Article Contributed on: 6/30/2009 9:30:37 AM
I'm diving right in without an introduction.
First assertion: God made man in his and her image. In the Bible it says "Let
us make man..."
If you don't believe in God, I would try out my assertion that we, with our hands and our self-consciousness and symbolic minds, are like the laws of physics in a more mechanical, error-prone way. We think in patterns and we work in patterns.
Second assertion: As Above, So Below. This is a nutshell version of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, which is too long to write but states,
...That which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for the performance of the miracle of the One Thing.
Third assertion: What comes about physically begins in the mind, and not just our minds but on a higher plane. For example, a physical cup can be made and destroyed, but the necessity for one, and the concept of it, cannot. And cups will just keep being made, whether out of paper or gold.
It is valid to draw analogies in life between two things that in many ways are not the same.
For example, the solar system and a single atom are different things but both consist of bodies in rotation around a central body.
For another example, an economy and a person's mood are two different things, but they both involve energies and focuses that go through cycles of movement and stagnation, both called depressions.
Jesus spoke in parables.
He spoke of broadcasting seeds and how things would go when the seeds were planted, depending on the grounds they landed on. He was talking about the fertile ground of caring, for the seeds of self-sacrifice.
It's valid to draw analogies and to learn from them. There are patterns and frameworks that everything fits into, if you look for them. Understanding this, as you increase in comprehension you might become better at handling what life throws at you, like disappointments and tragedies. Or you can get wise enough to predict what might happen in the future and get prepared as much as you know how.
There are needs and desires that will always arise in our lives, just as there will always be a need for something to hold water for drinking. The patterns are a kind of wisdom. Understanding of the patterns may take a lifetime to achieve, but it's the greatest pursuit there is and the greatest victory.
Troubled times are a gift because they force us to meet the limitations and failures brought about when we didn't take the time to work out the patterns of the past, present and future of what's happening.
For example, you see young women who are abused by their boyfriends, who marry those boyfriends and end up getting killed. For some reason it's possible to be taught to leave the thought structures up to someone else. The same with joining a cult, or becoming addicted. And there are many more minor instances.
Once we get it, we then must force changes in our hearts, to accept reality and to face conflicts.
Of course, there's a certain amount of pride we take in our own ability to reason and be in charge of ourselves. That's natural and there's a reason for it. We always want power to make things the way we desire.
We are made in the image of our creator, but somehow in our minds we turn it around and try to define our creator to suit our own liking. Many times, God is completely put down to nothing but a quaint notion. And yet the truth is, we don't make the forces, the patterns or the wisdom. It will always work the way it works. We have to submit to it, one way or another, faith or no faith.