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I was just thinking about the new head principal that showed up my first year of high school. He was a real jerk and wore a cowboy hat that had a plastic cover on it like you see on a couch. He used to impress himself as if he knew every soul in school. This happened at least a dozen times in my four years there, that he walked up to a group of kids I was among and he would go around the circle one by one and point at each kid and say their name, and every time he got to me, he didn't know my name, and I never told him.
I'm using God as a metaphor for the divine couple or Adam and Eve. God is complete. Male/female parts of the psyche united as one. Whatever that means. Still working on it.
Ah. Well I tend not to see it in those terms but a little more broadly. We tend to have our anima or animus on such a pedestal that no living human could possibly live up to it anyway. So we turn to god as some sort of symbolic hyper-idealistic fusion of male and female I guess.
But I think that misses the point. I no longer think the pinnacle or goal of existence is some sort of idyllic fusion or symbiosis with a significant other -- nor with some philosophical proxy for it like god. I think it has something more to do with knowing and fully accepting one's own self. Pardoxically, if you can come to know and be comfortable with your authentic self, it tends to improve your special relationships anyway, by way of making you more honest with yourself, allowing you to be more honest with others, etc. People also respond and open up to authenticity, integrity, honesty, and grace. Taken from another perspective, I think one has to become or at least approach that ideal person or deity "out there" that you are always searching for, because I think we fool ourselves into externalizing our true goal. The only thing that can really ever sustainably be is the full realization of your own character. I have control over me, but no legitimate right to control others.
If that makes any sense. It's a little hard to put into words.
Yeah, Im just trying to get to the point where I see myself as someone who deserves to be taken care of. I've talked with other trauma survivors and we have a way of treating ourselves like crap. I had a discussion with someone on here and we were trying to figure out what self love looked like. I'm getting better so in my world it looks like quitting smoking, eating healthy, saying no and getting gas on the way home instead of in the morning when I am rushed.
The divine couple gives me the ability to step outside myself and treat myself like anyone else I love.
Yeah, Im just trying to get to the point where I see myself as someone who deserves to be taken care of. I've talked with other trauma survivors and we have a way of treating ourselves like crap. I had a discussion with someone on here and we were trying to figure out what self love looked like. I'm getting better so in my world it looks like quitting smoking, eating healthy, saying no and getting gas on the way home instead of in the morning when I am rushed.
The divine couple gives me the ability to step outside myself and treat myself like anyone else I love.
I hear ya.
My wife didn't come out of a cult but she has to have the most dysfunctional family not involving religion or poverty or ignorance that I am acquainted with. I could bore you for paragraphs but let us just say that for different reasons than you she has had just as hard a time "stepping outside herself" as you put it. But she's figuring it out. I'm sure you will, too. Don't give up. It's worth it.
I wish we didn't spend our whole lives figuring out who we are and our proper role and get a firm grip on our worthiness and so on. Compared to my wife I come from an idyllic and unconditionally loving family and I have to admit I, too, have at times looked for love in the wrong places, love I can only give to myself really.
It is the weirdest thing. If I still believed in god I would be really honked off at him. What the actual ... I mean what kind of a system is this, if it is designed? I can only cope with it as just the Way Things Are -- if this were personal or directed I would lose my marbles ;-)
You are so conditioned to BEING the observer, scrutinizer, and questioner and associating it with your physical body YOU are definitely one who misses it! Your physical body is NOT doing any observing, scrutinizing, or questioning! Your Soul (or Spirit) IS!
I read this article that I found interesting for a few reasons, and after reading it, I got to thinking that I too would enjoy that sort of sharing with others around a camp fire or in the garden or whatever, but for me it wouldn't help to bring beliefs about God or spirituality into the mix. Also got to thinking about what I would call that thing often referred to as the soul, and how to "feed" it.
Whether religious or not, I am also curious what others might otherwise call the soul if they don't believe in souls as typically described by religious people. What is it we're feeding if not a soul? Best I can do is to call it the interest in making my life as meaningful as possible, interesting and enjoyable too.
What might you suggest?
Here's the read for more of what is interesting to consider along these lines...
"As attendance dips, churches change to stay relevant for a new wave of worshippers"
"It's how we were created. We need food, we need shelter, we need clothing, and we also have to feed our souls in some way," she continues. "And so I think there's this challenge of, OK, we've been doing it like this for so long, and it's just not working for people in a way that meets them in a holistic way."
My religion guides me in this one, and of course it's not for everyone.
To feed the soul, you need to praise God and ask for forgiveness (no is an angel and everyone has made mistakes), in peaceful and quite environment. With all sincerity. This is a continuous process that should be done multiple times a day.
And then if it results in you becoming a meek, docile, and a forgiving person who has mercy for other human beings, he gives more and takes less, then your soul is getting fed.
I forget who it was that said that when humans gained self-awareness it was almost more than they could bear. The irony is that when you really just look at it, it's not scary. It really is one of those deals like where FDR said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We are taught that death isn't part of life, but something to be denied or fought off to the bitter end at any cost. That it is intolerable to contemplate that we might not be immortal. None of these things are actually true. People have just been taught that it's unthinkable and intolerable when it actually is something you can pretty readily make peace with.
Aspects of our common or universal reality are many, most certainly including our mortality. How we view, deal or perhaps fear the inevitability of death is just one part of the reality that can "rattle" just about anyone. Also there are the significant considerations with respect to making sense of our lives. Finding meaning. Purpose. All these significant common considerations have us all looking and finding whatever paths seem right for us, or many just keep searching. I feel fortunate I am not living my life with a sense of needing more or lacking anything anyone should need to live a full, meaningful and as complete a life anyone should hope for.
Without any qualms, I am an atheist, and although I suppose things could always be better and/or they could be worse. That's life, but I am satisfied and content that things for me are better than for most people, and for the most part better than I deserve.
As per one of my favorite mottos; "Enough is as good as a feast." I am grateful.
As Deuteronomy 12:20 says 'your soul craves to eat meat'. So, our soul/person can eat meat whenever desired.
Adam was a living soul - Genesis 2:7 - at death sinner Adam became a dead soul - Gen. 3:19; Ezekiel 18:4,20
As with Adam being a soul blood travels through our veins - Jeremiah 2:34
One's soul can be sleepless.... Psalm 119:28
We can loose our soul (our life) according to Jesus at Matthew 16:26
Loose one's soul as in one's soul being destroyed according to Acts 3:23
But, it would be good to save one's soul from death - James 5:20; Leviticus 23:30
If the soul was immortal/ death proof it would not need any saving.
I suppose in very different ways, we are talking about the same things, and what might work for you and others certainly doesn't work the same way for me and others, but ultimately it boils down to "feeding" whatever it is that we humans feel a need to satisfy or nourish. For whatever our reasons. Though I strongly believe in these influences and ways of dealing with reality that serve us best (whatever ways they may be), I don't believe in a god or a soul, so my way is considerably different than yours.
Whatever the way, here's to achieving our ultimate goals whatever they may be. Grounded in reality or not. The truth of these matters as I perceive them to be, without a god, a soul or regardless how the holy books may read, is quite acceptable if not agreeable for me.
I was just thinking about the new head principal that showed up my first year of high school. He was a real jerk and wore a cowboy hat that had a plastic cover on it like you see on a couch. He used to impress himself as if he knew every soul in school. This happened at least a dozen times in my four years there, that he walked up to a group of kids I was among and he would go around the circle one by one and point at each kid and say their name, and every time he got to me, he didn't know my name, and I never told him.
As the Buddha is famous for saying, "you gotta let that crap go."
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