Thank you for your book, Steve. . . . Like all of your writings, I find it helpful. I like what you write about unity and diversity in religions. I am always indebted to you for . . . helping me know that its ok to to take what is useful and leaving the rest. […]
In Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: A Theological Perspective, Steve Bohlert offers a rigorous theology to satisfy the needs of many of us, especially Westerners, who are looking for an eclectic perspective that also offers real intellectual rigor. Why read this book? In the twenty-first century, we are presented with an unprecedented diversity of worldviews and perspectives. […]
My recent study of Stoicism and Existentialism finds them lacking, although not without redeeming qualities. Existentialism says our life answers the question, “What is the meaning of life?†better than our philosophy may. To this end, I lived my life as art to make a statement that I present in An Authentic Life: A Spiritual […]
“The best intellectual history of the West in one volume I have ever seen.†–Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View (PWM) by Richard Tarnas gives an engaging presentation of the vast sweep of western thought through the ages. In […]
Thus it is important to note the theological point embedded in the devotional exaltation of enjoyment–it is not that enjoyment is the best way to worship Krishna, nor that it is his most characteristic quality, nor even that it is his best. It is that he himself is the quality of enjoyment. Only in enjoyment, in experiencing or “tasting’ him, can we both be and see him.
If Being is enjoyment then we can enjoy as much as we like, wherever and whenever we like, indiscriminately and without prejudice as to the object of our desire. But if it is also attachment, directedness, telos, then this too must be exemplified in an appropriate attitude to our object(s) of desire. (226-7)
God-dess paradoxically indicates union of the opposite ideas of difference and non-difference leading to a higher, fuller unity. This means perfection, or the ability to encompass all extremes of experiencing reality.