Yeah she does. Have not read the book she reccommends about the 4 psychic types, but I have read about this in other books and it was very fascinating.
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The word used for “love” here is agape. Agape is roughly “unconditional love”. The type of love that’s really hard to do. So the verse is calling people to embody a kind of love that typically only saints are able to do. Love “is of God”. Saints are centered in that place where God dwells so they also have access to that love. This is a clear call to a path or spiritual development, and that such a path was important in the early Church,
Verse 8 “He who does not love does not know God” posits love as an epistemological path to God. It also means that the majority of people don’t know God. Because to know God you must know agape love for “God is love”. A good verse to keep in mind for people who think they know who God is and what God wants.
Verses like this are what is behind the Catholic natural law tradition. The equation of ultimate reality with ultimate goodness. Therefore anything that doesn’t express that ultimate goodness is against our nature. We only truly discover how to live into our full nature by approaching God.
Buddhism has a similar idea of course. However in Christianity the goodness is ontological. It is a set attribute of reality. In Buddhism I feel it’s more of an epiphenomena. Goodness arises out of the universe because of the inherent empty nature of all things.
Verse 12 “No one has seen God at any time” is interesting for me. Philosophically, I lean closest to the Advaita Vedanta school of thought. They teach that Brahman can never be seen. This is because it is not an object. It is the Pure Subjrect. The Subject from which all the objects of the manifested world appear in. The wording here suggests that the author might have had a similar idea in mind. And this is born out in the later mystical tradition. The whole reason for the hesychast controversy in the Orthodox church was because some monks were claiming they could see God, while others said God was beyond all knowledge and beyond all seeing. Gregory Palamas solved it by saving that the being of God is unknowable, but how God manifests in the universe, God’s “energies” could be knowable.
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Remembering today that you will die is the best way to live.
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Me as well. I remember this line being particularly poignant when I heard it the first time in church. I reminds me of my other favorite bible quote when Jesus says:
“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you all.”
Luke 17:20-21
I am so grateful for your reply, thank you for taking the time to dig deeper into this sacred text.
So true!
This is the kind of love my intuition was thinking the passage is referring to. Christ Love. Not what most people think of when they hear the word love. The Latin verse also confirmed this hypothesis, being that it did not use the word AMOR, which I think during that time period, was tied far more to egoic love than Christ Love (but not always).
Going to watch the video later tonight. I am a fan of Niel 
So glad you shared this. This gem of wisdom is so powerful:
Gregory Palamas solved it by saving that the being of God is unknowable, but how God manifests in the universe, God’s “energies ” could be knowable.
AMEN!
Somewhat reminds me of physics, where light can be both a wave and a particle. Palamas I think solved this by simply asking the question, why cant God be both?
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https://christicenter.org/buddhism-parable-mustard-seed/
This is a big one:
" Kisa Gotami and the Parable of the Mustard Seed
A famous parable of Buddhism is called The Parable of the Mustard Seed. It is found in the foundational texts of Theravada Buddhism. It revolves around a woman named Kisa Gotami, who lived during the time of Buddha’s life when he had already achieved nirvana and was traveling to impart his teachings upon others.
Kisa Gotami
Kisa’s only child, a very young son, had died. Unwilling to accept his death, she carried him from neighbor to neighbor and begged for someone to give her medicine to bring him back to life. One of her neighbors told her to go to Buddha, located nearby, and ask him if he had a way to bring her son back to life.
Bringing the body of her son with her, Kisa found Buddha and pleaded with him to help bring her son back to life. He instructed her to go back to her village and gather mustard seeds from the households of those who have never been touched by the death. From those mustard seeds, he promised he would create a medicine to bring her son back to life. Relieved, she went back to her village and began asking her neighbors for mustard seeds.
All of her neighbors were willing to give her mustard seeds, but they all told her that their households had been touched by death. They told her, “the living are few, but the dead are many.”
As the day became evening and then night, she was still without any of the mustard seeds that she had been instructed to collect. She realized then the universality of death. According to the Buddhist verse her story comes from, she said:
“It’s not just a truth for one village or town, Nor is it a truth for a single family. But for every world settled by gods [and men] This indeed is what is true — impermanence” (Olendzki, 2010).
With this new understanding, her grief was calmed. She buried her son in the forest and then returned to Buddha. She confessed to Buddha that she could not obtain any of the mustard seeds he had instructed her to collect because she could not find even one house untouched by death.
Here is a passionate interpretation of what Buddha imparted upon Kisa Gotami at this point from The Buddha: His Life Retold, by Robert Allen Mitchell:
“ Dear girl, the life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and inseparable from suffering, for there is not any means, nor will there ever be, by which those that have been born can avoid dying. All living beings are of such a nature that they must die whether they reach old age or not.
As early-ripening fruits are in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of dying. Just as the earthen vessels made by the potter end in shards, so is the life of mortals. Both young and old, both those who are foolish and those who are wise – all fall into the power of death, all are subject to death.
Of those who depart from this life, overcome by death, a father cannot save his son, nor relatives their kinsfolk. While relatives are looking on and lamenting, one by one the mortals are carried off like oxen to the slaughter. People die, and their fate after death will be according to their deeds. Such are the terms of the world.
Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind. On the contrary, his pain will be all the greater, and he will ruin his health. He will make himself sick and pale; but dead bodies cannot be restored by his lamentation.
Now that you have heard the Tathagata [a term Buddha used to refer to himself], Kisa, reject grief, do not allow it to enter your mind. Seeing one dead, know for sure: ‘I shall never see him again in this existence.’ And just as the fire of a burning house is quenched, so does the contemplative wise person scatter grief’s power, expertly, swiftly, even as the wind scatters cottonseed.
He who seeks peace should pull out the arrow lamentations, useless longings, and the self-made pangs of grief. He who has removed this unwholesome arrow and has calmed himself will obtain peace of mind. Verily, he who has conquered grief will always be free from grief – sane and immune – confident, happy, and close to Nirvana, I say” (Allen, 1991).
Kisa entered the first stage of enlightenment from her experience. She decided to become a disciple of Buddha’s and went on to become the first female arahant.
Reflections on The Parable of the Mustard Seed
What can we take away from this parable? Losing a child or any dear loved one to death is a tragedy no one wants to face. When faced with such painful loss, we can feel like Kisa, with grief so unbearable that we wish for anything to make the death not be real.
But as Kisa learned when she could not collect a single mustard seed, death is universal. Nearly everyone at some point in their life loses a loved one to death. This is part of the impermanence of things that Buddhism speaks of.
Despite the fact that nearly all of us experience the loss of loves ones, this does not make the pain of these losses any easier to bear. How do we cope? It is different for everyone, but we typically find ways to carry on. For Kisa, it was her epiphany that she came to through the Buddha’s lesson that helped her cope.
It is one story among countless throughout human existence of how a person has suffered great loss and yet learned in their own way to move forward. Grief can often leave a person feeling isolated, confused, and as if they will never be able to cope. But reading stories like Kisa’s show that even long, long ago, others have felt the same way, and yet they found a way through. For the griever, it is a reminder that you are never truly alone in your experience."
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Also check out the medieval German Christian mystic Meister Eckhardt. He wrote “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” I take this to mean that Consciousness itself is the Ground of Being. My consciousness is the Divine Consciousness viewing itself through me and through all beings.
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Amen.
I think I may have posted a few of my favorite Eckhardt quotes above in this thread but not 100% sure. @Bucket if you have not seen the Movie Jacobs Ladder, M.E. gets quoted in it in a very powerful scene. Its a horror/drama Andrew reccomends.
Very powerful teaching, thank you for that video. The part about plastic flowers was Brilliant!
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I LOVED this story… and felt a deep love in this part… simple and straight to the heart of the matter. also connecting her pain to others and feeling connected, sharing about it, all inspired by the such a simple and profound task given by Buddha… thank you for sharing.
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Me too, its so powerful. It shows the genius of the Buddha. Hearing others stories of death and loss has a profound ability to inspire deep compassion, and I think this compassion prescription was part of the medicine from the Doctor.
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I love Meister Eckhart. “The ground of my being and the ground of God’s being are one.” Not an exact quote, but I’ve always resonated with that. Back when I studied theology I really got into Paul Tillich’s “God is the ground of all existence.” Didn’t know at the time that he was channeling Eckhart there so eventually discovering Eckhart myself and learning about what he taught was really refreshing. I think you are spot on there, that’s exactly what Eckhart is talking about. Very similar to the Hindu idea of Atman.
If anyone is interested in Meister Eckhart, here is a video that provides of good summary of his life and teachings:
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@Bucket. Yes! The mystics in all traditions have much more in common with each other than they do with the fundamentalists within their own tradition. I have been to conferences where folks from many traditions were meditating together, respectfully and lovingly sharing and dialoguing, etc. But if you could get fundamentalists from these same traditions into the same room, I’m pretty sure that they’d be arguing, fighting and hating on each other.
You may have heard the story (originally from India, I believe) about the blind men and the elephant? A group of blind men are each feeling different parts of the elephant and arguing about what it is like. One guy is feeling the trunk and saying “it’s like a snake!” another is feeling the side of the elephant and says “no, it’s like a wall!” and another one feels the tail and says “no, it’s like a rope!” I think different traditions are getting at different aspects of something transcendent. If we can respectfully learn from one another, perhaps we can begin to get the bigger picture.
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@miketyson Asks Sadhguru Some Hard-hitting Questions
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Looks interesting considering the path Tyson took of growing and thoroughly testing (
) his own Marijuana and his willingness to go on podcasts and stuff after stuffing his face full of heroic doses + of psychadelic mushrooms.
This should be a good one, having him encounter someone like Sadhguru should make for an interesting interview.
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Good discussion. Realization vs improvement! Lotus flower is a timeless example of blossoming from filth and mud. Life’s user manual, observing simple things. Human beings are not creatures. Know the difference. Problems are possibilities, intelligence is in your entire body. “We are full of bullshit.”
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Made me chuckle. He sure talks a lot.
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This video is Fantastic, I think a must watch for any spiritual person. Thank you 
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I am really glad you liked it, I was shocked by how good it was, it definitely packs a punch. @Bucket you may like what he says about fear in the first question of Mike.
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“My name is Truth, ecstasy is Consciousness [Awareness]”
A quote from a song I heard tonight, great synchronicity with the Ekhart video.
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I recommend that channel in general. Lot of good content on different mystical traditions from all over the world, and it’s introduced me to several mystics I never knew about. Like Ahmadou Bamba, a Senegalese sufi saint who lead a nonviolent resistance campaign against French colonialism. Or Lal Ded, a Kashmiri Shaivite yogini poet.
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