our great ' future'

Submitted by Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullah (Australia), Nov 3, 2015 at 07:05

That's a lot of good points you've put together. And I can see you are on the right track.

• Jesus here speaks of several mergers:
• that his father (God) is in him,
• that the disciples may be in both Jesus and God,
• that the disciples may be "one", and made perfect in "one", with the same type of "unity" Jesus enjoys with God

Yes - he was immersed in cosmic consciousness - so 'God' was present for him everywhere. And because he was illuminated he was able to lead whoever followed him to their own illumination.

All of these can be understood metaphorically; and I have cited this passage to refute "Trinitartians" who say Jesus has some unique, mystical union with God that we do not have.

Well, if 'God' is everywhere - and if we are not aware of it, of the oneness - then we do not have that union of consciousness. There is a massive difference between potential and actuality. So, if you're not consciously conscious, spiritually awake, then one is asleep.

Ignoring science, which doesn't seem to offer any knowledge of these matters,

Psychology has analogies - self actualization, peak experiences etc Gurdgieff and Ouspensky, Carl Jung along with many others were into waking up and recognition of a 'spiritual' element

I've elsewhere spoken my conclusion that the word "spirit" (with or without capitalization, which was never in the original) as something powerful but invisible. It can be animated, either actually or metaphorically; but it seems to describe a "substance" analogous, in a supernatural way, with fermions, bosons Higgs and yet-undiscovered natural phenomena.

Subtle energy permeating and sustaining everything - 'spirit' if you want to use a label. In a man/woman not bogged down in material pursuits that energy manifests as clear, illuminated consciousness.

"My Pentecostal friends attempted to attain such a "merging" by sensual means, seeking out mentally-generated thoughts and feelings; but they failed to connect with the universal reality of the heavenly realm in that way. "

The way the system is designed - people can't get real permanent fullfilment through being connected with the source of their own consciousness and therefore their own illuminated natures. The sooner one realises that, the less trouble they will have. There's quite literally no thing, nothing outside you that can do it for you. No relationship other than the one with one's real self can do it, despite the myriad counterfeits our tricky little minds try to create. There is no compromise with truth.

"..I am left, then, with speaking about the hope of a world and of a reality which we will encounter -- not thousands of years from now in some vague resurrection or reincarnation, but in "substantive" present reality, not many years in the future. "

That last sentence could be a little ambiguous (I'm seeing it like that anyway) . If you mean simply 'a world and of a reality which we will encounter .... in "substantive" present reality,' - you are right on the mark! The 'Kingdom' we seek is within us. When one sees that - there is no 'hope' needed - because you see it as fac, right in front of you. The 'present' is more than enough when one's awareness is tweaked into the right 'frequency'. Personal realization of that by individuals will automatically bring about a peaceful world.

The most important realisation to have is to know that what we seek, we already have inside us.

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