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I've had to re-write this post because I thought that "Son of God" isn't a Jewish term, but a Greco-Roman Pagan one: there were numerous demigods and demigoddesses born with mixed parentage of divine & human. Eg Hercules, Achilles, Aeneas, Helen of Troy. However I just found out that "Son of God" appears several times in the Old Testament (Genesis 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Hosea 1:10) . But how to reconcile being a Son of God and God at the same time? And 'God the Father' wasn't his father in the nativity story anyway, it was the Holy Spirit which came to Mary. My amateur guess would be that the early church leaders wanted to attract both Jews and Pagans into their new religion, and were creating a hybrid theology to appeal to both.

Hi, and sorry to hear about the argument. I hope it's over now? To be honest, when I've had a row I can't think about powerful spiritual things, if it's a bad argument I just want to get out of the house. Outside for a walk where the wide open space, the sky, the trees and nature have a way of absorbing the furious turbulent energy, and allows the knot of angry thoughts to unwind and relaxation and calm energy to slowly return. Then I'll probably end up in a cafe, maybe at the local garden centre and I can get distracted looking at the gardening stuff (my hobby) plants, tools, seeds, etc. That's what works for me because it aligns with my interests like walking, nature and gardening so maybe won't copy across for others. My spirituality is also to be found immersed in nature, so I find that 'being there' does it for me.

I think so. Pettiness is usually what we use as the distraction, like watching TV or some other entertainment or comfort to fill the mind. So something healthy is a better alternative. Most of us can't be intensely spiritual and mindful all the time 😀 I guess if I'm filled up with pettiness I like to get up and do something practical. DIY on the house, play with the kids, get out in the garden, go for a run or a walk in nature. Takes me out of my petty thoughts.

Phil, you've found the gateless gate !!

I don't understand. I would've thought powerful spiritual words are pointing towards what we want to be distracted from. As in, helping us face the resistance. Distraction is avoiding our wounds. Is that powerful or spiritual?

So it's not telling myself "now I'm going to love X" and then trying to change what's already happening into something else. It's hard to avoid talking like that though. 'Allowing love' suggests that love is already present except there's some resistance to it. So what to do? Maybe just observing the whole process of love & resistance unfolding, giving it space to happen and trusting that it's ok.

You've got a good point, this is about way more than just religion, although religion and politics are clear examples. It could be a primal survival instinct of wanting other people to be like 'us' so we feel safer and there's less threat from 'them'. The world feels safer when our pack, our tribe is stronger than theirs.

This is taking a while for observing. It looks like Inside & Outside are labels, so they're secondary thoughts and interpretations. Pointing to the primary experience of when attention is focused on sensation (the inner world of subjectivity) or sense-perception (the outer objective world) respectively. So we believe/think that sense-perceptions are information coming in from the outer world to the inner.

Powerful is a adjective to describe the quality of a thought. Some of these are individual thoughts, like 'the original thought'. Some are thoughts about thoughts, like 'my cognitive mind' or 'my thoughts' ie modelling a collection of thoughts and their interactions. 'Observer' and 'thinker' are thoughts about an imaginary point of reference, so also a thought about thought. In short,all are thoughts. But some thoughts are associated with an "inwards" pointing attention, like the Thinker, the Observer, Me, I am. Thoughts about sense perceptions eg sights have an "outwards" pointing attention, like "that's a tree over there".

Yes, I wouldn't have an issue with saying these are all specialised forms of sensations either.

I can't find a gap between "awareness" and "experience". Or, "awareness" and "objects of awareness". In that sense I agree with those who say that everything is consciousness. But the opposite is also true.

Thoughts are powerful and take over my cognitive mind, but they just seem to arise out of emptiness or unconsciousness, so I struggle to observe the actual creation of a thought, and its creator. Also, my thoughts appear in sequence, one by one. "I am" is a thought, but it only occurs by itself, therefore I only exist when having that particular thought. If I'm thinking "this is a nice cup of tea", then "I am" is absent. The thought "I am thinking about my cup of tea" is misleading because it uses the memory of the thought, not the original thought.

Being able to know something is also amazing ☺️

Ha ha, I'm a boomer myself (just in that bracket). It's always fascinated me how bands have an early formative creative period when their distinctive style is formed, and then many seem to rest on their laurels after their muse matures. Or perhaps it's just me getting older! But like, I'm going to see Bryan Adams next year and I prefer his older songs more than the recent ones. It's the same with most bands from my youth. Ah thanks, I never looked into the background of that song except that he was making some social and moral commentary. Perhaps I'll reconsider it,

Hi, yes I learned the TM technique, it was a long time ago when I was a beginner and well before you could look it up in the internet for free! But yes, it's a mantra technique essentially the same as other mantra techniques imo. A bit later I became a Buddhist (for a while) and one of the many techniques I learned there was the mantra "buddho" which had a stronger resonance because of its religious connection. But mantras don't "work" so well for me, I think because mantras being words, activate a part of my mind associated with language, thought, conceptualisation etc. So I incline towards non-verbal methods now which allow my thinking to switch off more easily. Breath works well when I need an anchor, ie when my mind is a bit restless like at the start of a sit. But I can often let go of that too and simply rest in awareness. But that's just me, imo this is all very personal and subjective so don't rely on what I say but try them out for yourself, that's where the differences actually exist.