Blog God
A link to my mother's blog is below. She likes people reading it. She posts something just about every day. I often comment on the religious topics she mentions.
http://bethalifeinprogress.blogspot.com/
Despite appearances, I am not anti-religious. But I am fairly strict as to what I think actually is religious. I am determined that I will not let conventional religious hierarchies and religious doctrines and practices get in my way. I doubt I will ever make much progress towards figuring out what the god shape is really all about, but I might make some, and the point of human life is to make some progress that others can use in the future.
The great religious thinkers, such as Mohamed and Jesus and Buddha and so on are all part of that great chain, as are artists and musicians and scientists and philosphers and so on. The constant danger is when a small religious insight gets ossified and smothered inside religious doctrine and religious hierachies. Those who are satisfied with religious doctrine are just, in my view, finding a way to avoid thinking about god. They may be good people but they are not living up to their potential, they are not contributing to the great chain.
There must be something in human consciousness that is especially and particularly related to God, isn't that true? Don't we all have to agree at least on that much? However, if we picture God as a man-shaped thing that floats about having human emotions such as anger and so on (I'm thinking of the bible mostly here, but most religions have something similar) then we are distanced from god because we mistake what it is. To think of God as simply powerful and vengeful super-human is to miss the point completely.
The issue of god versus no god is also entirely beside the point. Of course it is true as the god-deniers would say that the biblical god is a silly idea. Yes, that cannot be denied. But that is just the very beginning of the story. That is just wiping the dust from our eyes. It tells us nothing about what god actually is but, at the same time, it -- in ways that won't try and reason through just now -- opens us up the conclusion that god (the god shape) must be something tremendous and awesome and elegant and beautiful, whatever it is. Believe me, that is challenge: to look and see what is actually there because everything that is there to be seen leads us back to God. So we have to "see" in many different ways and to use all aspects of human consciousness and intelligence and science and art and music and literature in this great task. In the end, and in a way I can not fully explain, what is beautiful must be related to what is god.
(And, you know, Steve Jobs was big on design - on beauty. Steve Jobs was nibbling at corner of the God shape in insisting on beauty in his products.)
Every morning my mother writes in her blog. Some mornings, I wake up and try to express my thoughts about god on her blog.
http://bethalifeinprogress.blogspot.com/
Despite appearances, I am not anti-religious. But I am fairly strict as to what I think actually is religious. I am determined that I will not let conventional religious hierarchies and religious doctrines and practices get in my way. I doubt I will ever make much progress towards figuring out what the god shape is really all about, but I might make some, and the point of human life is to make some progress that others can use in the future.
The great religious thinkers, such as Mohamed and Jesus and Buddha and so on are all part of that great chain, as are artists and musicians and scientists and philosphers and so on. The constant danger is when a small religious insight gets ossified and smothered inside religious doctrine and religious hierachies. Those who are satisfied with religious doctrine are just, in my view, finding a way to avoid thinking about god. They may be good people but they are not living up to their potential, they are not contributing to the great chain.
There must be something in human consciousness that is especially and particularly related to God, isn't that true? Don't we all have to agree at least on that much? However, if we picture God as a man-shaped thing that floats about having human emotions such as anger and so on (I'm thinking of the bible mostly here, but most religions have something similar) then we are distanced from god because we mistake what it is. To think of God as simply powerful and vengeful super-human is to miss the point completely.
The issue of god versus no god is also entirely beside the point. Of course it is true as the god-deniers would say that the biblical god is a silly idea. Yes, that cannot be denied. But that is just the very beginning of the story. That is just wiping the dust from our eyes. It tells us nothing about what god actually is but, at the same time, it -- in ways that won't try and reason through just now -- opens us up the conclusion that god (the god shape) must be something tremendous and awesome and elegant and beautiful, whatever it is. Believe me, that is challenge: to look and see what is actually there because everything that is there to be seen leads us back to God. So we have to "see" in many different ways and to use all aspects of human consciousness and intelligence and science and art and music and literature in this great task. In the end, and in a way I can not fully explain, what is beautiful must be related to what is god.
(And, you know, Steve Jobs was big on design - on beauty. Steve Jobs was nibbling at corner of the God shape in insisting on beauty in his products.)
Every morning my mother writes in her blog. Some mornings, I wake up and try to express my thoughts about god on her blog.
1 Comments:
Well Son, you are right I would definitely have thought you were rather anti-religious.
I can say without any reservations - I am anti-religious. I find it interesting that from my perspective both the idea of a"god"?? and the idea of a glob of something that explodes into several zillion suns, planets, etc, and after 13.7 billion (the latest final estimate) years here we are. Are equally stupid - however we are here. As I said to our new minister the other day - humans have I believe a built in desire/ need, for a supreme being. Since the beginning of time crafty humans have tried to fill the void by calling themselves kings - then insisting they were crowned by god- thus making them little gods - thus maybe to some extent giving the rabble what the needed/wanted. The prophets did the same thing - only a little more direct.
love
dad
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larry bennett, at 9:55 AM
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