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Re (1): truth & chocolate
IP: 146.7.16.9
Posted on March 26, 2005 at 05:02:57 PM by Eric
Hello!
There is much, much I could say on this subject, but I fear that what I would have to say would, at least for now, be just one more confusing voice among many. What I will offer, however, is words I consider wise from the teaching of Sadhu Sundar Singh in Wisdom of the Sadhu:
Seeker: Tell me more about this Master of yours. Did he write down instructions for us to follow like other religious teachers?
Sadhu: The Master never wrote anything down, nor did he ask his followers to record his teachings. His words are spirit and life. Spirit can only infuse spirit. Life can only infuse life. The Master's teaching cannot be contained on the pages of a book. Other great teachers left behind books to replace the living voice, to guide and help their bereft followers. But the Master did not do this, because he has not left us. He is always with us, and his living voice guides and counsels us. His followers recorded his teachings after his ascension as a help to those who cannot yet perceive his living presence. In the end, however, when people ask me, "What made you a follower of the Master?" I can only answer: the Master.
Seeker: But don't your scriptures reveal the truth about God?
Sadhu: They reveal much to us about the life and teachings of the Master and about the nature of God's love. God the Spirit is the true author of the Bible, but this does not mean that every word, taken on its own, is holy or inspired. It is not the words in themselves, but rather the meaning that is inspired. The language used by those who wrote the books of the Bible was the language of everyday, not the language of spirit. Only when we make direct contact with the author, that is, with God the Spirit, can the meaning become clear. Just as many do not understand the Master, so too, they can not understand his words. (From Sadhu Sundar Singh: Avatara – Incarnation)
Sadhu: The Master never wrote anything down, nor did he ask his followers to record his teachings. His words are spirit and life. Spirit can only infuse spirit. Life can only infuse life. The Master's teaching cannot be contained on the pages of a book. Other great teachers left behind books to replace the living voice, to guide and help their bereft followers. But the Master did not do this, because he has not left us. He is always with us, and his living voice guides and counsels us. His followers recorded his teachings after his ascension as a help to those who cannot yet perceive his living presence. In the end, however, when people ask me, "What made you a follower of the Master?" I can only answer: the Master.
Seeker: But don't your scriptures reveal the truth about God?
Sadhu: They reveal much to us about the life and teachings of the Master and about the nature of God's love. God the Spirit is the true author of the Bible, but this does not mean that every word, taken on its own, is holy or inspired. It is not the words in themselves, but rather the meaning that is inspired. The language used by those who wrote the books of the Bible was the language of everyday, not the language of spirit. Only when we make direct contact with the author, that is, with God the Spirit, can the meaning become clear. Just as many do not understand the Master, so too, they can not understand his words. (From Sadhu Sundar Singh: Avatara – Incarnation)
You might argue that I (through the voice of the Sadhu) still have not clarified for you and further, you might be justified in so doing. However, it seems to me that his words are about the only clarity that really can be added to the din of voices without further confusion, at least at the moment. It seems to me that his words are about the next closest thing to the thing itself: the next closest thing to the ontological reality of God. Since these words are not God Himself, they can only serve to point beyond themselves and nothing more, as is the nature of all moral truth. But what you are in pursuit of is ultimately not moral truth at all—that is, as we learned in this latest newsletter Eternal Verity, Faithful and True, truth that is communicated from the mind of the knower to another—but rather ontological truth: the intimate knowledge of Christ Himself. (Or, if it is moral truth that you are searching for, you are ultimately wishing to hear it from the lips of the Master Himself and not merely through His friends—and especially not from those who merely fancy they know something about Him.) Only then will you come into the possession of the logical truth that you are then free to disseminate to others; only then will you truly know.
Now then, about these chocolate crucifixes: at least they're not yet serving chocolate wafers with the wine. :)
God bless,
Eric