Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
First things first. What is this common essence that you refer to?
The wording is my attempt to point to that which everything is connected to AND possibly SHARES on levels/frequencies that we can see examples of (by looking at the inter-connectedness and patterns in all of nature) -- but which we may not be able to define in our typically limited terms. "Essence" is that which is not superficial. The nectar of us.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Since I believe we primarily live in imagination, what can we know of as a common essence?
Well, imagination probably colors EVERYTHING we experience and think in this earthly realm because we are very limited and dense beings... but I think we can get glimpses of, and have access to, natural expanded networks/systems and views that aren't convoluted with our ego. There are surely degrees and ranges of awareness and capability we can function from and within, yes? I think these may be the "differences" between people that you refer to. Still, I don't think this range of differences that we express precludes a fundamental connectivity and oneness throughout all.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Common essence for me is the agreement that we live in imagination with the potential for living consciously which would reveal our common humanity.
Okay, so I think we're saying much of the same thing with the words rearranged a bit. I don't think of "common essence" as an "agreement"... but as a natural and connected state/quality.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Are you open to the suggestion that we live in imagination as Plato described?
I absolutely think we are living in a limited dense state of our human minds -- so the description of "living in imagination" sounds familiar to me.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
The goal of the essence of religion as opposed to secularized religion is to serve the transition from mechanical evolution into conscious evolution. The Spirit allows us to awaken and freedom from the prison of imagination.
I think it's worth acknowledging that there are many, many people who are evolving consciously without any form of religion. And there are many, many people who are connected to spirit (or whatever one calls it), without any form of religion. This is a beautiful reality to WELCOME... and it should not be seen as a threat to religion, and those who use religion for their path. Neither should any kind of religion try to deny a human's natural ability to evolve consciously. Do you agree?
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
"Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it We must continually suspend the work of the imagination in filling the void within ourselves."
I agree... even though I don't talk that way. My language refers to the noise and intoxication that people clog themselves up with -- and even those who claim to be aware are doing it. Humans are creators on Earth... and it takes ongoing clarity and awareness to recognize our (and others') creations for what they are. I think that when we "get ourselves out of the way" (and stop adding our creations over the top of everything)... we can recognize something much bigger that we are a part of. In my experience of doing this, my ego and identity cease in that space, and everything flows extraordinarily efficiently.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Do you agree that even though trees exist as ONE from the perspective of the forest, they also have a unique identity?
Yes, I do. On this earth plane, I think humans get to act out in all kinds of ways. It's sort of like a drunken party. There are people who are smashing the place up. There are people over-indulging and passing out in the corner. There are people trying to be of help to others. And there are people standing on the lawn gazing up at the stars, and thinking big thoughts.
I think that... underlying it all... flowing through it all... animating and enlivening it all... is ONE spirit, without identity, because there is no need for an identity. The human vessels get to play out all sort of potentials in their land of intoxication. The ONE spirit is energized by it... possibly. I do not imagine this ONE spirit having needs or wants. I imagine it as simply creative and expanding. So I am resistant when people assign human-like attributes to it. Our attributes are based on limitation, as that is the world we know. The ONE spirit would not have any limitations.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:08 pm
Has anything I’ve written so far make sense to you?
Yes... as you can (hopefully?) see by my responses. Do my responses make sense to you, even though they don't use your language? Can you see/accept that conscious expansion (in any direction) is accessible to all, and does not require a specific path, and does not manifest with the same outer characteristics?