I also love Elaine Pagels. I just picked up her Gnostic Gospels again when I was moving my library and thought of you. The Origins of Satan is the one I most often quote from.
My hospice mentor, who was a Zen Buddhist, told me that Christians have the most fear in dying, in his experience. That makes sense to me. Even my dad, who'd lived a blameless life as far as the Church was concerned, figured he'd be spending some time in purgatory. No one escapes.
Pagels was in my library for many years, before the big book purge of 2020. It has been interesting to me to revisit her after so many years and to see both the real importance of her research and observations and, for me, to see how they are still enmeshed within the Christian paradigm. This was a fun and important essay of discovery for me.
I have now settled on the idea, for now, that fear of death is not actually our biggest fear. That it is really a kind of secondary fear and often times a kind of spiritual by-pass. Our greatest fear is to be free within the infinite that we are expressing.
Thank you for reading and for commenting. All the best.
(My reading has been reduced with that reading time now diverted to teaching an 8 week course on-line about connecting to the sacred soul that our body is. And also, developing a 10 day retreat focused on the same thing, with a slightly different methodology.)
But to be free within the infinite indefinable Radiance within and as which all of this is spontaneously arising (for no reason whatsoever) one has to die to any kind of identification with the mortal meat-body.
Which also raises the question who or what is this "we" that is supposedly expressing.
I have moved to simply reducing suffering in order of priority: my Self, my immediate physical community as best as I can, and then the broader community with things like this forum. After that, let the detritus fall as nature being what it does: expressive of something infinitely bigger than us mere blips and that has a raison d'etre likely unknowable by mortal minds. Especially minds caught living in the mind and not living from the body that is actually our expression most fully connected to the infinitude of the Universe — whatever that is.
As layers peel away it is both more challenging and also easier. Challenging because with each layer there seems to be less people on the same layer so finding guidance is challenging. Easier because everything simplifies so that finding guidance is not needed. As you say, confidence and trust in self, innate trust of body, because the mind too often creates other layers where none are needed. Keeping an open mind to my self is more difficult than I imagined. Thanks for another great essay, I enjoyed it this morning and have been musing all day. I like that!
Great observation. And I have discovered that actively searching for guidance isn't necessary when we are open because the teacher and student for us at the time will simply be there. It is amazing to see this arise so naturally. Our minds are a great butler or maid. And a horrible master. And I am very happy that it created musing and maybe even some be-musing too. ;-)
This turned out to be difficult to write. I wasn't sure where it was going as I was writing it. I'll reread tonight after a break from it to see if it hangs together.
I also love Elaine Pagels. I just picked up her Gnostic Gospels again when I was moving my library and thought of you. The Origins of Satan is the one I most often quote from.
My hospice mentor, who was a Zen Buddhist, told me that Christians have the most fear in dying, in his experience. That makes sense to me. Even my dad, who'd lived a blameless life as far as the Church was concerned, figured he'd be spending some time in purgatory. No one escapes.
Thanks for this!
Pagels was in my library for many years, before the big book purge of 2020. It has been interesting to me to revisit her after so many years and to see both the real importance of her research and observations and, for me, to see how they are still enmeshed within the Christian paradigm. This was a fun and important essay of discovery for me.
I have now settled on the idea, for now, that fear of death is not actually our biggest fear. That it is really a kind of secondary fear and often times a kind of spiritual by-pass. Our greatest fear is to be free within the infinite that we are expressing.
Thank you for reading and for commenting. All the best.
(My reading has been reduced with that reading time now diverted to teaching an 8 week course on-line about connecting to the sacred soul that our body is. And also, developing a 10 day retreat focused on the same thing, with a slightly different methodology.)
But to be free within the infinite indefinable Radiance within and as which all of this is spontaneously arising (for no reason whatsoever) one has to die to any kind of identification with the mortal meat-body.
Which also raises the question who or what is this "we" that is supposedly expressing.
Ah yes.
I have moved to simply reducing suffering in order of priority: my Self, my immediate physical community as best as I can, and then the broader community with things like this forum. After that, let the detritus fall as nature being what it does: expressive of something infinitely bigger than us mere blips and that has a raison d'etre likely unknowable by mortal minds. Especially minds caught living in the mind and not living from the body that is actually our expression most fully connected to the infinitude of the Universe — whatever that is.
As layers peel away it is both more challenging and also easier. Challenging because with each layer there seems to be less people on the same layer so finding guidance is challenging. Easier because everything simplifies so that finding guidance is not needed. As you say, confidence and trust in self, innate trust of body, because the mind too often creates other layers where none are needed. Keeping an open mind to my self is more difficult than I imagined. Thanks for another great essay, I enjoyed it this morning and have been musing all day. I like that!
Hola, April.
Great observation. And I have discovered that actively searching for guidance isn't necessary when we are open because the teacher and student for us at the time will simply be there. It is amazing to see this arise so naturally. Our minds are a great butler or maid. And a horrible master. And I am very happy that it created musing and maybe even some be-musing too. ;-)
This turned out to be difficult to write. I wasn't sure where it was going as I was writing it. I'll reread tonight after a break from it to see if it hangs together.
Thank you for reading.
"Our minds are a great butler or maid. And a horrible master" such a great way of describing it and this will be a reminder to me constantly.
Hola, Tim.
Yes, that is a great quotation. Steal away.
Gracias.