Posts Tagged ‘dogma’
Biophilism
“Beyond atonement theology,
Let us BE at-one-ment Reality –
as Eternal LOVE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.”
~ Dalai Lama
“There is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church where I kneel.
Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.
Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is illumined nothing,”
~ Rabia of Basra
“I have learned so much from God
That I can no longer call myself
a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew”
~ Hafiz
“Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion, or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, nor out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all.
I do not exist, am not an entity in this world or the next, did not descend from Adam and Eve or any origin story.
My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless. Neither body nor soul. I belong to the Beloved have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know,
First, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human.”
~ Rumi, Only Breath
“I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, and Confucian.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi
Ron’s Introduction to “Biophilism”
Dear Friends,
“Biophilism” is a poetic essay which declares our urgent need for a universal religion of LOVE.
The title “Biophilism” was derived from “biophilia”, which means “love of Life”. It’s interpretation is suggested by the above key quotations and by my following explanatory comments.
This essay is closely related to my Reflections on Religious Beliefs, which tell why humanity can no longer survive without universal ethical behaviors beyond conflicting religious beliefs.
Ron Rattner
Biophilism
The new millennium demands a new universal religion –
A religion of Love.
So, let us curb our dogmas
and park our hierarchies.
Let us leave atonement theology,
and live at-one-ment Reality.
Let us transcend our ism schisms
and live a Universal ism —
Biophilism –
The love of Life.
Let us live life
as love of Life.
Let us let go, and
let Life live us,
as
LOVE.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Biophilism”
Ron’s explanation of “Biophilism”
Dear Friends,
Many years ago the then obvious threat of nuclear war catastrophe inspired composition of the foregoing poetic essay, envisioning a new universal religion of LOVE.
After the horrendous 1945 US atomic bombings of the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and especially since the ‘miraculous’ resolution of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis between the USA and USSR, I have been deeply concerned by obviously insane dangers of a nuclear war catastrophe which would end earth life as we’ve known it. So I’ve long realized the urgent need to abolish all nuclear weapons, and all wars.
The “Biophilism” poetic essay was composed after my midlife spiritual awakening, long before the doomsday clock of the bulletin of atomic scientists was moved to 100 seconds to midnight. Since then we’ve experienced increasingly violent and politically polarized times, beyond those which motivated this essay. So the essay’s message is more urgently imperative now than ever before.
In order to avert current catastrophic threats to Life on our precious planet, humanity needs egalitarian societal organizations – beyond hierarchical religious organizations; we need democratically participatory organizations which promote and practice coexistence, compassion and cooperation over insanely autocratic domination and unsustainable exploitation of people and other lifeforms.
Though countless people have benefited from religions, it has become obvious that survival of Earth-life as we’ve known it urgently requires universal human ethics of empathy and LOVE, transcending current insanely polarized violence and turbulence.
Thus, today’s essay declares our urgent need for a new universal religion of LOVE. Although some may consider this declaration impractical or Utopian, I deem it not just feasible but evolutionarily imperative that we end and transcend current human warfare insanity.
As lovers of God and Nature, let us communally remember, envision and experience our true spiritual Self-Identity, which is Universal and Eternal LOVE!
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Seek Relief From Belief!
Q. “Is belief in God necessary or helpful?”
A. “Belief in any form is a hindrance.
A man who believes in God can never find God.
If you are open to reality, there can be no belief in reality.
If you are open to the unknown, there can be no belief in it.
… belief is a form of self-protection…”
“When the mind is completely empty –
only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.”
~ J. Krishnamurti
“In the pursuit of learning every day something is gained.
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.”
~ Lao Tzu
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
~ Buddha
Introduction to “Seek Relief From Belief!”
Dear Friends,
Today’s “Seek Relief From Belief!” posting epigrammatically encapsulates many crucial wisdom concepts with key quotations, comments, and sutra verses (with mp3 recitation) which can help us find ever expanding happiness.
Please consider and enjoy these writings.
Ron Rattner
Seek Relief From Belief!
As conception is body/mind’s inception,
Its imprisonment begins with conviction.
We are shackled
by illusory bonds of belief.
Freedom is beyond belief.
So, seek relief
from belief;
and get out of jail —
FREE.
Let us end our universal malaise –
our chronic belief syndrome.
Believing is deceiving.
To know what’s so,
Question credo.
Follow your faith,
But “dis” your belief,
Lose your illusions, and
Drop your dogmas.
Follow dharma, not dogma.
Seek relief from belief,
And find clarity
beyond doctrinairity.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Seek Relief From Belief!”
Ron’s explanation of “Seek Relief From Belief!”
My midlife awakening started a spiritual metamorphosis process from “Secular Hebrew”, to “Born-again Hindu”, to “Uncertain Undo”. Gradually I began letting go of previously accepted beliefs and concepts about Self-identity and Reality. Since it began over forty years ago, that process continues. And I’m still learning as an “Uncertain Undo”. In this posting I’m sharing some of my most important discoveries, so far.
Whimsically I’ve often proclaimed that I’m yet an ‘uncertain undo’ because
“on the path of Undo we’ll never be through
’til we’re an undone ONE”.
And as key motivational reminders my mottos became:
“Seek relief from belief”; and
“Undo Ego!”
So far I’ve discovered that “ego” is the greatest impediment to Self realization. Thus overcoming ego’s illusory self-identification as a supposedly separate entity is essential for realization of Absolute Reality.
Egoic misidentification can’t exist and persist without illusory beliefs about separate self-identity and perceived “reality”. And transcendance of ego requires learning truth from life experience. As Einstein asserted:
“The only source of knowledge is experience; … learning is experience, everything else .. just information.”
Thus Gautama Buddha taught that to Know Truth, we must each observe and investigate; that true wisdom can’t come from unquestioningly accepting and believing information from others:
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
~ Buddha
So today’s “Seek Relief From Belief!” posting includes important wisdom writings about experientially overcoming “belief” and resulting “ego”. For example, when twentieth century Indian sage, J. Krishnamurti, was asked “Is belief in God necessary or helpful?” , he responded:
“Belief in any form is a hindrance.
A man who believes in God can never find God.”
And Taoist master Lao Tzu epigrammatically revealed that we evolve toward attaining timeless states of being – sometimes called Tao or Zen – when gradually we give up our mistaken beliefs, saying
“In the pursuit of learning every day something is gained.
In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.”
~ Lao Tzu
Although often the words “belief” and “faith” are used synonymously, they are not so equated on SillySutras. In these writings, “belief” means adopting or accepting ideas of others that something or someone is true or exists, whereas “faith” means intuitive trust or confidence in Life, especially in the miraculous and mysterious Unknown. (See Belief or Faith?)
Thus, my memoirs explain that while ‘seeking relief from belief’ I’ve found a faith-based life, with ever growing gratitude and reverence for this precious life on our beautiful planet.
Dedication
May today’s “Seek Relief From Belief!” writings (and mp3 recitation) encourage and inspire our deep reflections upon mistaken beliefs about our perceived earthly Reality, and illusory separate Self identities, and thereby hasten our experiential realization of eternally timeless states of being, beyond this ever impermanent world of time and space.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Certainty and Uncertainty
“The whole problem with the world is that
fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves,
and wiser people so full of doubts.”
~ Bertrand Russell
“When questioning begins, certainty ends.
When certainty ends, wisdom begins.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein
“We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.”
~ Albert Einstein
“There is no certainty, there is only adventure.”
~ Roberto Assagioli
“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.”
~ Erich Fromm
Certainty and Uncertainty
Q. Is anything certain in life?
A. In space/time “reality”, the only certainty is impermanence or change.
Thus in this world, uncertainty is the only certainty.
But, in Absolute Reality beyond relativity there is only Mystery – the Mystery of Life.
So, ultimately, the only certainty in life, is the Mystery of Life itself.
For further consideration of uncertainty and Mystery here are a few apt sutra sayings:
Sutra sayings about certainty and uncertainty
Uncertainty is the mother of Mystery
– Mystery of Divinity.
In relative reality nothing’s certain but uncertainty.
Certainty certainly masks Mystery.
As we open to Mystery,
we transcend shackles of certainty,
ever enhancing possibilities
of realizing our potentialities.
The fewer our certainties, the greater our possibilities.
With complete uncertainty, we have infinite potentiality.
Everything is possible when nothing is inevitable.
So, absolutely, we seek absolution from absolutism.
Ron’s recitation of Certainty and Uncertainty sayings
Ron’s Comments About Certainty and Uncertainty :
Dear Friends,
Have you ever been absolutely certain about something or someone,
and later learned that your certainty was mistaken?
If so, especially in these turbulent times of worldwide pandemic panic, controversy and divisiveness, please consider the foregoing writings about certainty and uncertainty.
Throughout recorded history, in order to evolve, human societies have been compelled to abandon previously cherished inflexible beliefs about religion, science, philosophy etc. which motivated evil and harmful behaviors, limited learning, and impeded progress.
How could we have advanced believing that the earth was flat, or that it was the center of our solar system?
Thanks to ‘uncertainty’ theory, we’ve learned from quantum physicists that what we’ve believed to be physical ‘reality’ isn’t really real; that ultimate “Reality” is indescribable consciousness emanating from an ever mysterious matrix.
“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
~ Niels Bohr, quantum physicist
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
~ Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Although some fallible world “leaders” may seem insanely overconfident and “certain” of themselves, Earth’s suffering citizens can best address critical crises by carefully questioning and nonviolently resisting all “official” certainties which can cause harm or deter needed advancement.
For example, multi-billionaire Bill Gates, a software technocrat and eugenicist, with absolutely no medical or biological academic or clinical training, is currently asserting with certainty (as a self-proclaimed health authority) that all humans worldwide must be vaccinated against current coronavirus pandemic pathogens, though no such vaccine exists, and it would take years to properly develop and scientifically test such a vaccine. But numerous expert research virologists, epidemiologists, biologists, health academics and clinicians have challenged Gates’ assertions. And independent researchers have adduced factual evidence controverting Gates, including reports by his former family physician that Gates refused to have his own children vaccinated. (See e.g. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/)
Similarly, many world governments and autocratic bureaucrats, especially in the USA, are rushing to install admittedly untested so-called 5G wireless networks, drones, and satellites as ‘certainly’ needed for progress, despite overwhelming independent scientific studies implicating these technologies as dangerously harmful to health of all humans and other bio-forms on this planet. (See e.g. We Have No Reason to Believe 5G Is Safe.)
Thus, to preserve all life on our precious planet and to evolve beyond imminently threatened cataclysms we must open-mindedly and nonviolently, but unrelentingly, resist all deluded autocrats and bureaucrats who could insanely and ignorantly end earth-life as we have known it.
Invocation
With quiet minds and open hearts may we ever remember that Nature is our nature, and compassionately honor the spiritual essence and equality of everyone everywhere.
May we thereby nonviolently resist and transcend all mistaken ‘certainties’ that create harm and greed.
And thus may we democratically overcome all insanely unsustainable and greedy exploitation of our precious planet, and unjust discrimination against vulnerable sentient beings, and the iniquity of inequity in our societies.
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Be an Open Skeptic
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it.”
~ Buddha
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
Be an Open Skeptic
Be a skeptic.
Doubt dogma.
Question the unquestionable.
Contest “common wisdom”.
Hear the heretic, whose words are prophetic.
Be ever open, to receiving uncommon wisdom –
From your Heart!
Ron’s audio recitation of Be an Open Skeptic
