As it is above...

The eternal question over at One Cosmos: Struggling With the Issue of Faith

I've been left to wonder this before...

Forget about why are we here... we are.

Forget the "which faith to follow?"

If God does exist, he didn't see fit to leave a "made in china" label anywhere to be seen. Didn't leave an instruction manual either. No, the Bible, Upanishads, etc were not written pen & ink by the suddenly corporeal hand of God, they were written by men, undoubtedly inspired men, but men all the same. Written by men, in the language of men - if you really think that they were written by God through men - do you think that God didn't know that the language of men is less than fixed and precise? For example, look at the near incomprehensibility of the original 'English' of Chaucer just a few hundred years ago, let alone of something spoken in Hebrew, written in Greek, then Latin, then English over the course of two thousand years... sorry, can such a 'literal word of God' really be taken seriously? If such a God does exist, we have two very different conceptions of who and what such a God might be.

And yet...

The Universe is here, it is discoverable, and it is immensely logical and integrated beyond the ancient Hebrews, Greeks & Orientals wildest imaginings.

If God exists, THAT is his handwriting.

We don't find peace in it though - we find fascination, and the ability to elevate our circumstances all about us, by applying our minds, behaving morally - which means logically drawn from and in align with a respect for nature and ourselves.

But IT out there doesn't lead to peace, it leads you out if you let it - but if you reflect on how it exists, and on how your own thoughts integrate when reflected through it, it can be peaceful.

"As it is above, so it is below."

When you turn your thoughts inward - not to "ME Want!" but to "I see the connection between within and without". The more you become aware of how things integrate, and your mind does the same, and you try to reflect on "I", "Free Will", "Soul?", that something that can't be identified, touched or examined or in any other way held up for review - and yet you are unmistakably there... here... Are...Am

The more I learn, the more I realize that what is valuable is within, and it is strengthened and made more manifest by how I exercise that understanding without.

Once, the more I learnt of without, the more I found that "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors ass" is just quaint and more than a bit silly. And then the more I realized of the existence, the necessity of a seamless, reality reflecting, integrated thought, then I found that the soul is settled and soothed with truth, integrity, honesty... and it becomes apparent that there is more to the "Thou shalts" than meets the sophists first glance.

"As it is above, so it is below."

The inspired stories illustrate, connotate, reveal more as you read into them, not just of them.
And what if we are wrong? Our desiring the world and the hereafter to be or not to be - will not make it so, either way.

The world will be as it will be, whether we like it or no.

And yet here I am, and there is something within me that wants to know, and yet I do not know whether within each of us is an individual light formed of the slow rubbing and bubbling of DNA swelling into cells & babies & bodies - individual lights that blaze and burn down and out - or lights that slowly work their way into the physical world from a wider spiritual realm, slowly wriggling into reality through the slow rubbing and bubbling of DNA swelling into cells & babies & bodies - individual lights that blaze alike in this world then withdraw and return.

I don't know - and again I can not help but imagine that if there is a God, then this operation is by design.

Everything else in our world that can be discussed is physically examinable in one form or another, and it is only because of that that it can be discussed, argued, speculated upon and proved or disproved.

The world can be objectively discussed - your soul cannot. All knowledge can be written and stored, but it is but marks on paper, it can only be learned within, it remains only marks, until You gather it within you as information, and then slowly with effort it becomes knowledge, and even more slowly and with more attention it becomes understanding - and you can not give that TO someone else. Anyone who has ever tried to teach a lesson to someone who doesn't quite grasp the meaning, knows the truth of that frustration.

And if there is a God, and he wants us to know and understand him, he knows that as well, we can not understand except by doing and learning and choosing to persist in the effort to do so. If....

The Universe IS - but it couldn't have been created, or else it must have been created out of something, it must have begun, but that would mean it must end, but what before or after could there be?...it must have boundaries, but it cannot, for what would be beyond?

There, here, Are, Am....

We can go within and grope about, and return and discuss with each other what we felt as we made our way in the dark, hands feeling the surfaces - but we can't bring those surfaces out to show each other those we can feel, but not see, the closest we can ever get is to describe what those depths seemed like, but all the while feeling like the blind man trying to describe color to a deaf man.

Our discoveries are ours - we may be able to get or give clues to each other, but we have to do the exploring ourselves, and no amount of detailed description will do it for us or anyone else.

I gotta assume that if there is a designer, the design wasn't by accident.

We have to venture within the depths ourselves, alone, but all the while feeling... something... ahh, something I feel... it's there but not - just like me, there... here... Are... AM.

"As it is above, so it is below."

Sigh.