Are the Holy Men Lying?

AAF

Registered Senior Member
Taken at face value, religious beliefs are, completely false.
They have, absolutely, no grasp whatsoever of reality.
In fact, they are standing monuments on mankind’s incredible foolishness.
Yet, in spite of all this, the prophets are not lying. That is right! The prophets are not telling lies. Don’t get me wrong! They are not crazy either. Please, let me explain!
At all times, your mind is capable of operating fully in one of two modes of thinking:
[A] The Logical, Reality-Oriented Mode, and The Inspirational, Extra-Logical Mode.
The Logical Mode is very familiar to you. It’s the working mode. It’s, also, the master mode. No idea is worthy of serious consideration unless it’s verified and indorsed by the Logical, Reality-Oriented Mode. Unfortunately, however, the Logical, Reality-Oriented Mode is a very poor producer of new and original ideas. Creativity is not among its most outstanding attributes. Originality is, certainly, the province of the Inspirational, Extra-Logical Mode. This mode is occasional and extremely difficult to invoke and sustain. That is why highly creative individuals are rare. And, of course, prophets and saints are very rare indeed. Thanks to well-established mystic traditions, however, it’s, relatively, easy to invoke religious visions and spiritual inspirations. In science and arts, for instance, there is no prescribed method for how to become quickly and immensely creative. And, therefore, you must, through trial and error, find your own way.
This is the standard mystic procedure for conjuring up religious revelations:
(1) Decide and clearly define what you want to be inspired about. Do you want to see the face of God, and have some sort of telepathic conversation with Him? You got it, pal! Just be prepared.
(2) Be convinced that will power is everything. What you want is what you shall see. Tell yourself, time after time, that you want to see your Deity and you are more than able, with some effort, to see Him.
(3) You must avoid, at all costs, external distractions, especially human beings. Because you will never be able to establish direct contact with your God, if people are around. Isolation, isolation, isolation! That is the key.
(4) Inspirations evoke inspirations. So seek a mentor. Choose one of the great prophets. I sugget to follow in the foot-steps of Mohammed of Arabia. Pick the one you like the most among the chapters of his Quran. And forget, for the time being, about the rest.
(5) If isolation is the key, then concentration is, for sure, the master key. So concentrate as hard as you can on the Quranic chapter of your choice. Be advised! This is the trickiest and the most difficult part of the whole spiritual undertaking. It may take you weeks or even months to get the hang of it.
(6) Read, over and over and over again, your Quranic chapter, in silence. Remember! Your voice is an external distraction.
(7) Go with little or no food or drink as long as it takes to get yourself in the right mode. This is not Islamic fasting. Compared to this one, the fasting of the Muslims is a child’s play. A serious spiritual incursion of this sort requires, at least, three unbroken days and nights with very little or no food or drink at all.
Now, what is the end result of carrying out this mystic procedure?
Somewhere, along this self-imposed suffering, a massive hurricane of delusions takes over the center stage of your mind. It’s very important to remain composed and not to lose your critical faculty or self-awareness. Because if you fail, a psychiatrist is waiting for you! And because your failure means that sainthood is not for you. Forget about the divine!
However, if your ego is strong enough to withstand the strom, this experience can be rewarding. After the initial outburst of delusions, a calm phase of pure pleasure and enlightening inspirations will take hold of your mind. Enjoy the ride! At this point, we must part company with the mystics. Because those people really think they have seen the face of God! In strict terms, their claim is merely a delicious illusion, no more and no less. It has no logical support and no basis in reality. The fact of the matter is the human brain, under certain harsh conditions, can produce natural but very powerful narcotic substances. And the main purpose of the above mystic procedure is to create such harsh conditions, in order for the central nervous system to generate those narcotic chemicals. Accordingly, spiritual ideas and images are, in the final analysis, the sole creation of the human brain, totally subjective and with no corresponding objects in the real world.
In short, spirituality is purely a byproduct of hyperactive imagination. Reality is the judge. Physical reality is the ultimate reality.
 
I agree with only one thing that you said: that reality is the judge, or at least the measurement. You try very hard to show that metaphysical/spiritual reality has no valid interaction with the physical, but you have made no mention of prayer.

Your viewpoint portrays the classic fallacy that it is we as people, who have to reach God with great effort and mystical application.

When you lift yourself up on a ledge, you are aligning yourself with the level of the ledge - it isn't you who is bringing the ledge closer. The ledge didn't move or change, but your relationship with it has.

So anybody who claims to have reached God is, like you say, under an understandable illusion. But you don't say anything about people who live in an everyday relationship with God, and who can pray under any circumstances. No trial and error needed, as a matter of fact, no effort is involved at all.
 
Originally posted by Jenyar
I agree with only one thing that you said: that reality is the judge, or at least the measurement. You try very hard to show that metaphysical/spiritual reality has no valid interaction with the physical, but you have made no mention of prayer.

Your viewpoint portrays the classic fallacy that it is we as people, who have to reach God with great effort and mystical application.

When you lift yourself up on a ledge, you are aligning yourself with the level of the ledge - it isn't you who is bringing the ledge closer. The ledge didn't move or change, but your relationship with it has.

So anybody who claims to have reached God is, like you say, under an understandable illusion. But you don't say anything about people who live in an everyday relationship with God, and who can pray under any circumstances. No trial and error needed, as a matter of fact, no effort is involved at all.

Prayer is one-sided action. You cannot know whether it has been received by your Deity or not. You can only guess. But it is certainly good for the well-being of the believer.
 
Prayer is laying your will down before God, and trusting Him with it. God sent His spirit to live among believers, and He is "near us". There is no doubt that He does hear every prayer. As long as the address on the envelope is right, the message will get there.

But answers can never be on your own terms. Sometimes the answer is 'no', sometimes it is 'later', sometimes what happens is even more than you aked for. This is where the knowledge we gained from sacrifice in the Old Testament comes to play.

1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
 
Back
Top