To follow Christ does not mean to commit idolatry and venerate an idea of an individual man above everyone else; it means to "let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus" as said in Philippians 2:5.
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Is the soul separate from the body? Is the body and its senses not a means for the soul to experience reality?
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The mind referred to in my tweet you subtweeted was not the 'mind of Christ' of this tweet. I meant a mind preoccupied with prejudices and abstract information, not the mind that is empty of itself like Christ's mind was empty of himself.
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Oh, certainly yes. I presume you are familiar with 'Atman'? It sounds to me you're describing it here. I don't deny its existence, but rather question the reality of the jivatman, the individual soul—albeit I know that on the final level all these are one.
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Yes, I am.
Jivatman is one with the ONE. It is of the same nature. It is like a flame taken from a Universal fire or as a plant growing from the Earth. . .
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It is said that it is individualised or "yours" simply because that is precisely what makes you self-aware as an independent entity separated from the rest of the universe. This being precisely what allows you to understand existence. It is not an agent of perception but of being
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You wouldn't be able to philosophise if you were fused with Atman. You would simply BE, but you would be Atman unconsciously (as most animals). Jivatman gives you the chance to see Atman "from outside" and hence understand Atman (your true self) consciously.
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That being said, you may realise that Jivatman is also an illusion (as it certainly is) or rather a "tool" as the mind also is. But this is a necessary tool, that which we are to use to become "the Prodigal Son" and return to Atman consciously and, let us say, "with experience".
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You describe it very well!
I think we're fundamentally trying to say exactly the same thing... :-)
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