Re: I never had a problem with evolution

"If" there is any truth in the Bible?

There is no truth in the Bible that matters. There are "accidential" truths ... meaning, they're only secondary, and may or may not be true, and it really doesn't matter if they are or aren't.

However, the Bible, and all other religious texts (assuming they come out of genuine understanding and insight), can *LEAD* you to "truth". What truth? The truth of "who you are" and "what this (cosmic experience) is".

All great religious texts are like treasure maps. There is no treasure in the map itself. The map is only a guide to TAKE you to the treasure.

But, there are a great number of people who take the "instructions" in the map as "literal truth" in and of itself. They take the map and run around teaching and convincing others of the "truths" (originally meant as instructions) in the map, completely missing the original PURPOSE of the map in the first place. And because they get so attached and obsessed with the map, they of course miss out on the treasure.

There may be an instruction in the map that says "Face East and say 'Blargerphobiton'", meant only as a practical step to open a voice-activated door or something. But people taking the map itself to be the truth, will create ritual out of that instruction, and then you have thousands of people waking up every morning, facing the east, and reciting "Blargerphobiton" who knows how many times. What a bunch of fools, huh? :) ... and of course, if you don't face east every morning and recite "Blargerphobiton", then you are heretic scum that must be either burned or converted/"saved".

All because of some original misunderstanding of how the map is to be used.

And then, every once in a while, someone comes along that sees the map and says "HEY!!! This is just a map! These instructions aren't instructions for their own sake, but for the purpose of discovering something else!"

And that person follows the instructions as they were intended, never becoming attached to the map, but using it as the guiding tool it was meant to be. They then discover the treasure, and discard the map (it is of no use once you've found the treasure!). They sit at peace, knowing the search has come to an end -- while everyone else is still running around reciting some stupid word like "Blargerphobiton" that some idiot on the internet came up with for his voice-activated door. ;)

Some discover the treasure and never look back. But sometimes it happens that someone finds the treasure so overwhelmingly wonderful, so abundant, that they just HAVE to share it with others. These people return to the world and show others how to properly understand the map, and how to use it for its intended purpose. Some people look at this person and see the truth in one they're saying, follow the instructions properly, and come to the treasure for themselves. And yet others look at this person and scream "NO!!! YOU'RE WRONG!!! WE MUST FACE EAST AND RECITE BLARGERPHOBITON, HEATHEN SCUM!!!" ... and at the same time, they are running around trying to find treasure in all the wrong places. Poor bastards. All they have to do is properly follow their map that's already sitting in their hands, instead of running around teaching the "instructions of the great Blargerphobiton" as some kind of dogmatic ritual.

So I repeat: There is no "truth" in the Bible itself -- none that makes any difference on a spiritual level, anyway. Adam & Eve may have been the literal first humans. A guy named Jesus may have existed. Great. But that doesn't change YOU, NOW. There may be historical truths, or there may not be. It makes no difference as far as YOU are concerned. The REAL "truth" to be found, can only be found by using it as a personal guidemap for finding the "inner" treasure. It is a very personal journey, and one that each person has to decide for himself. Trying to convince others of "truths" in the "map" accomplishes nothing, and only further postpones your own discovery of the treasure. It's not about "saving" them, it's about "saving" yourself. And only once you've truly "saved" yourself -- by following the map to its end and realizing the treasure -- THEN can you return and "save" others by guiding them to the treasure as well. But any effort to "save" others before that point is futile. How can you guide them to the treasure if you haven't even discovered it on your own?

--James

PS... BLARGERPHOBITON!!!

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