Opening the Pandora's Box of Religion: The Wisdom of Kleoth
()
About this ebook
The first part of the book, the large part, explains the many terms that occur in Tibetan Buddhism, they deal with the approach of Death, the various ocular events that occur when death is approaching, and the events that one experiences right after the occurrence of body death. They are varied indeed!
<Anthony Joseph Newman-Miriam
I started real spiritual practice when I was 29 years old, and wanted to have true spiritual experience rather than faith. The problem with faith is that it always involves parts of the ego that enter the entities beliefs, no matter what, so that it will usually be somewhat skewed. I started as a Zen student, and then became a Tibetan practitioner. I make my living in classical music, and hope to have moved spiritually forward by the time my life is over.
Related to Opening the Pandora's Box of Religion
Related ebooks
Opening the Pandora’S Box of Religion: An Essay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOpening the Pandora's Box of Religion | The Wisdom of Kleoth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chi Key: Reflections on You, Me, and the Universe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rationality Illusion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScience of the Mystical Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPathism: Finding God in the Cosmos Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Enrichment of the Self and Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnrichment of the Self and Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeditations With Masters of the Axial Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNature Supernature Alpha Plus; The Physics of God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book Of Enlightenment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProof: Does God Exist? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKeeping the Faith Without a Religion Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soul Theft: How Religions Seized Control of Humanity's Spiritual Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Unshakable Bliss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLlewellyn's Truth About Calling Spirits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The ONE and the ALL: An Evolutionary Approach to God, Self and Transcendence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWill to Power Beyond Religious Illusion and Intellectual Nihilism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVibes from the Other Side: Accessing Your Spirit Guides & Other Beings from the Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEsoteric Christianity: The Lesser Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpiritualism: Its Echoes, Its Foundation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDecalogue: A Meditation On the Ten Commandments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNovum Carta Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Redwoods of Gaia: A Metaphysical Primer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCosmic Spirituality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvaluating Outdated Beliefs: The Transformation of Archaic Beliefs into Updated Consciousness of the Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPicturing God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReligions Values and Peak-Experiences Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Buddhism For You
30-Day Meditation Challenge: Exercises, Resources, and Journaling Prompts for a Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buddhism for Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buddhism for Beginners: All you need to start your journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 12-Step Buddhist 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Communicating Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Approaching the Buddhist Path Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tibetan Book of the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buddhism 101: From Karma to the Four Noble Truths, Your Guide to Understanding the Principles of Buddhism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the Buddha Taught Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Zen Buddhism: The Short Beginners Guide To Understanding Zen Buddhism and Zen Buddhist Teachings. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dhammapada Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Letters of Alan Watts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Zen of Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Opening the Pandora's Box of Religion
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Opening the Pandora's Box of Religion - Anthony Joseph Newman-Miriam
Copyright © 2022 by Anthony Newman-Miriam
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright writer.
All inquirers should be addressed to:
Book Savvy International
1626 Clear View Drive, Beverly Hills California 90210, United States
Hotline: (213) 855-4299
https://booksavvyinternational.com/
Ordering Information:
Amount Deals. Special rebates are accessible on the amount bought by corporations, associations, and others. For points of interest, contact the distributor at the address above.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN-13
Paperback: 978-1-958876-26-8
eBook: 978-1-958876-27-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916179
In a nutshell
Human beings are comprised of consciousness (which might live forever), and a body, which will surely die.
In order to survive, this combination takes on a self-surviving method of action which we call ego
. Because human beings have free will, the ego part also takes on self-pleasuring, which Freud called the id
.
Because the ego is basically self-serving, it easily creates negative karma, which, when it returns, causes suffering to the entity. This, and ignorance, are the roots of suffering.
The only remedy for this is the golden
rule, albeit combined with wisdom (don’t invite a serial killer to dinner).
New thoughts
about avatars
As has been said many times, the beginning of religion is in the fact and fear of death and the insurance of going to the right
and happy
place in the hereafter! Many are born into a family with religion being injected at an early age and with the thought that this is the one true
faith, the only way to the heavenly realms. Many are filled with feelings of guilt about sin and that only this religion can forgive one’s sins. Many feel pity or anger toward nonbelievers, pride at being the defender of the faith, and shame at being unworthy to carry the banner. It is very difficult to abandon all these feelings of anger and rejection from one’s family and friends, fear of damnation, and often a lack of resoluteness. Some are equipped with a kind of infantile reality about plowing through life’s challenges.
The dark side of religious education is consumed both with the religion’s holy
books and the taint of world history with their thought biases.
These thoughts are based on absolutely no experience of true spiritual tenets but, since they deal with eternity, are defended with arcane fierceness and sometimes with violence. Dark faith blends with the kind of ego that carries grandiosity and anger-violence with it. Some people are current with the religious mores of the times, some as much as 3000 years behind the times, showing features of a tribal or even caveman-like mentality about it. Scientific beliefs, open to proofs, are much less problematic since they can be proven or not and are not mixed up with God’s will. It is time to improve religion. The new age demands it!
What happens after death is the ultimate prod to fierce beliefs since one wants to be right.
Indeed, one must be right to ensure entry to higher realms. This is the true Gordian Knot of religion that can only be cut with a high level of wisdom and determination and grace.
The key to cutting through is meditation at a profound level.
If one believes in other universes, then perhaps we can say that religion is at the point of switching from faith to experience, and that other universes or galaxies—perhaps in our distant past—have been at the same point.
Ultimately, religion must answer the question of suffering: why is there suffering, and where does it come from and can it be stopped?
Faith is one of the hallmarks of the Piscean age. It is very likely the Aquarian age will enter the age of religion as heartfelt science through its mystical practices (to be discussed thoroughly in this paper). We are not yet complete, not yet one with the universe or God if you prefer. How long will all this take? The Hindus suggest half a million years per soul! Is there a way to shorten this process?
Religion falls into three distinct areas: those dealing with the fear-anger complex, like Islam, aspects of Roman Catholicism and archaic Judaism; those dealing with social justice, like modern Judaism and Christianity; and finally those dealing with direct connection to the higher levels—that is, mysticism and the power of avatars (incarnations of perfected beings) for example, Eastern religion in general. Any success in obtaining any of the avatar powers will break apart belief systems that have no grounding in reality. These practices were already codified over four thousand years ago—yes, on this planet—and are indeed in books!
1. Ultimately, over thousands of years, religion will move—I think—from a belief system to a system of heartfelt science, yoking oneself with higher beings and realities through specific techniques called yogas. This text explores all these possibilities.
2. Early or primitive religion is based on protection from the forces of nature through nonexperiential, but often fierce, trust in animal or nature or facts of nature,
that is, volcanoes, spirits, and/or totems. The unexpected events of life also promote some kind of belief in the unseen.
3. From the beginning, there was/is some hope or belief in the spirit living on after death, some think as wish fulfillment.
4. Around four to five thousand years ago, the Universe (God) sent hugely developed spirits (avatars, or perhaps benign and developed alien beings) to instruct mankind on the nature of themselves and the universe and how to eliminate suffering and the causes of suffering. There seem to have been—that is from their own actions, gifts, and manifestations—five of them: Krishna (Hinduism), Moses (Judaism), Lao Tzu (Taoism), Buddha (Buddhism), and Jesus (Christianity).
5. Though simply a student, I have pursued studies with masters
of the mystical traditions that are part of the first four traditions. Christianity has never had such a continuous school. (Teresa of Avila and Madame Guyon are two names that come to mind of important mystics that were silenced by the Roman Church.)
These teachers agree on the following points: spirits enter and reenter bodies for development not only on this plane, but on thousands more in the universe; with this phenomenon, a sense of dualistic separation, maintenance for oneself, protection, desire for pleasure, a fear of one’s own destruction, and anger at anybody or thing that thwarts one’s wishes is created. There are perhaps three basic angers that occupy incarnated reality: (1) that of being in a body with its limitations, pains, old age and death; (2) that of having to take care of the body with food and protection; (3) that of pleasuring
it, what some would call Freud’s id. These are spoken about in the later chapters. This basic phenomenon we of course call the ego.
The ego, listed as one of the component parts of a human being in the Indian spiritual system, is necessary for survival at lower stages of evolution. Its physical home is the medulla oblongata in the brain. It looks out for itself basically and is friendly to its own sexual mate and offspring and is suspicious of the other.
Its negative thoughts are of fear, anger, desire, and aversion; and it is ignorant of the rebound effect of karma. It is a detriment to spiritual advancement precisely because of these limiting qualities. Survival in the world in a more advance state is pursued by the ego trying not to hurt others or oneself but without attachment to the results of its efforts. Eventually, in a more advanced entity, the ego must disappear. There is always need for a small amount of ego to survive in a body, even in the case of very advanced beings.
Willed action called karma is the fundamental activating force of the universe. Such action always returns to the actor, albeit within a huge time possibility. The return gives the spirit, now in a body, a chance to view itself, more often within suffering (because vested self-interest is the primary quality of ego), less often within a pleasant experience. This viewing may be used to forward one’s own development. One can speak of development in two parts: part one improves
the ego, making it kinder, less willful, retaliating, and defended; part two dissolves the ego. This is done not only through actions for the benefit of the other, but by a very high level of focus coupled with nonattachment and very specific yogic practices which always involve the central channel.
(This spiritual godlike channel rises from the base of the spine to the spot between the eyes at the tip of the nose and is called sushumna within the Indian system. It is flanked on either side by two other mundane channels called ida and pingala.) The area where one’s spirit guides (guardian angels) reside is called luminosity
by the Tibetans. We all have it, although it is usually cloudy! It’s where our imagination resides and flourishes in our minds. These avatar practices yield about eighteen achievements which the great spiritual geniuses in the history of humankind all achieved and in fact demonstrated in their lives.
Our towering figures, mentioned above, could do the following things which no ordinary man can do—speak with other spirit entities; foretell the future; remember the distant past or unknown past; read other’s minds and speak to others mentally; heal other’s physical, spiritual, and emotional ailments; defy the laws of nature by forcing matter to do their will, walk on water, levitate, generate a holograph body during life which, after death, is visible to all, even at the same time and in different places; reinvigorate their own and other dead
bodies or produce a similar real material body after death; have their bodies disappear and reappear in a differing space; produce warmth in the belly area, protecting their bodies from the cold.
Other things that are unseen that avatars can do are the following: enter their own and others ‘dream states consciously; force their own spirits (souls) out their cranium at death; see the varied lives and karmas of other beings, their deaths, and reincarnations; enter other physical bodies of their own will; dissolve the negative actions of others; possess a complete and noncontingent peace and joyfulness of spirit; merge with what is termed as the white light at the moment of death; eliminate the need to enter other bodies for further development (unlike nearly all of humanity). Note how many recent science fiction films incorporate some of these traits. There is real public interest! Soon we might have Levitation 101 in college courses!
The three figures which are recorded in their respective holy books to have done these things were the following: Krishna, Lord Buddha, and Jesus. Of course, tampering (let’s call it Zealoting) with the master’s words became somewhat common in less-advanced students.
In the case of the Gita and the 108 volumes of the Buddha’s teachings and methods, the students both recording the information and addressed, have to have been advanced since all major practices require Samadhi (a perfectly focused meditation state, requiring at least twenty-five thousand hours of practice in which the ego disappears, at least within meditation). What has come down to us as the Bible contains both enlightened words of great masters, as well as unenlightened information and opinions.
In the Hindu description of major avatars (those completely one with the universe, not needing to incarnate, not needing teachers), these three entities are stated, along with quite unknown figures that lacked public recognition and public encounters. The first two lived among spiritual students that had accomplished long meditation practices, which would include the first great stage of merging with (no separation between) what is perceived or heard during meditation; and the second stage, which is meditation with the cessation of breath, which brings about noncontingent bliss and complete lack of anxiety or suffering.
All of these accomplishments have yoga associated with them, which are part of the spiritual tradition of Hinduism and Buddhism, and which are available in contemporary texts, and which can be studied and (usually with the help of someone who has accomplished them) practiced. In the largest sense, a quieted mind state produces the possibilities of speaking to and receiving responses from one’s own spirit guides. This is the first development that will come to a seeker who has practiced enough sincere meditation. Remember how we speak of guardian angels, but have medication suggested if we claim contact with them!
With quieter mind states, one can mentally speak telepathically to those who have similar development (Karl Jung was an advocate for the practice of telepathy).
A central channel runs through the seven major chakras (base of the spine, three inches below the navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye or just above the middle of the eyes, and the crown), and within these is a series of knots at each of the points, which need to be untied in order to accomplish the other avatar qualities just spoken about. On either side of the channel are smaller channel tubes through which pass the energy of ordinary everyday perception: these energies need to enter the central channel and are most easily penetrated by the process of visualizing heat-fire at each chakric point or of visualizing the breath entering each chakric point. The specifics of the channel practices are available through the following: the Tibetan tradition, that is, the Six Yogas of Naropa, easily accessible in texts (e.g., The Six Yogas of Naropa, Glenn H. Mullin, Snow Lion Press) the same or similar practices in the Indian school called Kriya Yoga, with breathing descriptions in one or two texts and which must be studied with an accomplished practitioner in order to be learned. (See texts of Lahiri Mahasay, SriYukteswar, and Yogananda [Autobiography of a Yogi] and Swami Giri.)
The basic prerequisite for all these practices is the attainment of great focus within normal life and meditation (average person’s focus power is about 35 percent, as contrasted with 95–99 percent focus needed for a high-level version of meditative practices.)
The central channel exercises are much more complex and are described along with their names as follows:
• Inner Heat—One who focuses on the central channel below the navel point generating a vision of fire and visualizes having the energy of the side channels enter the central one. When successful, this produces not only real heat, but bliss that pervades all one’s consciousness. Google tummo and find on YouTube for actual demonstrations of this technique.
• Illusory Body-Based on the concept of emptiness
; that is to say, on the interdependence of all phenomena and its ultimate nonpermanence, this practice will not only generate a holograph body which leaves and can reappear to others after death, but also promotes the experience of all things as dreamlike, which then produces the experience of joy through the release of attachment. This practice is done by a man with a woman, requires sexual penetration without orgasm and various visualizations during the process. One immediately connects Mary Magdalene as Jesus possible consort for this practice! One is also able to project this illusory but conscious body to anywhere in the universe!
• Clear Light—This yoga is to produce the experience of oneself being conscious in dreams. This practice is done by visualizing varied colored lights in the throat and heart areas when falling asleep and/or falling asleep directly from a state of Samadhi. The further application is at the moment of death where one is able to stay in consciousness during the eight stages of dying (mentioned in the books referred to above).
• Consciousness Transference—This practice forces the soul consciousness out of the crown area and coincides with the moment of death, enabling the entity to transfer
his/her awareness to a higher or even Buddhic level. This practice is also described in detail in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The practice is done with the raising of awareness from the bottom of the central channel with certain syllables, the most common being hic and forcefully pushing the spirit out of the fontanel.
• Forceful Projection—An offshoot of the former practice, the practitioner aims to place his consciousness into another body, usually for the purpose of helping others by reincarnating into a more suitable body, without having to be born again!
• Bardo Yoga—The purpose here is to achieve higher levels of enlightenment after death by staying in awareness and recognizing the phenomena (negative and positive entities) that occur after death as part of one’s own awareness.
These are doubtless at the extreme high level of skill and virtuosity in practice and cannot be done even in a beginning way without the required very strong level of focus and the energy and blessings of one’s teachers and indeed the universe itself.
Like the former two avatars, Krishna and Buddha, it is very likely that Jesus taught these techniques to whatever students were qualified to receive them—probably a tiny few—and basically worked on improving
through the Golden Rule, rather than dissolving
the ego of most of his followers. Like the former avatars who rose to this great level of spirituality through lives of spiritual effort, it is likely that Jesus did the same, taught his inner (advanced) disciples that they should (must) do the same, and gave them exercises for this at whatever level these students were. Humankind then progresses through hundreds of thousands of years from caveman-like status to oneness with the universe or God and partially through the accomplishments of the yogas mentioned above.
The early Roman Catholic Church, unable to really comprehend who Jesus actually was (like a beginning piano student listening to a finished virtuoso), started by writing stories about him to convert others, finally concocting too good to be true
statements such as the forgiveness of sins through confession to a priest (a concept totally incompatible with Judaism, from which Christianity was born) and a permanent heavenly state attainable by simply by believing in Jesus. Reincarnation (a belief of CE Judaism and before was also common in early Christianity until it was condemned as heresy in the sixth century by a synod) was bad
because it took away the power of early Christianity (one life and one eternal heaven or hell state) and so was condemned. Of course, if one’s mistakes are forgiven simply through confession, then humankind will simply make more of them, knowing they can be forgiven. The power of karma then is erased!
Whereas scientific principles can be tested and then believed in, religion has no such phenomena, being a belief system without experience as a background (unless one undertook the aforementioned practices).
Although I stated this at the beginning of my introduction, I will say again that religion is a true Gordian Knot. In