Is Your God Anthropomorphized? Are You Boasting About Your Good Deeds?

Verisimilitude Chakra • 5 days ago • edited Me, I don't think the search into The Mystery is hard-wired, like, say, sex or need-for-food, both of which are, obviously hard-wired. Mind you, a Buddhist (perhaps Gautama, but I don't know for sure) said that even if his teachings died out, they would arise again in the human mind...but that doesn't necessarily mean they are hard-wired, of course) An additional point emerges in thinking how non-spiritual focus led and leads to inequalities and injustices in agricultural settlments and civilizations with institutions like religions instead of the individual activities that prevail in tribal living. As power becomes concentrated and abused and neglected, tensions will arise. The spiritual path in Buddha´s case emerged in Hindu India where inequality was institutionalized in the Caste system, and he was in the privileged class of Kshatriya warriors, I recall. Jesus´ heritage has the first element of Moses, and the inadequacy of the top 10 Commandments and the Exodus experience in the Abrahamic prophetic tradition. Curiously and significantly, that tradition converged with the Greco-Roman context and the inequalities and issues there. greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 4 days ago Good points for grounding some key things. I believe I got into the more elaborate side a bit in another comment. Perhaps it is the "need-for-food" angle that leads pretty directly to the additional complexity that characterizes human beings. That is the beauty of drawing on University-based resources, in that tribal shamanism was originally part of the precedent for human agricultural settlements and institutional religions. Psychology helps us understand how we have cognitive faculties that originally related to stone tools primarily as in Homo habilis types of ancestors and branches. Hunter-gatherer tribal living reflected a post-chimpanzee-like psychosocial relational capacity. The stone and cave art from the Paleolithic stone age then assumes a keen importance in appreciating that the ca 40,000 year old Lowenmensch Lion-man ivory figurine, Venuses, the cave painted deer-headed France "Sorceror," and the 13,000 year old grave of a female shaman indicate the need to relate and understand natural forces, external and internal. Thus, our cognitive tool-making skills and ability for cognitive symbolic capacity to communicate about the world AND relationships AND ourselves reflect cognitive and relational hard-wiring. Schizophrenics and other conditions have been studied for their shamanic qualities by at least two researchers, with Jos Campbell reporting on one years back. J. Silverman MD first, and later J. Polimeni MD looked at it, and Polimeni formulated the theory. It´s a strong case. On the other side, what is there about the "sense-perceived" world that makes spirituality, and its derived religion, sensible? Eliot Chapple was an anthropologist who used Pavlov´s symbolic psycho-physiology insight to recognize how leaders can manage the emotions of individuals in groups with rites of passage and rites of intensification. Van Gennup was one anthropologist who had identified part of that in some detail. Eibl-Eibesfeldt did related work, among others. The Buddha´s clarity about objective qualities can be appreciated in that regard. So can his exceptional achievement. So can the heritage of modern Universities in the very special spiritual-religious figure Jesus/Yeshua of Nazareth and his legacy. Jesus wasn´t merely bragging in claiming to be the Son of God. He also taught spiritual practice as a need, as in "Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven" and "clean the cup on the inside." Cognitive and relational hard-wiring for symbolic tool use and for resolving the tension between perceiving the sense-perceived world and being aware of the qualities of perception, human expression of needs and desires, knowledge, phenomena, and handling phenomena are among those hard-wired faculties. A child locked in a closet or separated from human contact at critical stages has been deprived of crucial human capacities that seek lead to tension and seek resolution. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung´s circles and legacy is part of that, as is Piaget´s. |&&& Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 4 days ago • edited You have broad knowledge, and depth...that represents much work, over many years...but I need hardly tell you that! And, a question: Does Jesus declare himself to be the Son of God in his own words, unambiguously? I'm no bible scholar, and danged if I can find him declaring this openly himself. %%% − Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 3 days ago I haven´t been in any rush to explore these things, but they have kind of been falling into place in a satisfying way. Here, I just dug up Mark 14:61-2. The reason I find it to be satisfying is because of my empirical approach. I´ve valued my spiritual search into the healing power of love on the spiritual path, and trace the evidence such as Freud´s and Jung´s legacy back through Thomas of Aquinas to Jesus´ loving integrity and Commandments for Moses and God. The hypocrisy and worse of humans calling themselves Christians has confused many who fail to grasp the meaning of "integrity," "hypocrisy (and worse)" and "legacy." Thus, Jesus´ healing combined with his loving teachings has been my priority criteria for identifying his importance, following that ascertaining of his place in the heritage of modern University-based culture and society, especially therapeutic psychology. Well, and Comparative Religious Studies, Religious Tolerance/Freedom, and social movement activism. And Universities, to repeat that for emphasis. His saying that he was the Son of God reinforces the importance of that substance. The fact that Buddha´s teachings and legacy offer a powerful approach to understanding the "Kingdom of Heaven (within and among you)" is no less key. What more powerful reinforcement is there for appreciating Buddhism´s rich teachings than that Western University-based society´s origins reside in Jesus´ loving teachings about spiritual practice. Jesus´ amazing legacy that has become so rich in scholarship, but has managed primarily largely unmeditative and rationalistic forms of indigenous practice? And the sense of that profound designation of love by Jesus is grounded not in his ambition to be a Roman Caesar or take Herod´s place, but that Sonship. How does that compare to Buddha´s "Spirit that dominates existence changing...and guiding....." Now, that is some savory meditation material, Zen koan style. &&& In a typical week, how long do you sit in meditation? • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 4 days ago • edited Formally, it may be just minutes a day. My practice, as I indicated, is highly integrated in my life. It is in fact, basically 24/7. That is the advantage of recognizing the immense resources now available in Jesus´ legacy. They require spiritual modernization to achieve integration in this way, as the 12 step program puts it, "our conscious contact with our Higher Power." I would also include my martial arts training, with a year of Kung Fu forms, four years of jiu-jitsu, and six months of capoeira as the base. I also engaged with yoga at some point and for some time there. Quite an interesting experience. Each of those was a class of an hour to an hour and a half a time. It´s interesting to realize that with appropriate focus, it was like living in a monastery as a New York City commuter. My focus simply wasn´t the Superbowl or getting a job promotion. It has lead me to having a mid-life family at a transition point isolated in a Brazilian beach fishing village. Monastic gives it the ultimate meaning. Thus, my view of the term used for Christian monastic "theosis" might be more "panentheosis." I´m happy to see its results in my creative songwriting and singing process. I recently used the image, "Jesus hugs Buddha." However, as I say, the primary mission on behalf of God through Jesus´ legacy and my ordainment is in my scholarship and activism. I am indeed an interfaith UU Christian, and grateful for the insights that offer seekers the resources that can characterize University experience as the result of a seeker aligning with that system´s origins in monastic schools. That´s a bit further than Fritjof Capra goes, perhaps, I imagine. 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 4 days ago We each follow our own path.... 2 • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 4 days ago • edited We do. What is your practice? I recall only vaguely what I´ve exchanged with you in the past about your Buddhist details. I recall that you have some Western psychotherapeutic involvement behind you, along with you. 2 • Edit • Reply • Share › Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 4 days ago Practice: 2 hours vipassana daily Psychotherapy: Five years training in Gestalt Shamanism: Two years training, emphasis on Ceremony Yoga: Five years [and currently in abeyance] 2 • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 3 days ago Rich background and sustenance. When I mention that I´ve determined that Multidisciplinary Philosophy is a missing concept from modern academia, including its facilitation of spiritual modernization for any and all approaches now under the UN community and its Human Right to the Freedom of Religion and Human Rights in general. I noted that "science"´s anti-religionists make basic mistakes like S Hawking actually stating in his last book that "philosophy is dead." Returning "science" to its full integrity with the term scientific or natural philosophy also begs the social studies philosophies being identified. Multidisciplinarity has been named simplistically "m- studies." I noted that it is a full philosophical process that also deserves full identification. In mentioning this to you, I realize with clarity that that insight is an expression of Right Thinking. 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 3 days ago • edited greenpeace: "...that insight is an expression of Right Thinking" I would myself place 'insight' within 8. "Right samadhi"... ...with the 'other seven' supporting that eighth. But truly, all that matters is one holds--without clinging--to The Noble Eighfold Path...insight will come...points on the path are place-holders (labels), as you already know well... sīla~samādhi~paññā paññā~sīla~samādhi samādhi~paññā~sīla ...add a dab* of aniccā (impermanence), anattā (non-Self) and duḥkha (unsatisfactoriness or suffering)... ...add the training wheels** of Śūnyatā, thesel wheels to be discarded prior** to disembarking on the far shore of advaita. * dab = as insight, the intellect uninvolved ** This whole post is as much a reminder to me to not let 'conceptualising' become my path...training wheels for the nonce, then discard same, sitting, sitting, sitting... samādhi, so forgive me, greenpeace, for covering ground with which you are already familiar. 1 • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 2 days ago At this level of exchange, it´s just pure joy of checking the terms. With you as specialized, I enjoy the connection and shared joy, and your particular focus. I had a moment of feeling recrimination about specifiying "Right Thinking," and agree, there´s more to it. Indeed, the full path is a "control panel" or self-delivery from control panel, as it were. Appreciating the other angles of dynamics is a joy in tranquility, in the vein you took not least of all. I grabbed my A. Shearer in portuguese, and focused on "plenitude mental" (sati), which is Right Mindfulness, I believe. When you say, "a dab" I understand "in balance," since "impermanence" has its Levels of Context that I don´t know from Buddhist scholarship. With Western focus, the "impermanence" gets balanced with forms of "temporary permanence," I realized with gratitude for Mutlidisciplinary Philosophy and spiritual-religious tradition. Good point about conceptualizing, also more generally. The beauty of Multid. Phil. is that it validates multiple methodologies from Science to Comparative Religious Studies, including the contemplative, which captures that of spiritual practice and existential balance with gratitude. Thank you for sharing your range of particular Buddhist insights, conceptual and non-. In Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity and community, Buddhism is powerful and graceful in transforming the origin and causes of suffering into practice and awareness of lovingkindess. That helps activate what Jesus potentialized for Moses et al and God up through FDR and Eleanor´s demonstration of the Social Gospel, and that Budddha´s community can help lead in integrity. With Gandhi´s insights, no less, to which I recall, in interfaith koan, "There is no God but the loving God, Jesus is not Buddha is not Moses or Mohammed, and Gandhi is their prophet." 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 2 days ago Strip every trace of Paul out of Christianity and I might even be Christian myself... ...but then, strip Paul out of Christianity... ...and it wouldn't be Christianity anymore. • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 2 days ago • edited I like the Buddha´s tool, "Paul" and "Christianity" are things in the world with the word "Paul" and "Christianity" attached to them, and the question of perception. There are some good verses on that. Here´s one, "The brightly shining mind is never absent, but is colored by the thoughts and emotions that people put upon it. If you were to see the luminous freedom of this mind, you would cultivate it before any other, keeping it free from all attachments." Anguttara Nikaya. When it came to Paul, I had been engaging with Christian Science as I first heard things I paid attention to. His verse, "Whatever is good, ... think about that." is one that I recall. Another I learned about much later, "Test all things. Hold on to what is good." From the same verse sequence, "pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." I wonder if it is Paul´s bossy tone, and fundamentalists using him as fodder that is part of his problem for you. All in all, I´ve just used Unitarian Universalism as my main conceptual framework. They value "Direct experience..." but are themselves mostly rationalists. Yet, with my spiritual practice focus, I recognize the UU´s principles as a brilliant modernization of Jesus´ legacy, including that acknowledgement of "Direct experience." Their mental and social blocks are nothing I can influence much. So, I´ve taken their Principles and Sources that I recognize for their value as Jesus´ legacy, modernized, in parallel to other things like the UN. I have also recognized the crucial contribution of Anthony of the Desert, the Father of Christian monks. He headed out to become an ascetic, and his story is comparable to Buddha´s. Yet, Jesus had acknowledged the need to "clean the cup on the inside." We only get Jesus´ 40 days in the desert, and he seems to have had keen insights already at 12 years old, but his teaching "seek first the Kingdom of Heaven (where? inside and among you)" show that Jesus knew the basic need for spiritual practice. That´s the integrity that Paul represented, and never superseded. If he deviated in apparent hypocrisy around modern understandings of civil rights for sexual preferences, say, that´s where Jesus´ standard comes in. Jesus also said, "go and learn." Ultimately, church doctrines and dogma have been a problem. Part of the key for me has been seeing how modernization began unfolding, with Anthony the monk sparking monasticism. Monastic schools led to Universities, that led to all the good stuff, and the abuse of the good stuff. Swedenborgian CC Bonney´s 1893 Parliament of World Religions was an amazing development after Jefferson´s Freedom of Religion. Then came FDR´s and Eleanor´s UN human rights came out of the Social Gospel. So, I see Paul´s strengths from that perspective. And any weaknesses are subordinate to those revelations of the healing power of love in the modernization of Jesus´ legacy. As the Buddha taught about his followers being like the Sun, there is nothing on Earth that cannot be illuminated by the "Spirit that dominates existence as the Law that changes crude nature into mind, and guides all beings to enlightenment, such that there is no being that cannot be a vessel for enlightenment." Bramajana sutra. In fact, Gandhi never said that he studied Paul. At least thanks to Paul, we are referred back to Jesus the whole time. And Rev MLK updated the Buddha with a Jesus twist, saying "Hate never ends with hate, only with love." Without Paul as a problem, the problem of Paul was never a problem for me. Without the problem of Paul, Christianity has never been the Christianity for me that others think it is. And, BTW, I just wrote a song in which I call the Buddha a saint (a Christian reference, of course). 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › − Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 2 days ago • edited Paul: "Test all things. Hold on to what is good" Gautama: Kalama Sutta In my opinion, Paul hijacked Jesus's persona and life history to create a religion. I am not saying Paul did this nefariously...but what I am suggesting is that Paul's Christianity may be a mis-take (sic), finding its foundation in Paul's mis-taken views on Jesus's vision ('vision' here is a poor choice of word, but I'll let it stand for want of a better) Incidentally, Luke 17:21, KJV...I note the word εντός in the original Greek has "within" as its primary meaning, in both koine and modern Greek. "among" or "in your midst" are secondary meanings. Nor, otoh, am I declaring this makes it an open-and-shut case for "within"... %%% greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 2 days ago • edited Ah, wonderful reference, the Kalama Sutta. I see that it has a specific reputation about "free inquiry." I´m pretty sure there are references in my anthology. Did Paul hijack Jesus? After all, Jesus is right there in the Gospels. Who is it? Justin Martyr d. ca 165 or the like showed that the Gospels were circulating early on, for one thing. If you´re blaming Paul, I might suggest considering things like the rise of George Fox and his Quaker-Friends. There, in 1600s Great Britain, a guy without much education, but some kind of indications that he was spiritually gifted, was able to wander around Britain near London and so on thanks to his merchant dad´s allowance. Reflecting in relation to his inner voice, he unleashed silent waiting worship and "inner light" Christianity, refusing to bow to aristocrats, etc. He´s credited with some 60 others, but his legacy led to the 1780s sparking of anti-slavery abolition in the UK and US. Whatever Paul´s influence, something real and uncontrollable is at work that juxtaposes spiritual experience and Jesus´ specific standard of integrity in lives like George Fox´s. I simply never found Paul´s views problematic because I make sense of him through Jesus´ legacy, not the mainstream churches. In fact, I make sense of churches the same way. I valued my education and social movements like Greenpeace and Oxfam, along with my spiritual practice interests. UUism was a big interest that never pulled me in, but has left me with its core principles for my practices. Mainstream churches have just been exposed in their operative lack of integrity. What is apparent is their subordination to economic and political power, and scientific materialism and rationalism on the whole. That´s them, not Paul. I haven´t thought much about Paul except for his good points. That´s also why Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity makes sense of the hypocrisy and worse, including the redeeming quality of human bio-psychosocial tendencies and real world demands. Slavery was and has been a universal human institution. It has been Western Christians whose subgroups allowed Jesus´ integrity to resurface consistently and sufficiently to recoup from the power abuse that advanced with the inventive blessings of University-based culture. God as lawful distant Source, who got sufficently personal through Jesus and his teachings as implied in a transpersonal psychosocial historical analysis. Josiah Royce, Wm James´ colleague for a time, identified key issues around that, taking Hegel and Shelley´s Prometheus Unbound not least of all as insightful inspiration. That at the same time as Congregationalist Washington Gladden spurred the Social Gospel, and Swedenborgian CC Bonney the 1893 Inter-Religious Parliament. " εντός in the original Greek has "within" as its primary meaning, in both koine and modern Greek." Always interested to hear evaluations like that. I wonder what word is used in Matt 23:26, "clean the cup on the inside." Maybe more specific. And the "among you" sense in Matt 18:20. Jesus, I recall, is thought to have spoken Aramaic. His second Commandment for Moses and God, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," also really verges on both those dynamics, naturally enough. Buddha didn´t sit under the Bodhi tree for six years, nor was he alone for all that time. Similarly among the Apostles no less, James is known for his "Faith without works is dead" kinds of insights, 2 Peter has 2 Peter 1 "add to your faith...knowledge (and) self-control". Clement of Alexandria produced early work reflecting extensively on the anthropology of religion, and things like spiritual comprehension instead of materialistic. He wrote about asceticism, and, for one, criticized the Indian gymnosophists for pointless extremes. Yet, it was Anthony of the Desert, who embarked upon Christian asceticism which spurred monasticism, and Evagrius´ insight into the eight vices, and John Cassian´s referring to the process of Purgatio, Illuminatio, and Unitio. Clement´s views of good deeds are worth recalling, like Buddha´s, like Jesus´, and even Paul in Titus 3:8. I can recall the memorable broad sequence of visiting my first Zen Temple in Cambridge, MA, and then that summer knocking on doors for consumer advocacy. I later dug up deep trauma in a memborable vision, but I had already started getting oriented reading Sheldon Kopp´s crosscultural material, not least of all. 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › − Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • 2 days ago Would you consider your view of God to be an anthropomorphization of the ineffable? Or is God, in your view, describable? Just so I am clear this is no ambush, the closest I would get to imagining there is a God is the Tao, or perhaps Brahman. &&& 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • a day ago For my own part, I find contact is key to transcending the (e.g. Buber's) I-It relationship, and entering into the I-Thou relationship... ...one Other at a time... ...although eye-sweeping--and momentary holding--will yield mutually aware contact, even with small groups of Others. As well, I have sold (nearly!) all my possessions, and moved far away from my family, reducing and simplifying, reducing and simplifying... 1 • Reply • Share › Avatar greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • a day ago Ah, Buber. Yes, I recall having seen his I-other approach in the past. It didn´t really register then, what, was it 20 or more years ago? I really perceive the place of Jesus now, however. His legacy of integrity is embedded in our conduct, with the poorly informed attacking confused about various issues, including the hypocrites. Dawkins even finding the "Magic of Reality." J Peterson´s legitimate insight is riveting enough, about "the metaphoric substrate of our ethos." Much worse than WL Craig, he shows the grip of the US pro-rich, anti-social gospel within prominent theists. C Hedges´ cutting progressive edge, with anti-corporate clarity at least, isn´t great theism, but isn´t so shallow, at least. As for Buber, That´s a good reminder for me that I´ve been working with Einstein in a related way. I´ll be interested to check Buber´s historical alignment with Einstein. I recall my formal time beginning the 12 step program for relationships, with their step 2, about "We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity" and step 3, "We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power.” What I value about the pressing issues of our times is that they discipline our understanding of our relationship to God. As does balancing and integrating the meaning of Jesus Christ. Historical and cultural study brings that out. Buber´s I-Thou, for example, is something I might be interested in drawing on in relation to Rabbi Michael Lerner´s Tikkun and love activist orientation, from the Jewish angle. I´m also reminded of Richard Ram Dass Alpert. He set up a prison meditation ministry as a Hindu-type. And with Josiah Royce´s “beloved community” Christian integrity-oriented historical viewpoint. And the Social Gospel that began with Washington Gladden. Your withdrawal into austerity and from familial ties aligns with Buddhist monastic ideals. Jesus´ original sense, too. I do see greater possibilities through the 12 step group relationship process if you ever consider an alternative to mere monasticism. I do find that term applicable to my general condition. It´s fairly modern in context, however. I´ve got three kids and a wife from a tough background, and seem to be being led towards an enriched eco-socially sustainable community that seems to offer a isolated, but budding co-op situation. Spare in some ways, but not só deprived, and clearly holistically and sustainability oriented. Lord´s Prayer take me, Four Noble Truths. "God´s love through Jesus"establishes the relevant civilizational standard, that accounts for the UN community. My acts with integrity are my good deeds, in context. Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Jesus´ 2 Commandments and the Kingdom of Heaven. And Mary Baker Eddy´s effective reality of God´s Divine Qualities reflected in a practitioner. Reading about Septimus J Hanna, Mary Collson, and Wm James´ involvement has been intriguing. God´s in control, but we, or I, steer" comes to mind as a saying. 1 • Edit • Reply • Share › greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude • 2 days ago • edited It´s such a stimulating question that my mind continued trying to clarify it. ,In short, thinking God is merely a Law-generating mechanism, or unnecessary because the Universe is a self-generating mechanism and object is what? Objectification by scientific materialism. Compartmentalization and exclusion of foundational components, meaning the basis of "objectification IN thinking and the basis OF thinking. Viewing the Universe as anything is a human activity, in a very specific cultural tradition that has not failed to marshal its philosophical resources, collapsed, and faded on its own, relegating its accomplishments to literature for other civilizations to revive. That´s what Christianity did with ancient Greek philosophy. Christians modernizing Greek and eclectic philosophy have allowed the expanded view of God´s Commandments as "Laws," and nature as normally lawful, not normally capricious nor miraculous. Moreover, clarification of emergentism allows further understanding of natural layering and development into new levels of reality (e.g. physics to chemistry to biology to anthropology, mind, spirituality, etc) Anthropomorphism has undergone a metamorphosis. Genghis Khan arose after being an orphan, and gaining courage to ignore thunder as natural, not fierce. Buddhist nirvana, Hindu yogic transformation, and Christian ascetic divinization/theosis, and names from other traditions. In addition to the Mind Template Foundation argument, I also like the Reverse Reductionism-Emergentism argument. No time now. There is also the de-personalization of objectification that raises the question of cognitive and relational processes. I know I had to revive, engage, and pursue the development of my sense of personalization as an intellectual pursuing personal growth, spirituality, and eco-social activism. − Avatar Verisimilitude greenpeaceRdale1844coop • a day ago greenpeace: " My acts with integrity are my good deeds, in context" I delight in your contradistinction anent: ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God...⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast --Ephesians 2:8-9 (with the sincere wish that I am not reading you wrong) N.B. To be blunt, I am not truly monasticised, but "reduced & simplified"...it is working well, and I still, say, eat pizza from time-to-time... %%% greenpeaceRdale1844coop greenpeaceRdale1844coop Verisimilitude 8 hours ago Yes, however, the issue in question is "salvation" and its meaning. Whatever you are reading, whether me or your own projection, is not about any assumption of "wrong," except in truth, and even Buddhist "skillfulness." Is it correct to refrain from expressing accomplishment of a good deed? Is it correct to hide? Let´s take a look. As concepts have gotten clarified, not least of all thanks to Christian modernization of ancient Greek philosophy, the issue revolves around the need for good deeds, not the use of Paul to delegitimize or obviate them. Equating "a lack of boasting" with "a way to hide the fact that I don´t value doing good deeds all that much" is the infamous and widely, almost totally, unacknowledged result. It justifies resisting good deeds, hiding that fact, and the psychospiritual issues involved. Buddhism itself represents a complication of this in the doctrine of the "non-existence of the self." Psychology, a Christian-based University-based discipline, has the intellectual tools that address that fallacy. As for good deeds, the issue is, good deeds are necessary, they are part of the content of a person´s character, and "boasting" becomes the detailed issue, not the expression of dedication to good deeds and accomplishing them. Thus, in your lifestyle reduction and simplification, there is much good. My good also involves some or much of the same. I also give small change as much as I can to even needier people as I do my errands, for example. I wish I could do more, and pray for that opportunity. Meanwhile, I engage in broadcasting the good deeds of those at higher levels of influence, like sustainability and human rights activism, with Equal Exchange organic and Fair Trade food imports and their defiance of Reagan era prohibitions against Nicaragua, and so on. Whether and how you respond, or react, to my expression involves the natural emotional contexts of comparative evaluation. Shame, envy, and resentment, their consequence in angry or hateful projection are legitimate as feelings, with intellectual tools necessary to resolve them in full expression. In my case, if I look at the founder of an ecovillage and experience envy, "Why can´t I found an ecovillage? That guy thinks he´s better than me. What a jerk!" might be an exaggerated kind of response, but probably fairly common in society at large in one way or another. I don´t know that I was ever that envious in that respect, but I certainly had a married couple of medical doctors as ESL students who earn fabulously here. The wife doctor expressed resentment at one incident of help that was much more than a coin for some situation. The husband doctor himself expressed disdain for a group of inner city kids packed on a bicycle. "Look at how dangerous that is." Now, I said to the wife around that time, "I just try to give a token something coin when I can to the frequent solicitors (often selling candies on the buses). $0.10 (in Brazil, 1/4 US value) is something even I can afford. Normalizing opposition to expression and valuing of sharing about good deeds doesn´t serve salvation, but the opposite. If sharing is boasting, it is the boasting that is the issue not sharing it expressively, and the need for learning emotional awareness in greater miscroscopic resolution. As Jesus said in Matt 5:16, "let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Boasting, or pride, are balanced against the fully communicational analysis of others´ shame and envy, etc. There are strategies of communication forms that help balance, and another example is James´ "Faith without works is dead." A key is recognizing the meaning of "love," or "loving-kindness", emotional awareness, integrity, and humility. Basic self-care, and social responsibility, involves a level of confident self-expression, as does recognizing the quality of social influence. Modernity is rich in selfish boasting about financial success. Boasting, however, is not unresolvable. I went to Harvard, and sometimes raise that when I meet frivolous ideologue types. They often say, "If you have to say it, it doesn´t mean anything." And my task is to balance my remaining patience with someone who doesn´t deserve pearls. Harvard is a high standard, that should just be met by the term "college," and has to be made coherent in other ways. That is the spirit of love and lovingkindness. As Gandhi said, "Experimenting with truth" and drawing on creativity. A culture of love and lovingkindness isn´t there to justify "anti-boasting" attitudes which raises its own suspicions of inflexibility and denialism, instead of a careful distinction that honors good deeds and their blessing. But, it is also modern society´s more flexible structure that makes this kind of perception possible. In Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity, ultimately, informed by the spiritual angle of Freedom of Religion, and blessings like Buddhism and the 12 step programs. The Buddha himself didn´t hide himself behind a veil, or gag himself. Nor did Jesus. Nor Paul. And, good to see that you´re citing Paul, and even better a chance to point out how his meaning can be framed in modern analysis for a fuller coherence. Whether he meant that or not is not the full standard. If Jesus was the Son, and only God is good, as Jesus said on one or the other occasion, was Jesus himself accurate? No. The Quakers showed the importance of the Reformation spirit in having members able to question that already. Humans harbor good, not just God. Does Jesus being wrong on occasion disqualify him as Savior? Apparently, that also is a battleground for some. The truth of Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity has already led to a globalized world and a UN community, and so makes a nice arena to engage in exploration. Like Jesus most importantly said, "go and learn" Matt 9:13. Hmm. My church, the Church of Christ, "go and learn." Ah, interfaith Christian, or Buddhist or Gandhian Christian is a little more vivid or dynamic somehow. Perhaps you might consider sharing a slice with someone in need someday. Or maybe you already have, but just think sharing about it is unseemly boasting. Or not. lol Either way, it is a level of skillful accomplishment for somebody with some level of privilege. I validated the 12 steps last night with a drunk woman as her manipulative Christian responses kicked in. Good deeds happen in many ways.