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asgard
shangri-la
"Before Newton, the heavenly realm and the earthly
realm remained separate. The heavenly realm was the realm of perfection, where
heavenly bodies moved in perfect circles (well, actually ellipses) and along
predictable paths. The earthly realm was chaotic; what order there was (tides,
day and night, seasons, and so forth) seemed to originate in the heavens.
Naturally, then, people associated the heavenly realm of order and mathematical
perfection with God.
Heavenly bodies were not subject to earthly
laws - the moon does not fall out of the sky the way Galileo's weights fell
from the leaning tower of Pisa." -
Charles
Eisenstein
The Gates of Paradise
A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and
asked:
"Is there really a paradise and a hell?"
"Who are you?"
inquired Hakuin.
"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.
"You, a
soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin.
"What kind of ruler would have you as his
guard?
Your face looks like that of a beggar."
Nobushige became
so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued:
"So you
have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head."
As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked:
"Here open the
gates of hell!"
At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's
discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.
"Here open the gates of
paradise," said Hakuin.
"Behold, to the Lord thy
God belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens."
Resh Lakish
said, they are seven, viz.: Vilon, Rakia, Shchakim, Zbul, Maon, Makhon,
Araboth.
Vilon serves no purpose whatever save this,
that it enters
in the morning, and goes forth in the evening,
and renews every day the
work of creation.
Rakia is that in which are set sun and moon, stars
and constellations.
Shchakim is that in which the millstones stand and
grind manna for the righteous.
Zbul is that in which is the heavenly
Jerusalem and the Temple,
and the altar is built there,
and Michael the
great prince stands and offers upon it an offering.
Maon is that in
which are companies of ministering angels,
who utter His song in the night
and are silent in the day for the sake of the glory of Israel.
Makhon
is that in which are the treasures of hail,
and the high dwelling-place of
harmful dews and the high dwelling-place of the round drops,
and the
chamber of the whirlwind and of the storm,
and the retreat of noisome
vapor;
and their doors are made of fire.
Araboth is that in which
are righteousness and judgment and grace,
the treasures of life and the
treasures of peace and the treasures of blessing,
and the souls of the
righteous and the spirits and souls which are about to be created,
and the
dew with which the Holy One, blessed be He, is about to quicken mortals."
- Babylonian Talmud, Tract Hagiga, Chapter II
translated by Michael Levi
Rodkinson
"God, who is all these
kinds of heavens in one, has fallen on our heads like thunder, and
God's infinity is ours." - Henri
Barbusse
Parable of the People with a Higher Aim
Imam el-Ghazali relates to tradition from the life
of Isa, ibn Maryam: Jesus, Son of Mary.
Isa one day saw some people
sitting miserably on a wall, by the roadside.
Isa asked: "What is your
affiiction?"
They said: "We have become like this through our fear of
Hell."
Isa went on his way, and saw a number of people disconsolately
arranged by the wayside.
Isa said: "What is your affiiction?"
They said: "Desire for Paradise has made us like this."
Isa
went on his way, until he came to a third group of people.
They looked
like people who had endured much, but their faces shone with joy.
Isa
asked them: "What has made you like this?"
They answered: "The Spirit
of Truth. We have seen Reality, and this has made us oblivious of lesser
goals."
Isa stated: "These are the people who attain. These are they who
dwell in the Presence of God."{Eight hunndred
years before Pavlov the Sufi el-Ghazali pointed out the problem of
conditioning. In spite of Pavlov the ordinary student of the mind is many times
unaware of the power of indoctrination. Indoctrination, in totalitarian
societies, is seen as desirable as it provides conforming belief. Many times
the presence of indoctrination and conditioning is scarcely even suspected.
This is what makes almost anyone vulnerable to indoctrination.
At the
time of el-Ghazali's writing informed opinion was split between whether any
type of indoctrination was desirable or inescapable. El-Ghazali pointed out
that what people call a belief system is in reality many times an emotional
state of obsession. El-Ghazali, in accordance with Sufi principles, stated that
indoctrination and conditioning is unnecessary and that it is essential for
people to be able to identify indoctrination and conditioning tactics.
El-Ghazali regarded the distinction between opinion and knowledge as
something which can easily be lost. When opinion and knowledge becomes confused
El-Ghazali taught that it is incumbent upon those who know the difference to
make such indoctrination and conditioning as visible as
possible.
El-Ghazali arrived at his understanding of true knowledge
through his upbringing in Sufism, among Sufis, and through direct perception of
the truth. El-Ghazali stressed the role of the inculcation of belief, and
invited his readers to observe the mechanism involved. El-Ghazali insisted upon
pointing out that those who are learned may be, and often are, stupid as well,
and can be bigoted, obsessed. El-Ghazali affirms that, in addition to having
information and being able to reproduce it, there is such a thing as true
knowledge, a higher form of human understanding.
Most of El-Ghazali
books were burned in an attempt to destroy the knowledge he imparted on
indoctrination and conditioning.}
"In the utterances of
the divine Luminaries the term "heaven" hath been applied to many
diverse things; such as the "heaven of Command," the "heaven of Will," the
"heaven of the divine Purpose," the "heaven of divine Knowledge," the "heaven of Certitude," the "heaven of Utterance," the "heaven of Revelation," the "heaven of
Concealment," and the like. In every instance, He hath given the term "heaven" a special meaning, the
significance of which is revealed to none save those that have been initiated
into the divine mysteries, and have
drunk from the chalice of immortal
life." - Bahá'u'lláh
Heaven is defined
as:
The dwelling place of the
gods; the abode of bliss; the
abode of the blessed after death.
The abode of
God, the angels and the souls
of those who have gained salvation.
Any
place conceived of as the domains of divine beings in
any of the various religions.
The condition
of supreme happiness or great comfort, delight, or
pleasure; perfect felicity; bliss; a sublime or
exalted condition; as in - a heaven
of delight.
The expanse of space surrounding the
earth; especially, that which appears to be over the
Earth like a great arch or dome; the firmament; the
sky; the place where the
sun, moon, and stars appear.
The usual
Hebrew word for "heavens" is _shamayim_, a plural
form meaning "heights,"
"elevations" (Gen. 1:1; 2:1). The Hebrew word _marom_ is also used (Ps. 68:18;
93:4; 102:19, etc.) as equivalent to _shamayim_, "high places," "heights." Heb.
galgal, literally a "wheel," is rendered "heaven" in Ps. 77:18 (R.V.,
"whirlwind"). Heb. shahak, rendered "sky"
(Deut. 33:26; Job 37:18; Ps. 18:11), plural "clouds" (Job 35:5; 36:28; Ps. 68:34, marg. "heavens"), means probably the
firmament.
"To Jews as well as to Judaism
- the two are often not in agreement - the thought
that Dr. Jonas Salk, who saved millions from polio, would go to
hell for not believing
in Jesus while some Nazi murderer could be
saved, thanks to his belief in
Jesus, is theologically and morally
unacceptable." - Dennis Prager
"A person that reads Ruhnama becomes smart .
. . and after reading it, he will go straight to
heaven." - Turkmenistan's autocratic
leader, president Saparmurad A. Niyazov. The
Ruhnama is a book that dispenses
moral and spiritual
guidelines for Turkmenistan's citizens
written by Saparmurad A. Niyazov.
"Paradise is
life." - Henri Barbusse
The word "paradise", used
as a synonym for the Garden of Eden is a Persian word,
which describes a walled orchard garden or an
enclosed hunting park.
"The last century, encompassing two world wars,
genocide after genocide, and the accelerating deterioration of the living
planet, has finally rendered utterly transparent the illusion that control over
nature - and its apotheosis in the Machine - could ever fulfill its Utopian
promise." - Charles
Eisenstein
The island of
Utopia is in the middle 200
miles broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a great part of it; but
it grows narrower toward both ends.
As the cities of
Utopia are composed of
families, so their families
are made up of those that are nearly related to one
another.
Utopian women, when they grow
up, are married out; but all the males, both children
and grandchildren,
live still in the same house, in
great obedience to their
common parent, unless age has weakened his
understanding: and in
that case, he that is next to him in age comes in his room.
On
Utopia lest any city should
become either too great, or by any accident be dispeopled, provision is made
that none of their cities may contain above 6,000 families, besides those of the country round it. No
family may have less than ten and more than sixteen
persons in it; but there can be no determined number for the
children under age.
This
rule is easily observed, by removing some of the
children of a more fruitful couple to any
other family that does not abound so much in them.
The
oldest man of every family on
Utopia, as has been already
said, is its governor.
Wives serve their
husbands, and children
their parents, and always the younger serves the
elder.
Every city on Utopia is divided into four equal
parts, and in the middle of each there is a
marketplace: what is brought
thither, and manufactured by the several families, is
carried from thence to houses appointed for that
purpose, in which all
things of a sort are laid by themselves; and
thither every father goes and takes whatsoever he or
his family stand in need of, without either paying
for it or leaving anything in exchange.
There is no
reason for giving a denial to any person, since there is such plenty of
everything among them; and there is no danger of a man's asking for more than
he needs; they have no inducements to do this, since they are sure that they
shall always be supplied.
It is the fear of want that makes any of the whole race of
animals either greedy or ravenous; but besides
fear, there is in man a
pride that makes him fancy it a particular glory to excel
others in
pomp and excess.
By
the laws of the
Utopians, there is no room for
this.
On the
religions of the
Utopians
There are
several sorts of religions on
Utopia, not only in different
parts of the island, but even in every town;
some worshiping the sun,
others the
moon or one of the
planets: some worship such
men as have been eminent in former
times for virtue or glory, not only as ordinary
deities, but as the supreme God: yet the greater and
wiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore
one eternal,
invisible,
infinite, and
incomprehensible
Deity; as a being that is far above all our
apprehensions, that is spread over
the whole universe, not by His bulk, but by
His power and
virtue; Him they call the
Father of All, and acknowledge that
the beginnings, the increase, the
progress, the vicissitudes, and the end of all things come only from Him; nor do they offer divine honors to any but to
His alone.
And indeed, though
Utopians differ concerning
other
things, yet all agree in this, that they
think there is one Supreme
Being that made and governs the Earth, whom they
call in the language of their country Mithras.
They differ in this -
that one thinks the
god whom he worships is this
Supreme Being, and
another thinks that his idol is that God;
but they all agree in one principle,
that whoever is this Supreme Being,
He is also that great Essence to whose glory and majesty all honors are
ascribed by the consent of all nations." - Thomas More
Thomas More's
Utopia was described in his 1515 novel
as an atheistic and
communist
republic on a
fictional island. Since then the word has denoted any vision of a
perfect society.
Religion
invariably becomes corrupt over time.
When Jesus spoke of the
Kingdom of God he was not talking
about some ether realm existing outside of reality.
Jesus was talking
about a state of mind.
How can a state of mind be heaven?
Is
not the definition of heaven that place were we are perfectly happy and no
longer troubled by the exasperation of living.
The
Kingdom of God is within you.
You just need to seek it out.
Learn to live in the joy of the
eternal moment.
Living in the joy of the eternal moment is living
within the Kingdom of God.
To enjoy that eternal moment of heaven in union with God all we need to
do is strip away our desires and enjoy the life that God has so graciously
granted us. After all God granted us everything we need to survive when God
gave us the planet earth - the Garden of Eden. We just need to remember to be
grateful. (Muslims pray 5 times a day so they will remember to be grateful to
God.)
Spiritually corrupt individuals are not satisfied with reality or
life in general. That is why they find it necessary to modify the earth. They
falsely believe that they can do a better job of creating a perfect reality -
better than the reality that God provided us. Their spiritual corruption
manifests showing them to be ungrateful children with huge egos who have been
trapped in the transcendental temptation.
brahmin "Go beyond the
stream, Brahmin, go with all your soul: leave desires behind.
When you
have crossed the stream of Samsara, you will reach the land of NIRVANA.
When beyond meditation and contemplation a Brahmin has reached the
other shore,
then he attains the supreme vision and all his fetters are
broken.
By day the sun shines, and by night shines the moon.
The warrior shines in his armour, and the Brahmin priest in his
meditation.
But the Buddha shines by day and by night - in the
brightness of his glory shines the man who is awake.
He who is free
from the bondage of men and also from the bondage of the gods:
who is free
from all things in creation - him I call a Brahmin.
He who knows the
river of his past lives and is free from life that ends in death,
who knows
the joys of heaven and the sorrows of hell, for he is a seer whose vision is
pure,
who in perfection is one with the Supreme Perfection - him I call a
Brahmin." - Dhammapada |
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