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Check out Robert Gilbert's video, The Science of Rosicrucian Initiation.

Thanks 🕯​@@themichaelmaciel

Ideological fanaticism is ALSO a religion. It's not what you believe in but whether you use your beliefs as weapons to get your own way. The problem with political ideologies is that they have replaced God with their own glorified ideas. The same holds true for religion, every one of which has been taken over by those whose only goal is to exercise power over others. In contrast, mystical sects emphasize what truly matters: the individual experience of God within each person. From their ranks and by their influence, great leaders emerge, not as religious leaders but as enlightened intellects.

@@themichaelmaciel Well said, Michael. Thank you.

Yes! Thank you! I see love as connection.

Yep. The neat thing is that we can different North Stars for different parts of our lives, such as family, job, personal, etc. The important thing is that we have one that unifies all of them-the ultimate good, God.

It's the one I posted on July 28th-"Navigating Politics With Spirituality." More are forthcoming.

Glad you think so!

It's so interesting, isn't it? I'm posting a video soon, called "Hermeticism and Quantum Physics." I bet you'd like it.

People insist in conceptions of reality which have already been proven wrong.

Thanks, Kathy!

Mika, I was an alpine ski racer until I was 20 years old. In some races, we went over 70 mph down steep, icy slopes through narrow corridors of trees. At 70 mph, even a course 100 yards wide feels like a narrow corridor. It really freaked me out. So, in desperation, I asked my coach what I could do to boost my confidence. Without missing a beat, he said, "Get strong." That meant lifting weights and running my ass off. I did, and it made all the difference. Spiritual work is no different. It starts with learning concentration and rigorous training at the hands of someone who is both qualified and experienced. I am not "self-taught." I spent two decades in formal training under Christian master teachers, with supplemental training under a Sufi murshid, a Zen roshi, and a Hindu guru. I have done thousands of hours of spiritual exercises assigned to me by them and many more hours in meditation. In short, while my mind has been sharpened and my heart split wide open, my ego has been ground to powder. So, I'm not afraid to stand on what I know. That fear was beaten out of me years ago. If I were to equivocate or apologize for knowing more than the average spiritual practitioner, I would not be a very good teacher. At the same time, I am not above making mistakes. No one is. No matter how much training or experience they have had. In fact, the more you know, the easier it is to make mistakes. That's been proven throughout thousands of years. That's why I stay connected with my peers. We keep an eye on each other. And we're not afraid to call each other out on our bullshit if that's what's needed. None of us believe that we are "above it all." Skiing fast is dangerous, and so is teaching serious-minded spiritual aspirants. People can get hurt. But that's what all that training was for-preventing people from getting hurt. If you want to "get strong" in your spiritual practice, reach out to me. You can email me through my website, michaelmaciel.com. I can help you.

That can be very frustrating. We have to be able to balance our feelings with our will. To do that, we have to give our word and then do what we said we would do, regardless of our feelings. It's the difference between being in integrity with the moral code you have established for yourself and simply blowing in the wind wherever your feelings in the moment carry you. One is the "rule of law" on a personal level and the other is being ruled by your passions. Civil society and personal lives thrive when they follow a moral code, preferably one with a proven track record. Those who give in to their impulses do not. Hang in there. Be true to what you know is right.

@@themichaelmaciel Thanks for your reply.

I'd love to see you in person again. Come to class and join the fun!

You may have an idea about the word "mystic" that's wildly inaccurate. A mystic is a person who has had a direct experience of God. What's wrong with that?

You may have an idea about the word "mysticism" that's wildly inaccurate. A mystic is a person who has had a direct experience of God. What's wrong with that? That describes all the holy people in the Bible.

The stories are universal and timeless, that's true. But the Jews introduced new ideas that later became the foundational principles for Western Civilization, ideas such as the sanctity of the individual and the rule of law.

@@themichaelmaciel Even the laws are largely lifted, mainly from the Code of Hammurabi.

It depends on how you define "most." Not by word count, that's for sure.

You are so welcome!

Yes, it was a different time with very different demands. It's hard to imagine what day-to-day life must have been like back then.

It's important to keep the stories straight, to not get lost in interpretations. But unless you know what the stories mean, taking them literally will not get you any closer to Christ.

@@michaelmaciel14 I'm not looking to get close to christ I'm looking to become a christ and I know by completing the process of the fear of God is how I get close to God.

Christ Consciousness, Buddha Consciousness, Krishna Consciousness-attainable? Yes. But all the great ones caution against ego inflation.

The Boook of Revelation describes what a Christian can expect when he or she truly attempts to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. It's not enough to merely believe; you must act on your beliefs. And when you do, it will change you. And it will feel like Armageddon.

First of all, I would never criticize other religions, especially their sacred texts. That's one of the worst things anyone can do, especially someone who claims to be a Christian, the religion of love. Second, I'm not sure who you mean by the "lost." If you're talking about someone who doesn't hold the same beliefs as you, then...I refer to what I've already said. If you're going to be a Christian, start with love. And that means respect as much as anything. Remember what Jesus told his disciples when they complained that someone was casting out demons but not in his name. What did he tell them?

@@michaelmaciel14 You have a moral obligation to criticize other religions that you know are misrepresenting God and His Creation (humanity) and often in ways extremely dangerous to society. As for the term "lost", most every Christian would take this to mean the opposite of "Saved". With that clarification, can you attempt an answer to my original question? Thank you.

I don't know for sure if I, Alexander J. Safos, of Queens, N.Y., am the right one to answer your questions, Steve, but I suppose God put me here now so I may try to do it. Of course, I am just a man, who could err in principle, but I feel strongly that I may have some concrete answers for you, which I hope you will examine for yourself as to their truth or falsity. Not being God myself, I cannot swear to the truth of anything, except what the philosopher said, "I think, therefore I am." But based on my common sense, intellect, knowledge and experiences, my own and those of others, I can be settled about many things, which I will share with you. I believe that God, the Creator, is very real, and that He infinitely loves all His creation, especially His human creation, whom are all made "in His image," presumably His characteristics. I believe our inner beings, our souls and spirits, are made by Him, from His very essence, and are eternal, and He would not allow any of us to either be deceived about Him, or to be cast away from Him unless we purposely desire to be cast away by some foolish aberration in us, which IS NOT His will! When He gives information about Himself scripturally, we may initially question the Bible or other scriptures we read, but if we seek the truth, He will, with His Spirit within us, make sure that we will eventually find the truth, including about the truth of the Bible, as being written "by devout men carried along by the Holy Spirit," as the Apostle Peter wrote in his letter, 2nd Peter 1:20 and 21. I cannot deny that, as I believe it is confirmed in scripture, especially in the more correct translation from the original Greek of several verses on salvation in the New Testament, salvation is meant for the whole world, not only for those who believe in Jesus Christ, though it is God's desire that all will believe in Jesus as both the Messiah and the one who "takes away the sin of the world," as John the Baptist received from God, and as Peter himself declared, also by the Spirit (These same teachings can be found in the scriptures of all the major religions, including Buddhism and the moral religions, which do not emphasize the supernatural, or even God.) God would not allow these statements to be recorded in the Bible if they were not from Him, unless one can show that the Bible was not inspired by God. I believe that God forgives people eternally, by His own will and decision so that they can believe in Jesus, so that they know their Savior, and so that they can have joy in Him and learn to follow His teachings of peace. I also know, from our God and His scriptures in the Bible that He WILL NOT condemn anyone because of their lack of knowledge of Christ, or even of God. Jesus Himself said that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must be as little children. This is the nature of one who is forgiven by God, whether they consciously realize it or not. Again, "salvation by faith" does not mean that we must ascend to faith in order for God to save (forgive) us-no unsaved person can do this, nor desire to do this in their spiritually "dead" and complete helplessnes until God cleasrs their hearts and minds of the potential of condemnation to give them true spiritual life, so they could truly know God and Christ, and so come to believe in Them when they can find out about them. In the meantime, the faith that God gifts them with when He saves them is spiritual, and can manifest as a belief in God, even in ignorance of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who sacrificed His life to save such people, or by the characteristics that come from God's Spirit, like true goodness, gentleness, peace and faithfulness, which before salvation, no one can have! Those who are unsaved, to answer your question on them, are so because they foolishly, by their own proud will, either knowingly or unknowingly, reject God and therefore His free gift of salvation, all their lives, which IS NOT God's will for them!! What happens to them, as you ask? They are still weighed down by their sins, which they did not allow to be "taken away" by Jesus' sacrifice by their rejection, so they cannot enter God's perfect heaven, so they must be sent to the spiritual "wasteland," which is called "hell," in which the God they themselves rejected is absent, so they suffer there from their own unpaid for guilt and the agony of being without God, with His forgiveness and blessings, that normally give us peace and joy, even when we have sins (transgressions against God's laws in us, which we refused to give to God through Christ). I cannot accept that eternal condemnation is real, though it seems that most Christians believe that. At the end of the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, which I firmly believe is part of God's word, and a true testament of what will happen to all people before the Messiah will return to earth (which may be soon, whether we believe it or not), it speaks of the great judgment of God, in which those who are unsaved (which I believe is by their own rejection of God's free gift of forgiveness, are "cast into the lake of fire" which may be a literal place, which I believe will not be eternal, but where souls are literally destroyed, and cease to exist, forever. The passage about this is not explicit, whether this destruction in the lake of fire is complete or eternal, but the belief by many Christians that it is definitely eternal I believe cannot be justified by this scripture or by the nature of God, Who is love itself, I leave that for you to examine as to whether total destruction or eternal suffering is true. But either way, it is not God's perfect will for anyone! The Lord also put in my heart, which supports the above statements about salvation, that the 6,000,000 Jews that died horribly in the holocaust of the 1930's and 40's all went to God's heaven, by Jesus' shed blood, even in their ignorance of Him because of the lack of knowledge in Judaism about what He did for them too. And He also put in my heart that He took the tens of thousands of Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who died by the two atomic bombs dropped by the U.S., to His heaven too, and by Jesus' shed blood, "for the sins of the whole world." (1st John 2:2) God is not a tyrant, but a true Father for all His human creation, and will open His heaven for all who will not reject it, only through what Jesus did for them. I will also here write about, for you, the possibility that people can come out of hell if they cry out to God, which is actually a sign that they are also forgiven by God, but were allowed to go there for His purpose, which may be a temporary punishment for extreme sins, or to have them learn about this place, so they can become more effective as His workers in this world. If I could be of further use to you, Steve, feel free to contact me personally, if you will, through my email address, which is alexandersafos@gmail.com God bless you and your family, all of whom I strongly believe have a secure place in God's heaven one day. He now just wants you to learn more about His Son, Jesus Christ, Who died for all of you too, so your joy may be complete, and you may please God by following in Jesus' teachings of love, mercy and forgiveness, which WILL give you true inner peace if you do.

@@alexandersafosihaveamaster1733 Righteousness of the [Islamic] God? Righteousness of the [Mormon] God? Righteousness of the [Christian] God? It is clear you believe that God desires/allows/forces eternal torment on a large subset of his Creation (humanity). Have you actually thought that through? You might as well believe that Jonah swallowed a whale. A serious study on the topic of "Biblical Problems" will dispel any notion of inerrancy and infallibility. Have you thought about some of the problematic teachings of Jesus? Here is just one example, can you please explain what Jesus is teaching with Matthew 15:3-6? And please don't skip over the "put to death" part like most Christians do. What is Jesus teaching us here? Is this Godly? Be honest. Isn't this just one example from a very large collection of Biblical claims that we have a moral obligation to reject as we correctly discern the Bible as the word of man, not the inerrant and infallible Word of God? The collection of Biblical problems is huge and nobody can justifiably fall back on the irresponsible excuse "well, it's in the Bible so it must be true". As you know, you would never accept that as a likewise valid presupposition when evaluating Islam or Mormonism, etc. Again, what is Jesus teaching us with Matthew 15:3-6? And again, this is just one example among many. We must acknowledge that the Truth of God’s existence (however it might turn out) is one thing, but the Truth of any particular world religion is quite another. We must proceed without the distraction of any of them. Thank you.

I believe that God is a loving Creator who desires to save all humanity, regardless of their explicit faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible, inspired by God, conveys universal truths about salvation, which are echoed in other major religions. I think that God's forgiveness is eternal and inclusive, not condemning those ignorant of Christ, but only those who knowingly reject Him. I question the traditional Christian view of eternal damnation and that hell might be temporary or symbolic of complete destruction.

You cannot understand spiritual things with a mundane mind.

@@michaelmaciel14 Sorry, I have been deeply experientially involved with mystical spiritualityfor 57 years.. 25 of those have been spent as a fairly strong hobby the investigation of the historical, literary and mythological aspects of the Gospels, as well as some understanding of the develpment of the religion through Nicaea. That there might be some mystical aspects of the Gospels (Jesus' baptism for example whih could be called mystical but is also Jewish Midrash imo) and as I said John might have stronger mystical aspects, does not mean they understood who or what Jesus was. For all of John's mysticism, his theology is incredibly corrupt as it stands as one of the most harmful documents in human history. Same especially for Matthew 27:25. And let's assume for the moment your claim has validity, and James Still in "The Gospel of John and the Hellenization of Jesus", and probably some others, maybe many, agree to some extent, one can only conclude their efforts were a colossal failure. IMO John is the big winner in all of this and I don't think John reallly understands Jesus hardly at all and his theology is almost completely projection and superimposition. I am not writing off mystical elements in the OT. I was schooled in mythopoetic perspecives by Robert Bly, Rober Moore and others andI totally agree many OT stories are mythological and point to higher truths , the Garden ofEden being one of the most important of these. So I think you are right on there and that events, either real or made up, were backdrops for something deeper.And you have highly evolved prophets and the amazing Psalms. But I do not think the NT authors and Paul were "mystics showing a roadmap" because they were cluesless as to the road and destination. Paul had some, *some* heightened intuition but he corrupted it with his Evangelical ambition. The Gospel writers were creating a *mythology* of something they did not understand, something that did not correspond to the reality of the person and subject. Since you are talking mysticism I will share a personal story. Neale Donald Walsch, author of the "Conversations with God" series was recruited by the church i was with at the time to speak. They had rented an 800 seat high school auditorium, which was filled. AsI walked in a huge, enormious wave of energy rolled across the room and engulfed me and a voice said "What Paul has bent is now made straight". Take it for what you will.

Look at it as though you were studying chemistry. All the theory in the world would not help you master chemistry. At some point, you're going to have to do the labs. Mysticism is the laboratory of religion. Laboratory: labor + oratory. A place to work and pray.

@@themichaelmaciel Beautifully put!

The hardest thing is to stand up for truth while also loving your enemy.

You're welcome! The Bible is a profound document. It needs to be understood both with the heart AND the mind.

Thanks, Lisa! There's so much we don't know or are just beginning to discover about our true nature, the way God created us. The most important thing is to go within. That's where all the answers await us. Even if those answers don't come in the form of verbal communication, going within changes us in ways too profound to articulate. In order to understand the deeper truths, we must first rise in consciousness and THEN look. Blessings!

Glad to hear it!

Thank you! You too!

You're very welcome

Thanks!