Christian End Times Or Zen Now Time

“The earth will go up in dissolution from severe heat. The environmentalists will be really shook up then, because God is going to blow it all away.” Jerry Falwell

Recently I experienced the proverbial ahaa moment when two worlds of thought collided. It occurred while reading Kurt Spellmeyer’s new book, Buddha At the Apocalypse, Awakening From a Culture of Destruction. He begins by outlining the progression of apocalyptic thinking promoted by Christian religions and describes how people of other cultures did not think of a future leading to a cataclysmic end. He writes, “To them and sometimes still to us, ‘history’ was a synonym for ‘the past.’ But the most important form of ‘history’ in the West is all about the future. To believe in Apocalyptic history is to see events as moving forward in a preordained way, from a distinct beginning to an all-encompassing end.”

According to a 2002 Time/CNN poll, 59 percent of Americans accept the literal truth of the Book of Revelations. This means that as the world around us faces massive destruction and extinction due to our excessive living demands, the majority of Americans believe the bible’s prediction of destruction, and the sooner we can be with Jesus in the Promised Land the better for everyone. Spellmeyer writes that by, “Rejecting the End Times-mentality would seem to mean embracing its complete opposite-the belief that a brighter day lies ahead if we only dare to hope. But what if the destructiveness of our way of life, unequaled in all of human history, follows directly from our worship of the future?”

As a counterpoint to the Christian apocalyptic thinking is the Zen Buddhist way of seeing the world. Spellmeyer views Zen as a special kind of ecology, which is all about retraining the mind to survive peacefully in our complex universe. “Zen regards the mind as part of the world, and it regards the world as part of mind. Zen is an ‘ecology of mind’…The Zen response to apocalyptic history is to tap into the part of our minds that exists outside the collective dream we mistake for real….’the unconscious’ mind; and consciousness is seen in Zen meditation as an ‘undistorted mirror of the world.’”

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Steve H.

4:49PM PDT on Oct 20, 2011

Diane D. Nov 21st. http://www.abhota.info/end1.htm
Lin Moy, Nov 21st "nuff said" indeed - you believe that men should not cut their hair, homosexuals should be stoned, people wearing clothes made of the wrong cloth should also be stoned, smashing babies' heads on rocks is a good thing, that the jealous vengeful (his words, not mine) old testament god is the one you'd better believe in. And that's before we get to all the contradictions where you apparently have to simultaneously believe two opposite things.
The bible doesn't explicitly say you have to, but do you also believe it is reasonable to punish all women for all time with painful childbirth because one woman ate an apple she was told not to eat? My wife was not around to stop Eve so why did she need to suffer?

send a green star

Robert O.

2:00PM PDT on Oct 20, 2011

Thanks Delia.

1:57PM PDT on Oct 20, 2011

William D.

8:04PM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

The truth exists in every animal, every plant every rock and breath of air. It exists in nothing and everything. Until that moment where as an animal we awaken, nothing changes, in the moment of awakening everything becomes new. You cannot teach god and speaking like a parrot does nothing but piss people off. When one speaks from the heart you can reach accross the universe and alter the very nature of existence. It is light. It is the transformative power which will guide us, trannsform us and give us peace and the power to change.

Eryn U.

3:32PM PST on Dec 24, 2010

Interesting article... thanks :)

Ornella M.

8:25PM PST on Dec 14, 2010

We all have certain beliefs and dreams and follow various trains of thought with religious views...wouldn't it be wonderfull if there was a United Faith and belief to bring all people together...

Past Member .

2:49AM PST on Nov 29, 2010

Whichever line of thought pushes you towards a middle ground, promoting better living now towards finality ... we all have the same basic needs, hopes and dreams and so can meet there, in the middle, and work together to accomplish great things. Let's try.

Joan E.

3:40PM PST on Nov 27, 2010

This article certainly has led to some very interesting comments and discussion!
As a Christian I feel concern over the way things are going in the world and I don't know how much longer the planet can take what man is doing to it. Perhaps the world will end one day, I don't know...but even if it "ends" I don't believe that life will just be over and humanity will vanish, my guess is that that it will be the beginning of a new phase or stage of life. (like someone mentioned above)
I believe that God put us here and that we are meant to live in love, peace and harmony with our fellow man and to take care of the planet; our home. If the world ends I think it's because we'll have brought it on ourselves. --Let's do all we can to avoid that :)

Colleen D.

9:09AM PST on Nov 27, 2010

Now is creating the future
By the way it is the Book Of Revelation---not Revelations

9:30PM PST on Nov 26, 2010

I used to be a new age teacher. I was a profession psychic and astrologer. I had my own coven. I've been on most "spiritual paths". I never found what I was looking for until----

Jesus came to me. I never knew there was love like HIS.

I am now a Christian devoted to one who loves me even more than I love myself. Jesus has PROVEN to be all I need and want.

For those of us who are sincere Christians, following our Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible, the time is NOW time.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9

AND THEN MOVE ON....

...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3: 13-14

I decided, as I checked out path after path in the occult, "Reality is that which produces a real effect in a real universe which others can see and be aware of"....that is what Jesus did for me.