", etc. - eventually life, existence itself, becomes for us a sacred text, manifesting in infinite forms. Our own consciousness then persuades us from moment to moment of the sacred.

Anonymous said...

I believe it was St. Paul who said "faith comes by hearing the word of God". So far as I can tell, all sacred scripture was given to more or less illiterate people, who heard the sacred word, and that quite often. This would have been their education, and the language that they resonated with. By definition, it is designed to be heard not just read.

Anonymous said...

The KJV is not only beautiful to the ear and rhythmic sense, it was a common vernacular for the Anglosphere which is sorely missed. George Steiner's After Babel discusses this at length. Even now, if one engaged the KJV and acted on 1% of what (s)he understood there, there would be no complaint about the obscurity of its language; willingness and responsiveness engender clarity.

With the loss of this shared KJV imagaic vocabulary, we risk losing the depth of ideas, drearily supplanted by visions of battling dysfunctional families a la Jerry Springer and fleeting sit-com references. Most modern writing has lost the accessible allusive vertical layering of Trollope, Austen, Shakespeare, no matter how clever its form. Gagdad has invented a rare exception.

Some Biblical aids are the Amplified Bible, which has a variety of English words in brackets. I haven't completely read it, but The Message always helps me move the angle of light, though I wouldn't want to rely on it by itself.

There is also at least one 4-parallel-versions of the New Testament, including a J.B. Phillips "translation."

If one really, really get into it, Strong's or Young's two concordances help track down a word in its varied nuances. At that point, it's quite exciting to do one's own cobbled together translation, for further meditation. "Feeling the way in" is what the Torah sages recommend. When it is read with a treasure-hunting mentality, rather than as Me Heap Big Critic (See? They hit children! They had slaves! We're better...), the inner and exoteric practical resource is bottomless.

Incidentally, this is one reason a liturgical church is a helpful shortcut. Plentiful embedded Biblical material there in a piercing multi-sensory theatrical medium, making more reverberant impact than reading-in-a-chair tends to offer. At the very least, if one is suspicious of anything other than private engagement, read it aloud. The neurology matters.

Bible Gateway offers an online treasury of English and other translations.

dicentra63 said...

Okay, so why does God destroy humanity, anyway?

When it becomes the lesser of two evils. If a society degenerates into such depravity that it would be immoral to allow more children to be born into it, when what they're doing to themselves is worse that death itself, that's when they've gotta go.

See? Easy!

Anonymous said...

I just spent the morning reading Genesis at Bible Gateway. I like the fact that I can read the same passage through various translations. I must agree with Joan that the KJV has a particular beauty. I grew up Catholic/ Episcopal, and was fortunate enough a few times to see/ hear the Mass sung in Latin. At my young age, I didn't understand the words, but the beauty of the ceremony was transcendant. Today, one of the reasons I'm in a choir is the opportunity to sing religious music. Though it is often in Latin, or Hebrew or German, I've learned enough (by osmosis) through the years that I generally comprehend what I'm singin. To be part of it is a gift, from God to me and my humble offering back to Him.

As to reading, part of the reason I have put it off so long is a part of me thinks I must practically be a Biblical scholar to properly appreciate it - it is my nature to over-research things before I will claim to have any knowledge of them (overkill, I know, and I'm working on that particular mind-parasite). My fear is that I will settle on a particular translation because it sounds nice to me and fits my worldview, as opposed to being plain truth whether I like it or not. And yes, I know I'm over thinking things. Anyway, thanks for all of your insights. One of my greatest blessings of the moment is slack, and I plan to put it to good use this year.

NoMo said...

Juliec - We are the privileged few at this point in world history. I think of the millions of Christian believers around the world who base their spiritual knowledge and growth on whatever translation they can get their hands on. Do they get what they need spiritually from what little they are given? And do we take what we can from what much we are given?Hmmm, there is probably a parable somewhere on that.

Anonymous said...

I would like to recommend a Bible.
"The Scofield Reference Bible".
Containing the Old and New Testaments, Authorized King James Version, New York Oxford University Press.

First copyright was 1901 and my version is 1945.
Editor: Rev. C.I. Scofield, D.D.
"About the bible: With a new system of connected topical references to all the greater themes of Scripture, with annotations, revised marginal renderings, summaries, definitions, chronology, and index, to which are added, helps at hard places, explanations of seeming discrepancies, and a new system of paragraphs."
This is an excellent study Bible as the subject references lead the reader from "the first clear mention of a great truth to the last." Meaning, in Chapter one of Genesis, first verse, "In the beginning..." there is a raised (a) by the word beginning and over in the margin is the reference for (a) which directs one to (a-John 1.1.)
So, what is in the Old is revealed in the New.
The editor list five points to understand in the study of the Bible:
First: The Bible is one book.
Second: The Bible is a book of books.
Third: The books of the Bible fall into groups.
Fourth: The Bible tells the Human Story.
Fifth: The Central Theme of the Bible is Christ.
If you've never heard of this Bible I encourage those who want to study the Bible to purchase a copy.

Anonymous said...

Julie -

Let me encourage you to just read. Poof - we wave the Wand of Dispersion at your mind parasite. Begone! [scurries off happily into the land of Eternal Convolution]

Don't worry about translations. It's nearly impossible to latch onto a bad one and the truth pours through each one. Just sample them, go with what tastes right, and eventually you'll discover you have a favorite.

Read purely for the joy of the story the first time through. Once you are hooked into the overarching theme, it's much easier to go back and do some deeper exploring.

And ignore "serious Bible scholars" for the time being. With rare exceptions, all the ones I've come across should have been morticians instead.

Anonymous said...

hehe - thanks, Cosa. I'll keep hat in mind ;-)

Anonymous said...

Life Application Bible: Available in many translations (NKJV-KJV-NLT, etc) is version I counsel from & highly recommend (not NIV version it drops verses & is not accurate). But Addicts say they prefer NIV LifeApp as its simpler to read & easier for them to get into; as they progress in recovery they move to other versions but stick w/Life Application's format. Addicts are emotionally led but w/this Bible they learn emotions don't determine Truth nor lead you; rather, Truth is constant & where the mind goes, the emotions-heart follows instead of operating backwards. When the Mind is centered w/sound thinking, the Heart centers & reorients (balances) leading to a passionate-peace center instead of impulsivity-parasites driving self.

Joyce Meyer says: "Where the mind goes, the man follows." I amend it to say: "Where the Will goes, the Mind & Heart follow" & you stay centered & balanced. When the Will follows Godly Principles (boundaries) you won't get lost / waylaid by-into manmade wordly -Isms (relativism, radicalism, etc.) & you'll grow in spiritual Wisdom.

Life Application teaches Scriptural Principles but doesn't tell you what to think. It guides you to learn objective principles since few peeps have an overabundance of objective thinking skills, helps move you out of usual relativistic highly subjective views & enables you to APPLY insights of a verse to self, then outwardly.

It guides you in inward study & applications then into outward applications. Its available in printed book, PalmOS & CD formats w/advanced study aides & applicational tools on CD. Is universally useful due to its Applicational style & practical for those desiring to relate w/self, God & each another healthily, to grow & advance your spirituality. Provides balanced Wisdom-training yet allows room to meditate & form own views.

For personal enjoyment I dig audio BIbles, KJV & Amplified versions. Another practical Bible is Charles Stanley's "Life Principles Bible." Hearing the Word helps you get it to stick on your inside rather than limited with visual-only input.

- PrincessSpirit -

Anonymous said...

Scientific materialism and exoteric religiosity are creating great problems in the world. Most scientists and all exoteric religionists suffer from religious and spiritual illiteracy. They have little, if any, depth of appreciation for, or understanding of the process that is True Religion.

Most scientists fit into two categories.The first category consists of those who are positively disposed toward religion but who, when they refer to "religion", quote only the Bible. Their knowledge of religion is limited to the (reductionist) exoteric Judeo-Christian tradition.

Those in the second category are more of less anti-religious, even though they sometimes talk about God. But then they only ever talk about the Judeo Christian "creator-god" and usually in highly critical terms.

Both categories are religiously illiterate. In both cases, they are generally opposed to anything that is not an established exoteric religion. They are almost universally opposed to religions originating in the East-- and to anyone who is called a "Guru".

In fact the entire world is, at this time controlled by scientific materialism, and, therfore, religion is suppressed and only allowed in its conventional entirely exoteric form. Religious and spiritual illiteracy is therefore a universal problem.

Scientists and exoteric religionists tend to be involved in the game of the mind, which attempts to abstract the presumed "observer" from the "observed". By contrast, the perennial goal of True Religion and Spirituality is the Realization of Unity Itself, or Perfect Oneness with the Divine Reality.There are numerous "religious" groupings in the USA who make much about the so called "christian" mind. And they are often quite stridently and aggressively actively opposed to non mainstream religions--especially Eastern religions. This "christian" mind is the same "objectifying" mind that Scientists use. They even sometimes appeal to science (or rather scientism) to confirm their ideological point of view.

These religionists also make much of the "creator-god" idea.
The "creator-god" is a primitive and thoroughly self-serving idea.
It is a simplistic philosophical idea, based on a primitive and nievely childish idea. It appeals to people who have not yet profoundly considered its implications. It is the expression of a fear based disposition.

God is not the "creator" of the world.God is the context and source condition of the world. You not find god by going back to the beginning (of "creation") or by going forward to the end. God is "found" through perfect self-transcendence in the present.

Anonymous said...

Dilys: To Add: God upholds promised consequences to people, cultures & cities after Followers are given every chance to repent yet instead choose to continue to rebel. Such evil is not just rebellion but termed Apostasy, denoting peoples hardhearted commitment & depth of rebellion & unswerving allegiance to evil. Hebrews & other verses testify Apostasy brings Death to people as it is unforgivable evil.

For God to exist evil must be limited by God's Grace-Justice-Mercy or evil would reign over God-Justice-Mercy. God limits Evil when people are thoroughly entrenched in Apostasy. If Adam & Eve were ushered outta Eden for rebellion its no wonder similar discipline occurs to an entire culture or person who chooses to operate w/same abusive Apostate behavior.

NoMo: The Bible is definitely The Blueprint and without understanding it in some measure makes living & relating spiritually healthy & advanced tough to negotiate wisely.

Tho its worthwhile to look to future peeps to comprehend how they look back & see us ("Those who forget the past are...") still, gaining God's View in Real Time is The Real Deal. To look w/His Eyes to see yourself, ourselves & theirselves past, present & future is a mean feat of spiritual wisdom & comprehension & is the Spiritually Transcendent View of Eternality. Paul says to desire the gift of Prophecy more than the rest for it brings us closest to Him comprehensively, in every here-now or era. We can stay stuck in linear time thinking or embrace Spherical Being in Him, no doubt a whole new way to See, Be & Relate.

- PrincessSpirit -

Anonymous said...

As it obvious that cats were present at the moment of creation--and even before "creation" I must same something.

The truly original and really "creative" sourcr of ALL ancient and traditional "creation" myths was the native interior, or the archetypal and hierarchichal design of the human psyche itself, which apparently is eternally existing, or is, at least, existing prior to, and sometimes coincident with, and not merely subordinate to , or merely dependent upon, or existing as an effect of, gross bodily existence. And, as it was perceived by shamans and psychic visionaries and seers of all kinds,the Great Within is grounded in the body---and it extends upwards, even bodily, to the subtler reaches of the body-mind and subtler reaches of the mind itself, and of the psycho-physical cosmos itself.

In all such myths it is not the physical world, but the innate design of the human psyche, and even the total psycho-physical Spiritual Anatomy of MAN (and cats too, of course) that is the principal subject displayed by means of myths.

ALL the ancient and traditional myths have been culturally transmitted down to the present day via traditional religious cultures and sects. And each culture or sect tends to value its own myths as exclusive of final "Truths". However, now that humankind is gathered as an intercommunicative whole, the tribal provincialism of exclusive myth and exclusive religion has become both obvious and untenable.

Meanwhile, most of my cousins, namely the big cats of the world will have disappeared within a few years if current trends continue.
Trends set in place by you oh so clever humans via your desire for total power and control over the natural world.

The world will become a grossly impoverished place when this happens.

Pussy power rules ok!

Anonymous said...

Snotty Kid,

Please stop conflating your warped view of traditional religion with Truth.

>>They are almost universally opposed to religions originating in the East-- and to anyone who is called a "Guru".<<

And also, the End Quotation Mark goes outside of the period.

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for your suggestions today.

NoMo said...

Snotty nosed kid is here for a reason (not a wipe), he just doesn't know what it is yet. You don't keep coming here by accident.

I like the punk act.

Anonymous said...

I do find myself desiring a proper, indeed, tasteful post on the function and etiquette of spirit communication.

It's very British, you know.

Anonymous said...

For anyone interested in the English translation of the Greek LXX, you can download each book here:

http://apostolicbible.com/index.htm

It's a Greek-English interlinear with Strong's numbering so you can get a nice sense of the flow or dig deeper as desired. Unfortunately sites like Blue Letter, Unbound Bible, or ESword, useful as they are, don't include the LXX but this is quite useable for those wanting a different and older source than the Masoretic Text for the OT.

Anonymous said...

snotty nosed kid:
Why don't you set up a blog so those interested can read your insights without having to put up with the mind parasites running rampant on this blog's comments(RC, you rock!)? I find your ideas intriguing, and most of all much easier to sift through, since they are expressed without all the intellectual codifying that goes on here. That's my two cents.
(I was going to ask "where do you recommend going for more of this good thought energy? Then I remembered that I already knew that answer. Thanks!)

Anonymous said...

"...they are expressed without all the intellectual codifying that goes on here."

If there's anything more insidious than 'coon vision it's 'coon speechifyin'!! We've been found out,fellow brothers under the pelt!

Set your decoder rings to "R" and get ready for a special message from Petey!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Parent in KC-
The more you read Bob's posts, the easier it is to begin to understand the 'code' words.
It has been a slow process for me, but it is worth it.

Anonymous said...

Joan of Whatever, and River Wherever:

Thin skin for a coon, unless it's just a disguise.

Truth is truth, and only hurts if it should. I take my lumps from those able to administer them.

Seeing darkness where there isn't any isn't the same as seeing in the dark.

Anonymous said...

Parent in KC, do your double-tongued duplicitous self a favor and stop lying and deceiving. You're as dark as they come and you're well aware of it. Truth reveals your self proclaimed aggrandized enlightenment to be a deliberately manufactured sham. Otherwise your lunacy would simply be attributed to your evident spiritual darkness. You are foolish and foul as only liars, deniers of truth and false flatterers are always found to be foolish and foul. "Truth is truth."

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