Octagon Holy WAR......a SIGN OF THE TIMES.

Since the Baroque age, the concept of mysticism (first in French, la mystique ) has been used to describe religious phenomena that can hardly be restricted to a certain geographical space or a certain epoch. These phenomena are primarily symbolic expressions (in act, speech, literature, art, music, etc.), of persons trying to communicate knowledge that has been gained through mystical experiences.

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After the fight the all fell flat on the ground and worshipped A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as their eternal master.

There was no fight....that's the point. Allegory and Metaphor abound.

Abstract: What comes to mind when one hears the phrase, “Religious ecstasy”? Images of well-
known Christian saints in states of bliss worthy of being artwork come to mind, especially in the
West. However, this association of ecstasy with Sainthood specifically distances the layperson
from the idea that they too can experience the Divine as these mystics once did. In Bhakti Yoga,
a branch of practices within Hinduism, this same association that religious ecstasy is only a
characteristic of mystics does not exist. Rather, states of documented religious rapture are not
only strived for but believed to be universally accessible. In my paper, “The Path of Devotion:
Religious Ecstasy in Hindu and Christian Mystics” I explore the narratives of 4 mystics from two
different religious traditions, then compare the similarities in their testimonies. By drawing upon
the experiences Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Chaitanya Mahabraphu, and Meera Bai, I
explore the implications of the similarities in their love for the divine. In doing so, it is clear: not
only do these mystics have more in common than meets the eye, but their experiences speak of a
universal truth accessible to all of humanity. In this paper, I argue that the experience of religious
ecstasy and love for the divine transcends cultural, geographic, and religious barriers.

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Don't know what to say other than you got it.

Thank you for sharing.

What a glorious time to be alive.

My pleasure Solar Stream. The pleasure is in the giving.

List of Christian mystics.

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Last Edited by The Semi Shut In on 12/22/2021 09:53 AM

The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison… Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.
—C. S. Lewis

“All that is to be understood or desired is still not God, but where mind and desire end, in that darkness, God shines.”
—Meister Eckhart

“… the world is a work of art, set before all for contemplation, so that through it the wisdom of Him who created it should be known …”
—Basil of Caesarea

“Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.”
—John of the Cross

“The life of a Christian is wondrously ruled in this world, by the consideration and meditation of the life of another world.”
—Richard Sibbes

“What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence!”

—William Haddon Spurgeon

“Seek by reading and you will find by meditating; cry in prayer and the door will be opened in contemplation.”
— John of the Cross

“As your meditation becomes deeper it will defend you from the perpetual assaults of the outer world. You will hear the busy hum of that world as a distant exterior melody, and know yourself to be in some sort withdrawn from it. You have set a ring of silence between you and it; and behold! within that silence you are free.”
—Evelyn Underhill

“Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.”
― Anthony de Mello

“Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived”
― Baruch Spinoza

“…the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care…(it) continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.,,So much light has illumined me by reflection here where the water comes down, that I can hardly believe that this grace never flags, that the pouring from ever-renewable sources is endless, impartial, and free.”
― Annie Dillard

“The grace of salvation, the grace of Christian wholeness that flowers in silence, dispels this illusion of separation. For when the mind is brought to stillness, and all our strategies of acquisition have dropped, a deeper truth presents itself: we are and have always been one with God and we are all one in God (Jn 17:21).”
― Martin Laird

“I pray you: seek more to embody God than to merely have knowledge of God. For knowledge can deceive us with pride, but a meek, loving awareness will not deceive. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (I Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge leads to travail, whereas awareness leads to rest.”
― The Book of Privy Counselling

“Truly it is a trustworthy word and deserving of every welcome, your almighty Word, Lord, which in such deep silence made its way down from the Father’s royal throne and speaks to us better by its silence. Hear what this loving and mysterious silence of the eternal Word speaks to us. He speaks peace for the holy people upon whom reverence for him and his example impose a religious silence.”
― Guerric of Igny

“The point behind mysticism is not to dazzle the mind with ecstatic wonders or heady feelings, but to foster real and lasting changes, for the purpose of becoming more like Christ, which is to say, more compassionate, more forgiving, more committed to serving others and making the world a better place.”
― Carl McColman

“We suffer to get well. We surrender to win. We die to live. We give it away to keep it.”
― Richard Rohr

“True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace. It can come to us ONLY as a gift, and not as a result of our own clever use of spiritual techniques.”
― Thomas Merton

“Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.”
― Meister Eckhart

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
—John Donne

Like all the other major traditions, Christianity has a rich history of mysticism and a number of renowned mystics whose teachings are read enthusiastically by followers of other religions. But the Christian churches have tended to downplay the importance of their own mystics. Several of the most renowned Christian mystics, including St. John of the Cross and Meister Eckhart, were openly attacked by the church or threatened with excommunication during their lifetimes. Many leading Christian mystics were also monks who renounced the worldly life to withdraw into study and prayer. This tradition began in the deserts of Egypt and Syria in the 3rd century, with a group of monks known collectively as the Desert Fathers. The prototype was undoubtedly Anthony the Great, a Coptic layman who, around the year 270, followed literally the gospel teaching of Jesus, “Go, sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.” Living as an illiterate desert hermit followed by an informal group of disciples, Anthony never washed or changed his clothes, and died at the age of 105.

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Probably no religion system ever produced such a group of saints so eager for purity and spiritual attainments as the Essenes, forerunners of Christianity, who founded not only a new sect but almost a new religion. This indeed was a fascinating, unique group of mystics, men and women whose chief purpose in life was to become temples of the Holy Spirit that they might receive a special revelation, and thus be the means of bringing the promised Messiah into the world. History declares that their desire was fulfilled, that Jesus, for whose coming they made very definite and painstaking preparation, was born in the fold of their organization, that Mary and Joseph were Essene initiates, and that their son, with John the Baptist, his cousin, with many other biblical characters were members of the Essene communities, both in Palestine, Greece, Egypt, and many other lands.

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I'll pop this back up later this evening for others.
It comes down to the circuitry within ones brain and what dynamos one seeks to turn on. One-Pointedness is the key.

Chase money you'll get money.
Chase girls you'll get girls.
Chase an equation you'll get an answer.
Chase God and you'll get close.

Last Edited by The Semi Shut In on 12/22/2021 11:17 AM

We're Back.

The book that started my search when I was 16.

Cosmic Consciousness by RICHARD MAURICE BUCKE, M.D.

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Last Edited by The Semi Shut In on 12/22/2021 07:16 PM

Forget it. I'll loan you my shampoo.

How Does Neuroscience Explain Spiritual and Religious Experiences?

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REMOVING THE SOUL OF HUMANITY

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Buddha, Jesus, Ramakrishna ... What I do know is this, each of those 3 is the BIRTH OF AN AGE. Represent the Birth, which has recently passed, by awakening the Divine Light in the Common Folk. The 7th ray comes, embrace the rise of humanity to come after the Plutocracy flails like the beheaded snake it is.

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An Infinite Thing...
Existence enthralls the mind
To define itself in a Space with respect
An aspect comprised of what was
Used to surmise what is to be foretold
In days of yore, star maps defined the concept
Ancestral surmising of Our Vortical path abroad
The when to allow the understanding of where
Only to find the Universal Vortices is infinitely aware
The rainbow connection from the seventh ray, everywhere
The Spirit breathing life from vacuum space to live again
Only to recoalesce and sleep for eternity again, One Self
One Self split as the spirit exists to Build again as it did Before
The Soul defines its moment in infinite space, to define Itself
Time is nothing but our measured life, see the One Self
Existing innumerable as the Universal Vortices Singularity
Yet we must never allow a measure to be bent, or manipulated
Time is what each atom has as the soul is formed, Existence
Unite Our Souls to the Spirit through unified Will to Build
Time is infinite and the one self exists within it, so Build a New World

Give Your Children Time, Your Time Exists Through Their Eyes, Life
I hope this poem can exist this time to show truth to the blind