Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jan Lazo-Davis on June 25, 2012 at 3:33pm

I believe it is for the separation of souls because I am totally in the Free Will camp.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Cort on June 25, 2012 at 3:37pm

I think Ramakrishna gave the best explanation. When a disciple asked, "Master, why is there evil in the world?", Ramakrishna answered, "To thicken the plot!"

Permalink Reply by jeff herman on June 25, 2012 at 4:12pm

Andrew, That's quite cynical. Don't know who he was but it suggests he sees humanity as a cock fight with blades attached for the pleasure of supernatural sadists. Is there anymore context to what he said?

Permalink Reply by Andrew Cort on June 25, 2012 at 7:32pm

Um. He was being hum

Permalink Reply by jeff herman on June 25, 2012 at 7:36pm

Andrew, Is he a real "Master" or are you just goofing around? I know very little about what the Indian-Hindus say  about things. 

Permalink Reply by Andrew Cort on June 25, 2012 at 8:33pm

No no. Probably the greatest spiritual figure of 19th century India. His name and work was brought to the West by his disciple, Vivekenanda, beginning with his appearance at the Chicago World's Fairs' "Parliament of World Religions" in the 1890's. (The New York papers called Vivekenanda the "greatest figure of the Parliament,") Ramakrishna Centers and Vivekenanda Centers can be found all over the world. A great master, who taught that all religions seek the same God, all lead to the same God, and thus all forms of bigotry, sectarianism and hatred are completely absurd.

He was also practical: "Food first, then religion" was one of his sayings. And he could be humorous! As when that disciple wanted a simple nutshell explanation of something as vast as the issue of 'evil'.

Permalink Reply by Matthew John Blythe on June 25, 2012 at 9:34pm

Vast as the illusion might appear to be be, show me an evil person who is not suffering and in need of forgiveness, and I will show you a miracle by not believing an illusion through affirming the truth!

Permalink Reply by jeff herman on June 26, 2012 at 12:08pm

Matthew, Interesting point. Perhaps evil is a consequence of pain. Yet so many are in pain who are not evil. Also, I don't know if all who are evil are in pain. A sociopathic personality allows the person to turn the Truth up-side-down, thereby finding pleasure and purpose through harm.

Permalink Reply by Matthew John Blythe on June 27, 2012 at 9:41pm

Hi Jeff,  Pain is a mistake we make in our mind. Psychologically, pain is a thought that does not align with The Truth like an unlearned lesson - the pain just lets us know we are making a mistake. Technically, pain is blocked or stuck energy and we can release this energy through forgiveness. I read somewhere that pleasure and pain have the same dynamics we just call them different names and interpet them differently. ACIM says all pain is unreal, just energy. It only sticks around because we judge our mistakes to be uncorrectable. I do not think all people in pain are evil, but I think perhaps all people who choose to make a mistake are probably suffering or unhappy at least. In some Christain doctrines a mistake is a sin and deserves damnation! Which is perhaps why some people believe they are evil? God cannot hurt His son or He couldn't be God, but He is The Truth and The Way and His Son does suffer when he chooses unwisely! (To put in in Spiritual terms).

Permalink Reply by Brian Baruch on July 11, 2012 at 2:19pm

Within the spiritual arena, freedom is the ultimate currency. Should  an individual dedicate their freedom into expressions of true love, that devotion is passionate, life-changing, and profoundly powerful in its' intimacy. Our world teeters in great balance, it is an intricately beautiful and elegant mechanism of balance. This balance provides individuals with a canvas on which to paint authentic choices. It provides the polarities through which to bountifully venture out into vulnerable authenticity and embrace true freedom.

The light of creation is singularly simple, it does not know want, it does know need. An inspiration arose from the light to fashion a process whereby it could actualize the essential nature of its' song. To do so, it retracted itself enough to render a void. The void provided a filter of cloaked darkness through which the primordial light could be buffered into a dynamic prism of diverse and creative expression. 

True love is only possible when one has been rendered free to choose, and the recipient of this love, separated, recognized and chosen. The prism provided the light with the necessary complexity, and polarities of expression to cultivate authentic and independent action. For love to be true, there must nuance, diversity of choice provides a backdrop for more poignant expression; the greater the diversity, the more potentially powerful its' expression . Through the void, the once pervasive light constrained itself into an intricate network that provided for an over-arching benevolent prism that can flow into actualized expressions of true love. 

Authenticity is paramount for reconnecting this prism back into its' purest and most intimate expression, the ecstatic light of true love. As its' circuit is complete, it resounds so clearly it harmonizes all extremities of the creative process.  

Our worldly experiences are specially calibrated to provide individuals with an intricate backdrop for actualizing authentic expressions of true love. These expressions have the power to reunite one's soul in closer and closer proximity to this essential root, it is a true love story. 

Permalink Reply by Joshua Bagby on June 25, 2012 at 4:08pm

We televiewers, book readers, movie-goers, etc., routinely think it's OK for killing and violence to happen in our "fiction" for our entertainment value. We think it isn't real and therefore that makes it OK to enjoy. So in the big cosmic picture, what if death were an illusion as a movie is? What if we are eternal spirits daisy-chaining various experiences, goiven an opportunity to choose evil or love? If we knew at some spiritual level that this is all Earth School, a learning experience, evil might not be so hard to comprehend, particularly in the end if it were part of the curriculum to help teach love and forgiveness. That's my take on it anyway.

Permalink Reply by Margaret Sue Turner Wright on June 25, 2012 at 6:47pm

Hi Joshua, I do feel that we are eternal spirits and that this is earth school where we learn to make better choices from the previous daisy chain in lifetimes of choices.

However, I think the concept of reacting to tv violence with a mental shut down is an  interesting subject in itself. Some people think they have shut down the reaction to fiction violence, and consider having nightmares later normal,  and some people don't know how to shut down to it and may react more violent in their life. Then there are people who make conscious choices to not even visually/audibly partake of tv fiction violence and change the channel.

I feel that everything is vibration, and that we tune in to vibrations by choice, or by default by making no conscious choice-the scarry route!

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