If faith is an expression, however simplified, of
truth as it is, even though it is not understood, then it can
work, like poetry, because the words and ideas are stronger than
those using them know. 

And then I return to this view of religion - that obviously in many
ways, perhaps in all ways, it cannot be true but the structure of
behaviour, of ideas, which religion offers us can  be helpful, may be vital
to our continued existence as conscious human beings. 

And we use the terminology of old religion so far as it is valuable and
demonstrates some imprecise insight into what has been happening
and will happen.  

Consciousness is a potentiality of matter

The non-existence of the soul, of the mind, as something separate, is
the only guarantee of truth    


Matter produces truth as inevitably as a stone falls to
the ground    

Decay of God.  God! Strike me with lightning!   

Man has never been the same since God died. 

If there is a God, how would we know what difference it
would make or ought to make?  

If there is not a God, how would one know what difference it would make
or ought to make? 

Who else knows whether or not there is a God?  

How did they come to know?  

Why should we believe it?  

How have we come to give importance to the question whether or
not there is a God?  

Why cannot we ask "is there a boojum"? 

Are there more important or interesting questions to ask
than whether or not there is a God?   


To think that we could grasp the plan or system if  'God' had a plan or
system is the delusion of primitive minds. We can plant seeds or grow
crystals. 'God's' seed or crystal is unfathomable - if there is 'God'   


'God' might set ticking the evolutionary universe, to allow this
complex to work out its own direction, its own future - of which mankind
would be one minute element, one possible line of development. We need
not
be constrained by the chances of any particular history or fable.
We would come to recognise that this universe is a choice, a
selection out of an infinite number of possibilities - the wonder
is that it is this, and that we find ourselves a part of it,
looking at it as best we can


What interest could God have in creating a human race?  - or setting
in train the process of evolution of life and beyond?  How could God
communicate his existence - except by remarkable coincidences, the
facilitation of progress and discovery?  



If there were 'God', 'God's' action would be subtle far beyond all our
speculation.   If 'God' for some purpose spoke to us, how could we
recognise 'God's' voice? Like our own voice, like no voice, like not-voice?


We ascribe personhood, intelligence and goodness to 'God' to flatter
ourselves, to make 'God' in what we believe to be our own
likeness. But we do not understand even our own awareness, our
own feeling of self, our own intelligence, our own aspiration to
goodness and 'God' if there is 'God' would be so much more, so
much beyond us. We could only say 'O altitudo'.   


In addressing God we show that we think of God in some way as a
person to whom words can be addressed. I can hardly say 'Oh, Universe -
hear me!' though I can say 'O God, hear me!' But when we address people, we
do so because we believe in their existence, in the existence of
something that can be affected by our words. How can I pray, in the form
of prayer which is like speaking to an individual?  But I still feel the
need for this kind of prayer - perhaps prayer rather than contemplation
and meditation - prayer in a spirit recognising the mystery of all
existence, of my existence, the mystery of our prayer. 


Spare me, world, spare me, God - have mercy on me  

In the meditation one cannot say, Oh God, Oh Universe, oh space and
time, - but one can say - how mysterious it is, this God, this universe, 
this space and time - how mysterious that I could be a part of it, of
them. 

The self
is a construct (of the internal) as God is a construct (of the
external)   

'God' as a concept of energetic significance, a concept
physiologically (biochemically, muscularly) cancelling the
concept of 'self' ?

So God - the one who is not us, not me, not the whole struggling
humanity, is an essential idea to complete ourselves, to define
ourselves. The suffering of others, of another, his death for us, is an
expression of the linking of feeling which must unite humanity, will unite
humanity at some time in the future.  

 I begin to see room for ( ! ) the possibility of God in the
universe - but a future God or one without any of the trappings,
the rubbish, the childishness, attached to the historical God.
You see, I must be stern with God!   


So that we realise that we are taking part in the coming to being
of "God" in the universe  This God being the expression of the
direction in which the Universe is developing  So that when God
comes into being, the present, future and past of material
existence will be united in a single timeless knowledge, looking
out over all time and all space  And by the coming to being of
this God who will sweep up the past into the consciousness of
God, the whole of existence becomes a timeless unity  And each
being will form part of this existence 

Nor is this new perception a narrowly human
feeling. All creatures, all organisms, have contributed, are
contributing to the forward movement. History is continuous with
pre-history and with post-history. We shall say:'God' has come into being. 

Can there be religious love? This is said in the Western Christian
tradition to take two forms: love thy neighbour and love God.
Other religions have developed intense practices of the
'mystical' love of God, or of gods, though non-Christian
religions place less or no emphasis on love of one's fellow-man
as such. The love of God is a more difficult idea. If
love is a transfer of the self-centre, the centre of gravity of
oneself, with the incorporation of a model of the other along
with or in the model of one's self, then how can a model of God
be said to be incorporated in or introduced alongside the model
of one's self? What can we know about God or how can we
empathetically perceive God? 

I am searching for a new form of prayer, prayer as an activity that
takes me beyond myself. But all contemplation of the world, of
life, of other people,of the totality of what is, can do this.
All recognition of my own littleness, my own weakness, my own
insignificance in the whole of things, can do this. All
contemplation of my birth and very soon death, of the clouds over
my head, and of the reality of love as a force binding together,
bringing together all our knowledge of the Universe, 
and with it all our life and cultures. 

  
**************************************************


As one who listens to another speaking from a high tower

The ever-present miracle of the universe and our own lives

The noble longing for the truth of the scientist is exactly the same
as the longing of the spiritual man for God, for God is Truth

A lamp whose light is steady, for it burns in a shelter where no winds
come

This calm steadiness of the senses is called Yoga

The path is narrow as the edge of a razor

Keep the mind pure, for what a man thinks that he becomes

Ser, nada mas. Y basta.

Man should not dispute or assert, but whisper results to his
neighbour

Can we know what allows us to be conscious of our own consciousness?

It is not thought we should want to know: we should know the thinker

Darkness was hidden in darkness.

He only knows, or perhaps he knows not.

****************************************************


The spirit is not this, is not this, cannot be comprehended, cannot
pass away, is beyond suffering and fear

Those who know him who is the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, the
mind of the mind and the life of life

He that does good becomes good 

At the point of the heart a light shines

How can the knower be known?

Who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings,
loses all fear

Who impels us to utter these words?

The word that all the Vedas glorify, that word is
the highest end

Beyond the spirit in man is the spirit of the universe

The soul dwells within us, a flame the size of a thumb

As pure water raining on pure water becomes one and the same

Follow the spiritual path of the North

Beyond thought and invisible, beyond family and colour, neither eyes
nor ears, neither hands nor feet, everlasting and omnipresent, infinite
in the great and infinite in the small

Wandering in the paths of unwisdom

Those who in purity and faith live in the solitude of the forest, who
have wisdom and peace and long not for earthly possessions

He who knows all and sees all

In the supreme golden chamber

Their passions have gone

As rivers flowing into the ocean find their final peace and their name
and form disappear

In truth who knows god becomes god

The awakened life of supreme consciousness ... peace and love

The wandering swan of the soul The wandering swan everlasting

With whom shall we compare him whose glory is the whole universe

Who is the driver of the chariot?

In the consciousness of Brahman the universe is

He alone is awake in eternity.

God is sound and silence. 

It is not mind we should want to know: we should know the thinker

Because Brahman is prayer

I have gone beyond the universe and the light of the sun is my light

In the inner world Brahman is consciousness; in the outer world all
this
universe is in truth Brahman.

The reality is clay

I am above and below. I am the whole universe

The word is behind all names

**************************************************

Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful

The sage does not hoard Having given all he has to others, he is
richer still

To know yet to think one does not know is best

A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet

The sage desires not to desire

Even if a man is not good why should he be abandoned?

The sage shines but does not dazzle

One who knows does not speak

The great way is easy but the people prefer by-paths

The way gives them life

Those who are not good I also treat as good

There is no crime greater than having too many desires

The great image has no shape

The highest renown is without renown

The way is for ever nameless

There is no glory in victory

The sage abandons no one

Born before heaven and earth Silent and void It stands alone and does
not change I know not its name So I style it  'the way'

A gusty wind cannot last all morning

He does not boast and so endures

In every movement a man of great virtue Follows the way and the way
only

As a thing the way is Shadowy, indistinct Yet within it is an image

Calm like the sea Like a high wind that never ceases

I do my utmost to attain emptiness I hold firmly to stillness

Can you polish your mysterious mirror?

Better to hold fast to the void

The way that can be named Is not the constant way

**********************************************

Zen, a comprehensive term for the experience of Reality

No-Mind

Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond

Show me your mind

Seeing into one's own nature

Non-duality

No thinking will achieve Zen

What can I do to be free? Who puts you under restraint?

Let the mind alight nowhere

Be serene in the oneness of things

The perfect way when freed from hate and love

Zen is the Universe itself


*****************************************************

Those who know do not speak

Such a tide as, moving, seems to sleep

There is no other time than this instant

Man as a process rather than entity

Playing the stringless lute

One seeks and seeks, but cannot find. One then gives up, and the answer
comes by itself.

What is the Tao? A cloud in the sky and water in the jug.

No one notices him because he does not notice himself

The fish swims in the water but is unmindful of the water

When it's time to get dressed, put on your clothes

To arrive at reality - at suchness

The ordinary mind is the Tao

No image sticks in the mirror

In walking, just walk

An eye that sees, but cannot see itself

I was the cosmos

Trees show the bodily form of the wind

Playing the lute under the moon

Riding an ox in search of the ox

The Tao like the empty sky

Not founded on words and letters Pointing directly to the human mind

Bring out your mind and I will pacify it!

All grasping is futile for there is nothing to be grasped

The mind simply perceives without words or concepts

Remove the hindrances to the clarity of awareness

Fire cannot burn itself

************************************************************


After experience had taught me that  all the usual surroundings of
social life are vain and futile I finally resolved to find whether, in
fact, there might be anything of which the discovery and attainment
would
enable me to enjoy continuous, supreme, and unending happiness.

Love towards a thing eternal and infinite feeds the mind wholly with
joy

Man conceives a human character much more stable than his own and
sees that there is no reason why he should not himself acquire such a
character. That character is the knowledge of the union existing
between the mind and the whole of nature.

I wish to direct all sciences to one end and aim

The sum total of being

The eternal and infinite Being, which we call God or Nature

Virtue is nothing but action in accordance with the laws of one's own
nature

Wherefore he strives to conceive things as they really are

It is impossible that man should not be a part of nature

The endeavour of the better part of ourselves is in harmony with the
order of nature as a whole

Complete acquiescence is the result of the right way of life

As regards the human mind, I believe that it also is a part of nature;
there exists in nature an infinite power of thinking, which in so far as it
is infinite contains subjectively the whole of nature, and its thoughts
proceed in the same manner as nature.  I take the human mind to be
identical with this said power; the human mind is part of  an infinite
understanding

God has no personal qualities since he is not a being independent of,
or separate from, the universe. The proper attitude is the appreciation
of the divine character of everything, through understanding the nature
of reality. Through comprehending the structure of the universe, by
means of grasping the vast scientific system that determines the
various specific events of the cosmos, one is expressing the
intellectual love of God, and recognising the pantheistic character of
the world. 

Strictly speaking, God does not love or hate anyone  

God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things 

By God I mean a substance consisting in infinite attributes, of which
each expression is eternal and infinite essentiality 

The power whereby each particular thing and
consequently man, preserves his being, is the power of God or
Nature - the infinite power of Nature  

The eternal and infinite being, which we call God or Nature, acts by
the same necessity as that whereby it exists 

I believe the human mind is a part of nature;  there
exists in nature an infinite power of thinking which, insofar as
it is infinite, contains subjectively the whole of nature and its
thoughts precisely in the same manner as nature.  I take the
human mind to be identical with this said power - insofar as it
is finite and perceives only the human body;  in this manner, I
maintain, the human mind is a part of an infinite understanding
[but perhaps this infinite understanding does not yet exist?]

If the universe is everywhere and in all its parts alive  
The identity of God and the universal nature is conceived as a
physical identity  

Life to be lived in accordance with the whole nature of the universe,
which is identical with God

By this kind of discussion, we begin to define God 

An insight deeper than common into the nature and powers of the
human mind and its union with the human body (Oldenburg to Spinoza)

 Sources: various including Upanishads, Rig Veda, Lao Tzu, Tao Te
Ching, Christmas Humphreys, Juan Mascaro, Alan Watts, Spinoza, RMA, GMR