I’m still reading Your Soul’s Compass and came across a paragraph I just have to share –
Seeking spiritual guidance is often misunderstood as consulting a cosmic Dear Abby or a universal Google for advice on relationships, health, and illness, pathways to financial freedom, or even great car deals. While there’s guidance out there fabout everything in life, the kind that we’re most concerned with here sheds light on the spiritual journey itself. Are we going in a direction that helps us become less selfish, more compassionate, and peaceful? Or have we gone off on a tangent that keeps us tethered to old habits and perceptions, which perpetuate fear, greed and ignorance?
That first sentence is wonderful. Many people seem to approach God, True Nature, Allah, Jehovah, Brahma… with this kind of cause and effect orientation which is clearly an anthropomorphism of the divine consciousness.
I don’t want to get into that debate, but what do you think – can you Google God in your head or heart?
I guess if that doesn’t work then…
Dear Abby,
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Comments
4 responses to “Google God for Guidance”
Hey,
I’m not sure you even read the post. The point of the post, and more importantly the book which it recommends states the exact opposite. That there is in fact an infinite personal God that communicated in space-time (aka time and space (i.e. reality)).
To say something is clearly an anthropomorphism of the divine consciousness without defending the statement is a little lazy. Why is it clear? It isn’t anthropomorphism if God actually has personhood. Sure everyone beleives what they want about God but this doesn’t mean there that God doesn’t have a true nature that can be known.
Thanks for linking to my blog though.
p.s. for further reading why not try: ‘The God who is there’ by Francis Schaeffer
Lincoln – In fact, I did read the post. Most mystics challenge the notion that the realm of time/space is reality in the way most people assert it. Not that it isn’t, as all things are of reality and a manifestation of it, but there is a more fundamental reality underlying time/space.
Anthropomorphism, to me, is conceiving God in conceptional terms that are specifically human in nature. The fact that we mistakenly view God as thinking, like we do, or having the same personal concerns as we do is anthropomorhpism.
This does not negate the notion of personal from within the divine.
The Christian position would be to argue that the reverse is in fact true. That humanity is made in the image of God. Therefore we do not assume that God thinks because we do, but that because God thinks, and he has created us like him, we think. We are concerned for human life/choice/freedom, because God first was.
Sure mystics can challenge that time/space is reality but they still have to live in that reality. No matter how many times my daughter tries to stand up under the table, she will always bang her head. Sure we can test and challenge reality but no-one can ultimately deny it.
The question is not whether bumping your head is reality, but rather that there is a more fundamental reality. This has been the debate through the centuries between intellectuals arguing from the dualistic perspective and mystics coming from an experiential perspective that the intellectuals cannot reference or include in their argument.
take a look at this video
http://open-secrets.com/04/stroke-of-genius/