On Fri, Jun 27, 2003 at 09:54:53AM -0700, Stevertigo wrote:
| I know at least two people who have experienced gods, and | more than two who survived the Shoah. In both cases, I'm basing | this on direct personal report. | | (One of the two mentioned above is now a serious follower of the | gods in question; the other had an idle conversation, enjoyed the | garden as the god invited him to, and hasn't changed his life in | any way.)
I take issue with the above --for its expression that God as an idea or a concept is dead. This tends to come from a natural rejection of dogmatism and puritanical/evangelical/fundamental views (those that contradict reality and sense) -- and in that sense its an attitude with which I identify with highly.
But its all too typical in AmSociety to deal see God as a leftover relic of a primitive humanity. The primitive "hand of God" notion -- playing with humanity like a bunch of toy soldiers -- is indeed a relic, but a relic of a misinterpretation. The monotheist idea of "all is of one " is equivalent to the eastern traditional ideas where "all is one". The meaing of "God" -- "that which cannot be named" -- regardless of the the time, is quite an idea to wrap a human mind around. Its the idea of something thats too ... to fit into an idea.
From the twisting of this rather spiritual concept into the more idolized,
Zeuslike interpretations of God, is where the original dislike for "pagan" religion sprouted from. Of course, these other notions were identical in spirit to the monotheistic one -- but were judged by as "primitive" by other primitives.
The point is, that if judged by the misuse -- the Western monotheist tradition looks like a big pile of crud - such is politics. But if you understand it correctly - the legacy and importance of this particular aspect of everyone's culture, theres a lot worth respecting -- and of having some respect for.
Questions like "is there a god or not" or "was Mary a virgin" etc. were invented just to distract people from the real one - "why should one pay money to the church, and obey church rules". But it seems like it doesn't work any more - at least in Europe people were able to stop caring about the church without changing their beliefs much. Power of churches fell much more than number of believers.