a question I came up with on my commute home

[novapsyche]

If everything is God, why is the self so denigrated? The self is God, too.

I was thinking this in the context of Bayazid Al-Bistami's statement: "Forgetfulness of self is remembrance of God."

This got me to consider that perhaps there are nuances to the terms ground of being, God, the godhead.

A nuanced God?

Hmm. Still considering.

Comments

self and God

[zenrabbit.livejournal.com]

Self is always denigrated because to exist is to "be Satan" as it were, or become flesh, rebelling against "All-that-is" by separating ourselves from everything else. That is the authentic original sin we all committed. Thus to "Be saved" is to realign ourselves within the framework of the cosmos as an intergral part of a greater whole. In other words, self is always denigraded because it is illusory, self is the real Matrix, the thing that has been pulled over our eyes to hide the truth. We are enslaved to our sense of self, and only when we loose that sense of self do we really talk to God.

Re: self and God

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Did I want to separate from God? In my paradigm, God wondered what it would be like to have someone other than Itself. That mirror is our material universe and God loves gazing into it.

But that's neither here nor there. The self is as much a part of the universe as anything else. If the self exists, then it is God (again, I'm a panentheist--God is not only everything but resides within everything).

When I concentrate on the self, though, I feel as though I am in error. When I meditate on the other/the beyond, I feel more aligned and whole.