Letters to the Editor
kenkapkk
Published Letters: 131 Editor's Choice: 13
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Lincoln, et al
[Read the article: "Name some of Barack Obama's legislative accomplishments ... if you can" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Name one legislative accomplishment Abraham Lincoln had in the US Congress or Senate. Oops. Lincoln NEVER WAS in the Congress or Senate.
Name a great accomplishment Harry Truman achieved in the Senate. John Kennedy?
Johnson had grat achievements. He also led us into into of the most disastrious miltary adventures of all time.
But
Who has clearly selected and masterminded the better, more efficient, more prepared and savvy campaign? Hmmm? Speaks to leadership.
Plus
Obama was RIDICULED for his assertions about independent military force against Al Quaeda in Pakistan. Guess what big success story happened recently because the US did EXACTLY what he suggested?
Sounds ready on "day one" for me.
This garbage from Matthews is exactly that and all shallow nonsense. Beware forever "conventional (sic) wisdom."
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Return of the Gnostics
[Read the article: Are you going to hell?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For about the hundredth straight time, Salon chooses to find someone through which they can bash religion without dealing with spirituality. Isn't it getting tiresome to shoot fish in a barrel? The last 40 years have brought a profound resurgence in an authentic gnostic mysticism that was buried (literally) by the rise of conventional Christianity that occurred foundationally at the Nicean Council which put the official seal of approval on the world view of the Gospel of John. The religion OF Jesus became the religion ABOUT Jesus.
Beyond Salon's myopic tunnel vision to pursue this road seemingly without end are worlds of folks who have continual direct encounters in grounded, integrated ways with the Divine essence within. All mystical traditions, whether Sufi,Yogic, Kabbalistic, Mystical Christianity, Zen, etc. rely on a gnostic encounter with the transcendent and the core of self. Therefore direct experience is the prerequisite rather than a belief system. That's why Elaine Pagels titled her last book, about the tension between the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas "Beyond Belief".
(One can experience "Presence" within a belief sysytem rather than formulate a world view from a range of experience of this type, but in my view preset doctrines contaminate one's interpretation of the event(s).)
So how does one test the authenticity of those claiming to have a measure of whatever degree of these encounters. In this I would agree with Rosenkavalier, whose thrust seems to be "by their fruits ye shall know them." Joy, love, compassion, empathy, activism, connectedness, purpose, maturity, growth and the legitimate creation of space for the other can't be faked when genuinely linked to one's spiritual center. One need not be "religious" or even overtly spiritual to have these qualities, but isn't it interesting that some of the people we admire most, say Ghandi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama draw these qualities from inner inspiration?
Most great Buddhist Roshis and truly elevated teachers radiate not only resplendent energy but also tremendous humor and equanimity. I remember an evening I spent with a highly evolved Tibetan Buddhist teacher and he sent out such an energy wave of peace and calm that my mind was totally in a state of suspension, openness and awareness for two hours. His words dropped like flowers on my consciousness. God forbid Salon should ever seek out someone like that to talk with about a lifetime with the continuous encounter with one's eternal essence.
My James Randi believing friend would call that hypnotism, but that's as hysterical an avoidance as immersion in the Rapture is. Its interesting to me that rabid athiests like Hitchens and Dawkins share the same energetic impulse and behavior as the fundamentalists they criticize. The content is different, but the zealotry is nearly identical.
BTW, jhudson2, read "Journey of Souls" by Michael Newton. It will explain things for you. You might find the truth that the "entire Universe is contained in a blade of grass" (literally). In this regard, my heart goes out to the author for the overpowering despair that led to his loss of faith, but the same book would explain perhaps the tensions within what would be termed "Soul Choice" or "Soul Contract" that created that encounter with profound conflict and loss in the first place.
A life journey can lead to the opposite conclusion within similar conditions and it doesn't have to be a denial hidden within a belief system that is highly controlling and filled with inner emotional contradictions.
But Salon does not seem interested in that in any manner. In this it is like materialistic science. It defines reality within its narrow parameters, and when life, experience, phenomena falls outside its purview, it ignores it.
Salon, grow up and quit kicking the dog of fundamental and organized religion. Is an old trick and has worn very very thin.