I am an atheist that was raised as a Christian. Yesterday I was doing some looking at the Lord's Prayer and comparing it to some of my modern understanding of mysticism. I was surprised at what I realized. Check this out:
Our Father (our higher self)
who art in heaven (that resides in our minds),
hallowed be thy name (I give appreciation and respect to my higher self).
Thine kingdom come (may the will of the higher self be manifested on earth...)
Thine Will be done (and thusly achieved)
On earth (as below...)
As in heaven (so above)
Give us this day our daily bread (every day may I learn and grow)
forgive us our trespasses (let me forgive myself)
and forgive those that trespass against us (forgiveness allows me to be free)
lead us not into temptation (may my higher self prevent me from being weak)
but deliver us from evil (that i may stay refrain from the pains of life)
For thine is the Kingdom (my higher self actually owns my reality...)
Power (and my actions...)
And Glory (and my self reflection...)
Forever (it can never be different)
Amen. (that is the completion of this understanding)
What are your thoughts on this? I'd like to hear from modern Christians and Atheists!
I agree with your analysis.
However, i cannot work with "atheist mystic"
To know your higher self is to know God exists.
And not exist as in, this bearded guy in a cloud, but exist as in this being you have on speed dial and communicate with often.
I know its hard to answer people when they ask you what religion are you...
but hey, most people think that Buddhism is a religion.
this is exactly a problem that I have often. I can't seem to lable myself without going through a full blown dissertation that ends up me throwing pearls before swine. what do you say in these instances? any pro tips?
I usually just say i am a Buddhist, if i do not care for any further discussion.
Sometimes i say i am a shaman, if i am in the correct company. Or healer, or light worker.
Nagual is probably the best description, but not many remember Don Juan.
A word i have been work on recently is Christ-ist.
As in, i follow Iesus as a Buddhist follows Buddha.
I'm pretty much the same...
Christianity does seem to hold the tenants for a successful and useful society (irrelevant of religious belief).
I'm down with your interpretation - except the forgiveness bit....
I don't forgive wankers and bad people.
in this form of mysticism there a large emphasis on forgiveness. not to make the person that did wrong feel better... but to make yourself feel better. they say that anger is like a poison that you drink. It harms you, not the person that you're upset with.
It's all nonsense. It's just that you have a lie for every truth of Christianity. There is no "higher self" that "resides in our minds".
Some people are intimidated by atheists but I'm not. Christianity is true. God is real. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. So for someone to be raised as a Christian yet choose to reject the truth, it's pretty sad. Your eternal life in hell will be much worse than for someone who is just ignorant.
so, a fun fact. the bible is a part of a larger bible called the apocraphia. you aren't really reading the bible. you're reading a part of it. also, jesus is a comparatively new concept that comes from yaheshua... which comes from "yod heh shin vav heh". yaweh (god) is yod heh vav heh. so if you include "shin"(spirit), into yaweh, you have yaheshuah. yaheshua (jesus as its modernly referred to) is a concept.
now, for your hell, read the bible in hebrew before it was translated into english. you'll find that hell is really called "sheol" which means the grave.
study up and then come back.
Everything yo say is spot on, except for this, "Your eternal life in hell will be much worse than for someone who is just ignorant."
You cannot judge, even an atheist. Who are you to judge another person?