One God, One Self but within are Many; One Body in One time but Self has other bodies in other times; Why man clings to such idea to express it?

Malaysiakini has the earlier story of the Catholic Herald having problems with renewing it publication permit and the usage of “Allah” in it BM section and the latest is on “Sabah church sues PM” over book ban on Indonesian books containing words of ‘Allah’ inside and the ‘illegal’ seizure of the church’s Sunday school materials.

Dr. Michael Denton, senior research fellow in human molecular genetics at the University of Otago in New Zealand, has concluded, “All the evidence available in the biological sciences supports the core proposition … that the cosmos is a specially designed whole with life and mankind as its fundamental goal and purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality have their meaning and explanation in this central fact.” (Michael Denton, Nature’s Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe, New York: Free Press, 1998, p. 389.)

Man thought once, historically speaking, that there was but one world. Now he knows differently, but he still clings to the idea of one god, one self, and one body through which to express it. There is one God, but within that God are many. There is one self, but within that self are many. There is one body, in one time, but the self has other bodies in other times. And all 'times' exist at once, i.e. simultaneously. The unknown reality may appear esoteric or complicated, yet they are not beyond the reach of any person who is determined to understand the nature of the unknown elements of the self, and its greater world.

Most of our God concepts deal with a static God, and here is one of your main theological difficulties. The awareness and experience of this Gestalt constantly changes and grows. There is no static God. When you say, "this is God," then God is already something else. Prayer contains its own answer, and if there is no white-haired kind old father-God to hear, then there is instead the initial and ever-expanding energy that forms everything that is and of which each human being is a part. This psychic gestalt may sound impersonal to you, but since its energy forger person, how can this be? . God is more than the sum of all personalities, and yet all personalities are what He is. There is constant creation. There is within you a force that knew how to grow you from a fetus to a grown adult. This force is part of unique knowledge within all consciousness, and is part of the God within you

God’ is within creation, within physical matter, and that ‘He’ does not simply operate as some cosmic director on the outside of reality. You must understand that the spiritual self also exists within the physical self in the same fashion. The inner self is not remote either, not divorced from your most intimate desires and affairs, but instead communicates through your own smallest gesture. You each have the same energy and it sings within your being. You need not be shy of it. It is your own! You need not look to gurus, or gods. It dwells within you! There is no need to listen to his voices but to the voices of your own being. There is spirituality within your tissues. Physical existence is sacred and good. There is nothing wrong with it. Atoms and molecules, they are holy. Your consciousness is holy, and so is your little toe.

You can aspire--you must aspire for that is within you. But All That Is is now within you. What so many want is a God Who walks down the street and says, "Happy Sunday, I am I, follow Me. But God is hidden craftily in His creations so that He is what they are, and they are what He is; and in knowing them, you know Him." God is always more than All That Is, is the sum that you cannot find--and a definition of God:
For God is the sum that you cannot find, that resides within you, that is more than anything you can discover, that is His creations and yet more than that which is created, within Whom infinities rest. If you prefer, you can call the supreme psychic gestalt God, but you should not attempt to objectify him. What you call God is the sum of all consciousness, and yet the whole is more than the sum of Its parts. You ARE the power of God manifested. You are not powerless. To the contrary, through your being the power of God is strengthened, for YOU ARE a portion of what He is.

So only the occasional unusual individual, such as Jeanne D'Arc, Bernardette, Moses, Noah, Jesus, Buddha, etc., were accepted. And each one of these "messengers" gave you the same message - look within yourself to find God and all will be available and provided for you. What is so extraordinary is that even a living Buddha, Master Ching Hai (Taiwan, http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/) also found out that in the Bible, it says:-
“Know you not that you are the temple of God and Almighty God dwells within you” - 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1)
This word is the Inner Sound. It has been called the Logos, Shabd. Tao, Soundstream, Naam, or the Celestial Music. “It vibrates within all life and sustains the whole universe. This inner melody can heal all wounds, fulfill all desires, and quench all worldly thirst. It is all powerful and all love. It is because we are made of this sound, that contact with it brings peace and contentment to our hearts.
After listening to this sound, our whole being changes, our entire outlook on life greatly altered for the better.” – Master Suma Ching Hai. The Inner Light, the Light of God is the same light referred to in “enlightenment”. Its intensity can range from a subtle glow to the brilliance of many millions of suns. It is through the Inner Light and Sound that we come to know God.

When the cavemen first ventured out into the daylight of the earth, so there is a time for man to venture out into a greater knowledge of his subjective reality, to explore the dimensions of selfhood and go beyond the small areas of himself in which he has thus far found shelter The unknown reality, however, is unknown enough to usual reaches of the most flexible consciousness, in your terms, that it can only be approached by a personality

Each individual is a part of the unknown reality. For those whose psychological awareness bridges worlds of which some of us are consciously aware, and others that seem, at least, to escape our notice. Yet if we initiate a journey in which it may seem that the familiar is left far behind we can known reality is even more precious, more "real," because you will find it illuminated both within and without by the rich fabric of an 'unknown' reality now seen emerging from the most intimate portions of daily life.
Our concepts of personhood are now limiting you personally and en masse, and yet our religions, metaphysics, histories, and even our sciences are hinged upon our ideas of who and what you are. Our psychologies do not explain our own reality to you. They cannot contain your experience. Your religions do not explain your greater reality, and your sciences leave you just as ignorant about the nature of the universe in which you dwell. These institutions and disciplines are composed of individuals, each restrained by limiting ideas about their own private reality; and so it is with private reality that we will begin and always return, period

When you don't realize this, then you project upon life after death all of the old misconceptions. We expect the dead to be little different from the living--if you believe in afterlife at all--but perhaps more at peace, more understanding, and, hopefully, wiser.
"The fact is that in life you poise delicately and yet perfectly between realities, and after death you do the same. The 'unknown' reality—you are its known equivalent. Then know yourself. You expand as you become acquainted with these ideas.

= == = = and they are still quarrelling over the “concept” of God and the exclusive usage of the term and one is more powerful than the other. Look within to find the solution.

Church leaders explain use of 'Allah'; Joseph Masilamany; theSUN

PETALING JAYA (Dec 23, 2007): The use of the word “Allah” to refer to God among Christians has been widely practised for generations in many countries and it is not meant to offend or confuse the Muslims, Christian leaders said on Sunday. Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of local Catholic weekly The Herald, told theSun that its Bahasa Malaysia segment catered to the many Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Catholics in the country. “The newspaper is only circulated among Catholics and not sold at newsstands and neither is the paper issued to Muslims,” he stressed. He said The Herald was informed by the Internal Security Ministry in a letter dated Dec 10 to stop its Bahasa Malaysia segment. He added that the letter said this would be so when the publication permit is granted.

The annual permit expires on Dec 31 and the publication has yet to receive the renewed permit. Lawrence said the term “Allah” used by Christians or in Christian literature was not intended to offend Muslims or create confusion. We follow the Bible, he said. “The Malay-language Bible uses ‘Allah’ for God and Tuhan for Lord.” He said since the early 19th century, Catholics in Malaya had prayer books in the Malay language and “Allah” was used to refer to God. The Maltese Catholics also use the term “Allah” to refer to God and so do Christians in Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East. There are more than 850,000 Catholics in Malaysia, and The Herald has a circulation of 12,000 and a readership of 50,000. Other than the English segment, it also has sections in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil to cater to the multi-racial and multi-lingual make-up of the Malaysian Catholic population. Hence it is common for some Catholic religious celebrations to be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia during the Sunday worship, and even on special national occasions such as Merdeka Day.
Lawrence said the ministry had no right to interfere in the internal management of the church, in accordance with the Federal Constitution. Quoting Article 11 (3) A, he said the constitution allowed every religious group to manage its own affairs. He said the ministry’s decision to abolish The Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia segment was unconstitutional and had no legal standing. The weekly is still in talks with the authorities to renew its permit, and would appeal if the government refuses to issue the permit. The general-secretary of the Council of Churches Malaysia Rev Herman Shastri told theSun each religious community was endowed with the right to translate its respective holy scriptures. “Christians living in Muslim-majority countries are using the term ‘Allah’ in reference to God during their liturgical celebrations. Even if the authorities disallow the use of certain words, the churches will continue to use them because it has to do with our sacred scriptures,” he said.

Updated: 11:15PM Sun, 23 Dec 2007