/lit/ - Literature

There's absolutely nothing you can do or are obligated to do in order to reach God. Everyone who tells you that you need to jump through ritualistic hoops in order to attain God is a scam artist

Ashtavakra Gita
Once the veil is lifted there is no going back

>>15141414
>when you havent read one useful spiritual text
calm,clear,purified mind and heart is most common universal pattern

>>15141387
>>15141414
>—What, then, does this interior vision see? When it is but lately awakened it cannot behold splendours too dazzling. The soul, therefore, must be accustomed first of all to contemplate beautiful pursuits, and next beautiful works, not those which are executed by craftsmen but those which are done by good men. After this, contemplate the souls of those who are the authors of such beautiful actions. How, then, may you behold the beauty of a virtuous soul? Withdraw into yourself and look; and if you do not yet behold yourself beautiful, do as does the maker of a statue which is to be beautiful; for he cuts away, shaves down, smooths and cleans it, until he has made manifest in the statue the beauty of the face which he portrays. So with yourself. Cut away that which is superfluous, straighten that which is crooked, purify that which is obscure: labour to make all bright, and never cease to fashion your statue until there shall shine out upon you the godlike splendour of virtue, until you behold temperance established in purity in her holy shrine. If you have become this, and have beheld it, and dwell within yourself in purity, and there is now nothing which prevents you from thus becoming one, when you have nothing foreign mingled with your interior nature, but your whole self is true light and light alone, not measured by size nor circumscribed by the limitation of any figure, not to be increased in magnitude because unbounded, but totally immeasurable, greater than all measure and mightier than every quantity—if you behold yourself grown to this, having now become vision itself, take courage and ascend yet higher, for now you need a guide no more. Gaze intently and see! This eye alone beholds that mighty Beauty. But if it approach the vision bleared by vices, unpurified, or weak through cowardice, so that it cannot bear to gaze upon such glory, then it sees nothing, even though another should be at hand to point out that which all may see. For he that beholds must be akin to that which he beholds, and must, before he comes to this vision, be transformed into its likeness. Never could the eye have looked upon the sun had it not become sun-like, and never can the soul see Beauty unless she has become beautiful. Let each man first become god-like and each man beautiful, if he would behold Beauty and God. For he well first arrive in his ascent at the region of Intellect and there he will know all the beauties of form, and will say that this is the beauty of Ideas, for all things are beautiful through these, the offspring and essence of Intellect. But that which is beyond Intellect we call the nature of the Good, from which the Beautiful radiates on every side, so that in common speech it is called the First Beauty But if we distinguish between the Intelligibles, we may say that Intelligible Beauty belongs to the world of Ideas, but that the Good which is beyond these is the fountain and principle of the Beautiful.

>>15141387
just think of death, meditate on it; i also have difficulties sometimes to pray out of myself, but try to think about this attachment we have and all-engulfing death

>>15141387
you just have to believe in God. don't believe in him for the greed of having personal benefits. just believe in him without questioning and accept him wholly.

>>15141471
spoken like a true npc

>>15141387
once the quarantine ends, i think the churches will be empty. all the lukewarms will have given up. this is when we need to take over. once the churches are filled with young white men again, ti will be easy to believe and have solid friendships and community.

>>15141387
>my evil is unchanged, I am a hypocrite.
Yikes

>>15141387
You need this. It's going to be a bit of effort, but cowboy up.
It's about your exact predicament

>The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works
https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=4158589E1070C187CE8D4209F6C94D3F

>>15141415
I see you and raise you

>Markandeya Purana
https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=AA574FF00B42322C3BD9C032EADBE0C1

>A marvellous amalgam of mythology and metaphysics, the Markandeya Purana unfolds as a series of conversations, in which the sage Markandeya is asked to answer some deeper questions raised by events in the Mahabharata. These illuminating exchanges evolve into a multi-faceted exploration of the core concepts of Hindu philosophy-from an excellent exposition of yoga and its unique attributes to a profound treatise on the worship of the goddess, the Devi Mahatmya, which also includes the popular devotional texts known as 'Chandi' or 'Durga Saptashati'.
Brimming with insight and told with clarity, this luminous text is also a celebration of a complex mythological universe populated with gods and mortals, and contains within its depths many nested tales like that of Queen Madalasa and her famous song.
>Bibek Debroy's masterful translation draws out the subtleties of the Markandeya Purana, enabling a new generation of readers to savour its timeless riches

>>15141387
>How do I believe in God?
You don't you fucking moron. The god hypothesis has been defunct for centuries now.

instead of wasting time on this shit try learning about how reality actually works.

>>15141714
D I S S I P A T I O N

https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jeremy+England

>>15141415
>Ashtavakra Gita
that sounds like a harry potter spell

>>15141627

>>15141714
>The god hypothesis has been defunct for centuries now.
>instead of wasting time on this shit try learning about how reality actually works.

>>15141414
rites are for your mind not for the divine
They habituate your thought processes, by establishing certain elaborate and beautiful rituals, when you perform them your soul is attuned to being receptive of the holy vision. Why some rituals are better than others is because we've had tens of thousands of years to "scientifically" test the most apt rite for most souls. You can fantasize any ritual or movement or dance that you feel like, and eventually it will work no matter how nontraditional your method is: the goal of all of them is to open the eye of your soul, the flower of mind. What actually matters is your sincerity and determination and willingness to turn your nous to the light. For the divine light shines everywhere, he is always with you.

>>15141387

>>15141387
instead of trying to pray your own words, use the book of common prayer; its diction is more sophisticated than the language of personal prayer, and will efficiently direct your thoughts to the desires for a state of grace; then move on to the "spiritual" classics, beginning preferably in the devotio moderna

>The god hypothesis has been defunct for centuries now.
>instead of wasting time on this shit try learning about how reality actually works.

>>15141387

You want to be spiritual? Okay then.

You need to always believe in God. No matter what. That is what faith is all about. The barrier you feel is you're own fussiness. You need to mature emotionally so this is what you need to do. Keep believe, slowly a part of you will die. It will feel like dying and you need to let go of those emotions that feels like dying. Keep reading your bible and listen to sermors. God is on your side. He wants you to have a fruitful life. Well measured, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Nothing will change if nothing will change.

>>15141608
White men are the least devout in 2020

>>15141387
First question to ask yourself: why do you want to believe?

>>15142140
He just wants to cope because the only other option for weaklings like him is passive nihilism

>>15142152
ok tough guy

>>15142152
there is no such thing as passive or active nihilism, nietzsche was dumb as fuck, a nihilist is neither active nor passive

>>15141387
God shines beyond desire and knowledge,you need to shed your "earthliness" to be in league with God,if you manage that you will experience God from the bottom of your heart.

>"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24

>>15141847
do any of these actually prove that christianity is the true religion ?

>>15142166
>nihilist is neither active nor passive
There is quite a difference between the nihilist who despairs at the lack of an objective meaning, desperately wishing it was not so and his opposite.
>>15142161
Okay, Christcuck

>>15142207
>you need to shed your "earthliness" to be in league with God
And there we have it folks, Alain de Benoist being proven right when he said that to be faithful to God man must be unfaithful to his own nature and instead place the center of gravity for life into some ethereal beyond. YIKES

> Yeshua says to them: If you fast, you shall beget transgression for yourselves. And if you pray, you shall be condemned. And if you give alms, you shall cause evil to your spirits

> They say [to him:] Come, let us pray today and let us fast! || Yeshua says: What then is the transgression which I have committed, or in what have I been vanquished?

> For the fact is, man has been created for happiness, and he who is wholly happy has a perfect right to say to himself: I have performed God’s will on earth. All the righteous, all the saints, all the holy martyrs have been happy.’

Are you happy OP? You don't necessarily need to believe, for perhaps you have never been away from God. But I also like this Blake quote:

> Thus began Priesthood. Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales. And at length they pronounced that the Gods had ordered such things. Thus men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.

The Kingdom of God is within you.

>>15142263
It's actually about realizing that one is not one's nature, emotions, or desires. All of these things bring one away from direct experience of reality.

>>15142263
i am not saying abandon everything and become a monk.Just keep in mind that God is beyond and within temporality and corporality.accepting that is enough.

>>15142331
you said it better.

>>15142331
What is reality?

>>15141438
Plotinus could've been a Christian scholar desu thank you, nice read

I'm surprised a half-decent thread came out of this.

>>15142140
I don't strive to avoid nihilism, since death is far away and I don't give it much thought. I want to believe because there has to be right and wrong and comeuppance for people that create suffering. Essentially it's the argument from the Brothers Karamazov between Ivan and Alyosha perpetually bothering me.

>>15142152
On the contrary, my predecessors have shown a capacity for being bad people which I want to curb. Tell me where your ambition has led you, have you become a powerful man?

>>15142393
Cannot be known while embodied.

>>15141387
Belief in God is the most basic of all human considerations. Acknowledgement of one’s Creator is foundational to learning any more about Him. Without believing in God, it is impossible to please Him or even come to Him (Hebrews 11:6). People are surrounded with proof of God’s existence, and it is only through the hardening of sin that men reject that proof (Romans 1:18–23). It is foolish to disbelieve in God (Psalm 14:1).

There are two choices in life. First, we have the choice to trust in man’s limited reason. Man’s reason has produced various philosophies, the many world religions and “isms,” different cults, and other ideas and worldviews. A key characteristic of man’s reason is that it does not last, for man himself is not lasting. It is also limited by man’s finite knowledge; we are not as wise as we think we are (1 Corinthians 1:20). Man’s reason starts with himself and ends with himself. Man lives in Time’s box with no way out. Man is born, grows to maturity, makes his impact on the world, and eventually dies. That is it for him, naturally speaking. The choice to live by reason leaves one weighed in the balance and found wanting. If a person objectively thinks about such a lifestyle, it should cause him to consider the second choice.

The second choice we have is to accept God’s revelation in the Bible. To “lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Of course, to accept that the Bible is from God, one must acknowledge God. Belief in the God of the Bible does not negate the use of reason; rather, it is when we seek God that He opens our eyes (Psalm 119:18), enlightens our understanding (Ephesians 1:18), and grants us wisdom (Proverbs 8).

Belief in God is bolstered by the evidence of God’s existence that is readily available. All creation bears silent witness to the fact of a Creator (Psalm 19:1–4). God’s book, the Bible, establishes its own validity and historical accuracy. For example, consider one Old Testament prophecy concerning Christ’s first coming. Micah 5:2 states that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Micah gave his prophecy around 700 BC. Where was Christ born seven centuries later? He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, just as Micah had predicted (Luke 2:1–20; Matthew 2:1–12).

>>15142474
The wannabe Christians here will tell you otherwise, but you don't need to believe in God to be a "good person"

>>15142609
You may or may not need to. I know that I don't. They do.

>>15141387
1/4

>>15142723
2/4

>>15142732
3/4

>>15142749
4/4

>>15142331
>one is not one's nature, emotions, or desires.
Prove it

>>15141387
All Christians fail to perfectly live up to the standard the Bible teaches. No Christian has ever been perfectly Christ-like. However, there are many Christians who are genuinely seeking to live the Christian life and are relying more and more on the Holy Spirit to convict, change, and empower them. There have been multitudes of Christians who have lived their lives free from scandal. No Christian is perfect, but making a mistake and failing to reach perfection in this life is not the same thing as being a hypocrite.

Read the neoplatonists and decided for yourself if you believe in God or not. You don't need to subscribe to any jewish cult to believe in God. Everyone who tells you that you need to join their organized religion to find God is a bullshitter who believes in kike fantasies instead of God.

>>15141666
This is good, and also this:

I have a friend who really struggled to pray until he started embracing a more 'contemplative' style -- one that emphasises silence and the presence of God over literal discourse. He's a pastor now.

>>15142919
I cannot prove anything about my internal state to anyone. All I can say is that all of those things are hallucinations, a drug trip. If your trip is currently a good one, there's no need to look elsewhere.

>>15141438
This is the expected answer to OP's existential dilemma, and it is well-executed and meaningful, but is somewhat unsatisfying. Do you mean that one must be a *solidly good* person before one can feel God even in the slightest? What if one is powerfully struggling in the face of one's sins, and prays as fervently and authentically as possible? Is that not enough, to receive some sort of comforting reassurance? Is above-average labor+prayer+patience not enough? Then what is the point of prayers asking for God's presence in one's life, if one has to be a full Saint to feel it?

This whole question is the plot of Silence, and I am not sure a satisfactory answer has been given yet.

>>15141714

>>15141387
Try loving god

It is a gift bestowed on a person by the grace of God. He has His Elect few. You are clearly demonic and repelled by God.

>>15145847
Dirty somatic.

>>15141387
Read the Screwtape Letters

Read the Bible