[Faith-talk] Eastern Religions

Wed May 14 15:53:48 UTC 2014

Brandon,
Icy much to admire and your perspective. However, from my study of eastern religions, not too shallow to be cursory but certainly not incredibly deep saying you are influenced by "eastern religion"is just about as useful for defining your specific beliefs as saying you are a "Christian."I know you have mentioned specific branches of thought that have inspired you but I'm curious which streams of Hinduism/Buddhism you identify with most. Also, when you speak of "Karma"are you referring to the Jain concept of karmic matter on your soul or the more traditional view that it is simply a force of nature? Also, what sort of empirical evidence do you have to justify your belief in reincarnation? Again, I'm not trying to offend, I'm just curious.
Best,
Kirt ,

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 14, 2014, at 8:41 AM, Brandon Olivares via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Poppa Bear,
> 
> There are several answers to this. Obviously, truth is reality. What is, is truth. The question is, what really is?
> 
> For the purposes of ending suffering, which is why I think we are here, that doesn’t much matter. What matters is that we don’t argue with truth. Arguing with truth is the root of all suffering.
> 
> Let me give an example. Let’s say you apply for a job, but you aren’t accepted. If your reaction is anger and depression, or any other negative emotion, you are suffering. Why? Because truth is that you did not get the job, but you are trying to argue with reality. You are trying to say, “I should have gotten that job.” But you didn’t; there is no should about it. When you come to accept that you should not have gotten it, simply because you didn’t, you will no longer suffer, and can go on to apply to other jobs and either get accepted, or not.
> 
> So truth in this sense is simply, that which is. When we argue with that, we suffer. That which is will never change because we really want it to. It will be what it will be.
> 
> If your interest is deeper than that, and you want to find your own spiritual identity, then we can identify Truth further, but not much. My favorite sentence of the Tao Te Ching says:
> 
> “The tao that can be told
> is not the eternal Tao
> The name that can be named
> is not the eternal Name.”
> 
> So, whatever you try to say of Truth, is simply false, because Truth (and I am using a capital T here to point out its transcendent nature), is beyond all words. Words are man-made, describing finite realities, but Truth is infinite. In Taoism, it is simply called the Tao, also often called the void, or nothingness, or darkness. In Hinduism, especially in advaita vedanta, it is called tat, which literally translates to “that.”
> 
> Truth is what I call God, but in reality God is a pretty poor term for it, because it is so abused in the west. People say, God is loving, God is just, God hates these people or those, we must kill in the name of God, etc. God is anthropomorphized— it (and I use it purposefully), is made into a person, a He usually. By so doing, God is made exclusive. He is not a she, and he only approves of certain things, but hates others.
> 
> But Tao, Tat, that which is, approves of all. It has no opinion, because it knows of no good or evil. It is simply being, or non-being, whichever. It does not matter. We are all part of that reality, our souls are really all specs within that larger beingness. There is no you or I or the other, but only Tat, Tao, Truth, filtering through our apparent perceptions. To me, it appears as one thing because of my totality of life experiences, while to you, it appears as another. To you, from what you have said, it appears as non-being, in the way that you do not know if God exists. But it also appears as how you see the world, which I don’t know you well enough to say. It might appear as love, or as hate, or as joy or despair. But all of it, the light and the dark alike, are all Tat, Tao, God, Truth, Reality. It is not better or worse that you are agnostic, nor that I am non-dualist, nor that someone else is Christian. It is how Truth manifests to that individual.
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> Brandon
>> On May 14, 2014, at 9:59 AM, Poppa Bear <heavens4real at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello Brandon, nice to have you on the list. I was wondering after reading
>> your post, how do you define truth?
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brandon
>> Olivares via Faith-talk
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 5:45 AM
>> To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
>> Subject: [Faith-talk] Eastern Religions
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I've been reading with interest the various thoughts posted here. However,
>> my own philosophy is in line with eastern thinking, such as Hinduism,
>> Buddhism, and Taoism. I don't identify with any one religion, because I
>> believe that a religion is just a series of labels that in the process of
>> self realization, we have to one day surpass anyway. But I do read the
>> writings of some of the masters. I myself believe in reincarnation and
>> karma, which are staples of eastern religions, as well as non-duality, which
>> is the believe that all things are one substance- that there is neither good
>> nor evil, right nor wrong, being nor non-being, but the Truth includes and
>> surpasses all of these man-made polarities.
>> 
>> Anyway, I just want to see if there is anyone here who has similar beliefs,
>> or if there might be an interest in discussion of this sort of philosophy.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Brandon
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> 
> 
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