Henosis Sage
2022-07-22 03:46:42 UTC
The Life of an Ideal by Etznab
aka Richard Davoli - St Louis M.O. (Deceased)
11/03/2006
Life of an Ideal
Looking over religious scriptures brought me to a startling conclusion. I found a constant theme running throughout. The theme of what is ideal vs. what is not.
John Lennon many years ago wrote the song "Imagine". In it one of the lines went something like this: "Imagine all the people. Living for today ..." John Lennon was later shot dead.
I will be precise and to the point. There are times when a person will touch on a higher truth and even share it with the world. Times when a person will share what appears to reflect a higher truth. Especially people who have a dramatic spiritual experience. Immediately people begin to worship them. Immediately a person is looked upon as something special. In a mad rush to seize the moment and live the ideal of Heaven on Earth, people flock to idolize what they believe to be a savior. But I ask myself. Is the savior another person who had a spiritual experience? Is the savior another person who found spiritual teachings by personal experience? Even the spiritual experience of others before their time? This is something that I found. I found that amid the sea of humanity there is bound to be (at least) one person who will have a profound experience. It need not be a spiritual one. A person is recognized for having achieved something great. It might be someone who inherited a fortune. It might be someone who wrote a book. It might be many people in various degrees. Like the making of an award-winning movie. Something that inspires and captures our body mind and soul.
I am trying to make the point that achievements happen. People are recognized for having done something great, and then their followers want more. The one who inspires is expected to inspire more. "Give the people what they want!" wrote a once popular rock-n-roll group (The Kinks). Do you see what I am saying here? We make Gods out of our idols! We invest them with more than what they can do. But it doesn't matter what they can do or not. What matters most is what people believe to be true!
Remember the reality show "American Idol"(?). Well, maybe forget American Idol. Instead, consider a person who makes it on TV. It could be anybody. It could be people who won the lottery. People who rescued others from danger. Heck, it could even be comedians. All it takes is people inspired enough to support the Life of an Ideal. John Lennon sung "Imagine all the people. Living life in peace ..." But is this the way it happens? Dr. Martin Luther King gave a speech in which he said "I have a dream!" Is this the way it happens? In some respects it isn't. In some respects it is. All depends on the power of belief and what other people invest in the Life of an Ideal.
Look at this theme from a historical perspective. The scriptures of Judaism mentioned that no less than God himself spoke to Moses. That God led his people, his chosen people, out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Years later the teachings of Christianity mentioned that the Messiah, the Son of God came to Earth and died on a cross for the sins of the people. Years after that, the teachings of Islam mentioned the prophet Muhammad and people were inspired to form one of the greatest empires on Earth. But it is not always good what the masses flock to in adoration. The crusades, for example. The time when men, women and children fought to gain the city of Jerusalem by force. Afterall, it was (is) a holy place. However, how many men, women, and children have died over that holy place? There was a time when European settlers went looking for what was "their" Promised Land. Some believed they had found it in America. Some believed they had found it in South America. Others, not necessarily Europeans, found their "Promised Land" existing someplace else. Never mind the people already living there! Never mind the religion, the language, or the way of life lived by indigenous populations for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years!. Afterall, if some people are really inspired (and have enough followers), all they have to do is convert what is foreign to them. All they have to do is claim their neighbors possessions, the natural resources, and the very land on which they settle! History is filled with examples of what people have done for the Life of an Ideal.
Everybody is searching for one. If you read the scriptures. If you go to a church or holy place. If you visit the town of an important person or the neighborhood of a celebrity. What do you find? You find reverence? You find awe? You find something powerful permeating the very objects in the very same environment. In some it's as though the objects themselves behave like power-packs charged with the spirit, the mind, and the emotions of those who had worshiped there! Have you been to a department store? Have you been to a restaurant? Have you been to a theme park?
What happens when an object of worship stops short of being most ideal? Do we recognize it? When we worship others as God and they fail to act like God all the time? Then what? This is one of the conclusions that I came to after looking over religious scriptures (for the ummm?teenth time). I concluded that people were trying to capture the Life of an Ideal. They were talking about how to capture the highest ideal and make it live. The highest ideal(s) that one could possibly imagine. Ideals that were absolutely Heavenly! I saw from history what people had come to know by believing the fact that anything was possible. They were told that all they had to do was to have faith. Even more than having faith, I saw how people were told to believe!
We have the right to believe. We have the right to freedom of religion. These things people have to an extent in most countries today. But this is not what I want to argue. For myself, I have this question. Where is the highest ideal that one can imagine? Where is God on Earth? In the thousands of years of Earth's history. In the hundreds of civilizations and religions. Where is God? Did God leave us hear? someday to return? Is God among the host of people walking on Earth today? Where is the highest ideal that the scriptures talk about? If there is no one God, but instead we find many? Maybe we haven't made it there! Maybe our planet (as a whole) is still lacking something? Maybe we are lacking the knowledge that God is the Life of an Ideal!
Whether we call something a God. Whether we call something a Devil. Is it not the same? The Life of an Ideal? Is this what we believe? (believe - trust in, accept as true, hold as an opinion)
People could imagine that what I come to conclude is based on things that I already knew. This is not entirely true. Like the spiritual exercise of poetry that I found for making things tangible, writing has become a similar exercise. By giving form to something I find a way to study it. I find a way to look at what it appears to be. What it appears to say. Then I move. I move on to where the path appears to lead. And where the path appears to lead may not be the same as where the path appeared to leave. At this point my path has led to the contemplation of something. The "Life" of an Ideal.
So I cannot totally claim this article to be my creation. Not when the collection and presentation of words come by the experience of others. What you come to read is your experience. Ultimately it comes to mean what it come to mean to you. In short, I would have to conclude that "THIS" is the Life of an Ideal.
Etznab
P.S. Imagine:
http://www.lyricsondemand.com/j/johnlennonlyrics/imaginelivelyrics.html
---------
source https://web.archive.org/web/20120315141038/http://www.thetruth-seeker.com/dispBB.aspx
aka Richard Davoli - St Louis M.O. (Deceased)
11/03/2006
Life of an Ideal
Looking over religious scriptures brought me to a startling conclusion. I found a constant theme running throughout. The theme of what is ideal vs. what is not.
John Lennon many years ago wrote the song "Imagine". In it one of the lines went something like this: "Imagine all the people. Living for today ..." John Lennon was later shot dead.
I will be precise and to the point. There are times when a person will touch on a higher truth and even share it with the world. Times when a person will share what appears to reflect a higher truth. Especially people who have a dramatic spiritual experience. Immediately people begin to worship them. Immediately a person is looked upon as something special. In a mad rush to seize the moment and live the ideal of Heaven on Earth, people flock to idolize what they believe to be a savior. But I ask myself. Is the savior another person who had a spiritual experience? Is the savior another person who found spiritual teachings by personal experience? Even the spiritual experience of others before their time? This is something that I found. I found that amid the sea of humanity there is bound to be (at least) one person who will have a profound experience. It need not be a spiritual one. A person is recognized for having achieved something great. It might be someone who inherited a fortune. It might be someone who wrote a book. It might be many people in various degrees. Like the making of an award-winning movie. Something that inspires and captures our body mind and soul.
I am trying to make the point that achievements happen. People are recognized for having done something great, and then their followers want more. The one who inspires is expected to inspire more. "Give the people what they want!" wrote a once popular rock-n-roll group (The Kinks). Do you see what I am saying here? We make Gods out of our idols! We invest them with more than what they can do. But it doesn't matter what they can do or not. What matters most is what people believe to be true!
Remember the reality show "American Idol"(?). Well, maybe forget American Idol. Instead, consider a person who makes it on TV. It could be anybody. It could be people who won the lottery. People who rescued others from danger. Heck, it could even be comedians. All it takes is people inspired enough to support the Life of an Ideal. John Lennon sung "Imagine all the people. Living life in peace ..." But is this the way it happens? Dr. Martin Luther King gave a speech in which he said "I have a dream!" Is this the way it happens? In some respects it isn't. In some respects it is. All depends on the power of belief and what other people invest in the Life of an Ideal.
Look at this theme from a historical perspective. The scriptures of Judaism mentioned that no less than God himself spoke to Moses. That God led his people, his chosen people, out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Years later the teachings of Christianity mentioned that the Messiah, the Son of God came to Earth and died on a cross for the sins of the people. Years after that, the teachings of Islam mentioned the prophet Muhammad and people were inspired to form one of the greatest empires on Earth. But it is not always good what the masses flock to in adoration. The crusades, for example. The time when men, women and children fought to gain the city of Jerusalem by force. Afterall, it was (is) a holy place. However, how many men, women, and children have died over that holy place? There was a time when European settlers went looking for what was "their" Promised Land. Some believed they had found it in America. Some believed they had found it in South America. Others, not necessarily Europeans, found their "Promised Land" existing someplace else. Never mind the people already living there! Never mind the religion, the language, or the way of life lived by indigenous populations for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years!. Afterall, if some people are really inspired (and have enough followers), all they have to do is convert what is foreign to them. All they have to do is claim their neighbors possessions, the natural resources, and the very land on which they settle! History is filled with examples of what people have done for the Life of an Ideal.
Everybody is searching for one. If you read the scriptures. If you go to a church or holy place. If you visit the town of an important person or the neighborhood of a celebrity. What do you find? You find reverence? You find awe? You find something powerful permeating the very objects in the very same environment. In some it's as though the objects themselves behave like power-packs charged with the spirit, the mind, and the emotions of those who had worshiped there! Have you been to a department store? Have you been to a restaurant? Have you been to a theme park?
What happens when an object of worship stops short of being most ideal? Do we recognize it? When we worship others as God and they fail to act like God all the time? Then what? This is one of the conclusions that I came to after looking over religious scriptures (for the ummm?teenth time). I concluded that people were trying to capture the Life of an Ideal. They were talking about how to capture the highest ideal and make it live. The highest ideal(s) that one could possibly imagine. Ideals that were absolutely Heavenly! I saw from history what people had come to know by believing the fact that anything was possible. They were told that all they had to do was to have faith. Even more than having faith, I saw how people were told to believe!
We have the right to believe. We have the right to freedom of religion. These things people have to an extent in most countries today. But this is not what I want to argue. For myself, I have this question. Where is the highest ideal that one can imagine? Where is God on Earth? In the thousands of years of Earth's history. In the hundreds of civilizations and religions. Where is God? Did God leave us hear? someday to return? Is God among the host of people walking on Earth today? Where is the highest ideal that the scriptures talk about? If there is no one God, but instead we find many? Maybe we haven't made it there! Maybe our planet (as a whole) is still lacking something? Maybe we are lacking the knowledge that God is the Life of an Ideal!
Whether we call something a God. Whether we call something a Devil. Is it not the same? The Life of an Ideal? Is this what we believe? (believe - trust in, accept as true, hold as an opinion)
People could imagine that what I come to conclude is based on things that I already knew. This is not entirely true. Like the spiritual exercise of poetry that I found for making things tangible, writing has become a similar exercise. By giving form to something I find a way to study it. I find a way to look at what it appears to be. What it appears to say. Then I move. I move on to where the path appears to lead. And where the path appears to lead may not be the same as where the path appeared to leave. At this point my path has led to the contemplation of something. The "Life" of an Ideal.
So I cannot totally claim this article to be my creation. Not when the collection and presentation of words come by the experience of others. What you come to read is your experience. Ultimately it comes to mean what it come to mean to you. In short, I would have to conclude that "THIS" is the Life of an Ideal.
Etznab
P.S. Imagine:
http://www.lyricsondemand.com/j/johnlennonlyrics/imaginelivelyrics.html
---------
source https://web.archive.org/web/20120315141038/http://www.thetruth-seeker.com/dispBB.aspx