miracles :religious or superstious?

[cacian]

a miracle is something that happens when we least expect it, or something beyond an explanation.
what is the most famous miracle in the bible or religion?

[osho]

a miracle is something that happens when we least expect it, or something beyond an explanation.
what is the most famous miracle in the bible or religion?

You often raise interesting threads that arrest my attention and engage me in reflections for a while. Miracles are aplenty in most religious texts and in fact if there are no myths or miracles you cannot conceive something of religiously intended for. Jesus touches somebody and heals him or her and this goes in the same way with the rest of other religions, something inconceivable for our rational minds. And they simply stimulate the imagination of children and once we get grown up we are likely to lose the capacity for enjoying the myth or mystery of those scriptural stuffs

[Polednice]

You often raise interesting threads that arrest my attention and engage me in reflections for a while. Miracles are aplenty in most religious texts and in fact if there are no myths or miracles you cannot conceive something of religiously intended for. Jesus touches somebody and heals him or her and this goes in the same way with the rest of other religions, something inconceivable for our rational minds. And they simply stimulate the imagination of children and once we get grown up we are likely to lose the capacity for enjoying the myth or mystery of those scriptural stuffs

I don't think we lose our capacity for enjoying those myths - certainly, the miraculous tales of the Bible and other religions can be extremely poetic and inspiring. We should, however, lose our capacity to believe such things as though they were true.

[cacian]

I don't think we lose our capacity for enjoying those myths - certainly, the miraculous tales of the Bible and other religions can be extremely poetic and inspiring. We should, however, lose our capacity to believe such things as though they were true.

Hi Polednice do you have a miracle story from the bible at hand?
I do not know any myself.

[YesNo]

I recently listened to Todd Murphy's lecture Psychic Skills & Miracles which might be relevant here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmC1174POpA

I'm not sure I entirely agree with him, but I find it interesting. He focuses on the brain and tries to use magnetism to stimulate psychic abilities. Later in the lecture he mentioned Jesus' loaves and fishes miracle and relates that to two other miracles in which objects appeared out of nowhere for a guru.

Murphy is a self-proclaimed Buddhist and a neuroscientist. He promotes something called "neurotheology".

[Neo_Sephiroth]

Well, Cacian, there's many miracles in the Bible. There's the time when Moses parted the Red Sea...There's also many miracles that Jesus performed...Hmmmm...Like, when an ill woman touched Jesus cloths and, through her faith, she was healed.

There's more but I'm more than happy to share some...Another time.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Religious, superstitious . . . the same thing, no?

[Varenne Rodin]

Silliness. I just performed the miracle of turning water into wine. Do you believe me? Of course not. Bonkers.

[Riesa]

I don't think we lose our capacity for enjoying those myths - certainly, the miraculous tales of the Bible and other religions can be extremely poetic and inspiring. We should, however, lose our capacity to believe such things as though they were true.

I like how you say that. that is exactly what happened to me, I enjoyed all the stories, and the idea of miracles and such, until I thought enough about it to find it something that made my skin itch, something I couldn't quite believe in without making a huge "i am so perplexed by why this is thought to be true" look. I know I am somewhat alone in these thoughts.

[cacian]

Religious, superstitious . . . the same thing, no?

Not so sure because sometimes one can equate surperstition to instinct.
One might say I have a feeling that something is up or something along these lines and instinct plays a major role in superstition.
The same would go for religion unless you are intuitive then you are not able to believe in something you do not see.
I might be wrong but this is I can explain it.

[Paulclem]

In Buddhism, miracle powers are part of the path of meditation. They are not seen as divine or God given, but are a consequence of a lot of successful practice. They are not the aim of the path, but a by-product of it.

There are rules saying that these powers are not to be displayed in public. The reason no-one sees examples of such things is that they are not displayed. They are not displayed because in these times, demonstrations of this kind only cause controversy which is counter productive. The other reason is that such people who have attained miracle powers do not have the worldly concerns of us ordinary folk. Their qualities are used for spiritual purposes.

One such miracle power cited is knowig people's minds. I've been lucky enough to see this in action.

[billl]

Better than "unlucky enough" to see it in action! I think there might be other reasons for keeping this sort of thing under wraps, especially keeping it away from individuals who aren't completely attracted to the Buddhist approach and perspective.

I think there's a good case to be made on behalf of those who don't want their minds known, nor to know the minds of others. It certainly seems best for people who develop this sort of ability to keep it to themselves.

[ShadowsCool]

I just wonder how people can say something is a myth just because they can't understand it. Amazing

[Paulclem]

Better than "unlucky enough" to see it in action! I think there might be other reasons for keeping this sort of thing under wraps, especially keeping it away from individuals who aren't completely attracted to the Buddhist approach and perspective.

I think there's a good case to be made on behalf of those who don't want their minds known, nor to know the minds of others. It certainly seems best for people who develop this sort of ability to keep it to themselves.

Agreed Billl. The person in question was a Monk of impecable character who used it to instruct the people he was teaching in meditation techniques. he would describe what they saw to them, and give them instruction and advice based on this. He was quite amazing.

[YesNo]

Besides reading minds, what sort of things did the monks do that was miraculous?

Some of the techniques that Laura Day mentions in How to Rule the World from Your Couch is medianship, telepathy, remote viewing, precognition and healing. These are natural ways to be "intuitive" that she claims anyone can practice regardless of religious intention. One of the things I remember about her comments on telepathy is that embodying oneself, I guess mindfulness, is the only way to protect against the telepathy coming from others.