Finding the Path Back to the Present
Sam Harris
“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and
not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms
of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”
―
not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms
of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”
―
13 comments:
Excellent message! Too bad many will never listen to it and heed its message because some Armstrongite man never said it.
Old Comanche saying---
"Anticipation always much more interesting than the reality"
Common sense should tell all who have been impacted by Armstrongism and the larger Adventism that prophecy has a lousy track record. Becoming definite about it and basing one’s life on it is not reliable. Wondering and wishing do not make it come to pass.
This refusal of negativity is one of the most stupid and naive aspects of New Age thought.
If I am in the present and a rattlesnake approaches me, I would be wise to recognize this negativity, accept my fear, and act wisely to resolve the problem one way or another.
If my attempt to resolve the problem fails, then the next time I encounter a rattlesnake I would be wise to live in the past, learn the lesson from that experience, and improve my chances of resolving the new experience positively.
The proper answer to so much of the "prophecy" peddled by HWA, Flurry, Pack, Thiel, etc., is:
SO WHAT!?!
Christians before HWA lived and died and had happy, successful lives as Christians without HWA's prophecies. Jesus' own Apostles didn't know end-time prophecy, yet even HWA admits that they are saved and will be in the first resurrection. If God will admit Christians like the Apostles into the Kingdom even with their faulty and incomplete understanding of prophecy, then why should you waste your time on end-time prophetic speculations? If your actions reflect the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in your life, God won't reject you if you come out on the wrong side of the "Does Christ return at Pentecost, Trumpets, or Atonement?" debate. So, don't waste your time on the vain babblings of men who think they know better than that.
10:43. I believe you missed the concept
The act of pretending to understand prophecy, in skillful hands, can supercharge a ministry for a while. A false sense of urgency is created, leveraging every aspect of ones acolytes’ lives. The more of one’s life has been wasted on the false prophecies that don’t come to pass, the greater the victim’s commitment becomes. It becomes an addictive spiral, not altogether different from continuing to bet in the casino on a losing night, believing that somehow it’s got to turn around if you just hang in there.
In the case of some of the false prophets, the game is rapidly nearing an end, because the “house” has just about bankrupted the players, and there aren’t any newbies coming in the front doors.
Dennis, if you have ever seriously studied Advaita Vedanta, you would recognize that Tolle's teachings are a bowdlerized oversimplification of ideas that only make real sense when moored to the moral and ethical teachings of a religion that acknowledges do's and don'ts, whether Christianity (the commandments) or Vedanta (the yamas and niyamas). Yes, Tolle's work is good at making people feel good, but so were Leni Riefenstahl's movies. Riefenstahl's movies became horrific if you understood the marrow of National Socialist teachings, and Tolle's teachings are dangerous and irresponsible unless one is prepared to ground them in a needed moral context.
To his credit, though, at least Tolle leaves people feeling good while they are at risk of becoming morally crippled. ACOG theology taken to its limits creates moral cripples while leaving them in depression and despair.
459, who would you quote to make the point about living in the present and not living in the past wherein lies our anger and thus depression or the future wherein lies our anxiety? To me, you are complicating the simplicity of the reality that the present time of one's life is all one actually has. Past and future are simply what we think about but live in neither nor should we if one is going to have a meaningful life experience over all.
I relate the concept of always thinking about the prophetic future, as the COGs are wont to do as a very bad way to live life. People have been living in the almost, soon and anytime now theological Jesus is almost here future for no good reason and making decisions on how to live their present real lives based on their imagined future ones. I did it way too long to my harm and people have been doing it since the words "I will come again" were uttered. Of course, the people at the time never thought he meant anyting but "I'll be right back" and we know how that is going.
As for your other "isms" and teachings, I have no knowledge and they do not interest me in making the simple point that living a life based on what one thinks prophecy will bring to them in this life soon, shortly and such is stupid and dangerous to one's mental, emotional and spiritual health.
if you understood the marrow of National Socialist teachings ...
Funny, I've never met a single person who understood NS. But everyone thinks they do, because they get all their information from only one side.
Dennis has no idea if the "experts" he quotes are really right or not.
The foremost authorities on National Socialism and its effects are the Jewish scholars who have made studying the holocaust their lifelong pursuit.
BB
Notice how the definition of a bigot (given below) match perfectly those who only want to hear one side of things:
Bigot: A person who regards his own faith and views in matters of religion as unquestionably right, and any belief or opinion opposed to or differing from them as unreasonable or wicked. In an extended sense, a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion.
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