Religion...

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:02 pm

We have already tried a few Uniting Church services before, didn't work out ironically. And as far as we have heard Interfaith is a government institution to bring tolerance and acceptance between various religious groups, not exactly the church.

However thanks for the info, I think I'm going to try out this service in Pitt Street, only problem is that they don't seem to have an evening service.

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Btw ? When did I say they were not related to my people's spiritual/cultural background?

As I have mentioned Mongol beliefs that we are descendents of wolves is spiritual/cultural, and has nothing to do with racialism.

Tsereg Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Posts: 75

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I'm glad I don't live with Inah. rofl

Consider yourself "saved" Bigmonkey !
Heh.

Sabuatai ...

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We have already tried a few Uniting Church services before, didn't work out ironically.

The Church groups that I have had (though very little) contact with have made me so cross, because of these contradictions, (which absolutely drive me up-the-wall), so here I do share your frustrations Sabuatai.

But thanks for bringing the subject up, haven't really articulated my own "stand" on this before.
Now when trying to do so, it seems to me that both Christianity and Islam are religions of "The Book".
Emphases here being the righteous belief-system, dogma.
Not disputing the righteousness of these teachings though, only saying, that the emphasis is more in filling-the-mind with the map, or educating the mind with all these beliefs and mental concepts.

The other way is to seek more direct, first hand experience by practicing stilling and emptying the mind of concepts, of thought activity, thus going beyond the mind's struggle between this and that (duality) and therefore also going beyond the ego.
One thing I loved about the Interfaith pages, was the quote from Rumi:
"The radiance that is neither East nor West comes from a single moon."

That to me is like what the Buddhist Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche said, that:
"In Buddhist teachings the symbol for compassion is one moon shining while it's image is reflected in one hundred bowls of water. The moon does not demand: 'If you open to me, I will do you a favour and shine on you'. The moon just shines."
To me this also translates as ... whether you hold the "right" dogma or pagan beliefs .... also; - no matter what "race" you are ... the moon shines regardless.

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Maybe this other way, could be called "The Way of The Pole".
Joseph Campbell:
"The center of the world is the axis mundi, the central point, the pole around which all revolves. The central point of the world is the point where stillness and movement are together. Movement is time, but stillness is eternity. Realizing how this moment of your life is actually a moment of eternity, and experiencing the eternal aspect of what you're doing in temporal sense ... this is the mythological experience".

Pole Star is not God, but the still centre (Swastika symbol), which represents the mystical gateway to ... (in practice terms how to still and orient the mind toward) God or the Source.
Taoist say that the human heart and the hearts of all other living things are tilted toward the North Star, just as Earth tilts 23.5 toward it to receive it's energy.
The Big Dipper revolves around the Pole Star, as do other constellations, reflecting Earth's seasonal changes.

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Not that I can speak for the Sufi, but I love the Sufi symbol of the heart with the wings, the moon and the 5-pointed star.
The five pointed star is very significant imo.
Maybe my mind is bias, but I see direct parallels between that and the Taoist inner alchemy of 5 elements, the Buddhist 5 Buddha families (how to transcend one's neuroses into their wisdom quality) and that of Shamanic mythology.
(The most Sacred Tree for us is Rowan, it has got a perfect 5 star formation in the stem of it's berries ... Rowan is also related to Thunder and I suppose in the old time to Thunderbird-Eagle initiations, when an "ordinary" person went through a "shamanic-death-experience" ).

Don't you in Mongolia have the kind of "Sacred Shaman Trees", that have been struck by lightning, where the old growth had stopped and a new vertical growth (path) had began ? Number 5 ring any bells ?

I find that I equally respect Taoist saints, Sufi saints, enlightened Buddhists and Shamen because there too I see direct parallels between the Taoist sense of effortless emptiness concept of Wu Wei i.e. being like the immovable Pole Star ... and Sufi Qutb (sounds like it) ... Shaman Ascension & the Buddhist understanding of Emptiness and No-Self.

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An aspect of Shamanhood is "The Mastery of Fire" & "Mystic Heat" ...
The Bliss of Inner Fire, "Tummo" in Tibetan Buddhist tradition ...
Taoist inner alchemical practices of the Cauldron ...
Indian Yogic practices of Inner Fire where internal heat, arising from "an excessive ingestion of sacred power makes (what they say) Kundalini to rise.
All these kind of practices (and mystical experiences, which are a by-product of the practice, to take note of, but not to focus on) in Christian view, were and are often still seen as a work of the Devil.
But imo. there is not much better way to raise the inner fire (or to raise Hiimori ? for that matter ... perhaps) than embodying and raising one's Totem energy The Wolf ... IF one knows how to draw the Energy of Heaven down through the purity and the emptiness and hollowness of one's central channel down to the Naval Centre and letting it mix with the raw instinctive & sexual energy (of Earth).
To me the Wolf is real raw energy and fuel for the Sacred Fire & the alchemical process in the emptiness within and thus a real Spiritual asset, therefore not a cause for any shame whatsoever ... but rather, pride.

The strong Polaris energy shines straight down into the crown. This activates the 3 energy channels and the central channel.
For Westerners though, or those whose world-view does not support Shamanic understanding or "The Way of The Pole"; - energies rushing into the central channel all of a sudden could bring major ego-freak-outs. So I guess the "microcosmic Orbit" of Taoists is much, much safer.

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Might be romantic and naive here as Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism and Sufism are not the same ... but in practice imo. ... similar experiences and parallel wisdom can be drawn. The Gnostics too seem to understand this.

To me the mystical "Pole" path comes more naturally, as I was brought up in it's foundational sense of "orienting awareness" . Not saying that the "Pole" path wouldn't have it's own inherent pitfalls and dangers, same with the Dogma-Beliefs path where "Spiritual materialism" ... i.e. trying to live up to a concept (or trying to be something other than one is) ... or striving towards a mentally created concept of an ideal outer image; - of self can become the goal; - which only in the end often fortifies the ego and the separate sense of self rather than diminishes it and the mental screen of conceptualization the world into mere mind objects. (What Tolle has spoken about).

Then again, wouldn't knock the "Beliefs" path either ... maybe that is what some need more to develop their own Spiritual Ways.

Long speech. (Feeling passionate about this, because it took me personally a looooong time practicing and working my way out of the shadows of Christian shaming and superstitious fears that had affected my psyche, to finally come to first hand experiences & realizations and knowing that it WAS and IS NOT SO !).

Tsereg Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Posts: 75

From a book on Shamanism by S. Nicholson"

Quote:

The Center of the World that makes connection between Earth and Sky possible, is that of the Cosmic Mountain.
The Tatars of Altai imagine Bai Ulgan in the middle of the Sky, seated on a Golden Mountain.
The Abakan Tatars call it "The Iron Mountain"; The Mongols, Buryat, the Kalmyk know it under the names of Sambur, Samur or Sumer, which clearly show Indian influence. (Mount Meru).
The Mongols and the Kalmyk picture it with 3 or 4 storeys, the Siberian Tatars, with 7.
In his mystical journey the Yakut Shaman too, climbs a mountain with 7 storeys.
It's summit is the Pole Star, in the "Navel of the Sky"
The Buryat say that the Pole Star is fastened to it's summit.

If this book info is correct (?) then I suppose the old Kalmyk way of bringing Heaven and Earth together, was/is not "A Way of The Pole", but rather, - in the climbing the Cosmic or World Mountain (?). (Which in practical terms would mount to similar thing.)

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Shaman sages who knew/know the way of bringing the energies of Heaven and Earth together also knew/know the way of co-creation with Heaven, God or the Source, thus "had/have" the ability to create from the Void.

The Cosmic Mill:
http://edj.net/mc2012/sampo.htm

Do you also have this kind of myth ???
.... if so, is it connected, related to your Sambur word ?

Some people consider these old myths of indigenous peoples as being mere myths, which they are not.

It has been said, that mythology is the landscape of the soul, and also the way of expressing the journeys of the soul.
Also orally passed on mythologies lacked the conceptual-mind-map superiority over "matter" (and thus regarding other people also as mere mental-objects to this superiority) attitude.
Mythological awareness, if one can call it that, I suppose could be more described as "seeing". Seeing Spirit and Matter entwined in eternal embrace ... one being a reflection of the other.

Vedic religion .... connection or coincidence ?:
http://www.pathsplitter.net/ul/1000421d1.pdf

Tsereg Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Posts: 75

SOUL SOARING .....
SOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL ....:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6VVGHLS1Ok

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:36 pm

I've seen better. lol

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:31 pm

Inah, here's a mongolian shamanism song. Enjoy my dear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Uaml0iEmw

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:42 pm

@Inah

You have a great deal of knowledge, unfortunately I can't use any of it at the moment. The churches have no interest in other beliefs or even the reasoning of it. And my wife isn't the problem, it's that she wants a CHURCH that is a problem Sad

I'm going to print out what you posted though, hopefully she'll lay off the "I WANT TO GO TO CHURCH" (Seriously she still has issues...) thing that she has going on at the moment.

I just hope it works because it's very difficult to win a word battle with her, she's a lot more charismatic and intelligent then me. I'm too busy working 7 days a fucking week! lol

Tsereg Joined: 05 Dec 2008 Posts: 75

Oh well ... was just trying to think up ideas there ...

Best to you, your wife and the little one !

You too Bigmonkey !