Albert Einstein

In this passage, several good points are made. He explains how those who cannot be struck with awe and amazement at something 'mystical' or inexplicable are 'as good as dead'. People who believe that science can and will explain everything, and that there is nothing left permanently beyond human understanding are truly blinded by their own egotistical arrogance. Man is humbled every day by the universe, by miracles, by life, by God. We become so concerned with ourselves that we dismiss these things as things that we can explain and understand through science and with our own minds, when the reality is that there are some things we will never and can never understand. Religion starts with the acceptance that some things are bigger than us, and more complex than we could ever grasp. It begins with the humility to realize that we are only human, and that there are forces acting infinitely beyond our understanding. Those who feel that God is something that should make sense to us, or that we can make sense out of his actions, are as ignorant and arrogant in those beliefs as the people who blindly follow the God and heavenly rules which are professed to them by their community or parents without giving it a second thought.

Henry David Thoreau

I think this passage was trying to point out the importance of things like art, poetry, philosophy...all of the thoughtful and emotional sides of life which people often like to think of as surreal and petty in the grand scheme of things. In our society we put very little value on these types of things, using and appreciating them only as entertainment (ie. movies, paintings, music, etc). We delusion our selves with our idea of what 'reality' is, without realizing that even still much of what we see as 'reality', isn't reality by the way we are trying to distinguish it. He points out that if we were to eliminate all of these feelings and emotions and subjective ways of thinking, we would be left with nothing, or at least nothing recognizable to us. These things are what make us human and what make up life, and are as real as the earth beneath our feet.

Muhammad

This passage contains a few verses and small clips of verses from the Quran. I particularly like the one "Do not despise the world, for the world too is God". So often we look down on the world and talk about what awful immoral things the world is doing and whatnot, and this reminds us that even that, is God. It is all God's will and everything is the way it is for a reason. Though we may not understand it, we must come to terms with it if we ever wish to be happy within ourselves, instead of constantly trying to renounce it and force it to change.

Another good quote from here is "My servant does not cease to come near me until I love him", saying that you never stop getting closer to God until you are one with him. No matter how far you stray you are always on the path to God, and you will always be led naturally towards him. It also goes on to point out that when you truly know God, he is every part of you. You become God, and God becomes you, when you surrender to his will and know him.

The Gospel of Thomas

The gospel of Thomas is a collection of some of Jesus's teachings, mostly in regards to the kingdom of heaven. I particularly like the one that says that God already layed the Kingdom out across the earth, and among us, we are just too blind to see it. People tend to be blinded by society, by greed, by lust, by hate, and by fear, and we don't see what good and what greatness lies right in front of us. Instead we chase false hopes and ignorant desires, perpetuating our own suffering.

I also think it is interesting how, today, we have a sort of view as if the majority of people we know will all go to heaven, including ourselves. We don't think of it in the terms that Jesus put it when he stated that the wide gate is easy, and it is only the few that find and make it through the narrow, harder gate, implying that in reality very few of us will actually make it to heaven, because so many of us choose to avoid that path.

Jesus of Nazareth

This passage outlined some of Jesus's major teachings about the Kingdom of God. It cannot be explained through a definition or description, but rather through metaphors and similes. Jesus speaks of it in this way in order to convey the message of it to us in a way that is understandable.

One of the most interesting, I thought, was the story of the two sons. It really seems like a metaphor for life, to me. The way the son was tempted and followed the path of greed and materialism, and then realized down the road how unhappy this truly made him, and how he suffered for it. Now, with his eyes clear, he went back and asked for forgiveness of his ignorance and his selfishness, and was welcomed with running arms by his father, and by God. I believe everybody follows a path like this. Nobody is born a man of God.

I believe when we are born we are, in sense, released by God, and must find our way back to him in our life.

Chuang-Tzu

I like the way chuang-tzu points out and criticizes people for thinking they 'know' things, or feeling they are advanced or better than others, or 'sophistocated', etc. The way he sort of sucks you into this 'intelligent' and philosophical train of thought in the first paragraph, and then ridicules you in a sense for even trying to follow along.

Chuang tzu puts religion and philosophy into their most basic states, pointing out that everything around us is important, not our own knowledge or personal identities. He reminds us that if we are ever to find peace within ourselves, we must create peace between ourselves and our nature, because without that harmony, we are constantly at war with our environment. These teachings are similar to the hindu teachings I think, in that we are individually very small and insignificant, but in the grand scheme of things, all together we form one gigantic harmonious world.

Pai-Chang

What I don't like about readings like this one, is when a religious teaching tells describes an event that will happen or could happen in your life such as this. A great or life-changing event, described in details as much as possible only makes it likely that our minds will artificially create it, and we will miss the true meaning and occurance of it. Similar to the way some christian religions talk about speaking in tongue's and whatnot as spirits or God is speaking through you, and then all of a sudden everyone around has these occurences, I feel that these kind of descriptions and expectations about religion that we build for people only distract from the real thing, if and when it were ever going to happen.

I feel, in speaking about enlightenment and reaching a free mind, that the phrase, "you'll know when it happens" describes what to expect in a more appropriate and more purposeful, beneficial manner.