This course was very informative, thought provoking and enlightening. It reminded me of past knowledge renewed and also new knowledge learned.
This essay will state and confirm what I have learned and agree and disagree with and also the thoughts it provoked.
I believe this is a very worthwhile and important course for ministry.
Scientific-minded people are left wanting more meaning in life. This lack of meaning in their life drives such people towards spiritual enlightenment.
Science it self has progressed to the point that it has it self proven that mysticism is at the heart of all things. Some scientists believe that we are but a collection of atoms. Science-minded people think that all things can be known and explained by man.
This would be very much God like, but to think that we are but a collection of atoms and no more than that. Where's the meaning to life if we are but atoms? The utter lack of meaning to life is known as nihilism.
Have we so deluded our selves to think that there is such a thing as a soul, a mind and a life without meaning? I think not !
Along that line of thinking, I would agree that this type of thinking in a person is definitely an open invitation to minister to those needing guidance and meaning in their life.
With out purpose and meaning, why live? I agree that existentialism is one of the 20th century philosophical frauds that embraced diverse doctrines.
I believe that we can help these people through knowledge and compassion.
Einstein helped with his theory of relativity, in viewing the universe in relative terms opposed to mechanical terms, this mechanical term way of thinking was every thing being machine like that started as a collection of matter that would one day come to nonexistence. This was Nietzche's philosophical view. His famous statement was that 'God is dead.'
Bah hum bug I say !!!
He thought that he had learned so much that God was unnecessary, he disregarded moral values, he believed that will and power ruled for a self serving purpose. Not Jesus like at all.
Altruism was not his belief, unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others.
Then this led to further refinement up to our day. Existentialism is the big bang theory.
This theory is that the big bang created the universe. There was a creation of stars that die, planets form, elements combine forming life.
Man evolved conscious thought. Then the belief is that mysticism and God were created
(made up) because man could not face his own morality.
This was to appease the ego.
Descartes had reduced the universe to a mere giant machine, but at least he still realized consciousness as coming first in creation. His famous saying was 'I think therefore I am'.
This implied that the soul of the man came first and all other things followed.
I was not at all surprised to learn that atheism was influenced by Descartes after reading about his beliefs. He only recognized what the human mind can acknowledge exists
Werner Heisenberg discovered the true nature of matter and changed the world.
He discovered that people can not predict the form that matter will take when it comes into existence. This is known as the uncertainty principle.
God is forever creating the world we see through the consciousness that we think of as being our own. We are in fact a small part of the collective consciousness of God. We are all a part of the whole.
I also agree that in regards to the power of thought and how our minds interact with the energy of the universe to create the world we live in. It is like prayer, it works wonders.
I believe that this is why science is one of those wonderful wondrous miracles that manifest.
If you think about all those minds concentrating on the same out come, it makes sense that it will come to be. There with in their faith lies (scientific faith ) and in understanding the science minded faith, as being parallel to our faith, we begin to understand how to minister to them. Science gives different names to God. Ultimately they can come to see the similarities of their faith and a God based faith and the wholeness they can have through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
The idea of the power of thought was shared by good old Aristotle in his belief that there only had to be a potential of form for it to exist.
God creates the world through us. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is our savior.
It states in the Bible that no man comes to the Father but through him. ( John 14:6)
This is how we speak to God, through Jesus.
I agree that there is two kinds of people in this world, those seeking and those who have found the truth.
Socrates said 'the most important thing you can do is know thyself' His wisdom was based on not knowing anything absolutely. The realization of only being able to believe in and live in the moment at hand.
I believe that we are in very trying times, as has been prophesized to come to pass in the Bible. B= Basic I= Instructions B= Before L= leaving E= Earth
As you can see, I rely on my Bible based faith and the Holy Spirit to guide me through life.
I agree that we do place limits on ourselves as God is not bound by human limitations.
I also agree with your statement about greatness coming from an upheaval, pain and suffering. I believe that there must be a test for there to be a testimony. God will get our attention one way or another. This is not always something that is pleasant nor understandable by us.
This is not because he is angry at us or dislikes us, it's because he loves us and desires a close relationship with us. We at times may feel forsaken, but we are always forgiven and loved. One must be willing to accept the forgiveness to receive it, you must be able to forgive yourself and to leave it at the cross.
Arrogance, pride and strife only render and limit our closeness to God.
We are to be ambassadors of Christ. We are to be Jesus like, this is also God like in our thinking, talking and actions.
We as children of God are striving for the same purpose, no matter the name or title you place on it. It does not matter if it be Buddha, Allah or the energy force of the universe.
We are sure to make great strides and become less limited in life if we only walk, talk and speak out of compassion and love. W. W. J. D.
What would Jesus do.
I am the type of person to plant a seed, an idea and let God help it grow with in that person.
If this person is open to ministry and I feel that the door has been opened up for a work to begin, then I am in there with all I can offer that is of use to this brother or sister.
I will only debate another's thoughts and opinions to a certain point. If they are open to knowing what I have to share then as I stated before, I am all for it.
This of course is always done with compassion and love guided by the Holy Spirit.
I had never really thought about the white garb worn by the doctor's and scientists as ceremonial before, but if you think about it, it is a recognition type of thing.
I do know that all that is available to these people have been made available to them through the elements on this earth created by God. As far as them being great and magical with healing powers and superior minds, I have to state that the great physician is Jesus, he heals, he has and will continue to heal, as is stated in the Bible. Rather these doctors and scientists realize it or not, they have been blessed with their abilities to do good with the gifts provided to them by God. This would include but is not limited to their minds, not all of us are cut out to be and do what they are and do. Also as stated all the elements made available to them to do their work. We can not make herbs, nor can we make any of the minerals that come from the earth and etc. You get the idea.
I had not ever thought about the ego as controlling part of a person
but I definitely agree after reading about your thoughts and mulling it over in my mind, that the ego is a constant battle within that I now understand.
I have in just the past year, since my call to ministry come to realize that we are the body, a part of the grater whole. I also had not viewed evil as something that does not exist.
I can see how it is absorbed by good and therefore becomes non existent.
I was very enlightened by the platonic view of science minded and spiritually minded people, how they are holding onto only half of reality and not applying the other half. How the mind has created what is and is not at the same time into being by a mere thought. Wow !!!!
This was deep and food for thought to say the least. The thought of symbols being created by man for the things that language can not define.
I have learned in a different way in regards to the representation of the reconciliation of opposites.
These are all one:
Good & Evil, Life & Death, Physical & Non-Physical, Physics & Metaphysics,
God & Energy, Prayer & Meditation, ect….You can come up with many more if you try.
I was also enlightened by what I learned about Saint Augustine, how he merged the philosophy of Plato and Christian ethics. Platonic doctrine had a profound influence on Christianity that is still influential to this day. Christianity had no philosophy per say of it's own, Augustine gave it one through the incorporation of Platonic doctrine.
He outlined concepts such as heaven, the soul being a perfect form of ourselves and when we die we will go to Heaven and live in perfection and harmony for eternity.
Jesus did state that the Kingdom of heaven is within you, but I do have to state that I believe in scripture as it is written in the Bible. In the New Testament it is written in the book of John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. In the Old Testament Genesis 1:1 it does state that God created the heavens and the earth, also Revelation10:6 states “and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it and the earth and all it contains. I could go on and on in regards to this topic of heaven being written in the Bible, but I choose to merely state that I am not stating that you are wrong or that I am right, just quoting scripture. It all just depends on what you believe in. We all know that the Bible has been changed, how much is a question that I believe will remain unanswered.
I totally agree that there are some definite problems with organized religion that turns a lot of people away from churches. I myself am considered to be non-denominational and I attend a non-denominational church as a result of my past experiences in organized religion churches. This is as I have witnessed a huge cause of people loosing their faith.
I agree that Jesus would not give his blessing of the torture and burning of so called heretics.
Nor would he bless the Inquisition. Stereotyping all people that refer to them selves as Christians is not a practice of mine. That would be like me stereotyping bikers I am part of an organization called Bikers For Christ, it is a motorcycle ministry and I have experienced the stereotyping involved with this title.
I enjoyed the food for thought about how the unconscious mind is able to make you act with out conscious thought, even drawing on past conscious acts and experiences. Wow !!!
Neat stuff, the human mind is so awesome.
I totally agree in regards to social interaction and recognition being a very necessary part of the human well being. I believe that with out this interaction you become a very unhappy, discontented person. With the motorcycle ministry my husband and I have experienced a lot of people needing this social interaction. This an awesome experience, because not only do we minister to this person, but we also make a new friend. We have swapped a lot of phone numbers and made a lot of new friends. I consider these and all people to be my sisters and brothers in Christ.
After all, we are all connected, we are all a part of the whole.
Schopenhauer was definitely on the right track in regards to us all being of one.
It's too bad that he didn't realize that this also included a oneness also in a spiritual way.
He then could have experienced the peace and joy found by having faith in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Until reading this I had not realized that Buddhism and Atheism shared the same belief that our existence ends into nothingness, back to the universal energy where it came from.
I found it intriguing that the eastern and western peoples came to the same belief of consciousness is an illusion that fools a person into suffering.
I agree with the power of manifesting what we allow our conscious mind to focus on.
I have found it is important to know that the great philosophers have proven that science can not define any laws with any concrete certainty, with time and the thought process changing, so does experimental out comes, so called proofs.
In lesson # 13 I thought it very thought provoking, but complex to ponder a thought of the universe being a projection of our moral selves and that we are beings existing in some plane other than what we believe to be the real world.
Schilling in my opinion was missing the rest of the thought of what we are part of. Nature, as you put it, could easily be called God. Is it not also part of the whole?
I take great joy in stating that we as humans do eventually mature to a total acceptance of a state of forgiveness and self realization. I imagine there are and have been and will continue to be those who sadly enough do not reach this maturity level. Hopefully those are put into our paths to minister to. Be it God's will.
As far as Hegel's philosophy of us being a combination of spirit and mind, being the ultimate form, being the makeup of existence,this is some what parallel in my opinion to the mind and thought process guided by the Holy Spirit that was sent to guide us. Some refer to this as a conscious. I agree with his idea of us all being connected, a part of the whole. Hopefully he is right in his thinking about there being a balance in conflict and strife some day.
I have learned that Marxism was the intellectual foundation of communism, most of the Marxism views were taken from Hegel. True Marxism is a materialist philosophy and completely atheist. Hegel believed in the spirit. Marxism denied the realities of human nature and painted a picture in his mind that is not possible because of human nature, but yet because of the harmonious picture he painted, it is imaginable.
I disagree with the existentialists mind set. I believe that there is another plane, level or what ever you want to call it, after the body dies there is more to come. This is just in my opinion a part of our existence. The soul, energy, spirit or what ever you'd like to call it goes back as part of the whole.
Darwin, I think is as far off the map as can be and any one accepting his beliefs are yes, probably very depressed and trying to figure out what their purpose, if any they have in the grand scheme of things in life.
It has to say the least been interesting to learn how modern society has been influenced by philosophical ideas from the past. I agree that everything influences every thing else, even time has had no barrier on human beliefs.
Things are forever changing in the realm of cause and affect, today is tomorrow’s history.
I had not until now, after reading this course pondered the idea of self analyzing myself for any unconscious or conscious driven self serving purpose when ministering to a person I think is in need. Hmmm. Food for thought.
I really felt that your sharing of your own personal experiences and the journey that led you to the call of ministry was very thoughtful of you and not unlike, I would think so many other people's calling that also includes lessons to be learned, heart ache and a humbling of mind and spirit.
As I have learned through my own personal journey that led to ministry, and it did include all of the afore mentioned, God will get your attention one way or another. If you choose to hear and answer the call is a personal choice. I can only imagine that it would be very unsettling to not answer that ever present, divine calling.
As it is written in the New Testament, Revelation 3:20, Here I stand at the door and knock.
If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.
As far as the trials that are endured, it is written in 1 Peter 1:6, In this you greatly rejoice, though for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. So as you can see trials sharpen your faith.
As you stated in the lesson, the gates will be opened with much to be endured, we will be tested, gleamed each time and made stronger.
I have been very enlightened by this course in defining spiritualism and believe it will serve me well along my never ending journey of enlightenment. I have definitely realized that I know that I know nothing for certain.
I strongly recommend this course to any one who wants to be an affective contributing human being in society, it is in my opinion a must read for ministry.
God Bless and thanks for sharing all you have.
Your sister in Christ,
Reverend
Jeanette Buschman
Ordained 12-28-2005
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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.
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