It's starting to become clear that The Way of Jesus, The Way of Lao Tzu, and The Way of the Buddha are one in the same. They teach a way of perceiving which lies *outside* the illusion of personal identity where, instead of being trapped thinking about our "self" and its desires, we all focus on caring for each others needs as one.

@@joshsmith8066 Yes :). The need to care for the self is a false target, care for the self is achieved by following the silent voice inside. I realized this while taking a gap year. I looked at my desk, with four monitors, adjustability, and a nice computer underneath -- and I felt dead inside. I sat on the floor instead, opening my laptop, and started learning... I upped my blood donation spree, now doing platelets, and started speaking the love I felt inside me to others. It is... I don't know what, but to feel the acceptance of my love, as silly as it can be, as sentimental as it can be, is enough to make a man cry. Being scared of being yourself is a great sadness, especially when undertaken in a supposed rational quest to find happiness. True love is full of action, tears, struggles, sure, but it is effortless action. The effort comes when you suppress it.

Interesting. Would you accept spiritual masters or exemplars exist in Quakerism?

I agree with this. Although sometimes the guidance of a wiser person is needed, I wish it wasn't formalised into a master, apprentice dichotomy.

Buddha means awakened or become aware or as a title the awakened one

From my understanding, Quakers believe that Jesus, like the Buddha and Lao Tzu, is a human being who realized that we are all connected as one and that the limited human ego is what keeps us from seeing this ultimate truth. After this profound experience of oneness, Jesus, like the Buddha and Lao Tzu, selflessly taught others in an attempt to show all humankind that they too could see The Way.

@@joshsmith8066 According to St. John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me".

@@ervinhoward9806 he was talking to his immediate disciples, in Israel, not people in the future and on other continents. You need a living spiritual master to attain divine consciousness.

@@rudrashakti108 No thank you. That's the purpose of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ to serve as another Comforter (St. John 16:14).

If you open yourself up to new possibilities, different perspectives, and honestly seek out a higher power _in your own way_ you will be more than surprised to find that the truth does exist within you. I did not accept a higher power as offered by religion, but once I actually started to seek out meaning _in my own way_ through philosophy and cognitive science I eventually came to experience a higher order above my own ego and limited perspective. I ultimately realized that my ego, prejudice, fear, arrogance, and self-centeredness were literally blinding me from perceiving the truth the entire time. I fully realized without a shadow of a doubt that we are all connected and through unconditional love and compassion we truly *can* make the world a better place where nobody is left in the cold to feel helpless and alone. I hope you the best on your path to truth.

@@joshsmith8066 I have found the truth in God's Word. The challenge is to obey and live by that truth through God's forgiveness and grace.

Havent heard the term "obey"in buddhism..

@@joshsmith8066 "we are all connected and through unconditional love and compassion" Nice thought, but what planet are you living on? I have never seen so much hate and it's getting worse.

@@2wheelz3504 God isn't in a book, said an old Anabaptist. '' I value the Holy Scriptures above all human treasures...'' he said, as a Hebrew scholar. 'But not as high as the Word of God, which is free and unencumbered by all of the elements of this world.''