Kyu, I am no Christian by any stretch of the imagination. Well, not a orthodox Christian at any rate. As you can probably guess, I think the Christ was a real person. However, unlike most Christians, I do NOT think he was a god. I think he was a normal man who happened to be more in tune with the source god than most. He was an important being, but not the son of God in the sense Christians would have me believe.
I think I am explaining this badly here, so let me start again. I agree with Plato when he used the image that we are men/women chained up and facing a cave wall. All we can see is the shadows cast by the fire, but as this is all we know, we assume that the shadows are all there is to reality.
I am rather pantheist in my view, I suppose. I think everything is the source, but the material world (e.g. The shadows) is a diluted form of that source, and because it is diluted, we (creatures of that shadow) become unhappy etc.
In our deep subconscious there is a nagging need to become closer to the source. It is kind of like a drug, we have become addicted to it in its diluted form, now we want a stronger dose. This is where gods come in. Some gods are created in our subconscious as a tool to try and reach the source. Others are created as a substitute for the source.
This is where Christ appears on the horizon. Although I believe he existed, I do not think it matters much if he did or he was a handy metaphor, the results are the same. Christ was open to his Gnosis, or his awareness of the source ( the Buddha and Elijah among others are probably other good examples) and his teachings provide a guide to achieving the same kind of awareness.
However, I think Christ's teachings have morphed over the years. In there present form, they are not good enough to achieve...salvation, for want of a better word. That is why I am not a Christian.
Why I come across as pro-Christian is an accident of my up-bringing. That and I use Christ as a spiritual master. My unorthodox beliefs means that most outsiders either consider me an atheist or a heavy Christian.
You will probably have some form of question or criticism, but rather than preempt you, I will wait till you post to answer you point by point, ok?
I think I am explaining this badly here, so let me start again. I agree with Plato when he used the image that we are men/women chained up and facing a cave wall. All we can see is the shadows cast by the fire, but as this is all we know, we assume that the shadows are all there is to reality.
I am rather pantheist in my view, I suppose. I think everything is the source, but the material world (e.g. The shadows) is a diluted form of that source, and because it is diluted, we (creatures of that shadow) become unhappy etc.
In our deep subconscious there is a nagging need to become closer to the source. It is kind of like a drug, we have become addicted to it in its diluted form, now we want a stronger dose. This is where gods come in. Some gods are created in our subconscious as a tool to try and reach the source. Others are created as a substitute for the source.
This is where Christ appears on the horizon. Although I believe he existed, I do not think it matters much if he did or he was a handy metaphor, the results are the same. Christ was open to his Gnosis, or his awareness of the source ( the Buddha and Elijah among others are probably other good examples) and his teachings provide a guide to achieving the same kind of awareness.
However, I think Christ's teachings have morphed over the years. In there present form, they are not good enough to achieve...salvation, for want of a better word. That is why I am not a Christian.
Why I come across as pro-Christian is an accident of my up-bringing. That and I use Christ as a spiritual master. My unorthodox beliefs means that most outsiders either consider me an atheist or a heavy Christian.
You will probably have some form of question or criticism, but rather than preempt you, I will wait till you post to answer you point by point, ok?
