 |
A
metaphor is an
symbolic conceptual image that
suggests some thing else.
For instance, if I
say to a individual, "You
are a nut," I am not suggesting that
I think
the individual is
literally a
nut.
"Nut" is a
metaphor.
The reference of the
metaphor in
religious traditions is to some
thing
transcendent that is not
literally any
thing.
If you
think that the
metaphor is itself the reference,
it
would be like going to a restaurant, asking for the menu,
seeing beefsteak
written there, and starting to eat the menu.
For example,
Jesus ascended to heaven.
The denotation would appear to
be that somebody
ascended to the
sky.
That is
literally what is being said.
If that were really the meaning of the message,
then we have to throw the
message away,
because there would have
been no such place for Christ
literally to go.
We know
that Christ could not have
ascended to
heaven because
there is no
physical heaven anywhere in the
universe
as was
thought up until the
time of
Galileo Galilei.
Even
ascending at the
speed of light,
Christ would still be in the
galaxy.
Astronomy and
physics have simply eliminated
that as a literal,
physical possibility.
If you
read ‘Christ ascended to heaven' in terms of its
metaphoric connotation, you see that
Christ has gone inward - not into outer
space but into inward
space, to the place from which all
being comes, into the
consciousness that is the
source of all
things, the kingdom of
heaven within.
The images are outward, but their
reflection is inward.
The
point is that we should
ascend with him by going inward.
It is a metaphor of returning to
the source, alpha and omega,
of leaving
the fixation on the body behind and going
to the body's dynamic
source.
In the
story of
Christ ascending to heaven and the standard
way of thinking
about the
Christian religion, we cannot identify with
Christ, we have to imitate Jesus.
To say, "I and the Father are one," as
Christ said, is blasphemy for us.
However, in the Gospel of
Thomas that was dug up in Egypt in 1946, Christ says,
"He who drinks from my mouth
will become as I am, and
I shall be he."
Now, that is
Buddhism.
We are all manifestations of
Buddha consciousness, or Christconsciousness, only
we do not know it.
The
word "Buddha" means "the one who
woke up."
We are all to do that!
To
wake up to the
Christ or
Buddha consciousness within us.
This is blasphemy in literalist Christian thinking,
but it is the very
essence of Christian gnosticism and of the
gospel of Thomas.
The
metaphor in
Christian that corresponds to reincarnation
is purgatory.
If one dies with a fixation on the
things of this
Earth then one's spirit is not ready to behold the
beatific vision,
therefore one has to undergo a
purgation, one has to be purged clean of one's
limitations.
The
limitations are what are called
sins.
Sin
in this sense is simply a
limiting factor that
limits your
consciousness and fixes it in an inappropriate
condition.
In the Eastern metaphor, if you
die in that condition, you come back
again
to have more experiences that
will clarify, clarify, clarify, until you are released from these fixations.
The reincarnating monad is the principal hero
of Eastern myth.
The
monad puts on various personalities,
life after life.
The
reincarnation idea is not that you and
I, as the personalities that
we are, will be reincarnated.
The
personality is what the monad throws off.
Then the monad puts on
another
body, male or
female, depending on
'what
experiences are necessary for it to
clear itself of this attachment to the
field of time.
The
prophets and what in
India are called the "rishis" are said to have
'heard' the scriptures.
Now
anybody might open his
ears, but not everyone has the capacity
actually to hear the scriptures.
There has to be a training to help
you open your ears so that you can begin to
hear metaphorically instead of literally.
Carl Jung
felt that myth
is grounded in the subconscious
archetype.
Anyone writing a
creative work
knows that you open, you yield
yourself,
and the
work talks to you and builds it's
creative self.
To a certain extent, you become the
carrier of some thing that is
given to you
from what have been called the Muses - or, in
biblical
language, "God."
This is no fancy, it is a fact.
Since the
inspiration comes from the
subconscious, and since the
subconscious
minds of the people of any single small
society or culture have much in
common, what the preacher, rabbi,
teacher, shaman or
seer brings forth is some
thing that is waiting to be
brought forth in everyone.
So when
one hears the
seer'sstory, one responds, ‘Aha! This is
my story too!
This is what
I had always wanted to
say but didn't know how to say it!'
-adapted
from the Power of
Myth, interview of Joseph Campbell,
mythologist, by Bill Moyers, journalist.
"Reasoning by
metaphor is an ingenious technique that
allows us to remedy our weaknesses by capitalizing on our strengths—using
things we can
visualize to think, talk, and reason about
things we can not
visualize."-
Daniel Gilbert
"Metaphor is
not merely a matter of language. It is a matter of
conceptual
structure. And
conceptual
structure is not merely a
matter of the intellect - it involves all the
natural dimensions of our
experience, including aspects of our
sense experiences: color, shape, texture, sound,
etc. These dimensions structure not only mundane
experience but
aesthetic
experience as well."- George Lakeoff
& Mark JohnsonAlso see Joseph Campbell on:
in the beginning
image
myth
life
consciousness
archetype
mystery
the
serpent
religion
dreamtime
hero
God
|
|
back to stacks
contents
 |
This web site is not a commercial web site and
is presented for educational purposes only.
This website defines a new religious
ideology to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification
of reality outside personal experience has created a populace unable to discern
propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an
international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt
version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any
group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due
to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of the religion
aptly named The Truth of the Way of Life - a rational religion based on reason
which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no
church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to
develop a personal relation with God through the pursuit of the knowledge of
reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the
human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of Life are spelled out in
detail on this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to
their religious beliefs in America is considered a “hate
crime.”
This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary
the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the
international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The
international corporate cartel already controls the world central banking
system, mass media worldwide, the industrial military entertainment complex of
America and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of
self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization
is based on cooperation. Cooperation does not occur at the point of a
gun.
American social mores and values have declined precipitously over
the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more
power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general
through mass media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed
into the population through prior mass media psychological operations. The
results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social
structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a
perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the
bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the
corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which
further their purposes.
All views and opinions presented on this web
site are the views and opinions of individual human men and women that, through
their writings, showed the capacity for intelligent, reasonable, rational,
insightful and unpopular thought. All factual information presented on this web
site is believed to be true and accurate and is presented as originally
presented in print media which may or may not have originally presented the
facts truthfully. Opinion and thoughts have been adapted, edited, corrected,
redacted, combined, added to, re-edited and re-corrected as nearly all opinion
and thought has been throughout time but has been done so in the spirit of the
original writer with the intent of making his or her thoughts and opinions
clearer and relevant to the reader in the present time.
Fair Use Notice
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has
not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making
such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal
justice, human rights, political, economic, democratic, scientific, and social
justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such
copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the United States
Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on
this site is distributed without profit
to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes. For more information see:
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted
material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
 Copyright
© Lawrence Turner
All Rights Reserved
|