tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post9143664757957812312..comments2024-03-29T14:41:00.974+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Barrier to a spiritual everyday life: explaining-away all significanceBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-12430873793139787922022-06-03T00:37:55.170+01:002022-06-03T00:37:55.170+01:00This makes me think of Rupert Sheldrake's idea...This makes me think of Rupert Sheldrake's idea that the reason consciousness cannot be discovered in the brain is because the brain is less like a generator of consciousness than a receiver that "picks up" transmissions from an outside source, hopefully God. (I hope I've restated his idea more or less correctly.) And if our brains/bodies/material stuff can properly be thought of as a receiver then it matters a lot how attuned, how "dialed in" we are, to the source of the transmission. If this is true then our real business is attending to God's communications and keeping our hearts/minds in a proper frame to "read" his communications in whatever form they come.<br /><br />Jesus said to "Watch and pray." Matthew 26:41Avro Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-78413142325949766442022-06-01T19:02:08.737+01:002022-06-01T19:02:08.737+01:00@ Bruce - "Well, for me slipping back happens...@ Bruce - "Well, for me slipping back happens every day, for much of the day!" Yes, that's been my experience as well. I described being "in" joy as sometimes lasting as little as a moment per day, and the joy part is not necessarily happiness or pleasure, simply a keen awareness of the reality of God and Creation. <br /><br />This awareness often leads to hard lessons and painful experiences that are anything but joyful in the conventional sense of the word, but if the awareness remains underpinning it all, alienation, misery and despair have little chance of settling in. <br /><br />I lose all sense of the awareness at times. Occasionally over something trivial. Sometimes it happens when the world overwhelms me. But if I remain focused on meaning and significance, the awareness returns. I inevitably experience a great deal of joy in that. Francis Bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11063224017320651978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-83811551634120160832022-06-01T18:24:40.852+01:002022-06-01T18:24:40.852+01:00@Frank - "I often marvel at my own propensity...@Frank - "I often marvel at my own propensity to slip back into materialist modes of perception and thinking despite my metaphysical assumptions"<br /><br />Well, for me slipping back happens every day, for much of the day! It's hard to break a habit; especially when trying to replace it with the-opposite-of-a-habit...<br /><br />Joy is certainly part of it - the best part; but there are also the learning experiences when one becomes 'divinely' aware of sin, including one's own sin, which certainly aren't joyful (at least not while they are happening). Lessons are of many kinds. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-89587070215656863922022-06-01T11:02:46.145+01:002022-06-01T11:02:46.145+01:00Excellent! I began thinking about this a great dea...Excellent! I began thinking about this a great deal after I encountered complaints about God's unresponsiveness and lack of communication. I arrived at the same sort of conclusion you arrive at here -- it is we who are guilty of unresponsiveness and a lack of communication, not God.<br /><br />I often marvel at my own propensity to slip back into materialist modes of perception and thinking despite my metaphysical assumptions. In my defense, at least I am aware of these slips. I can only imagine how opaque the world must seem to those who adhere to metaphysical assumptions founded purely on materialistic ideology. <br /><br />Yesterday I clumsily described what you have explained here as a state of being "in" joy. Not joy in the conventional happiness/pleasure "enjoy" sense, but joy in the sense of being aware of Creation as a creation and being aware the God's presence and love. Nurturing this kind of awareness is a prerequisite to understanding divine communication today -- I'm positively convinced of it. Francis Bergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11063224017320651978noreply@blogger.com