The WELL: inkwell.vue.58: Jay Kinney and Richard Smoley _Hidden Wisdom_

#143: Richard Smoley (smoley) Fri 21 Jan 00 07:26

Fri, 21 Jan 2000 07:26:00 PST

Thanks, John. But there's no reason for you to sign off, as far as I'm concerned.

And I'll take your wise advice, Jay, and refrain from further indiscretions... [Read entire topic]

#142: Cynthia Dyer-Bennet (cdb) Thu 20 Jan 00 12:11

Thu, 20 Jan 2000 12:11:00 PST

Nice testimonial, John. Jay and Richard will be coming to you for the book-jacket blurb of their next project, no doubt. ;-) [Read entire topic]

#141: John Shirley (johnp-shirley) Thu 20 Jan 00 11:30

Thu, 20 Jan 2000 11:30:00 PST

Well I won't get into why I think channelers should be eliminated--just because every one I've ever read or heard, except Course in Miracles, sounds like a chattering imbecile or a bullshit artist. I mean, if it walks like a duck...but never mind.

I just want to say, my last remark here, honest, that I think Hidden Wisdom is the best book of its kind -- the best general survey of a variety of hermetic or esoteric ideas -- I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them. It not only surveys, it brings insight pithily rendered, easily understood, as much as one can understand without undertaking the actual practice, and this was an invaluable service. So I'd like to commend the book to anyone who hasn't read it and thank the authors for being here and for the book--and for their patience with me! [Read entire topic]

#140: Jay Kinney (jay) Thu 20 Jan 00 09:10

Thu, 20 Jan 2000 09:10:00 PST

Just a reminder that this discussion is readable by anyone on the web (including search engines' indexing bots). So, theoretically, one might do a search at AltaVista or Google for "biography of Swedenborg" and have a link pop up for your previous posting, Richard. Heh.

Luckily, I don't think that's terribly likely... [Read entire topic]

#139: Richard Smoley (smoley) Thu 20 Jan 00 08:05

Thu, 20 Jan 2000 08:05:00 PST

We are all Christians, whether we like to admit it or not...

Snide as this may sound, it _is_ pointing to the fact that the preoccupation with sorting out "true" and "false" spirits is a particuar obsession in the Christian tradition. I don't know exactly why this should be. It would seem that the idea that God is purely and only good has created a strong polarity between good and evil that continues to obsess the Christian mind. In other religions it is not so highly pronounced; cf. Isaiah: "I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the LORD do all these things."

I've been thinking about this because I have been editing a biography of Swedenborg (on which I am regrettably far behind; don't tell the Swedenborg Foundation) and Swedenborg was as obsessed with these matters (at least at a particular point in his development) as anyone else in the Christian tradition.

And now for a completely different take on all these things, here's _The Tibetan Book of the Dead._

"O nobly-born, know these things to be thine own thought-forms..." [Read entire topic]

#138: Linda Castellani (castle) Wed 19 Jan 00 18:35

Wed, 19 Jan 2000 18:35:00 PST

Could Mohammed, Gautama, Jesus of Nazareth, etc have been channeling God and the others are all wannabes? [Read entire topic]

#137: John Shirley (johnp-shirley) Wed 19 Jan 00 13:45

Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:45:00 PST

I think there's far more evidence that certain great teachers, like Mohammed, Gautama, Jesus of Nazareth, are inspired -- based on what they say -- than that channelers are inspired...based on what they say. [Read entire topic]

#136: Jay Kinney (jay) Wed 19 Jan 00 11:32

Wed, 19 Jan 2000 11:32:00 PST

Touche. Heh.

But back to the fundamentalists. I see in the morning paper that roving mobs of muslims on some Indonesian island (sorry, I don't have the paper in front of me, as I write) were breaking into and looting the homes of Christians. The article quotes one teenager as yelling "God is Great!" Well, God may indeed be great, but I doubt that He (or She or It) needs or wants revved-up teenagers out there yelling that while they are looting. Of course as the Balkans demonstrate so splendidly, every ethnic and religious group is capable of hitting on their rivals if they get a chance. So, I generally wouldn't ascribe any of this to some characteristic of Islam, per se. Nor of Christianity or Hinduism or whatever.

Seems like cosmic hormones sweep through the populace in different places at different times and stir up trouble, irregardless of the rationales offered. [Read entire topic]

#135: Linda Castellani (castle) Tue 18 Jan 00 21:28

Tue, 18 Jan 2000 21:28:00 PST

But channelers can't be? Inspired by God, that is. [Read entire topic]

#134: John Shirley (johnp-shirley) Tue 18 Jan 00 17:52

Tue, 18 Jan 2000 17:52:00 PST

It's not just a case of terrorism--there are some really hostile Islamic fundamentalists, and they're hostile on every possible front. But I think the reasons you gave are probably right. Still, I wish I had the ear of some of the Muslims who're for peace and tolerance, I know they're probably the majority of Muslims. I wish the UN or someone would get them to speak out more, to take the risk; I wish the media would turn to them, give them a voice. We have these narrow minded boobs here in the USA, you see, called Christian fundamentalists, as well as hate-mongering militia types, who'll use militant Muslim fundamentalism as an excuse for their own imbecilic little holy wars, some day. Especially as Muslims become more populous in our own country -- and that's ongoing. btw I have no doubt that Mohammed was inspired by God [Read entire topic]