“One of the many slave ships that came and raided Afrika was called “The Good ship Jesus” that saw many Afrikans displaced and in sorting of this mass abductions one of the first Men and Women, while docked and boarded onto the ship were named “Adam and Eve” as if to begin civilisation across the sea, as if reading off a manuscript on how to control a people religiously” Afari Kofi

Sooo I’m currently reading this book called “Power Of The Now” as I feel my mind is always preoccupied with the future so much so I at times fail to acknowledge the present happenings…. Let me not lie, I put the book to rest about 3 months back and still planning on finishing it. Anyway in the book he touches on religion, Christianity, Buddhism, and other types of religions… I’m very much challenged by his vast open-mindedness when it comes to religion and God.

I’ve always been one to keep an open mind when it comes to religion and try to never enforce my spiritual beliefs upon others… The below are snippets of a Chapter in the book where he talks of God being dead… much of this coming from how the name has been misused over the years….. Not for the faint hearted blind followers I must warm.

Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle

“The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as ‘My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false,” or Nietzsche’s famous statement ‘God is dead.’

The word God has become a closed concept. The moment the word is uttered, a mental image is created, no longer, perhaps, of an old man with a white beard, but still a mental representation of someone or something outside you, and, yes, almost inevitably a male someone or something.” Eckhart Tolle

Enlightenment – what is that?

“The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some super-human accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm.

I love the Buddha’s simple definition of enlightenment as ‘the end of suffering.’ There is nothing superhuman in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what’s left when there is no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you’ll have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe that enlightenment is for the Buddha, not for them, at least not in this lifetime.

You used the word Being. Can you explain what you mean by that?

Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don’t seek to grasp it with your mind. Don’t try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of ‘feeling-realization’ is enlightenment.

Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

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