tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post2244736303192525066..comments2024-03-28T00:17:55.823+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Rejecting the offer of a personal relationship with a personal God; yearning for loss of person-hood, for a return to unconscious, un-aware impersonalityBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-57665551462126038842014-03-05T16:14:28.320+00:002014-03-05T16:14:28.320+00:00@Shenpen
Well, the good news seems to be that if...@Shenpen <br /><br />Well, the good news seems to be that if you regard impersonality as higher than personality, the personage of God will give you what you want!<br /><br />(Although he will be somewhat sad about about your decision.) Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-61945291521018490062014-03-05T14:25:02.045+00:002014-03-05T14:25:02.045+00:00Sounds like you are reinventing bits and pieces of...Sounds like you are reinventing bits and pieces of Buddhism / Taoism.<br /><br />I have no idea why Christians and Western thinkers consider personality a good thing, a feature, not a bug. I.e. why don't they see the impersonal higher than the personal, and therefore why don't they think an impersonal absolute would be higher than a personal god?<br /><br />Spark? A spark of personality? No, a curse of personality. Without personality, we could be perfect, have courage, love, everything. With personality we are petty, in a Christian lingo sinful, committing sins to protect and endear our own selves, because we see the self as separate from the world.<br /><br />In reality everything good in us is impersonal and everything bad is personal.<br /><br />Personality means separation. It means I am here, and that is you are there. It means: I like you, because you helped me, I hate that other guy, because he harmed me. This picking and choosing is the essence of personality, and not only a god would not do that, even people on higher spiritual development don't do that.<br /><br />Courage is impersonal. It means if a body is in danger, I will act to save it unless in endangers other bodies more, no matter if it is my body or yours. Cowardice is personal: it means my body should not be hurt, yours is not so important.<br /><br />Love is impersonal. Properly spiritual love is like the sunlight shining equally on everyone. Hate is personal. We always find individual, specific reasons to hate people.<br /><br />Wisdom is impersonal: by being one with everything, by removing the barrrier between the self and the world you know and understand everything. Ignorance is personal - it means your mind is shut off, fenced off, separated from some thing.<br /><br />Humor, laughing is impersonal. It is about seeing the irony in everything.<br /><br />A personal god is just the poverty of imagination: even people can be much, much better than personal.<br /><br />This would be the buddhist view.Shenpennoreply@blogger.com