⬅️↖️⬆️↗️➡️↘️⬇️↙️ TREE 636: Enlightenment is omnidirectional
John Michael Greer is a polytheist and poly-all-sorts-of-other-non-physical beings-ist. Rob Bell is Christian-adjacent, spiritualish and claims to operate in a ‘proper level of woo’. Professor Brian Cox is a materialist. I have a close family member who has had a relationship with God since before she heard of Christianity.
I’m a fan of all four of these people. They all contribute to my growth.
I’ve heard each of them talk with conviction about how their way of understanding life and the universe is the one that makes sense, the one that creates meaning, the one that that the enlightened people embrace.
Which is funny because these are four different understandings that cannot be harmonised.
Who’s right?
There are some people who say nope to that question.
I’m one of them, or at least I aspire to be. I believe your growth will cause you to be who you need to be, and that includes what you believe about the fundamental nature of the universe.
Some people believe in one God. They live within the reality of that belief. If they have the openness and desire, they grow to a place of enlightenment through their relationship with God.
Some people don’t believe in anything spiritual. They live in their materialist reality. If they have the openness and desire, they grow to a place of enlightenment through their connection to their material universe.
The same goes for polytheists and every other shade of (non)spirituality.
This might read like I’m spouting nonsense. I might be. What I’m trying to do is describe what I experience. I experience a world populated with genuinely wise, enlightened people1 who have fundamentally opposed understandings of the nature of life and the universe.
That’s why anyone who wants to grow is welcome in the FFOREST. That’s why I have no interest in telling people what to believe. A rich diversity of beliefs fills the world with more fascination, creativity, and wisdom than all of us being ‘right’ in the same direction ever could.
Old man introduction: this is one of those sweet awkward dysfunctional love songs that the kids these days like to make.
One thing I’ve noticed about very enlightened people is that no matter what tradition/religion/system they are part of, they are emphatically not dogmatic.
Grow slowly
Jeff
PS Book update: The paperback is done. I’m doing the Kindle version now and it’s more work than I thought it would be.
And idiots, but that’s a different post.
Great Post. One thing I've always struggled with, with every belief system, is this idea that everyone else is wrong. The claim to know the mind and intention of God based on a book that is thousands of years old seems the height of hubris. It's like an ant claiming to know the mind of a human being. I think you are taking a wise, but probably, unpopular position. Glad to be here with you.
"I believe your growth will cause you to be who you need to be, and that includes what you believe about the fundamental nature of the universe." - this resonated with me big time. As long as we're open and curious, our growth in whatever direction will make us into who we're supposed to be.