THE CONFLICT BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN NOTIONS OF GOD:
Is it possible that conflict between Eastern and Western
notions of God, the Infinite, etc underlie social conflicts (like the present one)?
<<< THE IDEA OF INFINITY(by Adi Da)
In the traditional oriental or Eastern mind, Infinity is pondered as the ultimate Zero, or "no thing"
In the traditional occidental or Western mind, Infinity is pondered as the Maximum Number, the totality of possibilities, or "every thing"
These two entirely different conceptions of Infinity, or the Absolute, describe or illustrate the essential cultural difference between the East and the West.
The traditional East is devoted to regression from the repetitive cycles of birth and death, or the reduction of experience to Home Base, before anything exists.
The traditional West is devoted to the progressive increase or the linear and even evolutionary elaboration of experience, until End Time, when everything is perfected.
Each of the two great motives excludes and cancels the other. And the origin of these Two is in self-divided Man--or Man prior to whole bodily Enlightenment.
When the whole body-mind of Man awakens beyond the illusions and ultimately destructive motives of self-division and recoil from the single Life-Principle, then the Paradox of Infinity is Revealed. The Infinite, Absolute, All-Pervading Reality is One. It is simultaneously (and thus paradoxically) Every Thing and No Thing. It is Love, Bliss, Radiance, Truth, Life, Fullness and Mystery beyond the force of all contradictions.
I am a witness to this One. This is the Holy One, Who is not set apart from the world. >>>
Namaste!
Jim |
