Spiritual Growth & Michael

[jk]

it seems most everyone else gets to run around, blissfully unaware that they are teeming with the same defense mechanisms and negative imprinting I feel obligated to drop

When you look deeper, is it really blissful? Personally I want to drop them because they are painful.

[Chiara DB]

it seems most everyone else gets to run around, blissfully unaware that they are teeming with the same defense mechanisms and negative imprinting I feel obligated to drop

When you look deeper, is it really blissful? Personally I want to drop them because they are painful.

I was being half-facetious, but then again, you know about them enough to know they cause you pain and that you want to drop them, so you're not unaware at all!

[John Roth]

Is there a religion that does not demand total submission to it's beliefs??    The biggest problem is keeping the notion of life's magic and realizing it is purposeful.    Most people KNOW life is not  simply an accidental occurrance.   We should not need abject submission to fear in order to be worthy of our lives.   It seems most of us need to feel guilty about our shortcomings.    But heck, have we not tried to arrange our lives to learn all these pesky lessons ?? 
 

I had this crisis myself.  I was raised Roman Catholic, yet my father was Greek Orthodox.  And the interesting thing, even as a child, was that I actually appreciated, as a teenager, that in the Greek Orthodox church the priests could marry and have families of their own....I think that may have been the same time that I begain to become really disillusioned with "organised religion".  Programming being what it is, there was no way I was able to walk away from the RCC whilst my mother and grandmother still walked around - lots of expectations there indeed.

When I was 32, both Mom and Nana were gone to the other side, and I found the Unitarian Universalist church.  I was totally scared to walk in there, thinking it would disrespect the family traditions, but I'm so glad the inner rebel nudged me to do just that.   How wonderful it was to be amongst a group of people, with different belief systems, different ideas but sharing in the common goal of tending to one another.   No Dogma, No Sin, No Hell.   Amazing concepts to someone raised RCC I can tell you.

So the answer is yes, there are places where one can have fellowship without having the man made constructs of control, fear and sin shoved down your throat.

Blessings
Nancy

Welcome to another UU.

John Roth

[Nancy]

OK, John, why does this not surprise me overmuch? 
I just hope you are having fun with it all (I am)

Blessings

Nancy

[mAmbessa]

religion is strongly based on control and dominance, fed by the desire for establishing a kingdom and the need for power.

I served many years in that army. Heard this "God"...Had to do some things. Got through stuff i really didn't want to.


But now i find myself asking who i was serving....who was speaking? perhaps some clowns in the spirit realm trying to screw around with the humans? because sureley no God is insane enough to even think about the things that the Christ/father spoke of about judgment.

Love, and acceptance superceeded by personal justice and motive. slaving to establish a kingdom not of my own that would bind me.

my time there still haunts me

*yawn*

[Dave]

I agree with this, all of it. I get really tired of always being forced to deal with my "stuff", while it seems most everyone else gets to run around, blissfully unaware that they are teeming with the same defense mechanisms and negative imprinting I feel obligated to drop. But I also know that this is something "I" wanted, and that there is something in me that won't let me just stop growing. So, I accept it, even though sometimes (like today) it really ticks me off.

We should create a board here where everyone posts their list of "stuff." I wonder if that would be therapeutic or similar to being pilloried in the town square?  

Seriously, though, finding our stuff could be quite a project. Our CF will try to stuff it down, of course, but the act of just getting it on paper in private sounds like good work.

Best,
Dave

[Mary Lou]

  When my friend first introduced me to MT back last year,  I was taken by that fact that there was no one certain religious or spiritual belief being pushed.   the farther I read the more it made sense and that there would be less dualisation by it being this way.   this is what I was looking for.  I am tired of the duality of this faith or that faith.   I know how I spiritually feel at this present time.  my connection to what I see as the Divine.  and really do not need nor want to become quagmired in debates or trying to make mine fit into someone elses, if that makes sense?

Mary Lou

[jk]

We should create a board here where everyone posts their list of "stuff." I wonder if that would be therapeutic or similar to being pilloried in the town square?

I am getting it on paper in private. Anytime I dislike anything about myself or anybody else, that is an indication of my "stuff". I think when you are aware of a particular "stuff", then it does not matter if you tell it to others (they can see it anyway). The only thing that matters is knowing it yourself.

[MeliaNamaste]

I am a newbie on this forum and have read through all the posts on spiritual growth. From my perspective, the path of one's spiritual growth will depend on where one is in terms of soul ages and our stuff is all related to the nature of our overleaves. For me, a major breakthrough on my spiritual journey came with the understanding of soul ages. Prior to that I would get so frustrated that people I considered to be of intelligence could be so 'stupid' and not perceive what was so obvious to me. Looked at again, through the filter of understanding soul ages, I got a whole new perspective and was able to move past a great deal of my judgement. (Chief Negative Feature: Impatience) When I shared this perspective with some, I was accused of elitism, to which my reply was/is 'Is it elitism to look at a child and recognize its capacities?' The fact that we are older doesn't make us better. We are who we are and anything that helps us move past our false personalities is, I believe, part of our growth toward greater spirituality. In that way, I find the Michael teachings extremely helpful, while not setting up a structure that creates another denomination of anything faintly resembling religion. What I find particularly helpful is the languaging which mostly avoids the words that are loaded for others, so the discussion can take place without dogma. I appreciate that quality about this discussion.