Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmsMerchant
"if you don't make yourself equal to God, you can't perceive God." -- anonymous third-century Christian heretic
It has been noted here numerous times that we have different perceptions of God. We create our own reality--as the Veda puts it, "We are not in the world, the world is in us." Same thing with God.
Deepak Chopra posits that there are seven faces, or levels of God. If your God is first-level, you will not communicate well with someone whose God is seventh-level, for instance. Since God is infinite, he/she/it/them/whatever can manifest to us with equal validity at any level, depending on our own level of spiritual development--no one is any "better' than any other.
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The third century heretic was indeed a Gnostic. The belief that you are a part of God and yet God transcends you. Panentheism is being stated here. But this heretic does not equate your ego with trying to make yourself equal with God, for that can never be... at least initially.
The idea is similar to Gnosticism that there are three levels to a human being: Carnal (Hylic), Psychic (
The Soul or Psyche or Psychology), and Spiritual (Pneumatic). This here is similar to our connection of how we perceive God and ourselves. Most are Pre-dominantly Psychic. It should be noted that in this Gnostic view you are all three yet one is more pre-dominant in you.