A.J. Frost 1982 - Letter to Robert R. Prechter
The Kingdom of Heaven refers to a state of mind, a higher level of being, the state of enlightenment, bodhi, vidya. Truth makes for freedom. When Jesus says: "Repent," He refers to a change of consciousness. The Greek word translated as repentance is meta-noia. It is a change of consciousness, an inner evolution, a higher level of understanding. The heart of man can comprehend the higher reality. It is not penitence or regret but a complete change of mind and heart, a revolution in our outlook, the displacement of ignorance, avidya by knowledge, vidya. It is a new way of thinking, feeling and acting. It is a rebirth. "Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of G-d," said Jesus to Nicodemus. Rebirth belongs not to the natural man, but the secret, internal, the spiritual man. It is another step in evolution, "repent and be turned." It is a whirling around of our consciousness. "Except ye turn and become as little children." There is the child in us that is responsive to the magic and mystery of the world. We are generally lost in the world of objects and the things of the sense. The mystery of life is destroyed by life and remains only a memory, dimly felt at moments of recalling for a fleeting instant something that we knew once and possessed. We must recover this lost possession, recapture freshness and spontaneity. Man must change himself. The writer to the Ephesians says: "Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead." Christian teaching in its origin before it became organised and externalised was awakening from sleep through the light shed by the inner wisdom. Jesus, like Buddha, was one who had awakened and taught others the way of awakening. The Kingdom of Heaven is not something in the future, It is at hand. It is within us. When we attain this state, we are freed from law. "The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath.
Both religion and science affirm the unity of nature. The central assumption of science is the intuition of religion that nature is intelligible. When we study the processes of nature we are impressed by their order and harmony and are led to a belief in the divine reality. St. Thomas put it, "By considering what G-d has made we can - first of all - catch a glimpse of the divine wisdom which has in some measure impressed a certain likeness to itself upon them." We should see in the order and constancy, the beauty and pattern of nature, the divine wisdom and not in the exceptional and the bizarre. To suggest that the whole course of history is bound up with some unique event which happened at one time and in one place in a universe which has had nearly 6,000 million years of existence may strain the scientific conscience of even ordinary people. Heaven mingles with earth from the very start.
G-d is all-embracing infinity and is found in even the smallest thing.
Letter to David Suzuki – A.J. Frost 1988
I am a fan of yours in that I agree with you that all men have a built in genetic link with nature, but my reasons are not based on science, as I have no knowledge of biology or any other science. I am, however, a student of the culture of the world and stock market behavior in depth. I coauthored Elliott Wave Principle with Robert R. Prechter, Jr., who for the last three years has been regarded as the darling of Wall Street.
In this book, we explore the proposition that there is a mathematical link between the mind of man and nature. To state the proposition in different words, man is part of Nature and subject to the cosmic influence.
This concept is a very old one. Lao Tzu in his Tao Te Ching contended that (1) that which is microcosmically in the universe is microcosmically in man; and (2) that the mind of man is an entity with the soul as its centre and thereby assumes that man’s body does not possess a soul, but the soul of man possesses his body (reincarnation and karma).
Although we do not know what precisely makes the mind of man, the universe and the stock market tick, we do know that it has a mathematical base. As nature has many forms but only one form which moves to zero and infinity with no change in mathematical relationship, we must assume that this form is closer to ultimate reality than anything we are aware of.
Prior to the days of Constantine, when Christianity became a religion of belief over a period of 20 years, St. Augustine said, “Christianity had existed from time immemorial, but the advent of Jesus gave it a new name.” When Augustine was elevated, he was obliged to recant the statement as Bishop of Hippo.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the discovery of the 52 Gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt have compelled us to reconsider our historical views with respect to the origins of Christianity. These texts reveal that TRUTH is LAW and arises from within, and further, that there is no third person between ourselves and ultimate reality. In this sense, I am not a modern Christian as I am quite convinced that G-d does not smile or frown upon us but we may have frowns or we may have smiles provided we seek it and find it. In my philosophy, science and religion are compatible. If we keep the law, we will be kept by it. Life is progressive and renews itself and no man can be separated from these basic fundamentals. To progress, we must live love and love life and not under any circumstances let any “bastard” get us down.
Jesus and His Jewish Influences - Dr. Jodi Magness
© 2011 évolution exponentielle: The Metaphysical Ruminations of an Apostate