All Paths Do Not Lead To God

All Paths Do Not Lead To God

"All paths lead to God" is a saying of the spiritual community (certainly not of the religious community), which is designed to give validity to all traditions, disciplines, and fringe explorations. My challenge to this saying is a subtle one, expressing my perceptions about levels of expanding awareness.

All paths, in my understanding, do not lead to God/Source. Physical paths lead to astral paths. Astral paths lead to mystical/esoteric paths. Mystical/esoteric paths lead to the causal path. The reason I do not perceive it as one continuous path is because with each shift in awareness comes a new approach, and a new path.

Wicca will not lead to union with God/Source. It will however lead to mystical/esoteric awareness. Native American shamanism will not lead to union with God. It will however lead to mystical/esoteric awareness. Mystical/esoteric awareness will not lead to continuous conscious union with God/Source (although there will be durations of it), but it will lead to causal Self awareness.

The reason for pointing this out is that in order to attain causal Self awareness, and conscious union with God/source, physical paths have to be let go of for astral paths. Astral paths have to be let go of for mystical/esoteric paths. Mystical/esoteric paths have to be let go of for the causal path.

To say that all paths lead generically to God is a fallacy in my experience, because all paths only lead to the next level of awareness, and that is it. Understanding this gives the seeker the ability to detach from each level's limitations in favor for the next level's potentials.

Note: My use of the terms "astral", "mystical/esoteric", & "causal" are just labels. Insert your own labels if mine do not appeal to you.

DC Vision

Dc-
U are very intuitive and once I read what u had to say..I find your point-of- view/opinion cool and useful and note worthy in short. I agree about the spirituality and different evolving processes we all go thru...

that is likely because the smartest people gravitate to north carolina eventually. thanks for your perspective.


dcv-

*grins*

ah, but in the amorphous loop of the existance of infinite possibility, "God" is just one of many paths that we will eventually find leads to nowhere, but back to the lens of some imperfect perception or another. Take heart in this, for it is the cornerstone of all hope for the resurrection of innocence, for the joyous partaking of that which has seemed to become this manic dimentia, this house of mirrors and holographic projections which has become our external existance. So many speak of paths. What of those paths untread, of which there is no limit? Yes, here we are, taking time to categorize our own existance, but to what end does this serve to further our actual experience of it? It certainly does not seem necessary that a child know that the thing that frizzles and with which he draws shapes in the air on a summer night is called a "sparkler" for him to find the wonder in its use, though he may find just as much wonder in being capable of refering to it by a name. Ha! the delicate ironies, the fragile paradox, a thin gossamer web that binds us and sets us free.

I implore you, beware that you make not too many distinctions between phenomena of any sort. Revel within all as if it were one, and perhaps it will be.

much love

osiris,

i used the label "god" simply as a pointer. i know the tendency to give the big picture, as you have alluded to...but sometimes the seeker needs their next step, and not your awareness...that is what makes an affective teacher - knowing that what the students needs at that moment is not conceptual opinions, but practical experiencied perspectives that leads them to their next step. enjoy the view, but remember most seekers are not there yet, and if you really wish to serve them, then you have to speak their language - and not have fear that someone will think less of you, because you describe awareness below your's.

dcv-

And what are these levels of awareness of which you speak?

How will you be aware of which level of awareness you are aware of?

How will you define one level as more aware than another?

Will not those on a level below a "higher" level believe that they are on a higher level then the one they are below?

And if so, can you be sure that the "higher" level you are on is not a level lower than the one you consider lower than yours?

So again, what characteristics do these levels have and how can we know which level we are on?

And what are these levels of awareness of which you speak?

physical > astral > mystical > causal

How will you be aware of which level of awareness you are aware of?

the first two levels are defined as external or exoteric levels. it is the outward journey. the second two levels are internal or esoteric. it is the inward journey towards Self awareness.

How will you define one level as more aware than another?

there is a natural evolution of Self awareness from the physical through the spiritual through the mystical through to causal (Self awareness, christ consciousness, etc etc etc, insert your comfy word)

Will not those on a level below a "higher" level believe that they are on a higher level then the one they are below?

don't they usually? a mystic knows s/he has more awareness than say a wiccan. and a wiccan knows they have more awareness than say, the average mundane joe/jane.


And if so, can you be sure that the "higher" level you are on is not a level lower than the one you consider lower than yours?

you can be sure by knowing the characteristics of each level. these are experienced (very generally for not wanting to write a book here):

physical > no metaphysical experience whatsoever, and if religious, literal in the belief

astral > spiritual experience caused by an external entity, source, being, person, etc

mystical > mystical experience usually through some internal discipline such as meditation, where the experience is caused by connection/relation with source and/or brief encounters with the present moment consciously. (no matter what this source is labelled as). "be here now".

causal > experience of presence...the present moment consciously, and Self as part of the creative/active principle. "do here now".

So again, what characteristics do these levels have and how can we know which level we are on?

see above. hope this helps to clarify my essay. please bear in mind it was a few paragraphs trying to encompass what a library of books could easily scratch the surface of.

dcv-

Vision,

Are these levels your own, or have you read this somewhere?

I'm not sure that any paths lead to God, though I might say that some lead TOWARD God.

Whether a path leads toward God or not depends upon the energizing of that path, the intent and purpose brought to the following of that path.

neither a mystic or a wiccan nor any other knows anything. They percieve a portion and draw an individual conclusion. the consolidation of all conclusions, within the spirit flow, the effulgent and paradoxically nonexistant all-permeating energy, is what can be said to be knowing. And that is not just the big picture, my brother, but the small picture as well. I would not suggest that we eschew completely all that we have so far manifested through our evolution, but at the same time, to evolve we must do away with that which no longer serves to expodite the process of evolution. The very nature of our progression must be such that we need not utter benign incantations, or sit for hours in perfect stillness regarding the tip of our nose, so that we might express the flow of that energy with perfect awareness. Indeed all that we have been working toward throughout the ages has lead to a point where we might take quite the leap, if we could but put aside our ideological distinctions, our self-deceptive methods of intitiation... the initial impact of such an utter and immediate disregard might be violent, but one could expect no less as a result of the multitude of conflicting psycho-pathologically programmed defense mechanisms that the various cultures have implanted in the very deepest aspects of their environments.


but, hey, shrug. I make no attempt to guide people. I offer what flows throught me, my part of this evolutinary process of analysis and sythesis, and leave every other given individual the labour of assimilating it with the way that they and others come to understand. I say Lay It Bare, Raw, With No Veil, No Shroud, No Degrees. It's really not quite the mystery so many have made it to be. In a way, too many have already been cheated by the obscuration of Divine Truth beneath ideological constructs. And in more than one way, this has been counterproductive to the progress of evolution.

but right on. go your way. light the path for others as they have for you, if you feel you must.

i'll be lurking in the shadows.

much love