Thalassa
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- Joined
- May 3, 2009
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Clearly we understand that different religions have different names for what is commonly referred to as God, and that some religions don't even name a god, but may say that the source of all life is the universe or the Tao (the Tao is not a god, and in religious - rather than philosophical - Taoism, all of the gods came from the Tao, just as all things do).
Though the term New Age is commonly derided as having a shaky philosophical basis, as being flaky or silly, something faddish or kooky that hippies, hipsters, and neo-pagans indulge in...isn't it possible that the New Age actually stands for something that is actually powerful and transcendent, something that is actually quite spiritually solid that seeks an individual spiritual path that may have the heightened consciousness to recognize the similarity in multiple faiths?
For example, I do not belong to ISKCON (in case anyone was curious from my avatar and tag line) but I have noticed that I have a deep, abiding sense of belonging in yoga studios that happen to have a nod toward Bhakti, kirtan, and/or some form of Krishna consciousness. How can this be? I was never in attendance at one of their special feasts or meetings, and my intellectual knowledge of ISKCON mainly is reliant upon memories of jokes my uncle told about handing out flowers at the airport, like it was some silly cult. I still have no plans to "join."
But I'm fascinated by the fact that I enjoy kirtan so much, and that I just HAPPENED to feel the most comfortable in another city at a Bhakti studio, and it was the third yoga studio in that city I had sampled, while my regular studio for practice has kirtan and other really mild (though not at all exclusive) krishna consciousness elements (no meat allowed in the studio, kirtan meetings once per month, japa beads sold in the front office).
These studios are where I feel most "at home" and its completely natural. I was reading about George Harrison and his belief in the Hare Krishna mantra, and how no intellectual knowledge is required of it for it to work as an enlightening meditation to connect one with the God consciousness.
It's like how I've always felt very moved and spiritual inside Catholic cathedrals though I never officially converted to that faith; I was actually last officially a member of a Lutheran church, which is Catholic-like but still protestant, and I was raised in a more conservative evangelical-style (but a very mild, very reserved and understated form of it) protestant environment.
Do you think its possible we can just be attuned to a certain level of consciousness, even if we don't intellectually prescribe to a certain format of a particular faith?
It's like how Buddhists believe there are many paths to nirvana.
Eh?
Though the term New Age is commonly derided as having a shaky philosophical basis, as being flaky or silly, something faddish or kooky that hippies, hipsters, and neo-pagans indulge in...isn't it possible that the New Age actually stands for something that is actually powerful and transcendent, something that is actually quite spiritually solid that seeks an individual spiritual path that may have the heightened consciousness to recognize the similarity in multiple faiths?
For example, I do not belong to ISKCON (in case anyone was curious from my avatar and tag line) but I have noticed that I have a deep, abiding sense of belonging in yoga studios that happen to have a nod toward Bhakti, kirtan, and/or some form of Krishna consciousness. How can this be? I was never in attendance at one of their special feasts or meetings, and my intellectual knowledge of ISKCON mainly is reliant upon memories of jokes my uncle told about handing out flowers at the airport, like it was some silly cult. I still have no plans to "join."
But I'm fascinated by the fact that I enjoy kirtan so much, and that I just HAPPENED to feel the most comfortable in another city at a Bhakti studio, and it was the third yoga studio in that city I had sampled, while my regular studio for practice has kirtan and other really mild (though not at all exclusive) krishna consciousness elements (no meat allowed in the studio, kirtan meetings once per month, japa beads sold in the front office).
These studios are where I feel most "at home" and its completely natural. I was reading about George Harrison and his belief in the Hare Krishna mantra, and how no intellectual knowledge is required of it for it to work as an enlightening meditation to connect one with the God consciousness.
It's like how I've always felt very moved and spiritual inside Catholic cathedrals though I never officially converted to that faith; I was actually last officially a member of a Lutheran church, which is Catholic-like but still protestant, and I was raised in a more conservative evangelical-style (but a very mild, very reserved and understated form of it) protestant environment.
Do you think its possible we can just be attuned to a certain level of consciousness, even if we don't intellectually prescribe to a certain format of a particular faith?
It's like how Buddhists believe there are many paths to nirvana.
Eh?