Hi Roy,
I don't feel that the article was saying "that people who believe in God have more fulfilling lives than non-believers. "
I believe David Briscoe is expressing his opinion about God based on his experiences but is very open to other people having different points of view based on their experiences. I believe that his openmindedness would include people having the view that there is no God at all. What one person would believe in and in doing so use the label of God, another person might also believe the same thing while adamantly espousing a non-belief in God. An example might be two people who feel it is important not to be materialistic.
I think it is important to differentiate a belief in God from a necessity to have to express this belief in one of the established orthodox religions. By not having to label one's belief within the religions we all know about such as judaism, christianity, buddhism, taosim and many more et cetera, I would say that infants, animals and plants could be included in some of the more pure believers in God that I know of. As an example, the unconditional, divine love example given to people by their pets such as Dogs for instance. Another example is a tree that cleanses the air without regard for any thanks for doing so and does not decide who will get this gift. The tree just gives unconditionally without any regard for a thank you. These are just wonderful lessons that non-humans can teach us. The lessons that children can teach us are just enormous too. Including my grandson who keeps informing his Mother that he is her husband. He is all of two years old. As a person who believes in past lives, I read some insights into this. Et cetera, Et cetera.
Even if David's article is as "demeaning" as you say it supposedly is and if David is a "dualistic at heart" in his thinking in the article as you say he supposedly is, or that he supposedly "does much to diminish the all-embracing vision of macrobiotics" name calling is probably not the macrobiotic approach that Ohsawa advocated. Ohsawa said, "Accept everything with unlimited joy and gratitude, even if it be extremely humiliating, painful, or the cause of great inconvenience." And "Maintain yourself in such a condition that from morning until evening the words flowing out of your mouth reflect infinite gratitude."
You have mentioned Taoism in some of your posts. Here is part of Lao Tzu's writings given the title of "Sixteen."
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
There are probably many reasons for being macrobiotic. I respect everyone's reasons for getting involved and have respect for those who do not believe in any type of God whatsoever, and those who do. For me it is about heart and how people try to become better people as we learn from the events in our daily lives.
But for me, the reason for my interest in macrobiotics is rooted in spirit which for me means a belief in what I call "God." It is to become a clearer instrument for spirit to work through us. As Ohsawa said:
"Our body especially the brain is an instrument like a radio receiver that automatically picks up any frequency. "
"Thus our small brain is like a connection to the large brain of the universe itself."
For others the interest in macrobiotics will be something completely different and would resonate with individuals who are atheist or agnostic as well as those who believe in God.
Respectfully, Best regards,
Dave
Roy Collin's Wrote:
I did read the Briscoe link that you posted in the Spirituality Forum here and found it somewhat helpful for me to understand a little more about God. I think it is good that Briscoe thinks its a good idea to have different interpretaions of God, but disagree (and find it a demeaning) This is an absurd assumption and one that is overly ethno-centric. There are billions of people who live on this planet, including all infants (and animals, plants, etc) that do not believe in God(s) that lives that are full and happy as believers. This God equation, in my opinion, has nothing to do with macrobiotics. It is a separate issue altogether. Macrobiotics embraces all people from all walks of life, with or without religion. No one is greater or lesser because of his/her belief or non-belief in a deity. Many of our current world problems are due to cetain religious beliefs and a take on God that wishes destruction to all that do not follow that path. Sounds like the Crusades revisited!
As an American Briscoe has this right and freedom to express his thoughts but as a macrobiotic he must understand that if he says belivers in God(s) have better lives than non-belivers, then he does much to diminish the all-embracing vision of macrobiotics and shows that he is a dualist at heart. So thank you Dave for pointing this fact out to us. You were correcct to place your post in the Spiritual forum.
Quote:
Originally posted by qzw52
Hi,
The link that follows is an article written by the Macrobiotic counselor and teacher David Briscoe entitled "May I Share my God with You. I find it very uplifting.
Enjoy!
http://www.macroamerica.com/articles4.html
Best,
Dave
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