Johannes Scotus Erigena

The other reading that stuck with me this week was by Johannes Scotus Erigena. I totally agree with Johannes Scotus Erigena when he wrote “we ought not to understand God and creation as two things distinct from each other, but as one and the same.” I agree with this statement because of the belief that God created the Earth and all that is on or around the Earth, therefore one can conclude that without God there would be no Earth or universe for that matter. It can also play in the part with the belief that God is in and around us all, that he is everywhere and nowhere, “invisible making himself visible.” By this I mean how some religions believe that God is the Earth or his essence is a part of the Earth. “God is the source, the well of creation…the mother of the universe: unknowable, unthinkable, unnamable, yet at every moment inexhaustibly present.” I think this can apply to what happened when humans went up to space, in the past people believed that past the clouds lived God, then people went into space and some people began to doubt God. And I think that the introduction deals with these doubts very well when it states that to believe God is in only one spot is to “already stirred up mud in the clear water.” There is no one spot for God he is everywhere and if we try to think otherwise we are mudding up the clear water. I guess that is the main reason for this reading to stick in my head. The introduction really got me to think and its viewpoints can be connected to many different religions. The last part of the introduction reminded me of the Hindu and Buddha religions (mainly the Buddha) about stepping out of oneself and recognizing God everywhere.

Huang-Po

I really enjoyed the reading of Huang-Po. The way he was explaining that the “mind is everything. The mind is nothing.” Yes you use your mind as in your thoughts or your subconscious to think and process information, but you never see or physically touch your thoughts or subconscious. In this way the mind is everything at the same time it is nothing, very similar to belief in God. Just because you cannot see or touch God physically does not mean that he does not exist, it all just depends on your own personal beliefs. Huang-Po also gave another example that really stuck with me after the reading. It was about the warrior going around looking for a pearl that was stuck to his forehead and ended up wasting a lot of time, energy, and effort when all anyone needed to do was point it out to him. When I read about this I immediately connected it to the saying that you can only find happiness within yourself, that no one can buy or give you happiness, you have to get happiness yourself. It can also be connected to the belief that God or spirituality is within us and no one but ourselves can bring us closer to God.