*UNION/*UNITY/*UNITARY/*UNITE/*UNITED - also see NOT-TWO, WHOLE, ONE, TAO, YIN-YANG, BOTH, DIVERSITY, PRAYER, COMMUNION, PATH, CONNECTEDNESS, CONSCIOUSNESS, TRANSFORM, GOD, HEAVEN, MARRIAGE, COMPLETE
The 5 stages of mystic conscioussness are: 1. awakening or conversion, 2. self-knowledge or purgation, 3. illumination (or enlightenment, presence, transcendence, reality) 4. surrender (or dark night), 5. union (p203) Mystics find the act of union, fuse itself with and thus apprehend the reality of the sought Object. The idea of Divine Union is man's true end.(p28) Union with God attains "I live, yet not I but God in me" when cleansed of the last stains of separation. (p499) See Transformed. Union is brought about by Love. Unity is a force which draws towards Itself all that it has put into the world, but natural and supernatural. (p505-6) The mystic perceives at once static and dynamic, transcendent and immanent, eternal and temporal, Being and Becoming as integral parts. (p518) In that death of selfhood, heights meet the deeps: Supreme achievement and complete humility are one. The soul, self-naughted, becomes as a little child: for such is the kingdom of heaven. (p530) (Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill)
We need scriptures that can teach us all humans are capable of achieving union with God while still alive by realizing the Divine within. (Amazon Short Book review of Faith and Reason: In search of God)
ACIM ourpose is to educate us to choose the spiritual reality of love and oneness, rather than the worldly illusion of attack and separatedness, in order to heal us. (Miracles Intro, p9)
The spiritual understanding shows the interconnected value of all life which creates and sustains unity. Through this integration, the individual has a greater sense of responsibility; this effects the environment and maintains non-violence through the appreciation of the inner and outer values of life. The combination of meditation, spirituality, and education provides the foundation for even greater economic potentials through the individual’s comprehension of obligations to family, society, and government. Spiritually, at the level of love, the individual feels a sense of belonging to humankind through the direct experience of “Oneness” within; crossing boundaries of prejudice, and creating harmony in ones family, community, nation, and extending into a global view of unity. (http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2007/05/towards_higher.html)
When God created the world, he voluntarily limited himself and shared the weakness of human beings. Human beings must restore wholeness to the Godhead and world. Human beings cannot have faith in a weak God, but in the living God who made people strong enough to pray.(p381-2) The climax of the evolutionary process is when God becomes all in all. The natural world progresses towards ever greater complexity and to greater unity in this variety. This unity-in-differentiation was another way of regarding the love that animates the whole of creation. (p384) The kingdom announced by Christ in the Gospels was a union with God that everybody could experience here and now. (p224) By becoming aware of the Godly spark within them, they would become more fully human. God and man were a unity. The study of scripture is a chief way of communing with God. (p336-7) (History of God)
Eliminating disturbing emotions and inner delusion needs to be supported by complementary reinforcing factors, such as the practice of compassion and the awakening mind. The awakening mind is the "method" aspect of the practice, whereas, realization of emptiness, which is the ultimate awakening mind, is the "wisdom" aspect. On the basis of the union of these two awakening minds, it is possible to engage in the path that leads to the resultant state of a fully awaken being, the union of body and mind. (Dalai Lama, p230-1)
Yoga is a practical method of separating the soul from its combination with the mind and the body, and then uniting it with its Source or the Supreme Creator. (Yoga, p11)
THE SEVENTH STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS - The 7th state of consciousness, Unity consciousness, is the state which mystics have termedd enlightenment.
In the 6th state perception was only partial, in this state the perception has become cleansed and refined to the point where one becomes directly aware of the Absolute basis of the outer world. Both the subject of perception and the object of perception are appreciated in their fullest values, as manifestations of the transcendental absolute field of life. According to the Gospel of Thomas, Christ said: Cleave a piece of wood and I am there; life up a stone and you will find me there. The relative world of infinite diversity continues to exist, but it is now experienced as co‑existing with its absolute basis. The relative world of phenomena is just as real as its absolute basis. THE RELATIVE WORLD IS NOT AN ILLUSION. The relative cannot be accounted for in terms of the Absolute, nor can the Absolute be understood in terms of the relative. For example, a cylinder looked at from the side will appear as a square and looked at from the top will appear as a circle:
_
(_) _
|_| |_| side view
_
(_) top view
They are 2 different perspectives of reality, but since the awareness cannot encompass both simultaneously a paradox arises, and it cannot be resolved by simply accommodating one perspective within the other. It is not that the relative is an illusion, but one needs to expand the awareness to the point where it can emcompass both views simultaneously. Appreciating the harmony beneath the diversity one begins too realize that the differences and even the disharmonies are part of a greater pattern. The state of Unity is not
a mere understanding that 'all is One': it is a state of consciousness in which a person experiences his essential unity with the rest of the world, a state of peace and fulfillment. (TM, p129)
The transcendental bride chamber thus is said to have united God
the Father with God the Mother (the Holy Spirit). (Jung, p209)
Unity in diversity.
Union on the spiritual level is a state of pure consciousness. It is the infusion of love and knowledge together. (Open Mind, p74)
I wonder if: the union of love and knowledge is like in Taoism where the one needs the other? Or with union of body and spirit; does the spirit need body for action and the body need spirit for proper motivation? And is God both, whether united or not? (Randy)
The point is to INTEGRATE and BALANCE the Ascending and Descending currents in the human being. To bring these two curents into some sort of UNION and HARMONY so that both WISDOM and COMPASSION can join hands in finding a SPIRIT that both TRANSCENDS and INCLUDES this world, a Spirit eternally prior to this world and yet embracing this WORLD. Only when both are UNITED can both be saved. And there (where God and Goddess finally unite, where Emptiness embraces all Form as the lost and found Beloved, where Eternity joyously sings the praises of noble Time) there forever in the universe of One Taste, the Kosmos recognizes its own true nature. (Everything, p338-9)
United we stand, divided we fall.
I saw so clearly the unity in diversity. (Contemplation, p115)
For he that is not against us, is for us. (Luke 9:50)
Unity with My Body allows the power of My gifts... love, faith, and hope...to be Me, living them in you! (IAM, p24)
In Muhammed days (610) the tribe had had to come first and the individual second (Hist, p133). Brotherhood and social justice were its crucial virtues (Hist, p157).
In the Parable of the Vine and the Branches there is not dividing point of where the vine ends and the branch starts. (at SRC)
The sky, sun, wind, and rain are male, whereas, the earth, water (ie. birth from a womb), trees, and flowers are female. The sexual UNION of the sun and the earth is celebrated on the coming of spring. (Paradise3, p23)
The love of God, which would unite human and divine in one UNITARY spirit. To awaken to this state of divine love was to experience the Kingdom of Heaven. (Passion, p149)
The Holy Spirit is the supreme example of UNITY with many (diversity) in one (not division) and the One in many. Many examples of unity were evident at the Promise (xref) Keepers convention, ie. 38,000 men alone sacrificing 2 days of time for Jesus. (Randy)
Unite our living and dying with Jesus' living and dying. (Reaching for God ... Beyond All Names by Sr. Laura Bufano, SRC 8/1/96)
Grasp the oneness of ourselves with the spirit. Our purpose here [on earth] is to participate in an awakening when we extend our spirituality so matter will be changed. Then we will create the kingdom of God on earth - unifying body and spirit - and each of us is a part of that. (Awakening, p204)