[greenbunny]

That was a cool analogy of the spoiled child - and of course still decidedly a Western point of view. The resources are ours to use and it is up to us to either use them wisely or foolishly. You also speak from the material vantagepoint well about how in nature animals live off plants and other animals - the cycle of life. The trees live with us in the material plain making fruit, our perfect food, so that we will distribute their seeds - the entire natural world as a symbiotic relationship. That reminds me more of a Native American way of approaching life.

The cycles of nature would in Eastern philosophy be considered the cycle of dharma ?? with suffering, death and reincarnation intertwined in that cycle and enlightenment as the path out of it.

I would agree with you when you say that the Eastern religions look within themselves for spirituality but I think you might have a misconception that Eastern religions in general believe in many Gods. That is not true. It most certainly is not true in Buddhism. My understanding of that religion is that the concept of ultimate consciousness is not anything you can understand from a limited consciousness so the only thing that Buddha would talk about was the path out of that limited consciousness. As Buddhism travelled across Asia from Burma some of the native religions intermingled with it and made for some interesting fables and stories and religious rites. Much like pagan rituals have made their way into Christianity like Christ ??s birthday at the winter solstice with an evergreen tree to be decorated and celebrated and the spring equinox celebrated with eggs and march hares ?? pagan symbols of renewal and birth. You might have the idea that eastern religions believe in multiple gods from Hinduism, but the thing that I just love about Hinduism is that they take into consideration the abilities of people at many levels, stages and inclinations. In Hinduism there is an ultimate consciousness that is beyond all attributes or qualities or polarities and is beyond most human ??s abilities to relate to, therefore, they also put faces and bodies on symbols of limited qualities for people to worship (that are into that kind of thing) so that they can use love (bhakti yoga) to make progress on the path. Other yogas are very different and use some radically different means to gain the same end including: the intellect (jnana yoga), focused work (karma yoga) and others. There are many forms of yoga designed for different kinds of individuals. Hatha yoga that they teach at gyms in the West was designed just to develop the body enough to be able to withstand the other yogas. The one kind of yoga that would be most abstract is kriya yoga which is the path and practice of perfect God / Truth union. God not as a person or being but way beyond that, something that some can perceive and be one with. It ??s a bit too complext to get into here, but be it enough to say that it is most certainly the direct path to union with the one ultimate God in Hinduism without any side trips through the purely symbolic lesser gods.

It is true that eastern religions do not see the ultimate force that creates and moves all as a man with a white beard sitting on a cloud, a burning bush, or as a man that was born on earth from a virgin mother, but they do have at their center that one force that moves through all things.

When it comes to the Western one God religions there is a reaction against the many god religions from which they sprang. Eastern religions don ??t fight that battle. It ??s all one to them. But you are definitely right. Most eastern religious paths are internally oriented.

I think that the mystical sects of western religions have that focus on gaining God from within that you talk about. Sufism (the mystical form of Islam) certainly does and hence the Fakirs. The Kabbalah (mystical Judaism) and Mystical Christianity I believe also look more inwardly for their connection to the Almighty but I am not very familiar with those. I believe that they combine more of the eastern views into their ideologies so there might be a precedent for the merging of East and West through them. I have been wanting to learn more about them.

Well, that is certainly enough thinking and typing fast for me and more than enough for you to read!!!

Shalom, Blessings, and Namaste!

Greenbunny