Sun Dec 14, 2003 1:40 pm, Steve
said:
Fix your own head first. -Steve W.
Sun Dec 14, 2003 1:41 pm, I said:
If you are tempted to instruct someone else you
might want to look at
yourself first.
Sun Dec 14, 2003 1:43 pm, I added:
And to me there is a slightly deeper meaning.
Since my own head will
never be totally fixed in the material world, I
should never attempt
to fix someone else's head.
Sep 26, 2006 06:49 PDT, Gnostic
Tom said:
blocking the view,
antiquated ideas, prejudices, bigotries, habits,
ambitions, social conformings, adaptations,
creeds, dogmatic assertions, narrow
mindedness...
it is easier to look at others
who have such things blocking their spiritual
vision
and to point out that they are missing the big
picture because of these religious
"blocks"
than it is to admit that "I" have
things blocking my own spiritual vision.
there is this attitude among fundamentalists of
all brands that if "they" only stopped
following
their religion and started to follow the
religion
of the fundamentalist that "they"
would be all
better. There are Christians trying to save
folks
from being Buddhist, wanting them to renounce it
all.
There are Wiccans trying to save folks from
being
Christian, any god but the Christian god.
there is this state at which we get beyond it
all,
that we take that final log out of our vision
and
it becomes clear that it doesn't matter who
converts
to or from what. what matters is that folks
become
clear in experiencing What Is and see beyond all
of
the religious distractions in the way.
--Gnostic Tom
Sep 26, 2006 08:39 PDT, slvan- said:
Don't see your friend's sliver as a
timber.
Therefore, don't over react if/when you THINK
you see fault (in your friend).*
Scott V.
Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:05 pm
"letterpi" said:
It is saying that we should examine and
improve ourselves
before we look for faults in others.
Warmly, Bob
Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:37 am said:
It says to me, i can't help anyone to see
clearly, unless i have
perfect vision myself,
and it says, don't go pointing out the
issues of others until i've
dealt with my own 'humongous' issue.
a great companion for 'the blind leading
the blind'!
Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:37 am Gnostic Tom said:
the inability to see clearly,
being blocked by preconceptions,
by prejudices, by brainwashings,
when we take the time to unlearn,
to remove a timber out of our vision,
and we can see clearer,
we may consider how much more is blocking
our own vision, so we can symphathize
with others who haven't unlearned something
that we have already unlearned
G n o s t i c . T o m
http://www.geocities.com/gnostictom/
Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:00 am
eugnostos2000@... said:
IMO, our judgements on others are usually
just a reflection of our
own conditioning. Our first task must
always be to clearly see our
own conditioning for what it is. This, of
course, is very difficult.
-Steve
Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:34 pm itsallrozee@...
said:
hi steve, ken and everyone.
yes this was always a favorite one of
mine, non-judgement and
acceptance of others and our own
imperfections, and it also contains
instruction for tolerance as well! as well
as the blind leading the
blind, its also echoing 'judge not lest ye
be judged.
Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:19 pm, I
said:
Notice that this doesn't say you shouldn't help
with the sliver in your friend's eye.
It says to take the timber out of your own eye
first so you can see better.
So the trick would be to know when you are
finally seeing clearly?
Ken
Thu Jul 1, 2010 1:14 pm, Sam said:
Be concerned with living couth & ruth...
ere finding-fault... with other folk's truth.
itso,
philo
11 Apr 11, Clive said:
Once again I think this comes down to love of friends.
If we love someone we don't look for thier faults, we look at
thier goodpoints and try to equal and to return the goodness in atleast equal
measure.
How often do we pick faults with our neighbours kids and compare
it with the goodness in our own children, our neighbour is doing exactly the
same seeing the fault in our kids and the goodness in his own. It all comes
down to love.
If we are seeing flaws in our friends, it means that the flaw is
in us, in our love for that friend.
Instead of wanting to correct the friends faults we should correct
the flaw in our love of friends then we will be looking at the goodness in our
friend not his faults.
So I read this verse as saying if we look at at the specks,flaws,
in our friends, then we have a beam, lack of love of friends in us.
12 Apr 11, I replied:
I see it more as saying everyone needs improvement and we should
be concerned with working on self improvement instead of criticizing others.
Ken
13 Apr 11 Clive referred to Gnostic Tom's post of Sep 26, 2006 06:49 PDT which I will hopefully post below someday:
I like Toms reply, especially the last sentance - What matters is
that folks become clear in experiencing What is and see beyond all of the
religious distractions in the way.
If I'd thought of writing what Tom wrote, it would have come out
slightly different, I would like to say it this way - What matters is that
folks become clear in a desire to experience love for each other and see beyond
the religious distractions in the way.
Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men.
14 Apr 11, I said:
I always like Tom's take on things. Have I mentioned he has wrote
a couple of books? I mention it from time to time, but I forget when and where.
Ken
14 Apr 11, Clive replied:
Hi Ken
No, you havn't mentioned in my time here that Tom has written
books. I wish him all the best in his efforts to enlighten people.
If you are here Tom, best wish's to you.
I tend not to read books anymore, other than authentic works( or
as authentic as we can get) such as the Bible or the Nag Hammadi library.
14 Apr 11, I answered:
Okay. Well we do have several lurkers so in case any of them are
interested Tom's books are available from amazon:
"The Noble Eightfold Path of Christ: Jesus Teaches the Dharma
of Buddhism" - Paperback (July 6, 2006) by Thomas Ragland
"Buddha Turns the Kabbalah Wheel: Jewish Buddhist Resonance
from a Christian Gnostic Perspective" - Paperback (July 6, 2006) by Thomas
Ragland
"Jesus Gnosis Story of Simon by Philip" - Paperback
(Aug. 17, 2009) by Thomas Ragland
15 Apr 11, Clive replied to my post of Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:19 pm which will hopefully appear below someday:
Yes Ken
I had noticed that, I just didn't get around to mentioning it yet
as it seems a subjective point.
Many people believe that they see clearly, but I'm with Paul on
this one.--
1 Corinthians 13:12/13
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall
see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am
fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.
Paul admitted that he couldn't see clearly, he said it was like
looking through a dark glass yet he went about spreading the gospel, trying to
remove splinters from peoples eyes.
So, perhaps by removing the beam from our own eyes, doesn't mean
that we see clearly, but that we come to realise like Paul did that the
greatest thing we need is love.
20 Apr 11, I answered:
I think not being able to see clearly is the reason for so many
religions/belief systems.
Ken
21 Apr 11, Clive said:
When you strip off from yourselves what is corrupted, then you
will become illuminators in the midst of mortal men."
It kind of echoes saying 26.
I think your right when you said - "I think not being able to
see clearly is the reason for so many religions/belief systems."
I wonder,perhaps things are meant to be this way, is it better to
have some belief in spirituality, even if it misses the target by a mile, than
it is not to believe. I suppose it is, perhaps different religions are like
stepping stones that help seekers to move away from selfishness to the
discovery of unity and connectiveness. Maybe its better for those dipping thier
toes into the water for the first time to start at the shallow end.