Only I can judge God. I is you if you choose to be.

[Greatest I am]

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together

You have it.
We are all in this together, alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRNbesfX...r_embedded

Regards
DL

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And I am the Walrus... (can't leave that unfinished)

Greatest I Am... Lots to think on. Interesting... As always, thanks for posting.

I blush. Thanks.

You migh want to listen to that Alan Watts link above.

Regards
DL

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The way I see it, everything in religion is figurative and is deeply rooted in human behavior. Were all gods or devils it just depends on what type you want to be. I wish that I could find the strength to be a good person, but I drink, smoke, do drugs and participate in things that are not qualities of a good person. I'm just a devil trying not to be one, but bad habits die hard.

I see nothing wrong with passions that are under control.
Life is here to be enjoyed to it's fullest and that includes the various form of enjoyments including alcohol and drugs.

We are social animals and these generally enhance social interaction.

We are also here to work on our characters and that would include mastering our passions.

Regards
DL

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I have heard of similar ideas before. It really confuses me though...do you personally believe in a deity

I think all religions should be considered to be myths unless one is unlucky enough to have an apotheosis and recognize that there is an unseen and un-provable evolution to man's consciousness.

Let me bend your ear.

The Godhead I know in a nutshell.
I was a skeptic till the age of 39.
I then had an apotheosis and later branded myself a Gnostic Christian naturalist.
Gnostic Christian because I exemplify this quote from William Blake.

“Both read the Bible day and night, But thou read'st black where I read white.”

This refers to how Gnostics tend to reverse, for moral reasons, what Christians see in the Bible. We tend to recognize the evil ways of O T God where literal Christians will see God’s killing as good. Christians are sheeple where Gnostic Christians are goats.
This is perhaps why we see the use of a Jesus scapegoat as immoral, while theists like to make Jesus their beast of burden. An immoral position.

During my apotheosis, something that only lasted 5 or 6 seconds, the only things of note to happen was that my paradigm of reality was confirmed and I was chastised to think more demographically. What I found was what I call a cosmic consciousness. Not a new term but one that is a close but not exact fit.

I recognize that I have no proof. That is always the way with apotheosis.
This is also why I prefer to stick to issues of morality because no one has yet been able to prove that God is real and I have no more proof than they for the cosmic consciousness.

The cosmic consciousness is not a miracle working God. He does not interfere with us save when one of us finds it. Not a common thing from what I can see. It is a part of nature and our next evolutionary step.

I tend to have more in common with atheists who ignore what they see as my delusion because our morals are basically identical. Theist tend not to like me much as I have no respect for literalists and fundamentals and think that most Christians have tribal mentalities and poor morals.

I am rather between a rock and a hard place but this I cannot help.

I am happy to be questioned on what I believe but whether or not God exists is basically irrelevant to this world for all that he does not do, and I prefer to thrash out moral issues that can actually find an end point. The search for God is never ending when you are of the Gnostic persuasion. My apotheosis basically says that I am to discard whatever God I found, God as a set of rules that is, not idol worship it but instead, raise my bar and seek further.

My apotheosis also showed me that God has no need for love, adoration or obedience. He has no needs. Man has dominion here on earth and is to be and is the supreme being.

or is the Bible just a guide to living life in a practical manner where the divine and supernatural don't exist?

I think that religions were invented as a means of social manipulation and control.

I will add these clips to the mix for your consideration. The first which is part of the second speaks to my Gnostic Christian label and the second shows my view of religions overall and the Noble Lie that I think we and our governments should rescind. The third clip speaks to the reason that religions were invented in the first place as it shows why social control was required for city states that had to deal with the reality of finite resources. I see these city states as led by a timocratic king who through the religion that he would have created, also realized that there had to be a tyrannical part to his benevolent duty and created a religion to be just that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR02ciand...D134B912A5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMtRm3b8...playnext=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne1wIEGnPWo

I see the King/God as having to have the morals shown in the Haigt clip.

http://blog.ted.com/2008/09/17/the_real_differ/

He would have to create his religion as expressed through his high priest/tyrant who would live by the first commandment of God, place no one above me as the enforcer of his King/God's rules and laws while still obeying his King. The larger Roman system would later assume the same system through the Noble Lie. First through the Flavians and later through Constantine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD0eSqFJ7J4

Also, because you're a Gnostic, does that mean that you agree (for the most part) with the Gnostic documents that weren't canonized?

I see all the ancient books of wisdom and gospels as written to just initiate and promote dialog for those who seek God. At the time of their writing, because of the finite resources of the city states, the Noble Lie may have been necessary. I do not think it is necessary today. What ruined the value of these books of wisdom was literal reading and belief that they were talking about a real God.

Place your mind in the time and place depicted in that Eden clip.
Think of yourself as King/God and you may see that strong controls would have been required.

Regards
DL