Murky Clarity
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Hello, Salam, Greetings, Com-passion, etc.
I joined freeminds long ago. Like others who have posted here, I have views of religion, spirituality, cosmology and Allah/God that many Muslims (and others) do not accept.
In fact, when I say I read "the scriptures", I include the New Testament, less often Torah and Psalms, and others. I read them with reservation, as inspiration rather than for absolute knowledge. I even read Hindu writings. ??? Their authors were among the earliest in that area to contemplate on the Divine and attempt to find ways to express what is difficult if not impossible to express well. I like to begin the day reading inspirational things - scriptures and books about the Nature of God/Allah. My personal understanding of God/Allah, and bringing my life into harmony with His own nature and will/desire, is more important to me than the books. I am ready to set the book down in order to meet the Divine, rather than set the true and genuine Divine aside in favor of book-worship. (I am not Sufi.) I do this alone. There is no one around me who has either the desire to begin days this way, or a desire to read scriptures beyond whichever one they believe is the only true one. Sometimes I attend a religious meeting, listen to a presentation centered on one or another type of scripture, keep silent -X and sad that the people cannot see the beauty of a companion scripture which they unfortunately not only do not accept but actively reject, nor see the wisdom of a people of another religion. There is a certain spiritual loneliness in this. When both father and mother believe the child must follow only one or the other, the child is in agony. '(
I appreciate the links to sites and books here. They have proven to be a boon to my education. Some are also inspiring in their own ways.
I am a native English speaker, but can read and (almost) communicate in Esperanto and Spanish, less so in German, French. If you wish to message me in one of those languages, I might understand a little of it and attempt a reply. confused Learning Arabic has been a tremendous difficulty, but I'm still trying. So no Arabic for now, due to my slow learning.
Forgive me for not having posted an introduction till now. I hope I have not been confusing or misspoken. Who knows if I'll post again.
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Welcome to your first post on the forum. Surprised to see a member registered in 2005 posting for the first time in 2014.
I am ready to set the book down in order to meet the Divine, rather than set the true and genuine Divine aside in favor of book-worship.
Totally agreed. Wondering if you've ever compiled a list of similar concepts in different writings since you seem to have read quite a diverse range. If you do, I'd be very interested in reading it, was something I started on a while back but never really did much with.peace
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;D Yeah, I'm slow alright. Frankly, well, this is hard to say, but I couldn't be sure how real this site was. I mean, who expects anyone to say they believe Quran, but don't rely on Hadith? That surprised me, even though I, too, believe the Quran can be read and understood, at some level, without hadith. ?This is the book, in it is guidance for sure without doubt, to those who fear Allah?. (22) - ?They are invited to the book of Allah to settle their dispute?. (323) - ?A book revealed unto you, so that your heart be not in any difficulty on that account, with it you may warn and teach the believers?. (72) - ?Lo! this Qur?an guides to that which is most upright?. (179) - ?These are the verses of the book that make things clear?. (262). Quran and Tafsir is a good combination.
Then I've read posts terribly condemning Quran-only. And I'm afraid I'll say something that will make me look just as ignorant as I really am about the Quran, that I'll be ostracized. I have not read it very many times, and I don't know enough Arabic yet,
though I can recite short surahs in Arabic. sunI don't have a compilation like you described, but I have books like "World Scriptures" which gives passages from scriptures of different religions, arranged topically. I have not read that for a few years, though. I suppose one thing keeping me from an all-inclusive compilation is the sheer magnitude of such a thing. "World Scriptures" leaves more out than it includes, and that's over 800 pages. I don't have that much time!
Sometimes I'll jot down a reference to the Qur'an in the margins of a book. Or a reference to the Bible in the margins of an English-language tafsir. Tafsir do that themselves.
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Hello, Salam, Greetings, Com-passion, etc.
Shalom, Namaste, Om Svasti
welcomeI joined freeminds long ago. Like others who have posted here, qyote]I have views of religion, spirituality, cosmology and Allah/God that many Muslims (and others) do not accept.
Great.. don't worry too much about labeling, it really doesn't matter.
In fact, when I say I read "the scriptures", I include the New Testament, less often Torah and Psalms, and others. I read them with reservation, as inspiration rather than for absolute knowledge. I even read Hindu writings. ???
Splendid..
My personal understanding of God/Allah, and bringing my life into harmony with His own nature and will/desire, is more important to me than the books. I am ready to set the book down in order to meet the Divine, rather than set the true and genuine Divine aside in favor of book-worship.
Perfect..
There is no one around me who has either the desire to begin days this way, or a desire to read scriptures beyond whichever one they believe is the only true one.
Don't worry pal, at least you got me with similar attitude..
Sometimes I attend a religious meeting, listen to a presentation centered on one or another type of scripture, keep silent -X and sad that the people cannot see the beauty of a companion scripture which they unfortunately not only do not accept but actively reject, nor see the wisdom of a people of another religion.
Originated from childish characteristic of 'human ego', my religion is the best religion, my holy book is the best book, my holy man/woman is the best man/woman or sometimes a deity as well etc..
I am a native English speaker, but can read and (almost) communicate in Esperanto and Spanish, less so in German, French. If you wish to message me in one of those languages, I might understand a little of it and attempt a reply. confused Learning Arabic has been a tremendous difficulty, but I'm still trying. So no Arabic for now, due to my slow learning.
A polyglot, great!
Once you learned Spanish, learning French and Italiano should be fairly easy for you.. or the other way around..
Once you learned Arabic, learning Hebrew should be fairly easy for you, or the other way around..And trust me, you don't know what 'difficult' really mean until you've tried to learn Mandarin Chinese..
The above mentioned language are peanuts compared to Mandarin.Salam / Peace
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Harmony with you,
Nice that you have finally got around presenting yoursel nice to read about the experience of others. You are right that book-idolatry is a big trap for people. I read other ones although mostly focused on odd versions of the Gospel not canonized into The Bible. The most recent I read was even regarded as heretical in the second century AD. I think it was not idolatrous enough and Jesus looks more like the prophet he was than a "son of a god". It is a very similar to Matthew, but interestingly many passages giving Jesus god-status are missing. And it also contains passages not found in the canonized versions which give a more "Earthly" Jesus. It may be the original Matthew which people later "cut and pasted" from. The order of narration is different.
What always puzzled me is the genealogy of Jesus is printed out as if it mattered if Jesus was a biological offspring of God. In tradition the father's bloodline is what matters historically And it says that Jesus is the son of Mary, even in the Bible, because he lacks a father and where sons are usually called son of their father. But if God is recognized as biological father then Jesus would be called son of God and no genealogical tree associated to that because God is not begotten and it would stop on God.
Hence it does not add up. The point is that if God was the father the genealogy would be redundant to add because it always stems from the father's side. Just a good point to mention to stubborn Trinity Christians.
I have also studied Native American (Indian) faith a little, as well as touched the surface of Buddhism and Hinduism. Remove the Buddha in Buddhism and you have a better "religion" than "Islam". The kind of spirituality I like among these people except their idol obsession just like other faiths. Their kind of meditation is a good concentration technique to "know God" because you shield away the pollution of this world and think clearly, if you remove the hocus pocus.
Of course if you work hard with that you can always be in a meditative trance (tranquility) also whenever you are not (actively) meditating. Quite useful. Things will not go in slowmotion but your perception of the world will be greatly enhanced and each second will feel longer in concentration making you good in martial arts too. And with no anger/emotions in and neutrality in fighting or any other deed even talking you will perform better. Our (weak) emotions is our worst enemy, could be regarded as Satan.
And when you meditate we could say we search within God comfort. Difficult to explain really. But in a way we are part of God but not God, but part of The Singularity we come from that is called God. We ought to become one with it in mind as well as deed. The entire struggle in this life is about purifying our soul and become one with The Singularity rather than an "anomaly" completely unaware and incompatible. These "viruses" will be rejected from The Singularity when it contracts back everything to Oneness.
Be whole
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;D Yeah, I'm slow alright. Frankly, well, this is hard to say, but I couldn't be sure how real this site was. I mean, who expects anyone to say they believe Quran, but don't rely on Hadith? That surprised me, even though I, too, believe the Quran can be read and understood, at some level, without hadith. ?This is the book, in it is guidance for sure without doubt, to those who fear Allah?. (22) - ?They are invited to the book of Allah to settle their dispute?. (323) - ?A book revealed unto you, so that your heart be not in any difficulty on that account, with it you may warn and teach the believers?. (72) - ?Lo! this Qur?an guides to that which is most upright?. (179) - ?These are the verses of the book that make things clear?. (262). Quran and Tafsir is a good combination.
Personally, our own tafsir is what matters the most. Other peoples tafsirs I consider at the best interesting and at the worst irrelevant and/or damaging.Then I've read posts terribly condemning Quran-only. And I'm afraid I'll say something that will make me look just as ignorant as I really am about the Quran, that I'll be ostracized. I have not read it very many times, and I don't know enough Arabic yet,
though I can recite short surahs in Arabic. sun
We are always going to be ignorant of something or the other, we go through stages. It's best to know ourselves and what's important, to keep our fears of being ridiculed and/or ostracization lower in the priority list in the context of the bigger picture. So what if someone calls you something, makes you look stupid or whatever, if it's true we can work on it, it's not bad to be honest, to know our boundaries and whether we can create newer ones...it's not as if we are experts on things from the get go, we earn our way to a better understanding...and if it's not true, it's irrelevant.I don't have a compilation like you described, but I have books like "World Scriptures" which gives passages from scriptures of different religions, arranged topically. I have not read that for a few years, though. I suppose one thing keeping me from an all-inclusive compilation is the sheer magnitude of such a thing. "World Scriptures" leaves more out than it includes, and that's over 800 pages. I don't have that much time!
Thanks for the reference, sounds interesting. I know right, it is a massive undertaking to have a comprehensive list on the subject.
Sometimes I'll jot down a reference to the Qur'an in the margins of a book. Or a reference to the Bible in the margins of an English-language tafsir. Tafsir do that themselves.
Yeah, was looking for a more personal list giving a priority to clear cut similarities in different 'religions' (maybe even cultural similarities, particularly religiously derived) preferably arranged in a time line...if you or anyone else comes across something like that, lmk.