Addendum: An Unorthodox Ontological Anthology Concerning Existence and Reality

By Michael Davidson

Addendum: Unorthodox, Ontological Analogy Concerning Existence and Reality, is meant as an introduction to metaphysics; a word coined my Aristotle to express a reality other than the physical. We begin with a focus on consciousness, followed by an emphasis on ancient Greek wisdom. At times we will wander in rivulets to other topics along the way.

The scope of this treatises is, as said and introduction to the ancient metaphysical wisdoms, but also a plunge into the fathomless ocean of esoterism.

Our journey into the perception of reality is two-fold and is analogues to the dichotomy of Newtonian physics versus Quantum. In this work, the dichotomy is between perception and observation i.e. Duality and Oneness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662464836

Michael Davidson

Michael Davidson is Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-Century (1991) and several books of poetry.

Book preview

Analogy: The Beautiful Nightmare

Now, imagine for a few minutes you are dreaming of a fairytale called, The Beautiful Nightmare. You find yourself on a large blue and white globe spinning lazily in the darkness. Soon you discover you have a name; Adam Stepford, and you have a wonderful mother and father. As you grow older you discover there is something called God, and that one day, after you die, you will go to heaven to be with God and your loved ones. In the meantime, after arriving home from school one day, you find that your mother has died, and is now in heaven living, joyfully, with God for eternity. Many years go by and you find yourself in a country far away, lying in the mud and the blood, with your fellow soldiers. Suddenly you realize you cannot feel your legs, and when you look down at them, you discover you no longer have legs. As the gray dawn turns to black, your last thought is that now you will go to heaven and live with your mother and God forever.

This Addendum is about a different kind of fairytale. Yes, somewhat more complicated, and perhaps more profound than Adam Stepford’s nightmare; an epic tale which begins where Adams vision concludes, and continues on, into an Aphroditic tale of love and wonder.

Consciousness

Consciousness is the state or quality of being aware of an external object, or, something within oneself (Wikipedia).

As Max Velmans and Susan Schneider wrote in The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness: Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness, making the conscious experience both the most familiar and mysterious aspects of our lives. If, as Max and Susan hypothesize; consciousness is the most familiar and mysterious aspect of our lives." Is it possible to determine how it functions?

Obviously, there is a receiver of consciousness in the body, and if so, what and where is it? Sri Nisargadatta, when asked the question, answered only that it comes through the top of head. The pineal endocrine gland, alias, the third eye, or the 6th chakra, is a small nodule the size of a pea and shaped like a pinecone tucked in under the cerebral cortex of the brain. There is some agreement among philosophers, supported by esoteric traditions, that the pineal gland is, indeed, the receiver of consciousness in the human body.

The physiological functions of the pineal gland had been unknown until recent times; however, the mystical traditions and esoteric schools have long known this area to be the connecting link between the physical and spiritual worlds. Considered the most powerful and highest source of ethereal energy available to humans, the pineal gland has always been important in initializing supernatural powers. Development of psychic talents has been closely associated with this organ of higher vision." (Crystalinks)

Once we have established the entry point of consciousness in the body, we must ask the question: How does consciousness communicate with the environment? Clearly, it is our five senses; sight, sound, touch/feel, taste and smell, that perform the communication. The human senses, then, can be considered attributes of consciousness.

Our original; that of being conscious of consciousness, may at first appear as an oxymoron, however with some thought it will reveal itself as a paradoxical.

Oxymoron: A contradictive question or statement.

Paradox: A question or statement that appears to be a contradiction.

In the ‘Sammy the fish,’ analogy; Sammy cannot realize water. And we are unable to realize that we are swimming in consciousness. Being conscious of that consciousness, is but a whisper away, and yet, seemingly, unattainable. It is, and always has been, the result of profound meditation. It is a state devoid of thought, and as still as a graveyard. It is a state where names no longer exist and recognition becomes observation. It is your natural state of being.

The ancient Greeks, called it: To Die before You Die

The sage, Sri Nisargadatta, called it: I Am

The initiate, Krishnamurti, called it: The Fire of Attention.

Meditation

An intransitive verb, meaning to empty the mind of thought, by means of exclusion or inclusion. As a noun: The act of meditating.

Exclusion: Segregating all from a single object of concentration.

Inclusion: To acknowledge all sense perception as one common perception.

An environmental perception existing as a duality means that we perceive ourselves as subject, and all else as object. It is the separateness between the subject and the object that defines the state of duality. That separateness is an illusion. An awareness of the environment as a singularity, occurs when through meditation, objects becomes aspects.

Some traditional techniques of meditation:

Transcendental Meditation (TM): Silent mantras.

Kundalini: Focus on primal energy located at the base of the spine.

Zazen: A means of insight into the nature of existence.

Qi Gong: Movement, posture, breathing.

Tibetan: The ultimate nature of God.

Tibetan Buddhism: Mindfulness, concentration, tranquility and supramundane powers.

SRF Self-Realization Fellowship: Kriya Yoga, realization of God and liberation of the soul.

Two of the lesser-known meditations:

I Am: All else is an illusion—Sri Nisargaddata

Konie Aistheses: The realization that our senses are attributes of consciousness, and the amalgamation of the five senses knowingly, creates a common sense of oneness.

Parmenides—485 B.C.

Definitions: Physics, Metaphysics, Logic

The following definitions are essential to a foundation in the study of the nature of being and existence.

Physics: The scientific study of matter, energy, force and motion, and the way they relate to each other, i.e. ‘what you see is what you get’. It can be beautiful, even mind-blowing; but never-the-less, it is an objectification; thus, becoming separate from all else. A perception, the nature of which is dual and illusional.

Metaphysics: Existence as causality. It is the science of the invisible; an unrelenting subtle attraction, that draws us into a perception that can change the course of our lives. That branch of philosophy concerned with the study of the nature of being and existence.

Logic: Aristotle 384-322 BC, coined the word metaphysics, when he recognized the need for a term that would express that which was not physical. An example of Aristotelian metaphysical logic: Sight is Perception.

Peter Kingsley, in his book, Reality, interprets logic by Parmenides (485 BC.) Defining logic is very easy. It’s the expression of a reality which is utterly impersonal, which is governed by an absolute necessity that has nothing to do with our ideas or beliefs. And it gives us more than we could ever hope for, but also much less. And this is what logic once used to be. It was a fine thread connecting us with another world: A gift from the gods, a magic lure drawing us into oneness. Logic is, to our minds, an impossibility. It has laws, but no fixed rules. Rules exist to trap us, but logic exists to set us free. (More on the philosophy of the pre-Socratic Greeks, later in this volume)

Regarding the title of this book: Although existence and reality are inseparable, an ontological discussion of existence consists of concepts relating specifically to consciousness and the material universe, whereas reality considers the illusion and deception of a dual universe.

Yeshua said: If flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of flesh, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet the greatest of wonders is this: How is it that this Being, which is, inhabits this Nothingness?"

From the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, logion 29.

Now that we are armed with such prestigious definitions, let us proceed. The following is but a prologue to Metaphysics 102. In keeping with the style of this work, I will define many words and expressions as we proceed. As an example, if you were to research the meaning of the numeral phrase, 101, you would find it means, the beginning of a journey. No doubt you encountered this phrase during your formal education. A more profound definition is: "The Angel number of 101 is a letter to people facing challenges. It means that your problem now, may be your solution tomorrow."

And so we commence toward an understanding of Metaphysics, and we can anticipate a solution in the form of realization.

Metaphysics 101

Religions

I’d like to begin with a cursory review of the world’s most prominent religions along with their dogmas, their histories (in brief), and their gods, or God. Helena Patrova Blavatsky, originator of the Theosophical Society, said: All modern religions are exoteric (commonly understood) convictions. I would not be surprised if you found this section a bit difficult to plough through. I include it not only for general information, but to demonstrate how religions have degenerated in our current era.

Let’s begin with how religions are dated historically. B.C. is short for, Before Christ. A.D. or Annio Domini is Latin for, The Year of our Lord. C. E. means, Common Era, and is used by those who prefer not to base history on the birth of Jesus Christ; the actual date of which is debatable and was not assumed until 525 A.D. The 25th of December is not the actual day and month of Jesus’s birth. It has been used as the birth date of other holy men.

The most practical reason for using B.C. is to establish a time in which events occurred or will occur, i.e. we could not say that the next Olympic Games are scheduled on a particular date because we would not have a starting date to calculate by. We would have to say, "The Olympics start in two years, eight months, three weeks and eight days from today. In other words, B.C. is a handy point of reference.

For the sake of being thorough; how far back do we have to go to find the first written word? My research reveals that words came before the writing of them, and numbers came prior words. Before that we’re told that symbolism dates back 20,000 years. It wouldn’t surprise me if symbolism dated much earlier. The first actual writing was called proto writing, meaning ideographic; relating to or involving the study of individuals and mnemonics, a short rhyme or phrase. The first evidence of actual writing came out of Mesopotamia Egypt 3200 B.C. and the Olmel’s, in Mesoamerica followed later. The first known writings in India appeared in 2500 B.C. They were called Harappan. The alphabetic writing called Sanskrit first appeared in 1200 B.C. in the Rigveda. Chinese writing was never related to western writing but apparently appeared about 1200 B.C. (Wikipedia) The above dates may not be accurate. According to some accounts, the Bible, beginning with ‘Adam and Eve’ was written in 4004 B.C.

The first thing I noticed in my research of religions was there are a lot of isms. Namely: Buddhism, Bonism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Indian Shamanism, Libertarianism, Mormonism, Gnosticism, Jainism, Sufism, Theism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Monotheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, Occultism, Stoicism, Deism, and Autotheism. There is of course, Christianity. I’m not sure if that could be expressed as an ism or not. Then we have Catholicism, Mormonism, Hellenistic Paganism and the many sects of Protestantism. Whoops! I forgot the ism, Monetariunism; the Church of Profit.

Mystics, B.C. or A.D., no matter what the religion, are a different breed. Mysticism is the direct pursuit of salvation, liberation, or union with the deity by means of mental, physical and spiritual disciplines within an overall program of ascetic self-purification. (Wikipedia)

A brief review of the religions stated above: Most of the assessments below are from official Internet sites. However, some are from more opinionated sources.

Judaism and the Bible

Judaism and the Bible are nearly synonymous. All of western civilization originated from the Bible. The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures. Varying parts of the Bible are considered to be a product of Divine inspiration and the record of the relationship between God and humans, by Christians, Jews, Samaritans, and Rastafari (A religious cult, originally of Jamaica, that believers regard Africa as the ‘promised land). The Bible appears in the form of an anthology, compiling texts of a variety of forms that are all linked by a belief that they collectively contain the word of God. These texts include theologically embellished historical accounts, hymns, erotica parables and didactic letters. (Bing)

The Jews, save the Kabbalists, having no names for East, West, South and North, expressed the idea by words signifying before, behind, right and left, and very often confounded the terms exoterically, thus making the blinds in the Bible more confused and difficult to interpret. Add to this the fact that out of the forty-seven interpreters of King James I of England’s Bible, only three understood Hebrew, and of these two died before the Psalms were translated. One may easily understand what reliance can be placed on the English version of the Bible. In this work the Douay Roman Catholic version is generally followed.

The Secret Doctrine—H.P. Blavatsky

Aggadah and Mashalim (Narration and Parables)

Theology and philosophy are important subjects in Addadah (narration), and there are extensive sermons interpreting the Scriptures. In addition, thought is given to such sciences as astronomy and medicine. There are Aggadot which consist of mystic and messianic speculation, and there are even long passages which discuss the interpretation of dreams. These can be found in Talmudic literature and in many collections of books of Aggadah called Midrash.

There is no folklore that can claim such long and continuous history as the Jewish, that has had such a vast range of productivity in both time and geography. Some writers have expressed astonishment at the marked intellectual and sophisticated character of so much Jewish folklore. But seen within the contexts of its social and cultural history there is nothing at all baffling in this. Jews became and intellectual people not because any innate mental superiority over other people, but because of the peculiar nature of their history. They have cherished and preserved their tradition of learning ever since the Age of Ezra the Scribe, and the public teachings of the Men of the Great Assembly during the sixth century B.C.E.

Of all elements in Jewish folklore, the parable is probably the most distinctly Jewish. The Hebrew name for it is Mashal, but mashal has a wider meaning. It also includes fables and brief allegories. In all of the Torah there are only five parables, but they are abounded with prodigal lavishness in the Aggadah of the Talmud, in the Misrash, and in the books of the Apocrypha, which are the non-canonical extra-Biblical writings. (Internet sources)

Judaism is a powerful and profound religion that was established centuries prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. The ancient Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Torah, a written commentary of instruction on the first five books of the Tanaka (Bible), the Midrash, is commonly described as the process of interpretation by which rabbis fill in the gaps found in the Torah, and the Zohar, a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as the Kabbalah, is a God driven text revealing, in metaphoric and allegoric form, materials concerning the genesis and existence of the human race.

As the account goes, during the early Iron age (2000 to 1400 BCI) a man named Abraham lived in the Middle East (Mesopotamian). Abraham (born 2018 B.C.) was unhappy with the practice of bowing down and worshiping idols. God told Abraham to go to Canaan (later named, Israel, Judea and Palestine). Abraham taught the belief in one God, which later was embellished by Moses, and came to be called a Monotheism. Like many of the tribes of the Middle East, the Jews (called Hebrews at the time) were nomadic. The bible tells of a great draught and the Hebrews sought food in Egypt, where they eventually suffered greatly under the rule of, pharaoh Thutmose III, and were led by their new leader, Moses, an Egyptian out of Egypt into the wilderness of the Sinai, after which, he conquered the land called Canaan. (Moses was 80 years old when he led the Exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt.

A note concerning Noah: As far as I can discern, the Jews are the only religious culture that speaks of Noah and the flood. According to some interpretations from the bible, (and if you do the math) Noah would have been 600 years old when the flood occurred in 2300 B.C. leaving most scholars to believe that the story of Noah is allegorical. However, there have been fragments attributed to the Book of Noah found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of some 981 different texts discovered between 1946 and 1956 in eleven caves in the West Bank of Israel.

Moses was born in the first half of the 15th century B.C. and was reported to have lived to be 120 years old. He reinforced the belief in one God, and on the mountain of Sinai, established (among others) 10 Commandments, which became the cornerstone, not only of Judaism, but of Christianity as well. Moses is also given credit for writing the first five books of the Old Testament in the bible, called by name, the Torah. Through the teachings of Moses, the Jews became not only advocates in the belief of the one God, but how people treated one another, becoming an ethical religion. The religion of Judaism became known as an ethical monotheism. The early history of Judaism is laced with disagreement, violence and division of kings, politics and prophets. Jewish observances of holidays and of their religious rituals are closely tied to their history. (Paraphrased from Wikipedia)

There appears to be a great variety in the practice and doctrines of Judaism, ranging from Humanistic Judaism, which is cultural and non-theistic, to extreme forms of orthodoxy as represented by Haredi Judaism and its subset of Hasidic Judaism.

***

Christianity and Catholicism

A belief in the New Testament and Jesus Christ as savior.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Mathew 6:9-13

Let’s stop here for a minute because Christianity gets a little complicated. To begin with let’s take a quick look at Catholicism which in some ways appears as a religion within a religion. Catholicism means universal, which seems to be oxymoronic because we know that Catholicism does not represent the Universal Christian Church, however it does have the largest membership in Christendom. The history of the Catholic Church is not complete without mention of the Inquisition; an organization within the Catholic Church established to weed-out and punish those who did not hold orthodox religious beliefs. The Index of Forbidden Books, on which every book of any merit has at one time been listed, and destroyed; the Reformation and witch hunts during the mid-centuries A.D.

In a more modern era, there have been scandals concerning the priesthood and the sexual abuse of children. And even more recently, the first Pope in history has quit the post without dying. Politics and severe prejudice designed to protect the Church, has inundated Catholicism. There are reports of many priests, Bishops and Cardinals living secret lives and breaking their vows on a regular basis. There is or has been criminal behavior deeply seated in the Vatican, which you might expect from the only City-State left on the planet. And women continue to be treated as 2nd class citizens. The priesthood would seem to be in difficulties, partly due to its vow of celibacy.

I came across an exceptional man of the Catholic faith, by name, Titus Flavius Clemens (150-215 A.D.) known as Saint Clement of Alexandria, and not to be confused with Clementi who was the fourth Catholic Pope. Clemet of Alexandria was a theologian who had converted to Christianity. He was educated and familiar with Greek philosophy and influenced by Hellenistic philosophy more than any other Christian thinker of his time. He was familiar with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem, whose name was removed from the Roman Martyrology in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V.

As a religion, Christianity is focused on a core set of beliefs, the first being that there is a single God who sent his only son to be born a human being. He was called, Jesus of Nazareth and later, Jesus Christ, the Messiah promised to the Jews. However, Judaism denied that he was the promised messiah.

I came across an article by Rabbi Bernis in The Jewish Voice Ministries International. "For almost 2,000 years, both Judaism and Christianity have promulgated the lie that the Jewish people rejected Jesus as their Messiah. I was raised a Jewish child and understood that Jewish identity meant one thing: Jews don’t believe in Jesus. Rabbi Bernis goes on to say: But that is a lie—the Jews have not rejected Jesus. The entire New Testament story took place in the land of Israel—the land of the Jew. Jesus was a Jew, and declared Himself the Messiah of Israel. All of his followers were Jews, as were the 129 in the *Upper Room. The 3,000 that came to faith on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, or Pentecost, ‘grew to about 5,000,’ according to Acts 4:4. So there is a record of thousands of Jewish Believers in the promised Messiah of Israel, and they took the Gospel around the world. *Upper Room (meaning not found).

The Bible attest to what as some refer to as Jewish Christianity in which Jewish People believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah of Hebrew Scriptures.

Jesus Christ preached a Jewish teaching to the effect that one’s duty is to love God and one’s neighbor, and that anyone who believed in him would not die. The New Testament states that Jesus proved he was the anointed one by his performance of miracles and his resurrecting of the dead; an assertion made chiefly by St. Paul.

There was a dispute between the orthodox Jew and the newly born Christianity of St. Paul. It is chiefly asserted by Paul that the old Jewish laws had been superseded by a new convent, and if one believed in, and obeyed the teachings of Jesus as Christ, they would be saved; all this some years after the death of Jesus.

Paraphrased from A.C. Grayling’s Ideas that Matter.

It is astounding to discover that world history can turn on a phrase. I’d like to mention a phrase that has caused much confusion and argument through the centuries. He died for our sins. What does that mean? Does it mean there will be no retribution for our sins? Or, does it mean that although karmic retribution must and will be levied, the moral/spiritual essence of man is God given, and cannot be stained by the unenlightened actions of man.

Catholicism states that if a person truly believes in Jesus Christ, and confesses their sins, those sins shall be forgiven. As an echo of what is stated above, Catholic doctrine states that even though one has been forgiven, retribution must be endured. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but that is the definition of karma.

The doctrine of confession and forgiveness is powerful, but what does it really mean? If the canon of karma had been made official doctrine by the church in the 2nd century B.C. as argued by many Priests and Cardinals, forgiveness would be meaningless.

Forgive (Forgiveness) Definition: To pardon, absolve, to cease to feel resentment. Who is it that ceases to feel resentment? God? Can God feel resentment? Forgiveness also means to absolve or liberate. To absolve or liberate begs the question of who or what are we liberated or freed from? Give it some thought. When you forgive, you set yourself free.

Paganism

Paganism is a term that covers a great number of spiritual and religious beliefs, and someone who follows one of these beliefs is known as a pagan. Those in ancient times, who are called pagans today, believed there was not just one god but a number of gods and goddesses. The stories from Greek mythology are examples from pagan religions. Pagans usually focus on spirituality and nature, rather than on doctrines and dogma.

The word, pagan, is often used to describe anyone who holds religious beliefs that differ from the world’s main religions. A similar term is heathen. Today, paganism, refers to people who follow neo-pagan religions that honor the Earth. The best known neo-pagan faith is Druidism, but there are many other neo-pagan religions with different beliefs.

Christianity and the God Man

Even this quick look at Christianity would not be complete without mention of the God Man. There is a mold that was forged many centuries before the birth of Jesus. In the 1st Century A.D., it had to have been well known by the Romans in power. It would have been known certainly by the Apostle, St. Paul. There can be little doubt that the Jewish Gnostics were aware of it.

Jesus Christ fits the mold perfectly. The ancient Greek Dionysus, who lived and died a half century before Jesus, fits the mold. Osiris of Egypt was a perfect fit. There have been, before and after Jesus Christ, dozens of Prophets who fit the mold; the circumstances of which are the birth, life, death and resurrection. If you are interested in the well documented history of the God Man, read The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy.

Protestantism

A schism occurred in the 16th Century. The religious movement that had for its object, the reform of the Roman Catholic Church, and led to the establishment of Protestant churches. The protesting (hence Protestant) communities of Christians themselves split into two main communities, Lutheran and a stricter sect, Calvinist. These in turn have since spawned a multitude of further sects.

Christianity was named after Jesus of Nazareth, probably by St. Paul (Paul was later beheaded). Jesus was said to be a Jew due to his parentage, however, he has also been identified as an *Avatar. Jesus was executed by the Roman authorities in 30-35 A.D. by means of crucifixion, a form of capital punishment reserved for terrorists at the time. Christianity began as a predominantly Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean religious movement, syncretistically manufactured out of Judaism with bits of Zoroastrianism and Greek themes; with both philosophical and mythology increasingly added in.

*Avatar: The decent of a deity to the earth, in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.

There are three fundamentals of the Reformation (to reform): The supremacy of the scriptures over tradition, the supremacy of faith over works, and the supremacy of Christian people over an exclusive priesthood. They resolve themselves into one principle of evangelical freedom, or freedom in Christ.

The ultimate aim of evangelical Protestantism is to bring every man into living union with Christ as the only and all-sufficient Lord and Savior from sin and death. (Internet sources)

Hinduism

A diverse body of religion, philosophy, and cultural practice native to, and predominant in India, characterized by a belief in reincarnation and karma and a supreme being of many forms and natures, with the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and a desire for liberation from earthly evils. Krishna is regarded as an Avatar and most of the modern references are based on his teachings. In earlier writings, the Vedanta, referred to in the Upanishads, is the most speculative and philosophical of the Vedic texts; most probably recorded around 5000 B.C. However, in the medieval period of Hinduism, the Vedanta considers scriptural evidence as the most authentic means of knowledge, while perception and logical inference are considered to be subordinate, but valid. (Internet sources)

Jnana Yoga: Jnana (wisdom of knowledge) is considered the most difficult of the four main paths of yoga, requiring great strength of will and intellect. In Jnana yoga, the mind is used to inquire into its own nature and to transcend its identification with thoughts and ego. The fundamental goal of Jnana yoga is to become liberated from the illusionary world of Maya (thoughts and perceptions) and to achieve union of the inner Self (Atman) with the oneness of all life (Brahman). This is achieved by steadfastly practicing the mental techniques of self-questioning, reflection and conscious illumination.

Note: Hinduism is one of the most prolific of religious philosophies. In the West we are introduced to the Vedas mainly through The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Hinduism appears tolerant of other religious views.

Islam

is an Arabic word which means surrender, submission, commitment and peace. Thus, Islam can be defined as a path to attain complete peace through voluntary submission to the divine will. Muslims do not believe in the doctrine of karma; they believe in the One God.

Jihad: Jihadism is an extreme version of Islamism. Less than one percent of Islamists are Jihadists. The Jihadist ideology holds that they are the only true believers. The rest of the world is made up of hostile unbelievers whose sole purpose is the destruction of Islam. And that unbelievers are worthy of attack.

Note: One wonders at the extreme violence currently enacted upon the, so called, unbelievers by Jihadist and their belief that murder is justified, for those who believe otherwise.

Buddhism

Buddhism is listed as the world’s fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Siddhartha Gautama was born 500 years, before Jesus. At that time the only monotheistic teachings came from the Jews. Siddhartha became a fully enlightened Buddha in his eightieth year. Siddhartha’s father (567 B.C.E) was King Soddhodana in the state of Kusalh, a Providence in India. The common man was usually polytheistic, but some also believed in the Hindu God, Brahma. Although Siddhartha apparently believed in Brahma, the Buddha didn’t teach concerning a God. His teaching was the concern for human suffering and the path to Nirvana.

Quotations by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha:

Do not believe in anything simply because you heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions simply because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to good, and benefits of one and all, then accept it and live by it." (Internet sources)

Zen Buddhism

(A brief mention) A major school of Buddhism originating in 12th century China, emphasizes enlightenment through meditation and insight.

Tibetan Buddhism: (Chogyam Trunpa)

Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to a spiritual materialism.

Note: In a comment concerning the true spiritual path, Trungpa compares the Buddhist approach with the ‘theistic’ approach: The basic problems of spiritual materialism are common to all spiritual disciplines. The Buddhist approach begins with our confusion and suffering, and works toward the unraveling of their origin. The theistic approach begins with the richness of God and works toward raising consciousness so as to experience God’s presence.

When climbing a mountain, would you start at the top and climb down?

Trungpa’s comparison is meant to clarify the manner in which we seek God. Of the four most prominent religions on the planet, Buddhism appears to be the only one that denies the existence of an enduring human soul. ‘But does it? (This subject is investigated in more detail under the heading of, Soul)

Greek Orthodox Church

Greek orthodox is divided into two major parts, the Monastic Church of Greece and the semiautonomous Church of Crete. Greek Orthodox is a Christian Church. They specifically honor Jesus Christ and Mary, ‘the mother of God.’ They believe in both the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. They are monotheistic.

Hellenistic Paganism

Hellenistic Paganism is the ancient religion of Greece. It is a form of Polytheism, which means multiple Gods. The Greek God, Zeus, is the primary God with minor divinities such as his son Heracles and daughters, Aphrodite and Persephone. A note here on just what a Greek God represents. The Greek gods may be thought of as hierarchies of the human constitution. They represent everything from our emotions and behaviors to the fundamental elements of our existence.

For example, Zeus represents aither; Aphrodite represents our sense of love beauty, sexuality, and deception. Aphrodite’s twin (or alter ego) Persephone, represents tragedy, destruction, and death. Another example is Apollo: "For the Greeks, the god of awareness (enlightenment) was Apollo. In his consciousness, space and time mean nothing. He can see or be anywhere; past and future are as present as the present is for us. And so he was the god of ecstasy, trance and cataleptic states—of states that take you somewhere. There was a single word (Apollo) in Greek to express this; it meant ‘taken by Apollo.’

"Apollo’s ecstasy was different from the ecstasy of Dionysus (god of fertility, wine and drama). There was nothing wild or disturbing about it. It was intensely private, for the individual and the individual alone. And it happened in such stillness that anyone else might hardly notice it or could easily mistake it for something else. But in this total stillness there was total freedom at another level.

"The other level of freedom from space and time is simply a fact. Doubting it doesn’t affect it in the slightest, and neither does believing it: beliefs or doubts don’t touch there. To convey a sense of this freedom, one name to those priests of Apollo was ‘Skywalker’—a term used as far east as Tibet and Mongolia in just the same way.

"Because the state of consciousness they knew is beyond time and space, isn’t to say that it’s separate from time and space: By its very nature it’s separate from separation. This has become so difficult to appreciate. Either we deny the existence of other states of conscious, or else we put them in a hierarchy somewhere out