re-(ligious) sentiments and other temples

Dear sentient friends,

The archetype of Dr. Momen's "ressentiment" is found in the many pages of Baha'u'llah's, Abdu'l Baha's and Shoghi Effendi's writings about the "enemies of the Faith", the covenant breakers, the dissidents and apostates of late. Of course the UHJ has also contributed. - Why is ressentiment claimed to be righteous and appropriate there? - Because of the dividing line between "good" and "bad". As long as the concepts of "good" and "bad" remain separated and unreconciled, unity is impossible.

Only in a mind that has discovered non-duality true unity can be born. Of course we live in a relative condition most of the time, our mind is caught in the illusion of dualism. We must be mindful of our limitations and respect the laws of cause and effect, that means we reap "good" fortune from "good" actions and vice versa.

Vilifying anyone is always a negative action, no matter what the reason for it. It will continue the chain of suffering. (A good answer to vitriol is humor, like on Dr. Mojo's Apostate Apostles )

Pretty much exactly 18 months after my pilgrimage to Haifa and my experience in the House of Abud, where I perceived something of the feelings in the women and the injustice and betrayal of Baha'u'llah towards them, I found I had breast cancer.

The first question a doctor friend of mine asked me, when he heard of the diagnosis was: What happened a year and a half ago? - It is statistically supported that in a significant amount of cases there was an emotional trauma about 18 months prior to the diagnosis of cancer. -

If this experience really has contributed to my illness or not I will perhaps only find out in the next world and if it was so, then it was certainly only one factor among several others. However, now I am in a position where I feel I have to speak out, loudly, clearly and honestly.

Violent feelings of hate and resentment are poisonous, but even more poisonous are feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, rejection and isolation.

When Baha'u'llah's enemies refused to co-operate and continued to fight against him, he condemned them in the strongest language and pulled down the wrath of God on their heads. He chose to perceive and project that they had objected to God.

Objection to God is something much more severe than any other ol' negative action. God is within each person. Going against God means going against oneself and against all humanity. So to charge someone with that kind of crime is the ultimate charge, it's the worst accusation ever. But Baha'u'llah not only accused them, he also judged and sentenced them. This is a terribly negative action and it is very irrational and unrealistic. In reality there was an emotional entanglement, ignorance and lack of understanding and communication - as is the case in all of our human dramas.

There are no genuinely bad people around, we are just all in a terrible mental confusion. We get hurt because we make mistakes. When we stumble and fall there is no-one to blame but ourselves. But when we make a mistake and hurt someone else, that someone can feel "innocent" and demand that we are "guilty". - Compounding the problem are our emotions. When we get hurt we scream. When we scream we get subdued. When we get subdued we get angry. When we get angry we want to hurt someone. And so it goes for generations until no-one knows anymore who started and what happened anyway, except God knows, I think. In my book, that bit inside me that is God, knows the truth and is not confused. -

Baha'u'llah ought to have taken no more women after Navab. I think that's obvious. But he did and hell broke lose. If he had been a mere man I could have put it down to our being prone to making mistakes. But he said he didn't make any mistakes cause he was a manifestation of God. So, since it wasn't his fault by definition it must have been the women in question and their children, who were to blame and therefore they were antagonists of God, as declared by Baha'u'llah.

So, in my case i couldn't help but object to that Baha'u'llah-type God. I wished I could have somehow subdued my mind but it was impossible. It was the little bit of God inside me that didn't agree with the big and certified God inside Baha'u'llah. It was very scary, but the God inside me wouldn't give up.

The problem was not only that he had betrayed his wife - and all of us women - by not taking the equality thing seriously, but that he had meted out that terrible covenant breaker punishment. Yes, I know, it wasn't him. Abdu'l Baha did it in case of his father's second and third wives and their children, but Baha'u'llah had set the precedent with his own brother. Furthermore we always assume that Abdu'l Baha acted in Baha'u'llah's spirit. Usually it's called adding insult to injury but in this case probably better adding injury to insult.

How come God didn't see what was going to happen? Well, perhaps God did but Baha'u'llah didn't. If Baha'u'llah didn't, he can't have been God - and if he did, and still went ahead with his actions, he can't have been God either. - So he can't have been God all the time, only sometimes he was. But he said, he was God all the time and Abdu'l Baha said so too. Well, says the bit inside me that feels like God: They are wrong.

Now, the funny thing is, that this little bit that feels like God inside me also has a kind of tail dragging after it like the tail of a comet and that says whoever doesn't agree with it, is therefore proven to be against God and therefore against all people and therefore dangerous and should therefore be condemned to eternal hellfire.

But God isn't like that, it's just a tail made up of thoughts and consequences, a freeloading bit that, like a moth, will burn itself.



For some uplifting a little sideways glance at other people's amazing temples. Let deeds not words...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=495538&in_page_id=1811
http://www.damanhur.info/en/html/ArcMagazineDet.asp?IDArt=1367

The bits of God inside them is sure giving them a wonderful time & they seem to have no problem growing.

Also the Dzogchen Buddhist community here in Germany, though still small, has doubled in the last two years...
If you get a chance read the book: The Crystal and the Way of Light or another reference for it.

xxInge