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My Personal Beliefs
Topic Started: May 3 2013, 05:53 PM (1,343 Views)
Dony_Tanza
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Very well said, Maaritaten. Agreed on every point. Akhenaten was a human being worthy of honoring and was more capable of attuning to presence of Aten more than most, but was not a Christ figure. He wasn't "placed" here by Aten. He was a man with faults, but excelled in spiritual understanding, and we have him to thank for giving substance to the awareness of the divine in a way we can learn from and act on.

I'm also glad that you noted that we require no saving. The Great Hymn speaks to the beauty and goodness of life and existence, and it is important that we do not fall pray to the anti-life tendencies of the salvationist religions. We are bigger than that. We honor the objective through the relative, by looking to our sun out of many in remembrance of Aten, by being valiantly human while under the influence of Aten's light. I believe that while we differ in our ability to be influenced by Aten in life, in death we are all one in the horizon, though I know that perspective isn't shared by everyone.

It is nice to finally find a group of people who hold the same general theological ideas that I do.
"Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven,
Thou living Aton, the beginning of life!
When thou art risen on the eastern horizon,
Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty.
Thou art gracious, great, glistening, and high over every land..."


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Ankhemmaat
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Maaritaten
May 3 2013, 05:53 PM
I summarized the core Atenist beliefs to myself, for myself, but I thought it could be of interest to others to know what a fellow Atenist believe! So while I've written 'we' in the text it should still e understood as my personals views :) I would really like some feedback, and would especially appreciate if it followed the structure of my text :)

-----

Atenism

- Atenism isn't doctrinal
The beauty of Atenism is its' lack of dogma - while there are certain things that we consider to be uncompromisable truth, the field is wide open for interpretation and discussion of details of our faith.

- the Aten is not the sun
The Aten manifests itself in the sun, the star is an image, a symbol, of the living Aten. We could say that the Aten is the sun as long as we are aware that the divine is not limited to a single physical manifestation and limited to the laws of nature. Similarly the rays of the sun is the manifestation of the life giving energy of the Aten.

- Akhenaten was a man
Akhenaten was a mere mortal. Yes, he was a prophet, and whatever claims to semi-divinity he had stemmed from his pharaonic mission - but he was never more than a man, like the rest of us. His singularity stems from his extraordinary relationship with the Aten, not from any difference to humankind in nature of his being.

- We don't need a saviour
Atenism is not soteriological in that there is something for us to be 'saved' from. Our 'salvation', our live hereafter depends solely on our own actions, not through any mediator.

- Aten is not personal, yet near and knowable
While we can not cultivate a personal relationship with the Aten in the way many other religions do with their respective deities it does not mean that our god is not absent in our lives. The example of Akhenaten proves that the Aten can be knowable, and the hymns speak beautifully of his nearness to all his creation. The way we Atenists can cultivate a relationship with the Aten is by being open to his everlasting presence, by aknowledging his role in life and creation.

- the Atenist view of god is the purest
- We believe that Atenism's claim to 'truth' (however you define that) rests on the points above, on our view of the divine. What we know of the divine/Aten/god is the very basics, the knowledge we get of him from nature and from what he revealed to Akhenaten. Our view of god would be the purest, as opposed to the sole truth. We appreciate all religions as being expressions of mankinds search for the divine, we see the beauty of each individual religion in their faith and practice, we believe that every religion is a path to the Aten as long as they promote the basic values of Ma'at - but we can still see that other religions have been clouded throughout history with layers of human interference. While not having as pure a view of god, they are still true.

- Atenism is inclusive
Well, if you read the above you should've gotten this already. We believe that what we know of the Aten is the most anyone can ever really know of the divine, therefore we consider our faith the purest, while respecting other religious expressions and viewing them in the light of their origin in the aknowledgment by mankind of the divine. We believe and pray that all men and women will achieve everlasting life, regardless of religious affiliation.
Very nice, I agree with just about everything you posted!

Atenism isn't doctrinal- Atenism is based on the truth, the truth is not doctrinal.
Aten is not the sun- this is where I kind of disagree with you, I think Aten as Ankenaton worshiped him was the literal sun, but also as a life force, as without the sun there would be no life on Earth
Ankenaton was a man- he might have believed he was a son of God, but so did most Egyptian Pharaohs. He was a man, he made mistakes.
We don't need a saviour- Atenism has nothing to with being saved, Atenism has no connection to Christianity or Islam or any other monotheistic religion preaching salvation.
Aten is not personal, yet near and knowable- Aten is like the suns rays, far but everywhere.
The Atenist view of god is the purest- Aten is truth, there is nothing purer than that.
Atenism is inclusive- in my opinion, if there is a god, then he doesn't nitpick at his children.
The concept of "self" as a singular and coherent entity is a fictional construct, and an individual rather comprises conflicting tensions and knowledge claims (e.g. gender, class, profession, etc). The interpretation of meaning of a text is therefore dependent on a reader's own personal concept of self.
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Pharaoh
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My personal understanding about Aten is that he is God, an as God he is exemplified by the shining light of the sun, showering earthly creation with the illumination of the truth.

Ask a question and you'll find
Aten puts truth in the mind.

Aten is the Creator Consciousness, the greatest of all in existence, and can be trusted as purely to expose the truth which we are left to interpret in our mortal minds. Though we can't possibly know all things, we believe Aten actually does know all. Aten gives us truth to the capacity that we mortals can understand it. Since Atenism is characterized by rationality and reasonable doubt against false claims, we should always acknowledge that Atenism is the only religion (that I know of) that allows for the progression of the "truths" or "claims" of the living Pharaoh. Someday we will have an organized church structure, with Justices, Priests, Zone Leaders and especially a Pharaoh. Before that happens, we should all acknowledge that Aten represents UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! Nothing is as spiritually appealing and fulfilling as UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! Any religion which doesn't project UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is not as appealing as Atenism.

Also, I personally believe Aten speaks through our voices when we are "At-One" with his spirit.

WHEN ABSOLUTE LOVE IS WHAT YOU CONVEY,
GOD IS SPEAKING THROUGH WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY.
WHEN WE HEAR YOUR VOICE SEND THE LOVE WE SEEK,
THOUGH IT IS YOUR VOICE, WE'RE HEARING GOD SPEAK.
WHEN WHAT YOU HAVE SAID WAS A LOVING WORD,
ALL SHOULD KNOW THAT THE VOICE OF GOD WAS HEARD.

In emulation of Pharaoh Akhenaten's Great Hymn, I wrote these words to portray my spiritual truth which was inspired by my personal understandings of God. In short, when we convey messages of factual truth along with the dedication to unconditional love and forgiveness of ALL sins, the statements made are as powerful and compelling as if they came from Aten himself. That's why I believe God can speak through any of us if we understand and apply the spiritual principles aforementioned.
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Pharaoh
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Remember, the presence of Aten as the source of life is a great conclusion to make, but also, just notice that life is a gift from God. Everything is given freely from Aten, and he projects that UNCONDITIONAL LOVE without requiring any remuneration. What an amazing example of how to exist. If the love you offer the world is unconditional, people will begin to appreciate you like they do God. Nobody stops to think about it, but the Aten actually loves us so consistently that we all just ignore that unconditional love. Let's stop and thank the Great Aten for the absolute love we all receive without price. Free and absolute unconditional love is what God gives us. So, that's our example of how to become a truly divine being just like Aten: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! Absolute and unconditional love should become the key feature of Atenism. We mortals have a hard time knowing exactly what the truth is sometimes, but we all REMEMBER how other people make us FEEL. If you want to leave a lasting impression upon others, tell them that nowhere else will you find the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE of God. Atenism is the ONLY source of true unconditional love. Because love is unconditional, nobody can possibly apostatize against Aten. Aten's love is unconditional. You can't possibly destroy Aten. He just keeps on loving all beings unconditionally. So beleive whatever you want. I recommend you believe the truth in order to find salvation from the peril of being led by lies, but at every moment of every day you have the comfort of unconditional love from Aten.

ATEN, I PROMISE TO LOVE
YOU AND EVERYONE,
AND TO PROJECT THAT PURE LOVE
AS BRIGHT AS THE SUN!

I make this covenant every morning, and I intend on projecting love just like the Aten's absolute love someday. You have to be a very powerful being to be able to be a continuous resource for all life on earth, so I don't think I will in this lifetime make it to becoming as spiritually powerful as Aten, but I can do little things to prove the claim that I love all people. I can promise God that I will love all. Love is the characteristic of spiritualism. Aten offers us all unconditional love. Wouldn't it be nice if we all strove to be like Aten!
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Maaritaten
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It's really heartwarming seeing so many people sharing and discussing what I wrote a couple of years ago even now. Thank you!
'Let me be satisfied seeing You, Oh Living Aten!'
- adapted from the Hymn of Tutu, Chamberlain of the Two Lands
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