the world

[Mark A. Mandel]

 David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> said:

>>>>>
 Among adherents of several (generally conservative, in my observation)
religions, the phrase "the world" is often used to mean something like
"those who aren't part of our particular belief system", with a connotation
of "those sinners over there".

Presumably that comes from the use of the phrasing in the KJV, such as "He
was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not"
in Jn 1:10 and "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you" in Jn 15:19.
 <<<<<

All the world seems to say it:

Google search of "in the world but not of it":

#1: http://www.uscatholic.org/2001/08/feat0108a.htm
The phrase is the headline of the article; the text of the article quotes
the interviewee as saying, "As followers of Jesus, Catholics should come to
see politics first and foremost as embodying the teachings and the life of
Christ in the world." -- without the second phrase.


#2: http://www.ridhwan.org/world.html
In the World But Not of It
>From Diamond Heart, Book One
By A.H. Almaas
There is a Sufi saying, "to be in the world but not of it."


#6: http://www.holistic-online.com/Yoga/yoga_ashtanga_pratyahara.htm
It is easy for us to "be in the world but not of it" when we learn to
practice interiorization of the sense currents.


"in the world but not of it", Buddha:

#5: http://my.tbaytel.net/arfh/dhamma/bless.html
The Thirty-Eight Supreme Blessings
The Buddha was once asked by a deva what constituted the highest blessings.
His answer provides a checklist of what is most valuable in this life.
[...]
( The blessings which follow are the fruits of the supramundane )
35 A mind unshaken by contact with the world.
Being in the world but not of it.
[...]
Based on the Mangala Sutta from the Sutta Nipata.


-- Mark A. Mandel (trying to be a Perfect Stranger)
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]