Primitive Christianity Revived, Again
Started this discussion. Last reply by Forrest Curo 3rd month 11. 10 Replies 2 Likes
Started this discussion. Last reply by Marcia P Roberts 12th month 14, 2020. 17 Replies 0 Likes
Started this discussion. Last reply by Forrest Curo 10th month 1, 2019. 4 Replies 0 Likes
"You don't do it through intellectual processes. What you do is you telepathically tap in to the one great world religion,
which is only one,
which has no name,
and all of the other religions are merely maps of that."
Stephen Gaskin
Posted on 10th mo. 21, 2022 at 11:23pm 3 Comments 0 Likes
Posted on 8th mo. 26, 2018 at 7:01pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Our experience of the presence of God is our entire experience, including all internal and external senses and our awareness of experiencing.
We can't say that some subset of our experience is the presence of God.
Some aspect of our experience may come to symbolize or represent or indicate the presence of God to a person, but that's an agreed 'codeword' between God and that person: "When I feel ___ then I know You are here & open for business." God is always here and open…
ContinuePosted on 5th mo. 20, 2017 at 12:33am 0 Comments 0 Likes
You don't do the Bible, or any human being greater honor, or understand them better, by taking them literally.
To take something "metaphorically" doesn't mean that we treat it as just a fluffy literary decoration.
In mathematics there's a term for what a metaphor does: it's called "a mapping." A useful metaphor says that one thing has a similar structure to another thing; they behave alike in analogous circumstances. One of them can be taken as a useful hint toward…
ContinuePosted on 5th mo. 1, 2017 at 3:10pm 4 Comments 0 Likes
The word 'spiritual' gives a lot of people problems, and I'm not going to define it. I'm not even going to claim I understand all that it entails.
But one description that works: "If you can't define something; if you can't reduce it to a combination of some other categories or interactions between them" -- words like say, Truth, Beauty, Love and the like come to mind --
then it very likely is spiritual.
Friends have a lot of trouble with the word 'Truth' anymore. It…
ContinuePosted on 4th mo. 4, 2017 at 10:06am 1 Comment 0 Likes
If a Meeting takes a stand on any significant issue whatsoever it excludes (and temporarily alienates) people who see the matter otherwise.
If a Meeting can not take a stand on matters causing great suffering (and there is always disagreement about these, or someone would have simply corrected them) we seem to fall short of a basic Christian duty.
A possible resolution to this might look like what we did (as I heard it) with the Quaker House in Ulster. Of two warring groups,…
ContinueWhere am I in QuakerQuaker in replying to a Profile comment? Sheesh. Um, we may not take the same Exam. Don't pretend you can see over my shoulder necessarily. "How effective an Activist were you?" is maybe the only question on my interview with Jesus, who knows?
Hi Forrest. Thank you. I was particularly struck by your words:
"The idea of anyone being, not 'a liar', but simply mistaken, or seeing from another perspective, seems to be largely inconceivable to the religious worthies of that time... or that, at least, was my impression from a small dose of their pamphlet wars [like very slow internet flame wars, yes?]"
I agree. My impression is that those Children of Light who do not establish themselves in outward leadership positions on either side (to impose an outward form on others) manifest a supple spirit guided by the inward light filling their conscious and informing their conscience so that identity rests firmly in Presence itself is not lost or overshadowed by outward forms such as anger, fear, ideology, institution, tradition, etc.
The Spirit to impose outward forms and institutions on the consciences others is as alive today as when Wilkinson felt it needful to speak against it just 25 years after the Children of Light gathered in England. On the flipside, the Comforter is as alive today as when the Children of Light gathered together around 1650ish in England. The Light is alive in many of us today filling our conscious and guiding our conscience so that we know the original witness of the Children of Light through direct personal experience of Presence within. What a blessing to know in ever present faith that the Light is eternal and shines within ... a beacon ever before our mind and heart directing our journey in all things and all our activities in daily life. And that the darkness of outward forms, institutions, practices, and traditions, can be overcome in the Light itself.
Forrest, those are some keen observations.
"Fox was clearly a man of great faith, but where the mission he hoped to perform for God seemed at risk, it seems as if it was hard for him to trust God's purposes to God... That's been a subtle and powerful test of faith for many of us, yes?"
I agree.
Hi, Forrest.
Glad to be connected. I'm at a library conference till Friday. I'll be in touch after that.
Blessings,
Mike
"side of mountain... warmer than overall atmosphere, same height. flexible tube, held by warmth?"
Yes, side of mountain. The steeper the hill, the less cost for the chimney for a particular height.
The air inside is warmer than the overall atmosphere. Making the air inside hotter increases the power output. The site engineer picks a particular maximum rated temperature, installs insulation suited for that temperature and the control unit enforces that maximum temperature. Solar hot water control units already do this.
The Manzanares experiment was 600 feet high. A chimney of 3,000 feet was once proposed.
A flexible tube puffed out by the warmth is one option. If so, the turbine would be at the top of the tube. A flexible tube with air-filled ribs would stay puffed out. From a minimizing the air pressure standpoint, putting the turbine halfway up the chimney puts only half the stress on the chimney. The positive pressure would be highest just below the turbine and the negative pressure would be highest just above the turbine. The final option is a non-flexible chimney built out of concrete/whatever or a chimney with a solid (dirt?) bottom and flexible tent top. Yes, tent poles are allowed inside the chimney if they don't cause too much air friction.
On my to do list, put a proposal together for Allete Clean Energy, not too bad an outfit.
Hi Forrest!
I have just accepted your "friend" invitation......but I should just let you know that I am a lousy friend -- if Facebook is an indicator. A loving acquaintance set up a FB site for me about five years ago, and a couple of loving family members periodically install new photos, but I pay scane attention to it. Not only am I perplexed by the technology, but the zippity-doo-dah nature of FB just depresses me. Hopefully, however, i will do much better at following the conversation here; that's the plan, anyhow!
Thanks for the friend request! Blessings on your musical endeavors! :)
The site is for ongoing commentary. It needs bright and honest people to comment on the Bible verses, people who won't either wallow in uncritical acceptance or automatically dismiss them -- but take an open look at why they're there and why they're the way they are, whether for 'all-too-human' purposes or God's.
Since you'd written about having to fight yourself free from dogmatically-imposed interpretations of the Bible and to see what you could find in it by yourself, I hoped you might still be interested. My wife & I spent a few months attending the weekly Torah study at a good synagogue; and it seems to be a different sort of experience when people can just say what comes to them about a passage. (More people would be [potentially] even better...)
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