Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!ANDREW!PC1Y+ From: pc1y+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Peter Capell) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia Subject: Re: CHRISTIA Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 90 23:57:24 GMT References: Sender: Practical Christian Life Reply-To: Practical Christian Life Lines: 33 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway In-Reply-To: Michael, (reply to 2-7-90 8:13 pm) I honestly appreciate your concern and love. Your mention of the Holy Spirit is most insightful. It is precisely this spirit to which our meditation is directed. My point is that one gains greater access to that Spirit by supressing the heartbeat. One supresses the heartbeat by slowing the breathing. This is exactly the intent of all yogic practice for the past 4000 years. The Holy Spirit was here then too. So was the Christ. In my experience, there is no Christian teaching or practice that incorporates and kind of physiological change to enhance one's perception of and communication with the Holy Spirit. What I am familiar with is sitting down, listening to someone else give their perception of what God meant when in the scriptures He wrote "X," standing up and singing, recitation of creed, etc., etc., etc. None of this tends to silence the "eternally" ringing "sensory telephones," the senses that completely obscure one's perception of God. I mean, you don't actually believe that God isn't here now, as much as after you are dead do you? The only divider between our knowing God immediately is our attachment to flesh, and more precisely, attachment to the world via the flesh. You believe as you like. Believing that you know what you are talking about with respect to God, or God's word in scripture, is at the least presumptuous however -- too bad you don't know it yet. I have a deep appreciation of the Indian "muni," they practice complete silence at all times, no speaking. There's is truly a practice by example and action only. You should know that words are the least effective tools for convincing anyone of your commitment and position. That is why I make no pretense of trying to convince any of you.