Truth Seeker, I Choose to be Inspired.

I give birth to the educated me.

We don't have to ask questions, but we have to live as though we have answered them.

The prisoner doesn't want to see the light.  He sees it as painful and as sufferage.

As we come to know God and to unveil our minds from the tunnel vision this life has to offer, we begin to see truth and reality as it really is.  As we think of this and see it, we have to accept the ugly parts as well as the good.  The ugly parts bring pain.

The more focused we are on God and fixated on Deity, the easier it is to cope with pain and suffering.

Once we get used to this light, an inevitable low comes.  The ebb and flow of life.  As we see Deity and then move towards progression we of course are most familiar with the tunnel vision that came with our childhood, the easy, the comfortable, the ignorant bliss.  Yet once you've searched and sought out the light you search for more, you see more in the stars, the moon, and the heaven, not only in him the sun.

This process eventuates in acceptance of reality and perfection happens when we choose to see things as they really are.

When this change happens we move into a more compassionate being. We acquire benevolence for our fellow ignorantly bliss-filled men.  You pity them because they have not yet seen the perfection in accepting the uglies of reality.

Once we have reached a certain point in the process of progression, the fall is that much further.  It hurts more, its worse to go back to ignorance.  It's spiritual death.

Socrates believes his explanation of the world is that man need be fixed upon this light, this intellectual light, which is good.  Yet he says God is the one that knows whether or not this opinion is true or false.

It's natural for us as humans to want to dwell in light and bask in truth.

The process of going from the cave of darkness to the light of the Lord is much too pleasant, laughable. The reverse unsavory.

Conventional views of education involve a teacher giving the knowledge to the student, as if it's a tangible object shared from one to another.  Socrates differs than that of conventional, that our knowledge is built-in.  He says that it is a combining of mind and body, soul.  It's in this acquiration of knowledge that the brightest and the best of our being exists.

Even if you naturally aren't wise, through exercise, and good habit this can be achieved.

Black has to have its opposite.  White.  You don't know the glory, purity, victory of white until you have become well acquainted with Black.

Proportion.

2 options must exist.

Balance

Yin and Yang

Moderation in all things.

Those who have reached the upper world are called to reach out and untie the blindfolds tied on those prisoners dwelling in the shadows of the cave.

It is an idea of universalism.   Everyone is saved.  Everyone in the same State, made by the legislator, the law maker, God.  What is natural for man is to need/want/love fellow-men.  I am a piece to a puzzle.  A valuable one, an essential part.

Glaucon's  concern is that the process is unfair.  That its unfair for the ones desiring to see the light, to intellectually excel  the seekers to go back, down, to a prisoners cell where darkness and shadows rule.

Socrates explains beautifully the intention of the plan, universalism.

You train yourself to choose how you see the world, and how you react to adversity and trial and pain and suffering.

Beautifully crazy.


Lindsey

I took a quiz. I am a Thinker

Thinkers are people who naturally connect with the Holy One through the use of their intellect. They want to clearly understand their faith and appreciate having logical explanations for what they are asked to believe. They will read and study, alone or with others, in order to better grasp the truth of their faith. They believe that God wants them to discover the order that may seem hidden in the more abstract aspects of religious faith. They seek to relate to the Holy One through thinking, study, and discussion. They tend to be more formal in their prayer. If they were to meet God face to face, they would want to discuss with God how they have come to understand their faith.

A good Scriptural example of a thinker was Paul. He had a keen and well-trained intellect and was able not only to understand the many layers of faith and spiritual development, but was able to skillfully teach them to others. He was fearless in confronting his enemies and persecutors because he was so confident that he could persuade others of the truth through well-reasoned thought.

If you are a thinker, you will ordinarily find your soul fed through spiritual practices that encourage faith through intellectual development. 

Ambiguity=Godliness

Free Air!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6413nx6b0&list=SPsRNoUx8w3rPfGMjqhCSWQvLHjFDP5qgv&index=3&feature=plpp_video

Feels so good.

insomniatic. yeah that's a word.

it's five in the morning, i can't sleep, this never happens.
i decided to get out of bed and say something. my mind is racing.
i'm split.
i'm really split. sorta. things are getting to be a little more clear now.
but still.
i'm not going to talk about that yet.
so i'm going to talk about you. i highly doubt you'll read this.

you aren't just a friend to me, you are a really great friend. it was so good being able to talk with you the other day. ya know when you get to talk with someone that you havent in a long while but somehow you just so easily get right back into best friend mode? this is how it is with him. he is so cool. ya i like you. you are a great person and i admire the way that you show your love for others. you are unique in that way. i'm so glad that i can talk with you about my deepest feelings about God. it's quite therapeutic for me to be able to tell you somethings about that. you are one of a few people that i can open up to about this stuff that is so close to my heart. thanks. i hope that i never hurt you. i'm afraid i have and there are somethings that i can not tell you because i'm afraid you would be disappointed in me. conversation is so easy with you, i like that.

there is this thing that i love about people, i love to talk with them and find out what it is that makes them passionate, what they are all about, what they know about, what gets them to talk. and then i just talk about it, i might have some input or i might have some experience in the subject but i might not, so i just ask to learn.

this is all over the place.

lets talk about choices. the way that we exercise our agency is a reflection of who we are.  there is power, a great amount of power in agency. i can't quite form my thoughts about this great and extensive topic, but i can say that i'm bringing it out into the light and seeing all sorts of new things now. faith is a choice, so is doubt. happiness is a choice, so is sadness. i'm not doing another dichotomous shit thing, a third piece would sound good but no. i'm stubborn like that i guess.  just do me a favor and think about choices, no, don't just think about it ponder it, meditate on it, ya on it, really. i'd like to highlight something. referencing my last post about stages of faith. the last one is full of love.

you can have it on one condition. you can have it if only you understand why it means so much to me.  you can only have it if you always remember my story and promise to share it with others. 

Pananampalataya

Faith is seen as a holistic orientation, and is concerned with the individual's relatedness to the universal. Fowler defines faith as an activity of trusting, committing and relating to the world based on a set of assumptions of how one is related to others and the world.

• Stage 0 – "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterized by an early learning of the safety of their environment (i.e. warm, safe and secure vs. hurt, neglect and abuse). If consistent nurture is experienced, one will develop a sense of trust and safety about the universe and the divine. Conversely, negative experiences will cause one to develop distrust with the universe and the divine. Transition to the next stage begins with integration of thought and languages which facilitates the use of symbols in speech and play.

• Stage 1 – "Intuitive-Projective" faith (ages of three to seven), is characterized by the psyche's unprotected exposure to the Unconscious.

• Stage 2 – "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly in school children), stage two persons have a strong belief in the justice and reciprocity of the universe, and their deities are almost alwaysanthropomorphic.

• Stage 3 – "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence; aged 12 to adulthood) characterized by conformity to religious authority and the development of a personal identity. Any conflicts with one's beliefs are ignored at this stage due to the fear of threat from inconsistencies.

• Stage 4 – "Individuative-Reflective" faith (usually mid-twenties to late thirties) a stage of angst and struggle. The individual takes personal responsibility for his or her beliefs andfeelings. As one is able to reflect on one's own beliefs, there is an openness to a new complexity of faith, but this also increases the awareness of conflicts in one's belief.

• Stage 5 – "Conjunctive" faith (mid-life crisis) acknowledges paradox and transcendence relating reality behind the symbols of inherited systems. The individual resolves conflicts from previous stages by a complex understanding of a multidimensional, interdependent "truth" that cannot be explained by any particular statement.

• Stage 6 – "Universalizing" faith, or what some might call "enlightenment". The individual would treat any person with compassion as he or she views people as from a universal community, and should be treated with universal principles of love and justice.